Candyfloss & Dreams

Author: Kat Candyfloss

Disneyland Paris – Travel Diary – Day 2 and 3

Day 2 – Saturday – A very wet and windy morning at Disneyland Paris

If you’re following on from my Day One travel diary then thank you for coming back. Day two and three fell over the weekend for us and the official start of half term for us Brits which meant on the Saturday it as absolutely heaving. If you can visit midweek then I think you’ll be able to enjoy so much more. It was also incredibly wet on the Saturday raining all day which I think caused my daughter to be quite sick that evening with a raging temperature. I would strongly advise taking painkillers, calpol, nurofen or any other medication that you may need just in case someone gets sick. It can get very busy and hectic in the park and it’s noticibly colder. There’s also nowhere on site you can buy any form of liquid painkiller for children and the nearest chemist is Val d’Europe which is around 5 minutes on the train and closed on a Sunday.

In an emergency the hotel can call a fireman over to address the situation and call paramedics if necessary or there are a few small medical centres on site which, in an emergency, will give out painkillers. We didn’t use any of these services so I can’t comment on them, however, I’ve heard that there is no charge, but my word is not gospel!

Day 2 – Disneyland Park, Extra Magic Hours & Parade

We didn’t really have a plan for getting around the park as it was our first time there but next time I think we’ll attempt a few more things and plan a little better so we see some of the shows. On the second day it rained a lot and my daughters shoes were soaked through by 9am so off we searched for wellies. We found a gorgeous pair of Minni Mouse Wellies in Disney Clothing Store on Main Street for €25.99 – expensive but necessary. I think a lot of children either already had these wellies or bought them there too because we saw these red boots everywhere we went.

The extra magic hours are great for those staying in a Disney hotel as it means you can get into the park from 8am and meet a few characters. On the first day we saw Chip and Dale who were great. They loved my homemade autograph book and made a big fuss as well as gave us some really cheeky photo’s. My daughter found them really funny! We were also able to get on to the carousel and have a good wonder around. We attempted to ride Rataouille and queued for around 30 minutes whilst waiting for the ride to be fixed only to have our fast passes returned to us and asked to come back later. It’s a fantastic ride, very innovative but very, very technical and because of this it does break down quite a lot. Still if you use a fast pass you get it again which is great as it means you can go back later and still not wait ages in the queue. This includes fast passes from the machines and the hotels.

Entrance to Ratatouille in Walt Disney Studios Park

After that we headed over to Annettes Diner for lunch which was brilliant. Food was tasty and some of the waiters were on roller skates which made it look like a really fun place to work. I admire their talent, I can’t even ride a bike let alone roller skate carrying food and seating people! Really worth a trip though and for three of us it only cost around €60 which included drinks and a three course meal for my daughter.

After heading back to the hotel we went for a swim in the Sequoia Lodge Swimming pool which was heated but felt very cool. There is a slide in the pool which my daughter loved and went on with Adam a couple of times. The pool also has a jacuzzi and steam rooms which really helped warm me up and I had the steam room all to myself. It’s probably key to note here that men don’t have to wear speedos at Disney! They can wear regular swimming shorts in the Disney hotel pools. However if staying off site and there’s a pool like Explorers hotel, you’ll need your speedos! We warmed up with some hot chocolates, tea time treats and then headed back to the park for the parade at 5.30pm.

Mickey Mouse in the Parade on Main Street

Day 3 – Disney Princess Day

Meeting Ariel at ADC Restuarant

You may have already seen my post about the Dancing Disney Princesses and the video to go with it! Take a look if you haven’t. It’s one of our biggest highlights. Before heading off for lunch my daughter had her face painted which was just under €15 next to our chosen Cinderella’s Restaurant where we had a table booked. We booked with our holiday which cost £145 for the three of us and included two drinks each, three courses and a bread basket. During lunch we met Cinderella & Prince Charming, Ariel and Snow White at Auberge de Cenderillon which was a very rich but very tasty french cuisine restaurant. The Princess interaction with my daughter was just amazing and they all gave my daughter a huge hug and lots of waves. She had a great time seeing them all. Why not take a look at our full Disney Princess lunch experience?

We then headed over to Princess Pavillion and queued for around 30 minutes to meet Sleeping Beauty and she was completely perfect. She spent so much time with my daughter and loved the book we made. We didn’t feel rushed at all which made it a very memorable experience for us.

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February 19, 2016
Disneyland Paris – Travel Diary Day One

Our 4 nights and five days in Disneyland Paris have been amazing and I wanted to share a run down of our time there and some of our favourite pictures. We left our home to travel up to London on Thursday evening as we had a hotel booked so we could catch our early morning Eurostar train at 5.40 am. We had minor lows throughout the whole time but other than that it’s been a great holiday and I’m already planning when we can go again!

Mini Me was determined to carry her suitcase. It’s the first time she’s ever insisted on carrying anything anywhere.

Day 1 – London to Disneyland Paris, Checking In & First Impressions

Checking in at St Pancras International – make sure you’re there 30-45 minutes before your scheduled department time. It gets busy, you’ll need to have passports checked, scan in your tickets and go through security. It’s a pretty quick process but worth getting there nice and early. Boarding happens around 10-20 minutes before you depart and there’s plenty of space in the departure lounge, cafe for breakfast and hot drinks, toilets and a bureau de change which was handy for us as we needed change for the RER ticket machines in Paris. The Eurostar journey took around 3 hours to get into Paris Gare du Nord.

Travelling via Eurostar is really simple

How to get to Disneyland Paris from Gare du Nord, Paris

Getting to Disneyland from Paris – It’s such an easy journey! We followed the signs to the RER trains which are down two escalators. Very well signposted. Plenty of ticket machines down there so if there are queues for the first ones you see chances are if you pop around the corner you will find some more. You need to have change for the machines, or pay by card as they don’t accept notes. Toilets can also be found down here and are 70 cents per person.

To get to Disneyland Paris from Gare du Nord you’ll need the Ile de France tickets. They’re around €8.30 per adult each way as you can’t buy a return and around €3.60 for a child – (price at the time of paying, February 2016). You then simply walk your way round to the RER B train and you’ll want to get to the next stop which is Chatelet des Halles in the direction of Robinson/Remy. It’s very simple. Changing at Chatelet des Halles is really easy, a quick walk to the other side of the platform gets you on the right side for RER A train to Marne la Vallee-Chessy which is where you’ll find Disneyland. To make sure you’re getting on the right train look up at the boards and if the station of your destination is lit up then you can get on this train and you’ll get to where you need to be.

Our hotel room had a great view

Be aware that there are people on the trains that will walk around asking for money. Keep safe, keep your children close by and do not hold any valuables in areas of clothing that are easily pickpocketed. My phone stayed in my bra for most of our travel time in Paris.

If you’re staying on site like us, you can grab a free shuttle bus service from the train station to your hotel which was incredibly handy. We jumped on with our bags and were checking in at the Golden Forest Club Room desk within 20 minutes of arriving. Check in was effortless and as we arrived around 11am we were given our park tickets and asked to return after 3pm to collect our room keys. We were all feeling a bit hungry so headed over to Earl of Sandwich in the Disney Village which is about half way between Sequoia Lodge hotel and the parks for a quick bite to eat.

Disneyland Paris hot chocolate is amazing and free from 12noon-10.30pm for all those staying in Golden Forest Rooms at Sequoia Lodge Hotel

Walking around to the parks takes around 15 minutes so it’s not too far however the free shuttle bus runs all day, every day until pretty late making it nice and easy for those with little legs! We didn’t do much on our first day other than the teacups and the Dumbo ride which my daughter loved. We took a little walk around Frontierland to see get our bearings a bit before walking back to the hotel in time for afternoon treats and to collect our room key. Having free drinks in the Golden Forest lounge was a perfect way to warm up after a very early start and a very wet arrival in Disneyland Paris! After getting into our room and deciding we didn’t really feel that hungry thanks to the complimentary tea time treats we decided to snack on what we had in our bags, watch a film on Disney Channel – one of the only English channels available and get an early night. You can find out how we spent the rest of our trip on Day 2.

Golden Forest Club Room with Lake View on 7th Floor

February 18, 2016
How to Make a Disney Autograph Book

As my more frequent readers will know I am taking my family to Disneyland Paris soon and wanted an autograph book for my daughter to use when she meets the characters there. I have seen some amazing creations when it comes to Disney Autograph books. There are some brilliant personalisable ones available on eBay and I’ve also seen some wonderful hand made ones and really liked this blog post, it gave me a great idea. I decided to go down the more hand made route for us – despite buying the material to make one has cost more than it would to order a pre-made personalised one, but I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.

Disclaimer: I am not very creative, excuse the mess…

Despite my partner thinking I can draw well, I disagree so instead opted for a different approach than drawing characters. That and I just couldn’t get the colours right for the Disney Princesses. I am pretty happy with the result.

I loved using the foam glitter card as a front and back cover.

My go to shop was The Works and I found some black ribbon, adhesive foam glitter boards, multi-coloured card and sticky hearts and ribbon things for the autograph pages. I also had some photo card at home and lots of little scrapbooking papers to make it nice and colourful inside and add a bit more to the pages. As I’ve used photo paper I will be taking marker pens for the characters to use in the book.

I went with a red and black cover to create the mouse symbol associated with Disney

I then went on to create the pages. I used 20 pieces of multi-coloured card with the photo paper glued on for the autographs. I did this on both sides of the card and decorated. The decoration is the messiest part I think but it’s a personal touch and plenty of room for autographs. I left 10 pages blank for photographs. There is enough for 30 autographs and photographs.

I hole punched each page so that I could tie them together

The foam board and stickers were used again here to create frames to the photo paper.

Disney Autograph book front cover

I added a bow onto the mouse and attempted that Disney cursive script and I am actually pretty happy with the result. I know there are loads around that look fantastic but this is going to hold the memories of our first family holiday abroad and I wanted to make something special to us.

Pin this image!

Or…you could just buy a personalised one.

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January 27, 2016
3 Ways to Make Money From Home
I have been working from home now full time since April 2015 and even though I’ve changed course a little bit and do things differently to when I first started, I wanted to share some of the things that allow me to do this and still make sure my family have food on the table, holidays to enjoy and heating in the home.

One of the most common questions I get asked when someone says how much money can I make working from home? And I always give the same answer. You can make as much as you want, everyone is given the exact same opportunity but the people that treat it like a business, are consistent and persistent with it are the ones that generate a full time wage from it.

So really you are key in this. Making money from home will require work, planning, organisation, sacrifices and your time. However it can be really rewarding.

You need to ask yourself what kind of work do I want to do from home?

How can I make money on Facebook and Instagram?

A lot of people find using social media to be a desirable way to earn money from home and it can be done. A lot of this is through working with brands and sharing products that you love and use in your life as well as a witty caption and an attractive photo. I’ve seen so many wonderful businesses grow thanks to social media from creative candle makers to retailers to selling art. Social media influencing can be an incredible way to earn a living from home.

Social media influencing usually involves working with a brand that wants to promote a specific product, for example, you might be a health and wellness person talking about the benefits of vitamins so working with a gummy manufacturer might be a product that your followers want to know more about.

I personally love to read and sharing my book reviews on Instagram has lead to me working with book sellers to read early advanced copies and whilst that isn’t payment, it’s given me the opportunity to read the work of some of my favourite authors prior to release and that in turn has also saved me money as I’ve not had to buy the books I’ve wanted to read.

How can I make money from writing?

I love this book, a gift for my recent Birthday. It really helps get those creative juices flowing and helps my imagination start working again after a break in writing.

There are lots of fantastic writing jobs you can do from home. In fact there are even writing jobs being advertised on job hunting websites such as Indeed. Why not write up your CV to show your interested in writing for a living and give some examples of your writing projects?

You can also join sites like Freelancer which offer paid writing jobs. Start with the smaller, less paid jobs to gain experience and good reviews and then you can work up to the bigger, better paid jobs and start making this a regular income booster. This does take time, you will need to set yourself a good few hours to get the work done and the lower paid jobs often require a very quick turnaround.

A great way to start writing and getting your voice known is through blogging. I started my blog through WordPress and have been blogging on and off for around five years now. I’ve been blogging on Candyfloss & Dreams for almost three years and I love it. I love being able to get paid for expressing my opinions and (hopefully) writing content others find useful and inspiring. I enjoy getting paid for writing articles and putting my stamp on them. There are lots of blogging opportunities, support groups and success stories where writers have seen there blog go from strength to strength. If you want to make money from blogging then the first thing you need to do is start working on building connections and getting your blog link out there. Most bloggers get paid depending on the audience and how influential they and having a high domain authority or DA is a good indication of how reliable and useful your website is. Do some research on how to increase your domain authority and then set yourself an aim and work on following the tips to get it. Start connecting with other bloggers, commenting on their posts and making your stamp. This will bring other bloggers back to you to connect with you.

Don’t just go for the massive huff post featured bloggers though, start with bloggers around the same size as you and connect with them. Not only will you start getting traffic to your blog but you will also start building some lasting friendships and bringing in an audience that really care about what you have to say. Join some groups on Facebook that give you tips and tricks on how to make your blog successful and also allow you to connect with other bloggers from all around the world. One of the most important things you need to do when working from home is form a network of people and connect with them. This will increase your engagement and give you that social boost which is one of the main reasons people enjoy being employed.

Can you make money from blogging? Absolutely, if you are serious about turning it into a business but like anything it takes dedication, work and patience. Joining communities like bloggers required will give you jobs you can apply for which often give you payment or products to use and keep. Look for small, local businesses in your area and contact them. Say who you are and what you do and that you would love to feature them. It may take a bit of time doing your work for free but it’s important to get your name out there and get companies and brands to trust you. Writing informative and interesting content will get brands to come to you but remember to stay firm and stay true to yourself. Perhaps, if you have the money, you could attend a blogger conference to interact with other bloggers, brands and business people which will build up valuable connections and relationships. There are also some great tips on how to make your blog popular.

It’s important to make a daily to do list to keep organised.

How can I make money writing reviews?

Having a blog is a great place to start reviewing the products you already use and love however by joining an online community like Ciao! you can also start getting paid for them. I have been writing reviews for Ciao! for a long time now and it has really helped give us a bit of extra saving money. The run monthly competitions with cash prizes too. I recently won £15 for one review I wrote and it was awarded a lovely little diamond which made me feel great about myself and my abilities. In December I had a pay in of £97 just in time for Christmas which covered some last minute presents, a day out for me and the family and some extra Christmas goodies. Again, the key thing is connecting with others. The key to getting paid through this website is writing a good quality review which makes others give you feedback, you should always try and return this feedback and rate other reviews.

I personally recommend a quality review of a minimum 350-500 words every day and then spend 30 minutes commenting and rating other people’s reviews. This will get them to rate you back and the higher rating your review has the more money it gets. A good tip if you work full time and worry you won’t have the time to do this is to set yourself a couple of hours at the weekend to type up your reviews on a word document so you can just copy and paste each day and then spend 30 minutes in the evening, whilst you’re watching your soaps or unwinding rating others work.

What are the pro’s of working from home?

Once you’ve started working for yourself or working from home you start to see the potential. Personally, I love that if I’m sick or my daughters sick I can still work, I don’t have to give reasons to a boss that doesn’t care or will give me consequences for taking time off. I don’t have to book time off to go on holiday or to take a day off, I set my own schedule and having that kind of control over my life is really liberating.
- More Time
- More Money
- Quality Family Time
- Freedom
- Control
- Social life
- Personal Development
I received a lot of help thanks to female entrepreneur week and I wanted to give back to my readers.

Having a good planner can help you to focus the time spend on your business and prevent you from procrastinating

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January 17, 2016
Finkley Farm Magical Christmas

On Christmas Eve Eve we spent the day trying to be festive and jolly, visiting friends and family and of course meeting Father Christmas at Finkley Farm Park which is situated close to the Walworth industrial estate in Andover. It’s quite easy to find and very well signposted. There is a small car park at the park for those that drive and for those, like us, visiting by public transport you can get the Wheelers 13 bus which will drop you fairly close to the farm. It’s been a part of my town for years and a big part of my childhood so taking my own child there has been a real privilege. I was lucky enough to be able to use a season pass during my time in the hostel I lived in with my daughter a few years ago but hadn’t been back since.

The Santa passport and elf hunt to claim your freebie from the gift shop

My boyfriend had heard that the Magical Christmas they did was really good and we thought we would make the most of it before Christmas as I share custody with my daughter so time to do things together as a family is very limited for us. I did a bit of online research and it sounded like it would be a great experience. I did find out the price before we went so we knew it was going to be expensive but what I didn’t expect was to be completely let down and find it actually far too expensive for what turned out to be a three hour visit.

From what I remember as a child Finkley Farm used to be a good value for money day out to visit the goats, rabbits, chickens and ponies with a lovely huge outside play area. It’s now expanded to include a café and huge indoor soft play area suitable for very young children and bigger kids with an area for lunch and for mums and dads to sit with a warm drink. It’s around £10 per adult and £9 per child over two for entry. You can get a season pass which apparently is worth it just to give the kids somewhere to play both in the summer and winter as the park is open all year long except for a few days. My daughter does enjoy going but mainly to play in the soft play area which has slides, slopes and swings. That’s all very well but I can’t spend all day sitting down at soft play waiting for her to finish. It is advisable to take a picnic or your own snacks, a thermos and water as everything is expensive. You can get a kids lunch box for just under £5 which includes five items. I understand these places are always pricy because of the staff and the fact most things are home made but we’d already paid a small fortune to get in to the park.

At Mrs Klaus Kitchen decorating Gingerbread Men

The Magical Christmas is described as a truly wonderful event with decorating cookies, meeting Father Christmas and making reindeer food as well as getting a gift and then being able to take part in the usual activities such as holding a rabbit, grooming a pony and meeting the reptiles. There is also an elf hunt which can get the child a little gift from the gift shop by collecting all the elves names and stickers and stamps to collect for taking part in all the other activities. When you arrive you are given a time slot to start your Christmas experience which takes around 45 minutes but other than that you have the day to roam around, see and feed the animals and do what you want really.

Are you Naughty or Nice? – Bit of a psycho expression from Evie here…

You start at Mrs Klaus’ kitchen to decorate a Gingerbread man with a small pot of very runny white icing and a few sprinkles and chocolate drops. You can then walk over with the elves to see Santa in his magical Christmas barn. The benches are very, very low to the floor and you are surrounded by the younger animals. We saw a very cute Micro Pig wagging his tail and running about, some baby guinea pigs and young goats. That was quite sweet. The elves tried to get the kids enthusiasm up however we were in a group with mainly young children who didn’t speak much so it was very quiet. Santa came around to each child to say if they were on the good list and asked what they would like for Christmas after a conversation with the Elves that didn’t really make a lot of sense and wasn’t really very funny which I got the impression they were trying to be. After that there was an opportunity to get a photo with Santa which was incredibly rushed and to be honest having an elf shout ‘hurry up another group needs to come in’ ruined the magic a little bit. I know they need to get things moving a bit but they could have saved time by not “waking Santa because he ate too many gingerbread” man and just letting each child go into the house he was sat in and have a chat with him there and get a photo rather than sitting on low benches and waiting for him to speak to your child after a few awkward silences.

After that we were lead through a snow machine to see the Reindeer and make Reindeer food for the children to sprinkle in the garden and on the doorstep so the Reindeers know where to land (Even though we are always told Santa stops on the rooftop and comes down the Chimney). After this you are lead back to the main play area barn to exchange your gold star for a gift. The choice of gifts was shocking to be honest. Whilst I don’t believe in gender stereotyping toys my daughters dad feels otherwise and she is constantly told what is right for girls to have and so my daughter only likes things that are pink, fluffy or role play based. The choice of toys that she would choose included a teddy or a rainbow glitter baton. Everything else was from the farm gift shop like hats and cups or cars, trucks, tractors, swords, bow and arrows and other bits that just didn’t appeal to her in anyway. She ended up choosing the Rainbow Baton which looked like something you could pick up easily from Poundland.

The gift Evie selected at Magical Christmas

We paid £34 for two adults, a child and a Santa passport which was apparently worth £7 on top of the child entrance fee. We were treated to one free tea or filter coffee which was available until 24th December and paid for my partner to get a drink which was £2.85. A bottle of water or a fizzy drink ranged from £1.50-£1.80 in the café which is just far too expensive. Sandwiches were around £3.50 and a hot meal was priced up to about £8-£10 and the portions were fairly small.

In Santa’s Grotto

The good points were seeing the animals enjoying the day and interacting with them as well as the soft play area which is really good and the large outside play area. We love the goats there as they can be very funny especially if you have a bag of feed for them and the chickens like to roam around too which is nice to see. However the interaction with Santa was poor and badly managed, the elves tried too hard and ended up making it a bit strange and awkward and the choice of toys for the money you paid was just very poor. I would have valued the day out and Santa experience at £12 for a child and I don’t think it should charge so much for adults either as it’s a park catered to Children. For places like this I think it’s unnecessary to charge more than about £8 per adult, £6 per child considering the prices of snacks and drinks.

Sadly everything is becoming more and more expensive these days and with the growing demand for housing in our town and the fact that the next spring of houses is being built around the farm I can’t see it staying open in the next three years which is sad because we really don’t have that much for children and families here and it’s been a part of my childhood too. Because of the price and our poor experience here we probably won’t be returning to visit and would instead opt for a visit to our local Garden Centre next year which has a fantastic grotto full of family games and a large selection of toys for children to choose from. You also only pay for the child to experience it and get their gift.

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December 24, 2015