The Disney Tag!

Hello again!  This week, I decided that I would complete the Disney tag! Given that I love Disney, I knew this was a must for my blog! If you guys fancy having a go for your own blogs, I got the questions from the ‘Tag Questions’ website. So, without further ado, I present the Disney tag! Enjoy!

1.       Favourite animal?
Nick Wilde from Zootropolis! He’s just soo funny!

2.       Favourite character?
I think Nick Wilde might be my favourite character overall too! I also like Timon from The Lion King! And Chip and Dale are so adorable and cheeky!

3.       Favourite classic?
Probably either The Lion King or Aladdin.

4.       Favourite hero?
Probably either Simba or Aladdin.

5.       Favourite heroine?
Definitely Judy Hopps from Zootrpolis or Meg from Hercules.

6.       Favourite kiss?
Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder!

7.       Favourite love song?
I See The Light from Tangled.

8.       Favourite original character?
Depends…if we’re counting Chip and Dale as originals, then those two for sure! If not then Donald Duck.

9.       Favourite Pixar film?
Toy Story 2

10.   Favourite Prince?
Flynn Ryder…I don’t care how animated he is I still have a crush on him!

11.   Favourite Princess?
Cinderella, ever since I was young! I was lucky enough to stumble upon her in Disneyland the second time I went!

12.   Favourite quote?
I love all of Walt’s quotes, but my favourite is “laughter is timeless, imagination has no age and dreams are forever”, which I have as my computer background. I also like the motivational quote “if you can dream it you can do it”.

13.   Favourite sequel?
Toy Story 2 and 3

14.   Favourite sidekick?
Nick Wilde, as mentioned above I love him!

15.   Favourite song?
I like Kiss the Girl, but like I mentioned above I also like I See The Light.

16.   Favourite theme park attraction?
Big Thunder Mountain or Crush’s Coaster, both at Disneyland Paris as I haven’t visited any other Disney theme parks.

17.   Favourite theme park?
Disneyland Paris, like I said this is the only one I’ve been to! The main park is my favourite over the Walt Disney Studios Park.

18.   Favourite theme park show?
Mickey and the Magician at Disneyland Paris. My favourite night time Spectacular is Disney Illuminations at Disneyland Paris.

19.   Favourite villain?
Gaston, since he’s quite funny, especially in the newest version of the film. I also like Mother Gothel from Tangled.

20.   Favourite villain song?
Be Prepared, which is Scar’s song from The Lion King. I also like Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid, even though Ursula really scares me…

21.   Least favourite Pixar film?
The Cars franchise.

22.   Least favourite song?
This is such a hard question, but I’ve always found the Siamese Cat Song to be weird and annoying.

23.   Movie that makes you cry?
Tangled, during the I See The Light Scene, and also at the end when Flynn almost dies :( . And the whole of Tarzan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame!

24.   Movie that makes you laugh?
I think most Disney movies make me laugh at one point or another. Aladdin makes me laugh because of the Genie and Tangled makes me laugh because of Flynn Ryder.

25.   Overrated movie?
I feel like Frozen is quite overrated for what it is, but I do actually like the film and understand its appeal.

26.   Saddest death?
Bing-Bong’s death in Inside Out has always struck a chord because he was my favourite character! :(

27.   Song that always gets stuck in your head?
I’ll Make a Man Out of You always gets stuck in my head whenever I listen to it!

28.   The first Disney movie you saw?
I think it must’ve been Cinderella or Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. I would’ve been toddler age at the time!

29.   The saddest scene from your favourite movie?
My favourite Disney movie is Zootropolis, and the saddest moment is when Nick recalls his experience when he was muzzled for being a preditor.

30.   Underrated movie?
I think Saving Mr Banks doesn’t have the reputation it deserves. It’s more of an adult movie but great nonetheless! 

Well, that’s my Disney tag! Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday with a post all about college applications. See you then! 
Ellen x

My Shortbread Recipe!

Hiya! Yay, I'm finally posting on time! Sorry about the last couple of weeks and my various excuses for not posting on time, but hopefully I'll keep up to date from now on! Today's post is a recipe post of my shortbread recipe. This is my own recipe which was passed down to me from my mum. It's a pretty simple recipe, nothing too special really, that most people probably use to make a basic shortbread. I've included some photos too, so it's easier for you to follow along. So without further ado, here's my shortbread recipe...

Ingredients:
~ 50 grams of caster sugar
~ 100 grams of butter/margarine
~ 150 grams of plain/all purpose flour
~ 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract (don't panic if you don't have vanilla at home - it's just for an extra bit of flavour and the recipe works perfectly fine without it!)

Equipment:
~ Mixing bowl
~ Wooden spoon
~ Measuring spoons
~ Scales
~ Rolling pin (which isn't in the photo below!)
~ Cookie cutter(s)
~ Baking tray

Now that you know what you need and you're all set up, let's crack on with the recipe...

1) Firstly, preheat your oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/170 degrees for a fan assisted oven/gas mark 5. Then grease a baking tray using kitchen paper and a small amount of butter/margarine, to ensure your biscuits don't get stuck to the tray.

2) Next, weigh out your caster sugar using the scales and add to your mixing bowl, making sure you break up any lumps. Then weigh out and add the butter/marg to the mixing bowl.

3) Mix well with the wooden spoon, until rather thick and creamy. Measure and add the vanilla and mix well into the butter/sugar combination.

4) Now you need to weigh and add the flour. You can sieve the flour, however I'm lazy and chose not to!

5) Mix well until your mixture resembles a dough that can be formed into a ball without crumbling apart or leaving a sticky residue on your fingers. If your dough is too dry/crumbly, slowly add a few drops of water to bring it together. If it's too wet/sticky, add a bit more flour until it forms a smoother dough. Mine worked without having to add anything extra, so hopefully so will yours!

6) Roll out your dough using the rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. You may also want to sprinkle a touch of flour over your dough and rolling pin too. Don't roll the dough too thin, as they will burn easily in the oven! Hopefully my photos of the finished biscuits will give a better idea on how thick to roll your dough!

7) Cut out shapes of your choice using various cookie cutters and place on the baking tray. I chose to go for all circles - pretty boring really!

8) Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes depending on thickness. I had two trays of biscuits; the first took 14 minutes and the second (thinner) batch took 12. I'd say start off by giving the biscuits 12 minutes and then add if needed. If you think your biscuits are particularly thin, start off with 10 minutes and then check on them to see if they need longer - you don't want burnt biscuits after all!

9) Once the biscuits are done, place on a cooling rack to, well, cool! If you don't have a colling rack a plate will do the job just fine! Try them warm for the tastiest results, but NOT AS SOON AS YOU TAKE THEM OUT OF THE OVEN as they will be far too hot!

And voila! You have your very own homemade shortbread! Hopefully this was a simple recipe you could easily follow along with, with the help of the pictures. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next Sunday!

Ellen x

Disneyland Paris 2017/18 Lookback

Heyy! Welcome back to another post, this time about one of my favourite places; Disneyland Paris! My most recent trip took place from Saturday 30^th December 2017 and lasted until Tuesday 2^nd January 2018. So we were lucky enough to visit for the New Year and see their fantastic New Year’s Eve Parade, which I’ll be discussing later on! I went with my family (mum dad and sister) and another family consisting of my parent’s friends and my dad’s 5-year-old godson; it was so lovely to see how excited he would get, especially at the Star Wars stuff! Sorry this post is late, I had some technical problems with my photos! So without further ado, let’s look back at my trip…

Saturday, 30^th December 2017
I had an early start this morning, as this was the day we travelled to Disneyland! We got the Eurostar from Ebbsfleet International, which took about 2 and a half (very slow) hours. We arrived in Disneyland at about half past two and thanks to Disneyland Express, were able to head straight to the parks! We went for a family favourite to start off our trip; Pirates of the Caribbean. However we never made it on the ride, as it broke down! So we headed off to explore a little bit more around the park. We had a bit of mare with our tickets for the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and had to sort that out in Disney Village. We actually ended up heading to Walt Disney Studios Park after that and I went on one of my favourite rides called Crush’s Coaster -  a Finding Nemo themed rollercoaster. My mum and sister were too scared to ride (they don’t like rides!). We explored the Studios a little more, and then we headed to Disney Village to watch Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which is a dinner show. I ate a chicken leg, a sausage (it was a kids portion which is why the sizes are quite small) and some new potatoes, all of which was delicious! It was kind of hard to watch the show whilst eating, especially since it was dark! One of our family friends got involved in the show since our team won (well done team blue!). The day ended here, and we headed back to check into our hotel. We were in building 14, room 242 on the second floor, and this building was located right next to the exit for the park, which was convenient. It wasn’t too far to get to the restaurant either! We went to bed as soon as we got back, as we had an alarm set early the next day!

Entrance sign for the park

The Sleeping Beauty Castle, taken from Main Street USA

Sleeping Beauty Castle from Discoveryland at night

This is from the entrance to the Ratatouille ride

Sunday 31^st December 2017 (New Year’s Eve!)
We had an alarm set for 7:30am – another early start for me, then! But it was worth it to experience the parks when they were a bit quieter during the Magic Hours! What this basically means is guests staying in a Disney hotel can access the parks an hour before they open to day guests. Our family friends were having a lay-in this morning, to ensure their 5-year old son wouldn’t be too tired for the New Year’s Eve Parade and fireworks! We went to breakfast at about 8:15, and I enjoyed a croissant and some bread. Upon arrival at Disneyland Park, we went on few rides in Fantasyland, getting quite a bit done. We then met up with our family friends and grabbed some fastpasses for Peter Pans Flight (a walkthrough of the movie Peter Pan). We then rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride we missed out on yesterday and went back to do “it’s a small world” that the others hadn’t done (we did it earlier). It was then time to tackle Space Mountain! I’d never been on this rollercoaster, so was quite nervous, but really enjoyed it, as did my dad’s 5-year-old godson, who was only just tall enough to ride! We then got some lunch and explored Discoveryland a bit more. Next we used our fastpasses for Peter Pan’s Flight and headed back over to Discoveryland, where we rode the Star Tours simulator ride, which made me feel quite sick (we were in the front row too, so the 5-year-old was the ‘captain’)! We had to then sort out our tickets for the New Year’s Party, and went back to our hotel to wrap up warm ready for the park to reopen and the New Year Celebrations to begin! We headed back over at about 8pm ready for the New Year’s Eve Parade to start at 8:30. The parade was amazing! Not only was pretty much every Disney character in it (see highlights below), but it was made up of old floats which I remembered from my previous trips and the old songs were played too, along with the new 25^th anniversary songs and floats, as this parade was also sort of dedicated to the 25^th anniversary. Once the parade ended (later than expected as it broke down for a bit) we grabbed some dinner from Casey’s Corner (their hotdogs are to die for!) and then played the waiting game for the fireworks. We browsed the shops for a bit and then took our positions for the fireworks, which were brilliant. We then headed back to our room to get some sleep – no alarm set for tomorrow!

The adorable Chip and Dale!

 
 

Moana (not the clearest photo but all of these were taken on my phone!)

 

Ariel

 

Nick and Judy from Zootropolis

 

Mickey Mouse - Minnie was on the other side, so not in the photo :(

 

Peter Pan swinging boat float (Peter Pan is in the photo but blends into the background!)

 

Fire breathing dragon (Maleficent)

 

Frozen's Olaf and Sven

Monday 1^st January 2018
After a breakfast of bread and croissants ad a trip to the shop to buy a poncho due to the pouring rain, we reached the Disneyland Park at about 11am. The first thing we did was grab 4 fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain (AKA the runaway train) for myself, my dad, his 5-year-old godson and his dad. We then enjoyed a few rides, such as Pirates of the Caribbean (it’s inside!), my dad and I went on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (it’s a rollercoaster so my mum and sister didn’t come on) and Phantom Manner (a haunted house). We then met up with our family friends, just in time to use our Big Thunder Mountain fastpasses! We enjoyed some more rides before watching the 25^th anniversary Stars on Parade. This is quite the spectacle – Disneyland have really upped their game for their 25^th anniversary! Some of the floats include a swinging boat for Peter Pan, a Toy Story spinning wheel and a fire breathing dragon! These (apart from Toy Story) are pictured above. Once the parade ended, we decided to have a sit down meal dinner at Planet Hollywood, where I ordered steak and 3 different types of chips (regular, curly fries and criss-cross). Yum! We then went over to the studios to watch the evening Christmas show there, which was a mixture of live action and projection on the Tower of Terror. It was brilliant! We then went back into the main park, where we went on Pirates of the Caribbean before taking our position for Illuminations – the night time spectacular for Disneyland Park. The show was amazing, however it was a shame that I was watching it freezing cold and squashed against a fence! The show included scenes from many different Disney movies, such as Frozen, Star Wars and The Little Mermaid. Once the show ended, we went back to our room to go to bed.

Fireworks #1

 

Fireworks #2

 

Fireworks #3

 

Fireworks #4

 

Fireworks #5

Tuesday 2^nd January 2018
Today was the day we had to leave! Packing was easy and we were able to get it done this morning before checking our bags in to pick up at the train station later. We headed to the Studios first, to ride the Studio Tram Tour, a behind the scenes tour giving an insight into the world of movie making, and to watch the show Mickey and the Magician. Our seats were right in front of where some of the characters came in, so we were lucky to get quite an interactive experience! The show was amazing, featuring Mickey Mouse trying to tidy a magician’s office, but different objects transport him into many different movies along the way! Once the show ended, we had to rush for our fastpasses for Rockin’ Rollercoaster, which my dad and I had picked up earlier in the day. This is quite an intense rollercoaster, so as you can imagine, my mum and sister skipped out on this one! We then went back into the main park to meet Darth Vader before leaving to grab dinner at McDonalds (yes there’s a McDonalds in Disneyland!) and head to the train station. We waited quite a long time to check in and go through security, and got straight on the train. We arrived back at Ebbsfleet and parted our separate ways, arriving home at about 10pm.

Well, there you go! This post was originally going to contain tips and advice for anyone visiting, or looking to visit, Disneyland in the future, but the post is already long, so let me know if this is something you’d be interested to see in the future! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Sunday!

Ellen x

UCAS Exhibition 2018 - My Exerience

Sorry this post is late, I was busy yesterday for Mother's Day!

Last Tuesday (6th March) I attended the Sussex UCAS higher education exhibition at the Brighton Centre in Brighton. UCAS is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service who operate the application for British universities. By attending a UCAS exhibition, you have the opportunity to have a look at universities you may be interested in attending quite far in advance (the exhibit is for year 12s). It's not just for universities though, for example the army were at my one and so were National Apprentice Service. In today's post, I'm going to give you an overview of my experience of, and leading up to my UCAS convention along with some tips to help you have the best experience at your UCAS convention and to access as much information as possible. This will hopefully be beneficial for anyone who hasn't had their UCAS convention yet this year (luckily Sussex is one of the first ones!) and for anyone looking to attend a UCAS convention next year! So let's get started...

You firstly need to book your ticket to attend the UCAS convention. This can be done via their website (https://www.ucas.com/ucas/events/find/type/exhibition). However it is worth finding out if your school is planning on attending, like mine, as you will be able to book your ticket with your school, who will provide details of this to you. UCAS exhibitions happen all over the country, so find the one closest to you. Your ticket will be sent to the email address you provided UCAS with on your ticket booking, and you need to print your ticket and bring it with you on the day.

My ticket

Once you have booked your ticket, UCAS will begin contacting you with further information about the day, including the line up. This not only includes the exhibitors attending, but also the seminars that will be taking place throughout the day. It is a good idea to make a plan of the exhibitors you want to see at your convention along with the stand number they are at, so that you have a clear plan of action for the 2 hour (or 1 and a half hour) session. Don't forget to schedule in your seminars you plan to attend (I personally didn't attend any seminars).

UCAS will also provide you with some handy resources, for example a checklist of what they recommend you should bring with you and a document of some key questions you could ask the exhibitors. Make sure you read these documents, as they are there to help you make the most of your time at the convention. Maybe pick out the questions you would like to ask and make a document of these, and bring everything they recommend, as you will probably need it during your day.

This some of the free merch I picked up (sorry this photo is awful!)

On the day of your exhibition, try to arrive on time. You don't want to waste any of your session or miss any seminars. The exhibitors will be able to scan your ticket and gain your email address from this, so they can send you information about open days and more and these approach. Get any university etc. you are interested in to scan your ticket to ensure you don't miss out on any information regarding open days or events, and don't be afraid to ask questions, as the exhibitors will be happy to help you. Don't drop your ticket like I did (I managed to find it again though)! If you need information about applying through UCAS, it is a good idea to speak to UCAS themselves, as they will have a stand at your convention. This is a good opportunity to find out about applying through UCAS, whether this be for uni or for an apprenticeship. Pick up prospectuses of universities you're interested in attending and information about any apprenticeships that interest you. You will need to bring a sturdy bag to carry these in (it will get heavy eventually though!). Don't stick with your friends if you have different interests, as this will waste your time and you won't find out all you need to. Another thing I did before my convention was print out the floorpan from the UCAS website (linked above). You will be given a map when you arrive at your convention, but it's A3 and a fold-up, so is quite big and fiddly. By printing off an A4 version before you go, you'll make your life ten times easier in my opinion!

This is the map that I printed

After your convention, you may want to review all of your prospectuses and fold over the pages of the courses that interest you if the exhibitors haven't already folded them over for you. This saves you having to read the whole thing. Make sure you read all of the information pages about the campus, funding, accommodation and any extras about the university, as this could be a good way to eliminate any universities that don't suit you. It's a good idea to be prepared by October, as this is when most applications open for universities and UCAS (I think!).

A couple of the many prospectuses I picked up

That's all the tips and tricks for your UCAS convention! Hopefully you're well prepared, whether yours takes place next week or next year! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next Sunday with a Disney themed post that I may have mentioned in my last post! Bye for now!

Ellen x

Get To Know Me Tag!

Hiya! Welcome back to the second post on my blog…the get to know me tag! Sorry I've been gone for a while, but I started doubting the idea of starting a blog, but I'm back now! My usual uploading day will be a Sunday, but today is an exception! Since I've been gone for a while, I've decided to start off my blogging journey by allowing my readers into my life to get to know me as a person so they have an idea about the girl behind the screen. The tag I have found has been sourced from the tagquestions.net website, however the tag was actually 95 questions long, so I’ve chosen a few random ones. Enjoy!

1.       What is your full name?
Ellen Bryony Gwynn.

2.       Where are you from?
I’m from Horsham, a small town in West Sussex

3.       Where were you born?
I was born at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

4.       Which of your parents are you most like?
This is tricky…some people say I’m just like my mum and others say I’m just like my dad. I hear that I look like my dad the most, so I suppose I’m most like my dad. We have the same OCDs too.

5.       What’s your favourite drink?
Water, since it’s the only drink I drink!

6.       What’s your favourite food?
This is such a difficult question! You can’t beat a Sunday roast, I suppose that’s my answer!

7.       What’s your favourite holiday destination?
Disneyland Paris! I'm going to do a lookback post soon on my recent trip!

8.       Dogs or cats?
Cats, even though I’m slightly allergic! Dogs used to be my favourite animal, but the bigger ones kinda scare me nowadays…

9.       How old were you when you went on your first date?
I’ve never really had a proper first date…me and a boy did try before but it got crashed by another boy (coincidentally my ex) who wouldn’t leave us alone!

10.   What’s top of your bucket list?
Definitely to go to Disney World in Orlando!

11.   What’s something you’re gifted at?
I don’t think I’m particularly gifted at anything, but I’ve always been told I’m good at English (the subject not the language :D)

12.   What’s the one item you can’t you leave home without?
My phone. It comes in so handy during those 5 hour free periods at college!

13.   What’s the first movie you remember seeing?
Cinderella? That would explain why she was always my favourite Disney Princess. Either that or Pooh’s Huffalump Movie, apparently I was obsessed with that and cried whenever it ended!

14.   What’s your best physical feature?
I’ve been told before that I have a good nose…

15.   What’s your eye colour?
It’s a sort of hazel colour that’s mostly green.

16.   What’s your favourite colour?
Pink or purple, however I’ve also been obsessed with burgundy recently.

17.   What’s your favourite ice-cream flavour?
I don’t like ice-cream, but if I did I reckon it would either be strawberry or cookie dough!

18.   What’s your star sign?
Cancer, since I was born on July 20^th 2001. If I’d been born 3 days later I’d be a Leo!

19.   Do you have any birthmarks? If so, where?
I have these strange birthmarks that sort of hang off my skin…they have a name that I can’t remember. I have one on the back of my neck, one above my left armpit and one somewhere else…I also have flat ones that are slightly risen, and I have one on my chest and down the back of my left leg. I also have a small, hardy visible one on my ankle ad behind my left ear.

20.   What was the first concert you ever attended?
I went to see The Vamps in 2015, but my first concert alone is coming up when I go to see Niall Horan in March!

21.   What was your favourite subject in secondary school?
I used to really enjoy English and Citizenship.

22.   What was your least favourite subject in secondary school?
I used to hate art and PE, and I’m glad to be rid of them. I do exercise, if you’re wondering, as I do a dance class once a week and I’m starting a gym class once a month.

23.   What is the furthest you’ve ever been from home?
With my family; Lanzarote. Alone; Calais in France.

24.   What is your biggest fear?
I’ve always been funny about fire, since I was really young. It probably wasn’t helped by my secondary school having a fire a few years ago…

25.   When was the first time you were on a plane?
2010, the first time I went to Lanzarote (I’ve been 5 other times since).

26.   Who is your favourite musician?
Niall Horan. I usually just listen to songs though, not really caring who sings them.

27.   Who was your first celebrity crush?
Tom Daley! There was an article about him in a magazine when I was like 11 and it featured a sequence of photos of him removing his shirt!

28.   Have you ever suffered a fracture?
Nope! The worst injury I’ve ever had was I once jumped in the bath (on Christmas Eve) and my foot went really swollen. There was nothing wrong with it though, and it could’ve even been linked to a virus I had the next week.

29.   How many boyfriends have you had?
3.

30.   What app do you use most?
I would say Snapchat, it’s how I contact most of my friends. I only really got into it properly once I started college though!

31.   The first app you check when you wake up in the morning?
I usually just turn on my phone to check if I have any notifications, and go through in the order I received them. But if I have notifications I head to Snapchat to do my streaks!

32.   What are some of your bad habits?
Picking my lips and fingers. I get really bad ulcers/cuts from it.

33.   What countries have you visited?
I have visited Lanzarote, which is a Canary Island, so part of Spain, Ibiza, which is also part of Spain and Paris and Calais in France. So basically just France and Spain.

34.   What countries would you like to visit?
Florida, California, anywhere else with a Disney theme park and New York.

Well, there you have it! Hopefully, this post gave you the opportunity to learn a little bit more about me before this blog gets into the swing of things! Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next week, with a college/university themed post!

Ellen x