Tag / Disney

by jo

Disneyland Paris – Auberge de Cendrillon

We’re back from Disneyland Paris having managed to surprise H. She had no idea she was going either! For H’s birthday we visited Auberge de Cendrillon – a Disney Princess dining experience.
auberge de cendrillon

Auberge de Cendrillon is behind the Disney castle, and is a restaurant where you can meet Disney Princesses. It’s quite pricey, but as a birthday treat it was worth it. Plus we didn’t have to queue to meet the characters.

We booked H in on her birthday, but had one problem – all her Disney Princess dresses were too small for her. Oh, and she had gone off Frozen. Luckily I had a beautiful Elsa dress sent from Disney which was ideal! H saw it and immediately forgot that she had gone off Frozen, and felt like a princess when she wore it. It is an impressive dress too which captures the spirit of Elsa’s dress.

H in front of the Disneyland Castle

There are two problems with the dress – not major ones, but ones to be aware of. The brooch on the front plays ‘Let It Go’ when you press it, though is difficult to remove. You can do it by unscrewing it, which is a bit of a faff but it means the brooch stays on. Then there’s the glitter which features all over the dress. Glitter is the bane of my life when it comes to crafting – you can’t remove the stuff, it gets everywhere. But then when at Disneyland it’s just magic dust, right?

The dress packed down small which was good, so we were able to hide it in our suitcases. Once we had done our big reveal, we told H what we had planned – including Auberge de Cendrillon. “But I don’t have a princess dress to wear!” she said – and we proved her wrong.

On her birthday morning it was hot – in the mid-30s. Maybe not the best day to wear a gorgeous princess dress – but H did. We kept her hydrated, but brought a change of clothes for afterwards which worked.

menus at Auberge de CendrillonThe main test was how princessy she would feel at Auberge de Cendrillon. There’s the menu. It’s pretty special for younger kids, and fine for adults too. You can use hotel meal vouchers to lower the cost as well which helped. Add to that we had ordered her a birthday cake, and we knew we were going to be well fed. The menu changes a lot, so it may be worth checking online beforehand.

H meets the Disney Princesses at Auberge de Cendrillon

We also didn’t know which princesses she would meet! First up was Belle who was friendly and chatty, but H was a bit shy, a bit overwhelmed and hadn’t warmed up. Our meal started with some Amuse-bouche, delicious cheese puffs. Our drink was a juice, the Princes Cocktail.

By the time Cinderella made it to our table H was far more chatty – and felt quite special. I felt pretty full by now, despite not eating that much… and it was going to get worse!

Auberge de Cendrillon dining and cake and dancing

Auberge de Cendrillon is a lovely restaurant, with space for the characters to visit. Every hour or so they also do a little dance on the main floor space. This was just around the corner from our table, but wasn’t a problem.

Aurora and Prince Philip were the last Disney Princess/Prince to visit us, and H was chatty by now! Suzy and Perla, the two mice from Cinderella popped by too. H loved it!

Suzy and Perla at Auberge de Cendrillon

We had a salad before our main course, and finally the dessert. H’s food was served on a Mickey Mouse plate which she thought was pretty cool.

We had ordered a birthday cake for our meal which is suitable for up to 8 people. There was just the three of us… let’s just say we were completely stuffed! Having the desserts in addition to the cake was a bit too much for us – so be prepared to come out of Auberge de Cendrillon extremely full.

I loved H’s dessert, a white chocolate shoe with chocolate cream piped into it, but she had to leave it. We couldn’t take it with us as it would have melted!

Being as stuffed as we were, there was only one way to finish the meal, with a nice peppermint tea. It helped – I didn’t need to eat anything else that day! In all, we spent two hours at Auberge de Cendrillon, and after meal vouchers it cost us around £130. Bear in mind, the Disney birthday cake cost about £30 of that.

H loved the experience too – and it was good to get away from the heat outside when it was at its highest. The food was delicious, the vegetarian option was good, and there was enough to keep H busy. I’d recommend Auberge de Cendrillon to anyone considering it when visiting Disneyland Paris.

The Elsa dress from Disney Stores is this one and it currently retails for £34.99. It made H feel like a princess, and indeed the amount of detail that it has makes it something worth purchasing. It is ideal for a special occasion.

by jo

Minnie Mouse Tea Pot Playset Review

We were sent a Minnie Mouse Tea Pot playset to review, read on to find out our thoughts!

Minnie Mouse tea pot playsetHow do you keep a BIG secret from a six year old? Like, a really big secret? Like, you will be going to Disneyland Paris on her birthday and she doesn’t have a clue? Especially when she says things like “well, hopefully I’ll like Disney next year” when we said we might be able to do it then.

I like to think I’m a clever mummy, I try not to state the obvious as much as I can (which probably means I do), and will often buy things so H can get to the conclusion I want her to in her own time. It seems to work… I am a master of puppetry controlling my girl from afar. Or maybe not. So when Disney offered us a Minnie Mouse Tea Pot Playset to review I jumped at the chance – as H doesn’t have a tea set – and she loves Minnie Mouse (and eek, she’s going to meet her VERY SOON!)

Minnie Mouse tea pot playset

When I was nine I went to play at a schoolfriends house, and his sister had a teddy bear’s tea party. I thought it was babyish… shame on me. But it made me realise H has never had one herself, which is I think, an even bigger shame on me. Doesn’t every child need a tea set to have pretend tea parties with their toys? This Minnie Mouse Tea Pot Playset does the trick.

Minnie Mouse tea pot playset

I really like the Minnie Mouse Tea Pot playset – mainly because it all packs inside a giant teapot for easy storage. H enjoys tidying up! When we received the tea pot she hand-wrote invites to two of her friends inviting them over for a Teddy Bear’s Tea Party which was awesome, even if she hadn’t bothered to ask me if it was do-able (it wasn’t). But nonetheless, it has got her thinking creatively.

You get one giant teapot, then four cups with matching heart shaped saucers, really cute little matching spoons and a more manageable teapot and sugar bowl. Then it’s about letting your imagination go – and it worked a treat with H.

Minnie Mouse tea pot playset

Which brings me back to this Disneyland Paris thing. We’ve never grown out of Disney, and I know she won’t. Getting cute little things like this Minnie Mouse Tea Pot playset keep her love of Disney alive – and keeps me relieved! Oh, and even though this is a Minnie Mouse set, two of the designs feature Daisy Duck – and they’re really cute.

The Minnie Mouse Tea Pot playset is available from the Disney Store now, priced at £12.95. We were sent one for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.

by jo

The BFG – Our Review of Disney’s New Film

We’ve just been to see The BFG at the cinema, and I thought it’d be a good time to do a quick review.

The BFG logo

The BFG needs very little introduction – Roald Dahl’s 1982 is a classic, and one I know I will have read. H at almost seven is massively into Roald Dahl, and has been looking forward to seeing the film.

It follows the book closely, and is a Very Long Film. I say this, as you need to be prepared. It comes in at just under two hours – so make sure you go to a cinema with comfy seats!

Sophie is played wonderfully by Ruby Barnhill, and in some ways reminded me of the actress who plays Matilda in the film of the same name – very spirited and knows her own mind. The BFG is played by Mark Rylance, and is put together so wonderfully – you’re not quite sure if he’s the good guy or not (and the first trailer that came out was REALLY scary), but when you know he is, you can really feel the goodness in him.


The BFG captures dreams, and Sophie catches him doing just that, so he has to take her away from the orphanage she lives in, so she doesn’t tell anyone he exists. She’s pretty happy about that as she hated it there anyway.

Once Sophie is in Giant Country, she realises escaping isn’t an option, especially when she discovers some human-eating giants. (I would say the parts where the human-eating giants are the mild peril parts, they’re not pleasant types!).

The BFG is able to hide Sophie from the other giants, and eventually she persuades him to take her to Dream Country, where he captures dreams in jars (if you’re in London check the BFG Dream Jar trail running until the end of August). Unfortunately he captures a bad dream.

They head back to London though Sophie loses her blanket around now. The BFG realises that the other giants will know she exists, and it’s too dangerous for her to head back to Giant Country. Sophie is dropped off at the orphanage once more, and eventually persuades the BFG to let her go back.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but let’s just say the rest of the story involves the Queen, snozzcumbers, whizzpopping (even the Queen does), frobscottle (which causes you to do a spot of whizzpopping), and a golden phizzwizard and much more. Oh, and plenty of Giant speak.

It’s a Steven Spielberg film, and much as he succeeded with ET, it’s a similar formula on The BFG. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are a massive inspiration for the film, and I’m glad it has stayed faithful to the story and the images children will have grown up with. Oh, and it’s yet another fabulous Disney film!

It gets a BIG thumbs up from us!

The BFG is in cinemas now – and we’re also pretty excited as we got to see the new ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ trailer – roll on November!!

by jo

Finding Dory

Finding Dory is the follow-up to the highly successful Finding Nemo, and takes us on a story with Dory. We’ve been to see a 3D preview screening as part of our DisneyLife membership which we now pay for.

Finding Dory

Finding Dory. Ahh see, sequels can be so difficult to make when following something which is much-loved and done well. In a nutshell, Finding Dory succeeds – it really does. It’s funny, it isn’t a tear jerker like some of the Pixar films can be, though it has its moments.

We have a brief recap of Finding Nemo and Dory’s life before we’re whisked forward a year and our story begins.

Dory has short term memory loss. We find this out straight away as her parents are trying to teach her to remember things – and through a chain of events (which Dory has flashbacks to throughout the film) she loses her parents. In the future she has a flashback while helping Nemo’s class and remembers her family and information about where they live. Accompanied by Nemo and his dad Marlin, they make their way to the Marine Life Institute on the other side of the ocean. They handily get a lift there from some turtles!

Finding Dory - Dory

So then it’s the big task of Finding Dory ‘s parents, which of course isn’t straightforward. Marlin and Nemo are split from Dory, who is captured and placed in the Marine Life Institute in quarantine, where she meets Hank, a seven legged octopus aka a septopus (he has seven tentacles due to being grabbed in the ‘Touch Pool’ area of the Marine Life Institute). Dory also meets friends she knew when she was younger.

There are plenty of twists and turns, plenty of laugh out loud moments, and some moments where you really hope good things will happen. It’s a really enjoyable hour and a half – and there’s a lot of Dory of course.

There is a LOT going on in Finding Dory, with an easy to follow plot. I found I didn’t drift off at all and was laughing a lot. It is definitely the lighter side of Pixar and – SPOILER ALERT – handy for concerned parents who know how Pixar films tend to go – there are no deaths.

Finding Dory H with poster

The final word goes to H on this, who as we were leaving the cinema (we had to rush out, but I’ve since read there’s a little Finding Nemo reference right at the end) said, “we’ll be getting this on DVD, right?” – think that’s a big thumbs-up then!

Finding Dory is in UK Cinemas from the 29th July 2016. We received a free invite to attend a 3D screening via our paid DisneyLife subscription.

Oh, and as a final note, H still has NO idea she’s going to Disneyland Paris this year – and we’re doing a great job at keeping quiet about it all!

by jo

Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up with Team Dory!

Tom Daley and Rebecca Adlington have launched a summer of activity, encouraging families to join Team Dory and ‘just keep moving’ with Disney, Change4Life and the Amateur Swimming Association.

Tom Daley Change 4 Life Team Dory

Tom Daley filming at the London Aquatic Centre for a new campaign from Disney, Change4Life and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).

Team Dory would like to invite you for a brand new 10 minute Shake Up in association with Disney, Change4Life, The ASA and the release of Finding Dory.

British sporting champions Tom Daley and Becky Adlington have joined forces and are encouraging children to ‘just keep moving’ this summer, as they launch nationwide interactive family swim sessions and a brand new 10 Minute Shake Up campaign – all inspired by the new Disney·Pixar blockbuster, Finding Dory.

The campaign from Disney, Change4Life and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) sees the launch of themed family swim sessions at hundreds of pools across the UK as well as new 10 Minute Shake Up activities, in a bid to make exercise fun and help children get the 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity they need each day.

Rebecca Adlington Change4Life Team Dory

Becky Adlington filming at the Manchester Aquatic Centre for a new campaign from Disney, Change4Life and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).

The Finding Dory inspired swim sessions, which are co-created with the ASA and run from 22ndJuly until 4th September, will provide an hour of in-water storytelling for the whole family, teaching children key swimming skills as they are taken on a journey with Dory and friends, led by trained instructors.

The Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Ups with Disney are back for a third summer to encourage children to get the 60 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity they need each day with fun 10 minute bursts of activity. For 2016, there are even more interactive Shake Ups than last year, including those inspired by the new Disney·Pixar film, Finding Dory, which set a box office record for an animated film when it opened in the United States in June.

British diving champion Tom Daley, alongside double Olympic Gold medal-winning swimmer and mum Becky Adlington are supporting the initiative. Tom is starring in a series of short films, which show that even serious athletes can take time for 10 minutes of fun, whilst Becky is sharing her top tips for inspiring children to get active in and out of the pool.

To coincide with the launch of the campaign, Disney, Change4Life and the ASA commissioned a survey of more than 1,000 children aged 5 to 11 and their parents on their attitudes towards physical activity. The survey revealed that three quarters of children aged 5 to 11 (73%) want to do more physical activity, and 56% of children miss taking part in school PE lessons over the summer.[i] Finding ways for their children to be active is a challenge faced by families, with 61% of parents saying they struggle for ideas during the school holidays.1

 The research showed that more than half of children (55%) said that swimming is one of their favourite ways to keep physically active during the summer holidays.1 39% of 5 to 11 year olds also said that they would want to go swimming more often if they could go with family members.1

Physical activity helps children build social skills, boost self-confidence, improve bone and heart health and maintain a healthy weight,[ii] yet just 21% of boys and 16% of girls currently meet the national recommended level of activity of 60 minutes each day.[iii]

 Campaign ambassador Tom Daley comments:
“Most people look at professional athletes and see the years of training and dedication they have put in, but do sometimes forget that what we do is also really fun and exciting. I’m a massive Disney fan myself and can’t think of a better way to get kids enjoying being active than combining their favourite stories and characters with exercise – whether that’s a Finding Dory swim session where families can learn key ASA skills or a Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up game kids can play with their friends in the park. For me, showing that sport is not a chore and really has a fun side is an important message and I’m thrilled to be supporting this campaign”.

Campaign ambassador Becky Adlington comments:
“Since I stopped competitive swimming a few years ago, I understand how tricky it can be to fit exercise into a busy routine – and also make it fun. As a mum, it’s even harder. But I’m passionate about inspiring the future generation to get active and that’s why I’m supporting this summer’s campaign from Disney, Change4Life and the ASA. The summer holidays can seem really long but there are loads of great ideas to get kids up and about with new 10 Minute Shake Ups, and what better way to spend time together than enjoying a family swim session where you’re learning key skills.”

Search Change4Life online for Disney and Finding Dory inspired 10 Minute Shake Ups and don’t forget to book your swim session today at www.disney.co.uk/justkeepmoving. We signed up for the Just Keep Moving sessions last year and received our Team Dory pack in the post last week too, so keep an eye out!

by jo

Mary Poppins at Southampton Mayflower

Way back in the early 2000’s, Shaun bought me tickets to see Mary Poppins on stage as my birthday present. I was pretty happy with it, and really enjoyed the show. When I spotted Cameron Mackintosh was bringing it out on tour I hung on hoping for a date near London, before eventually deciding we could really do with a weekend away – and our closest venue happened to be Southampton!
Zizi Strallen as Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is one of my favourite Disney films – it’s magical, brings back fond childhood memories and of course has the wonderful Julie Andrews starring in the main role. So how well does it translate onto the stage?

Firstly, this isn’t an adaptation of the film. Many parts cross over, but it does focus on the books a little more. The focus of the film is Jane and Michael’s behaviour and relationship with their parents – and the various nannys they’ve had to squash their behaviour. Along comes Mary Poppins and the whole family goes on a magical ride while dealing with their issues, and coming out of the other side.

So what is different? Some of the songs have been rearranged, but not in a bad way. Some songs have been dropped. Some new songs have been created.

But what stays the same in Mary Poppins? The magic. Mary does go up the bannister on the stairs, she flies – several times. The classic songs are there. The first half highlight is ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ with the second half being ‘Step in Time’. ‘Chim Chiminee’ forms a narrative around the story as well. Quite frankly with these three I was delighted.

Then the cast – Zizi Strallen was wonderful – she played Mary Poppins straight, but with a good comic timing – I was often laughing out loud. She had me in tears at the end of both halves too – and only The Sound of Music makes me do that. Bert is played by Matt Lee who is brilliant – and what I liked the most, neither actor tried to be Julie Andrews or Dick Van Dyke (which I think The Sound of Music had a bit of – only Connie Fisher and Petula Clark have been the least-Julie-like Maria’s). The supporting cast were brilliant too – H loved the children who brought out plenty of giggles from her.

Here’s the trailer :

Mary Poppins is on tour right now – it’s the last night in Southampton tonight and they’re booking right up until next year. If you saw the London production, it’s exactly the same.

It’s a fabulous, magical night out. Oh, and there’s plenty of Mary Poppins merchandise for sale at the shows too – there’s even a parrot umbrella (£22 for us, I passed).

We managed to get tickets at the rear of the stalls at the Mayflower – a reasonable £35ish each. Add to that a night booked at the Ibis Budget which was a ten minute walk away and it all worked out pretty well.

For an even greater idea of what it’s like, here’s the trailer from when we saw it, starring Laura Michelle Kelly as Mary Poppins and Gavin Lee as Bert.

Check the Mary Poppins Musical dates over on the official site here – and get your tickets ordered soon!

by jo

DisneyStores Launch the new Disney MXYZ Collection

Disney has just launched a new collection within Disney Stores – the Disney MXYZ collection!
Disney MXYZ Lifestyle, Disney MXYZ

Disney MXYZ (pronounced Mix-eez) is a new range which has just launched at the Disney Store. It is a fab new range which is geared towards the tween and teen age range (and possibly us older fans too).

The Disney MXYZ range is designed to Mix and Match. It features Mickey, Minnie, Stitch and Marvel. Each range has a wide variety of things from water bottles, journals, backpacks and bags, to file folders, journals, washi tape and more. (this is the point where I squeal “DISNEY WASHI TAPE – EEEK!!” – and it’s only £5.99 for three rolls too)

Disney MXYZ Minnie Washi Tape

The thing I like the most about the Disney MXYZ range is the price – ranging from £4.99 to £15.99 which keeps it within pocket money range as well.

Disney MXYZ Marvel bottle

My most favourite thing that I want to go out and buy because it looks awesome is a Mickey and Minnie backpack – because it has EARS!!! Proper ears!!!! I can’t help thinking we’ll look super cool if I could get one before our break in Paris (and our top-secret trip to Disneyland Paris which H still has no idea she’s going to) – and at £12.99 that’s an excellent price.

Disney MXYZ Mickey and Minnie backpacks

The Disney MXYZ range has a wonderful Japanese feel to it as well, and they’re going to introduce new items to the range on a quarterly basis.

Disney MXYZ Minnie Mouse

You can buy from the MXYZ range online over at the Disney Store and I suspect I’ll be heading to a store as soon as I can to check out the range. Never mind it being tweens and teens, us mid-40’s adults might like to buy a few as well. You never grow out of Disney! They’re available in stores now.

We’re posting this because we think the Disney MXYZ Range is awesome, we received no money or goods for doing this. 

by jo

The Lion Guard – Defenders of the Pride Lands at Disney Stores

Happening across Disney Stores in the UK & Ireland right now is a celebration of the Disney Junior show, The Lion Guard entitled ‘Defenders of the Pride Lands’.

The Lion Guard Defenders of the Pride Lands

The Lion Guard is a Disney Junior show which continues the story of The Lion King, following the adventures of Kion, the second born cub of Simba and Nala and his friends. It is targeted at children aged 2-7 years old. At the Disney Store in the UK & Ireland, there is a range of mini activities to celebrate the show – ‘Defenders of the Pride Lands’ with an activity based on each main character.

Kion – the leader of The Lion Guard. Guests will be asked to show what sounds other animals make, ending on Kion’s famous Lion Guard roar.

Ono – as his skill is keenest of sight, Guests will test their eyesight in a game of I-Spy for items around the Store, with clues given along the way.

Bunga – Guests will need to be brave, like Bunga, and navigate The Lion Guard maze.

Beshte – Guests will take part in a Trivia challenge to guess which animals are the strongest, just like Beshte herself.

Fuli – the fastest in The Lion Guard, and Guests will need to complete a fitness activity in the quickest time!

When you complete the tasks, you will be issued with a certificate and a set of stickers so you can become an honorary member of The Lion Guard!

The Lion Guard Defenders of the Pride Lands - Maze

Now, as I have mentioned several times on here, we’re going to Disneyland Paris this year for H’s birthday (and she still doesn’t know) – so I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Disney Store website. There’s a LOT to choose from on there!

The Disney Store has a really wide range of products including, of course, Disney Junior. There’s a range of toys from The Lion Guard which include figures, play sets, clothing, soft toys and homeware. There are also ranges available from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Never Land Pirates and Sofia the First. You just need to head to the Disney Store over here.

Doc McStuffins outfit at disney store ukFancy some dressing up? There’s some fab Doc McStuffins and Sofia costumes – I like that the Doc McStuffins one comes with extra parts so you can dress up with your little pals and play vets together! (H would love that!) It has a rrp of £25.95.

Minnie Mouse costume at Disney Store UK

I’m thinking H might wear the Minnie Mouse costume which has a rrp of £25.95 – although almost certainly when we get to Disneyland – I’ve got some ears already!!

Lion Guard Kion at disney stores uk

If you’re a Lion Guard fan, then this Kion stuffed toy is pretty cute with a rrp of £18.95 he looks pretty close to his cartoon self too!

As well as this, anyone who purchases anything from the Disney Junior range at the Disney Store will have a chance to win £500 worth of Disney Store products! To enter, Guests are invited to take a fun photo of their purchase and share on Facebook by 23 July 2016.

The Lion Guard continues to air on Disney Junior every Wednesday at 5:30pm – here’s a link to the section on Disney Junior.

by jo

Disney Life – Extra Things

So I’ve written a bit about the films on DisneyLife and what we’ve seen, but haven’t really gone into the extra things that are offered with a membership, which are definitely worth a mention.

DisneyLife logo

This year is a pretty busy year for Disney with some BIG films coming – we’re looking forward to Finding Dory, The BFG and the new Alice Through the Looking Glass’ film too. We recently saw the new Jungle Book film as well.

As DisneyLife members we were offered tickets for an exclusive viewing of The Jungle Book – which unfortunately we couldn’t do as H had swimming (it was a Wednesday) – but as luck would have it another blogger friend passed us on her tickets so we got to go on a Sunday instead. We’ve since been offered an exclusive presale on the new Aladdin show in the West End which we’re looking into.

As well as this, DisneyLife has some special exclusive content from ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ and the original Disney Alice in Wonderland animation.

You can discover more about the quirky characters from Alice’s world in all-new Live Action Character Worlds – characters include Alice, the Red Queen and the Tweedle twins. There is also a special featurette ‘Lewis Carroll’s Alice’ and a behind the scenes ‘White Rabbit Teaser’ from the new film.

You can read the original ‘Alice in Wonderland’ tale too, and listen to the new soundtrack from ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ – something I like doing before we see a film. We’ve also been told to look out for an exclusive link for preview screenings of the film before it’s release on the 27th May, though nothing has arrived yet… there’s still time…

I really like features like this as it makes you feel like your membership is valued and worthwhile – it’s the little extras that make you feel special.

An additional note too – we watched Cars 2 last night, and yet again no buffering happened – so I think it’s fairly safe to say the initial problems have been sorted!

We have been provided with complementary DisneyLife membership for six months, all opinions are our own. 

by jo

A DisneyLife Update

It has been a while since I’ve mentioned DisneyLife – and I have to be honest, we have been so busy we haven’t watched it as much as I thought I would. With it being so mild this year we’ve gone out more and had less time when we’d sit and watch a film, so I already feel like this is something that would work for me if I could dip in and out of it.

DisneyLife questions, DisneyLife six month subscription

BUT! We have Disney plans afoot. I’ve just booked us into Disneyland Paris for H’s 7th birthday, something I have to keep really quiet about now for the next three months (anyone who knows me knows this will be extremely difficult). We’re in the Rio Grande hotel, which is themed like the Pixar movie Cars. This means H needs to watch it properly – we’ve caught the end of tv screenings of the films but never watched them in full. Amazon Prime doesn’t offer them, nor Netflix, a quick check on DisneyLife and it has all the films plus offshoots – exactly what we need!

Our biggest problem up to now has been the streaming. At home we have fibre optic internet and found some films would pause and buffer – to the point the film was unwatchable. At the start of the year it was less annoying to buy High School Musical 2 on DVD for £1 than put up with the buffering. Since then there have been several updates to the app, which (touch wood) seem to have fixed these issues. We watched Cars, and there were no pauses at all which was a huge reassurance.

The other problem we’ve had is using the additional content. H’s tablet is an Amazon Fire Tablet, and the DisneyLife app isn’t available as an option, just Amazon Kids. So a lot of the content she could have accessed wasn’t possible. I don’t know whether it’s a conflict of businesses, and hope it’s just an oversight. I couldn’t work out a way around it to install it either, so for us, DisneyLife has been about the movies they offer and not the other content.

Having said that, there is a LOT of content – just look at what you get when you search for Cars!

Cars related content at Disney Life

Right now I feel like DisneyLife is something I would sign up for a few months if we had several Disney films to watch – and there’s plenty of them you’re not likely to run out. The most recent releases (Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur kind of era) aren’t on DisneyLife yet, but with there being so much to get through that hasn’t been a problem – and we ended up buying Inside Out on DVD anyway!

More updates soon…