What Fate Has In Store

The Jungle Cruise is one of the best attractions in Magic Kingdom for theming. From outside the attraction, to the queue, and to the attentiveness of the skippers, it is a classic and fun part of Adventureland.

Once the ride is over, I imagine there isn't many people that take time to look around - everyone is eager to get to the next part of the park! But if you look closely, you will see a list of all the boats that are, and have been, part of the Cruise. And if you look carefully, you may see one named after your very own Princess Fiona.

Monday Memories - Celebrate!

The Royal Household has been going through some changes recently, which has meant going through old cupboards and boxes. So I have been finding lots of exciting things for the Monday Memories column!

But this week I wanted to share with you something fun that we found last week when in the kitchen: some Disney candles!

These originally came from my grandparents house, so I am not sure how old they are (nowhere on the box does it say) but I would imagine the early-to-mid eighties. While I don't think they are an official Disney product (although they do have copyright Walt Disney Productions), they are still something quite fun to look at.

Thank goodness Minnie doesn't really look like that, though!

Trip Report... Part Three

Day 6 - Tuesday 10th March
Another relatively early morning, grabbing breakfast over at Old Port Royale and then taking the car back to the Dolphin resort. We then grabbed good ol' Disney Transport to the Magic Kingdom, ready for a day at the park that really makes you feel like you're at Walt Disney World!

It was a warm day today, and we managed to do a lot, even though my thighs were quite a bit sore from the run the day before. Anyway, we managed to walk around the park a lot and do some of the rides. But the highlight of the day? Meeting Tinkerbell and the fairies, Silvermist and Iridessa. They were fantastic, and it really made the Queen's trip to meet Tinkerbell (one of her favourites!). I don't have photos of that yet, but they will be on the Photopass when we get them back...

Anyway, we also managed to go on Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World, and - the classic - Tomorrowland Transit Authority. I also went on Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. We also waited around Liberty Square - near my old work - and watched the new parade, Celebrate a Dream Come True. I had not seen this new parade yet, and I loved it - although not too much has changed, the music made it all worthwhile! Honestly, that tune is so catchy... I admit, I ended up buying Corbin Bleu's version from iTunes.

After the parade, we were lucky enough to meet up with Virginia and her husband, who had kindly donated to me for my half-marathon! It was lovely meeting them, and I hope I can meet them again on my next trip to The World.

After we left them, we headed over to EPCOT as we had a dinner reservation at Le Cellier, one of my parents' favourite places to eat. We managed to go on Journey Into Your Imagination and Spaceship Earth before dinner. The dinner itself was absolutely delicious - one of the best fillet steaks I've ever had, and the mashed potatoes? Well, they were brilliant too! And did I have cocktail? Well, of course, I was celebrating my half-marathon victory!

After the dinner, enjoyed Illuminations, before taking our time (the Queen was quite happy for me to take as many night photos as I wanted!) and heading back to the resort.

Day 7 - Wednesday 11th March

Unfortunately this was our last full day at Walt Disney World, but we still had plenty to pack in! We had another breakfast at the resort, and then headed back over to Magic Kingdom, so we could get in some last rides and buy some more gifts!

We went on Peter Pan, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, before the Queen decided she wanted to take some things back to the Resort. I think she really wanted to let me take my time and take photos without feeling like I was holding her back.

I accidentally ended up watching the parade again, and filmed it, after ending up in a great spot right near the start of it (tip: just around Splash Mountain is a brilliant place to wait for the parade and you only need to arrive about 10 minutes before for a front row spot!). I then headed over to Tomorrowland and went on Space Mountain again, and the TTA! Some of my favourites, that I will be interested to see after the refurbishments. Oh, and I also managed to sneak in a Mrs Potts' sundae - just one of the BEST things to do in the whole of Walt Disney World!

The Queen met me again and we went over to the Crystal Palace for dinner. I enjoyed the dinner, although I found the restaurant much more hectic and crowded than I ever remembered it. But it was great fun to meet Winnie the Pooh and friends - and the Queen loved it too!

But what could we do for our last evening? We had done almost everything we wanted to do, and wanted something memorable... Well, the Queen had never been to Beaches and Cream - and so, off to the Yacht and Beach Club for some ice cream delights! However, we didn't order the Kitchen Sink. But the table next to us did, and so I was delighted that my mum got to see that without making ourselves sick!

After enjoying a burger between us, and some gorgeous ice cream sundaes, we headed back to CBR via Downtown Disney, and tried our best to pack...

Day 8 - Thursday 12th March

Our last morning in Walt Disney World was spent finishing off packing (after buying another bag from the gift shop - typical!), and then we headed over to Ohana at the Polynesian for a gorgeous breakfast. This is one of our favourite character breakfasts, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Although the last time I was there, Chip and Dale were there, I still enjoyed it with Lilo and Stitch. That Stitch is so naughty, he gave the Queen a right royal fright! He's lucky she didn't say off with his head, although that is a different movie entirely...

And so, we briefly popped into the Magic Kingdom as I thought it would be a lovely way to finish off the holiday - a quick visit to the Castle and then heading back to our resort, ready for the long journey home.

Thank you for reading all my trip reports - I hope you have enjoyed them!

Trip Report... Part Two

Day 4 - Sunday 8th March
Today was the day - the day of the Princess Half Marathon! I have written about the race itself on my personal blog, so if you would like to read about that please go here.


After the race I headed back to the hotel, where the Queen and I had some RnR at the pool, before getting changed, having lunch, and then heading over to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the Happily Ever Party that we had booked to go to.

The evening was very pleasant. We had booked a dinner at the Prime Time Cafe, where the Queen had never eaten. We had a brilliant waitress, Aunt Janice, and if you have never eaten there before you haven't lived! It was great fun and the waitresses are fantastic - really getting into the swing of things! The other families that were in the room with us also played along and created a great atmosphere. Plus I had a celebratory cocktail with glowing ice cube, so I was very happy!

We were very tired from being up so early, but we managed to watch the final American Idol Experience (which was a brilliant show - much better than I had ever thought it would be!), and then head over to Toy Story Midway Mania. I also went on Rock n' Rollercoaster a few times, and the Hollywood Tower of Terror - which is always better at night!

We managed to last until about 10pm, before calling it a night and heading back to CBR to catch some much needed sleep!

Day 5 - Monday 9th March
Today was a day away from the parks, as we had rented a lovely convertible to take us around the Orlando area and get us to some shops! Well, American shopping is very different to Scottish shopping! In the evening, however, we went to Downtown Disney, of course. I can't stay away from Disney too long!

Trip Report... Part One

And so, I promised you a trip report from my last trip - and finally, I come through with it! I will break this up into three parts so that I am not filling you all with too much information! Hopefully you all enjoy it.

Day 1 - Thursday 5th March
The Queen and I arrived at Orlando, via Newark, around 5.00pm. Our luggage was ready on the conveyor belt for us (well, we are Royalty!) and we went to the Magical Express desks at the airport, ready for our wee journey to the Caribbean Beach Resort. The last time I had used ME our bags had not turned up and we had a very big problem with them, so this time we decided to collect our luggage ourselves.

Anyway, we arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort around 7.00pm. Managed to get checked in and then head off to our room - all the way in Trinidad South. Now, we stayed at CBR many, many years ago, when the Queen Mother had came with us too and it was our very first Disney Resort stay. So we knew that the buildings were spread out. But, actually, things were not spread out too badly. Okay, so our room was the other end of the resort from the check-in, but we only used check-in to do just that. For the rest of our stay, we were quite happy wandering along to Old Port Royale, which was only about 5-10 minutes of a walk.

So, our room was a lovely Pirate room! If you don't know me very well, I have quite an obsession with Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean. So the King had treated us to a Pirate themed room. And it was great fun! The beds were like ships, the carpet was like wooden planks, the fridge was like a barrel and the light fixtures were similar to the ride! The room was great fun, although probably not practical for a family of four. We were in a handicap accessible room, however, so it may make it slightly different.

After getting settled in the room, we headed along to the food court and happily stuffed our faces there, before heading back to the room to catch up on our sleep for a busy week ahead!

Day 2 - Friday 6th March

A bright and early start due to jet lag, we both arose and headed straight to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Toy Story Midway Mania! My mum had not been on this ride yet, and I was keen to make sure we went through the actual queue, without having to wait for hours. If you head to the queue before any of the fast passes start letting in (usually 10am), the queue moves along pretty quickly! So, we managed to have a good look at Mr Potato Head, which the Queen was very impressed with!

We spent the rest of the time at the Studios wandering around the shops, just taking in the atmosphere and enjoying the nice weather. As I had the half marathon in the next few days, I was enjoying taking it easy and not going on the thrill rides for the time being. I would get to all that once the main event was out the way!

We then headed over to the Wide World of Sports for the packet pick-up for the Princess Half Marathon. And oh my goodness, was it an event! I had never been in the Milkhouse before - and just the sheer scale of that building impressed me no end! Add to that the amount of people there (and we arrived about 20-30minutes after the event opened), and the various things to look at and see, it was very, very exciting!

It took us a few hours to finish up at the packet pick-up, by the time I collected my race packet, my t-shirt, the after-party tickets, etc. I also managed to order a lovely souvenir of the race, and some socks! Very exciting! Anyway, after we finished up, we jumped on a bus straight back to the CBR and unloaded everything.

We had a dinner with Royalty booked - dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming at 1900 Park Fare! It was a great dinner, with a fantastic buffet - one of the best that I have been to for dinner. We managed to meet Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Ugly Stepsisters and Madame Tremaine - although she was too busy for a photograph with us. After dinner, both of us were truly full, so we headed off to the Magic Kingdom to enjoy Wishes - a firework show that always brings a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat.


Day 3 - Saturday 7th March

An early start today for the fantastic Princess Storybook Breakfast over at Restaurant Akershus in Norway. I had done the dinner once, many years ago (before it was a mainly themed Princess dinner), so I was excited at the breakfast. And we really enjoyed ourselves! We met Belle (in her gold dress - my favourite!), Mulan, Jasmine, Snow White and Aurora. A great group of Princesses - I was in good company!

We then spent the rest of the morning at Epcot, meeting some characters and taking in Futureworld. We went on Soarin' and I went on Test Track, before heading over to Animal Kingdom. We spent the afternoon there, and I went on Dinosaur and Expedition Everest (twice for that one, of course!), and then we watched the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. I really enjoy this parade, as it is very interactive and there are so many 'hidden' good spots for the parade too!

After the parade we headed back to the resort and had dinner, before heading down to Downtown Disney for a walk around the shops (and some free chocolate, of course!). We enjoyed an ice cream at Ghirardelli, which is a must when you have a half-marathon the next day, right?

Photo Interlude

Life is still busy here at the Royal DF'82 Household - so as a little picture interlude, I thought I would share with you a couple of photos from the fantastic nighttime parade, Fantillusion at Disneyland Resort Paris.

I want to talk more about this parade in future posts, but in the meantime, here are some fellow Princesses and their Princes.

The Greatest Movie Studios

Hi Everyone! I am back from my trip to Walt Disney World - and I had a fantastic time. If you want to read more about my Princess Half Marathon, you can do so here. I will try to do a trip report for one of the post this week, too!

I wanted to get into some more indepth posting, especially about Disneyland Paris, this week, but I have actually came down with a bad chest infection. I know, even Royalty can get ill! Isn't that shocking? There should be something against that...

Anyway, I have something that I want to share with you all that I find really interesting. It is an article from last year's (UK) Empire film magazine, entitle 'The Greatest Movie Studios' and this is Part 2 - The Walt Disney Studios.

It is 12 pages 'pull out' and I found it very interesting - especially as it won't have been written by Disney 'fans' so to speak. So please, have a look! The article is in PDF files, so I suggest you either download them or 'right click and open in new window/tab' - and apologies if the files are big, but I want you all to be able to read them! Enjoy!

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More Apologies!

As the title suggests, I am really sorry for not blogging on here recently. Things have been hectic still in the Royal Household!

I try not to bring my 'personal' life onto this blog - it is for Disney after all! But I am preparing for my very first half marathon at Walt Disney World later this week. The Queen and I head off to Florida on Thursday, and so I have been busy getting ready for that departure. If you would like to sponsor me, you can do so by going here to donate for my local charity or here to donate on behalf of the WDW Dream Team for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

As I said previously, there are a lot of things I have in store for this blog - and I really look forward to bringing it all to you! On this note, I am going to take a small hiatus from this site while I head off to WDW - but this will only be for a small 10 days or so.

However, in my absence, I would like to know what you would like to see here on DF'82. Would you like more on Disneyland Paris, for example, or maybe insights as to my life as a cast member. Or perhaps you would like to be knighted - well, I can't guarantee that, but as a Princess I have my ways! Please leave comments with anything you would like more of. Oh, and I have booked a trip to Disneyland Resort Paris, so I would also like to know what YOU would like me to cover while I'm out there!

Thank you for standing by DF'82 and PLEASE do not forget to visit ALL of the blogs to the right - they are all *fantastic*, otherwise I would not have linked them.