The new Fantasyland at Disney World Resort, Florida

In May 2014, the New Fantasyland area at Disney World Resort in Florida was completed. The expansion started in 2011, and on our previous visits to Disney World we've seen new areas of the park opened, and watched the building of the new roller coaster ride, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. On our recent visit in November 2014 we were excited to visit and see the whole of the New Fantasyland open.

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened in May 2014 and has been very popular. The new FastPass+ system at Disney World allows you to book your Fast Pass tickets 30 days in advance if you are staying off-site. Hotel Guests are able to book their tickets 60 days in advance, and as off-site visitors we found that by the time we were allowed to book, all the tickets for this ride had gone. With queues throughout the day of up to two hours, the only realistic way that we were able to ride was to arrive before park opening and when the gates opened speed walk to the ride to join the queue. We only managed this once, and our wait was about 20 minutes. Luckily, like all of the other newer rides, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has a very well designed queuing area, with a few interactive games and activities for children to keep them entertained while you wait.

In fact, the new and improved rides in Fantasyland are all very well designed when it comes to waiting in line. The best queuing area is at Dumbo the Flying Elephant, where children can play in an indoor play area while you wait for your pager to buzz and announce your turn to ride. The Journey of the Little Mermaid and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh also have excellent waiting areas with interactive games to play. Luckily we usually manage to plan our day with minimal waits but I can see how this would really make a difference to the queuing experience when you have little ones.

A new Fantasyland attraction that we hadn't managed to visit on our previous trips was Enchanted Tales with Belle, as again it is so popular that it has a very long wait within minutes of the park opening. This time we were able to visit as we had booked our Fast Passes in advance. You are taken through the attraction in small groups, and volunteers are chosen to play different parts in a simple story that is performed to Belle. At the end there is the chance to meet with Belle and have your photograph taken. We don't usually do the character meet and greets as they take up too much of the day, so it was a nice opportunity for the children to see a favourite character close up.

A picture of them together would have been nicer of course, but Harry was too nervous to approach Belle until he saw that she was handing out bookmarks, and luckily that was enough incentive for him to pose for a photo!

With small children we spend most of our time at Disney World in Fantasyland as the rides are just perfect for them, and so close together that you don't need to ask too much of them when it comes to walking around. If you arrive early and plan your day, especially if you take full advantage of the new Fast Pass system, you can really minimise the time that you spend waiting. I'm not enough of an expert to discuss it here, but this is an excellent guide DisneyWorld FastPass+ Overview, Tips and Advice (and I'd also fully recommend paying for the planning tools on that website, it's currently only $12.95 for a year and it has been brilliant for us, no affiliation just a genuine recommendation!)

I hope that you enjoyed my little glimpse into the New Fantasyland!

Ladybird Tuesday - Easy to Make Puppets

This week for Ladybird Tuesday I have another book from Series 633 - Hobbies. Easy-to-make Puppets was published in 1973 and features instructions for a variety of different puppets, as well as ideas for scenery, props and even a simple puppet booth.

The book begins with a basic elephant puppet made from a thin sheet of card through which you post your finger to make the elephant's trunk. The book then carries on with ideas for a huge range of different puppets, made from household items including plastic bottles, handkerchiefs, apples and yoghurt pots. The designs are all simple, and yet some are really clever!

The puppets increase in complexity as you progress through the book, finishing with papier mache moulded heads and handsewn glove puppets. You could put on a really professional style puppet show with some of these.

The puppets in the book tend to focus on characters that featured in children's games and stories at the time, like Red Indians and robbers. Nowadays as well as traditional fairytales children would probably enjoy making puppets for their favourite Disney films and television characters. I know that my children love printing out pictures of their favourite characters and sticking them to lollipop sticks to make very simple puppets, and now I'm inspired to try something a bit more complicated!

If you love Ladybird books, do pop over and visit Ladybird Tuesday, where Being Mrs C is assembling a really comprehensive catalogue of Ladybird books and reviews.

Below you can find links to all my Ladybird Tuesday book posts.

Snow White and Rose Red
Hansel and Gretel
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Three Little Pigs
The Old Woman and her Pig
Little Red Riding Hood
The Ugly Duckling
The Railway Children
A Little Princess
A First book of Aesop's Fables

A Ladybird Book about Knitting
More Things to Make - For Special Occasions
Easy to Make Puppets
Learning to Sew
Stamp Collecting
Tricks and Magic

Prehistoric Animals and Fossils
Dinosaurs
Stone Age Man in Britain
Great Civilisations - Crete
Charles Dickens
Nelson
Lives of the Great Composers Book 1
Lives of the Great Composers Book 2
The Story of Music

Plants and How They Grow
The Ladybird Book of the Night Sky
Sea and Air Mammals
The Farm

The Story of Nuclear Power
The Motor Car
How it Works - The Computer
How it Works - The Rocket
The Story of Ships
The Postman and the Postal Service
People at Work - The Nurse

Understanding Numbers
Talkabout Clothes
Going to School
Teaching Reading

Stories of Special Days and Customs
Christmas Customs

Girls and Boys - A Ladybird Book of Childhood

Now We Are Six

Now We Are Six by A. A. Milne

When I was One, I had just begun. 

When I was Two, I was nearly new. 

When I was Three I was hardly me. 

When I was Four, I was not much more. 

When I was Five, I was just alive. 

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, 

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

Today is Harry's sixth birthday, and at the weekend I copied this poem out into his birthday card.

When I was little I remember helping my Mum write the poem above by A. A. Milne into a friend's birthday card. I loved it so much that I insisted on having it in my own card when I turned six, and we had a copy on our noticeboard for years, so I've always remembered it.

Today it's Monday again, like the day that Harry was born. All through my labour that morning in the hospital I had the radio on, and in every news bulletin the day was referred to as the most depressing day of the year and although of course it's completely made up it has stuck in my mind!

Harry wasn't a very contented baby, and I found the first few months hard. He just didn't like being a baby very much. As soon as he was able to talk and understand things he became so much more fun and he has grown up into such a lovely little boy. He's a sensitive little thing, funny and clever, and interested in everything.

We had a little party for him on Sunday with some cake, then tonight we are going out for dinner, followed by a soft play party for his friends next weekend. Harry's birthday always seems to be spread out over several days! So Happy Birthday to Harry, my not so little boy!

Review - Happy Days, Brighton jigsaw puzzle from Ravensburger

I've really been enjoying doing jigsaws over the last few weeks, and having finished my antique map puzzle I was ready for something a bit different, so the chance to try the Happy Days, Brighton jigsaw puzzle from Ravensburger was perfectly timed!

I do love Brighton, and so the picture naturally appealed to me, and I love the bright, cheerful colours in the design. It's always a bit daunting starting a new jigsaw but also quite exciting, it really appeals to my organised nature to want to sort out all the pieces and fit them together!

Because the colours are so lovely and vibrant it was pretty easy to make a start and there were plenty of different areas that were easy to work on. The bottom of the picture was a bit more difficult, but overall this jigsaw was at just the right level for me - challenging enough to be fun but not so difficult that I lost interest.

Here's the finished puzzle, it kept me busy for a good few days. I'm ready to reclaim the dining table now after a few weeks of solid puzzling, but I know that I'll definitely be returning to this one at some point!

I received this jigsaw to review.

Ironing tips for Hama beads

As you can probably imagine, I spend a fair amount of time ironing Hama beads (also known as Perler or melty beads). During that time I've picked up a few tips and tricks so I thought I would share them!

I'm afraid I have no advice when it comes to actual irons, as the only thing that gets ironed in this house is the Hama beads. We do have a half decent iron as it came free when we bought our washing machine, but I wouldn't have thought it makes much difference.

• I use the medium setting on the iron (two blobs) for the more common midi beads. For the mini beads I use the lightest setting (one blob) as they are tiny and melt very easily.

• It's best to iron the beads on a firm, flat surface - I use a cork heatproof mat placed on my kitchen work surface. 

• Hama bead kits come with ironing paper, and you can also buy it separately. You don't need the special paper though as you can just use normal baking paper, and you can reuse the sheets quite a number of times. It's best to discard the paper once the surface has started to go white in places, as then it can start to stick to the beads. You do need to use paper when ironing, I can imagine it would be quite messy if you didn't!

• I wait until the iron has heated up, then iron the design through the paper, moving the iron around as I go. As they melt, the colour of the beads starts to appear through the paper, and then you know that they are ready. If you iron too much it becomes very difficult to remove the beads from the pegboard. So if you want the design to be firmly fused together it's a good idea to remove it from the pegboard as soon as the beads have stuck together, and then iron again without the pegboard underneath.

• Whether to iron the beads on both sides is a matter of personal preference. I tend to, as the children like to play with their finished creations and it makes them sturdier. When I am making a piece for display, like this Hama bead quilt inspired design, I iron quite a bit on one side and then just lightly on the side that will be shown, so that you can still clearly see the beads. This is the front side:

• Larger designs in particular can warp as they cool. To prevent this, as soon as I've finished ironing a design I place it between two cork mats with a weight on top for several minutes. I find that this works very well to keep it flat.

The children and I love making things out of Hama beads, and we now have several shoeboxes filled with our creations. If you are looking for things to do with the Hama bead designs that you have made, I've written about some ways to display finished Hama bead projects. You can find all my Hama bead posts, including plenty of design inspiration, on my Hama beads page.

Sponsored post - Do you have an unusual fear?

Most people are scared of something, and most fears are pretty common. But according to a new poll by Benenden, 61% of the population admit to having some sort of uncommon phobia, with only 2% of them feeling unaffected by their fear.

People taking part in the survey admitted to all sorts of strange fears. Some of them are fairly logical, for example I can relate to a fear of scaffolding as I'm often nervous when walking underneath, and I think many people are wary around some types of insect or moths. But it must be difficult to live with a fear of one of your body parts, like wrists, ankles or collar bones! It's also quite a sad sign of modern times that 8% admitted to being afraid of losing their phone coverage, although I've become so reliant on my phone that I do worry about finding myself without a phone in an emergency situation, or when needing to be contacted by someone looking after the children.

89% of those polled have never sought treatment for their fear, although there are various treatments available. Perhaps because they don't think they will be taken seriously, or don't feel that it has a great impact upon their everyday life.

I don't really have any serious phobias, but I must admit that as quite an anxious person there are probably many things that I'm scared of that seem pretty silly to others! For example, I'm terrified of putting petrol in the car, and so I always leave it to my husband. (I'm one of the 57% of people taking part in the survey that avoids situations where they could be faced with their fear!)

We have a digital display in the car that tells us roughly how many miles worth are left in the tank, and as it was running low last week I arranged that I'd put some more petrol in. But I'm embarrassed to say that when I got to the petrol station I panicked, stalled the car, and ended up driving quickly away! Meaning that a few days later I had another very stressful drive to the petrol station watching the miles remaining counter ticking down faster and faster, before reaching the petrol station with just 4 miles left on the display.

Of course I managed to put the petrol in just fine, and now I'm more confident to do it next time, so perhaps the answer is to simply face these strange fears head on!

Do you have an unusual fear?

This is a sponsored post in associated with Benenden. The unusual fears poll ran for two weeks, and 771 people took part. 

Read 20 books recommended by others - Day Zero Project update

A bit of an update on my Day Zero Project list. I'm afraid that I've been slacking a bit lately. It was an ambitious list, and although when I started it back in November 2012 it seemed as though I had all the time in the world, I've suddenly realised that I only have until August this year to complete everything! I'm not sure how likely that is going to be, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't tick everything off, but instead reflect on how much I've enjoyed taking part in it!

The challenge to Read 20 Books Recommended by Others was one of the first that I started, knowing that it was a long term one. I asked for book recommendations across various social media channels, and ended up with a long list. I started reading ones that were easy to get hold of, and tracked down other ones that I liked the look of. I'll be honest that I did pick and choose the books, but I still read plenty that I wouldn't have otherwise. I've included in the list books that I was sent to review, in particular as part of the BritMums book club, as I felt that this falls into the scope of the challenge and I only have so much time in the day available to read.

I found some fantastic new books, and there was only one that I didn't get on with and couldn't finish. I also didn't get through the entire list of suggestions, so I have more waiting when I'm looking for inspiration to read!

So here are the books that I read:

1 - Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde (Anna).

2 - Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Joanne).

3 - The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson (Lucy)

4 - The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (Cat)

5 - How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran (Joanne)

6 - Room - Emma Donoghue (Sarah)

7 - The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (Merry)

8 - The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Sarah)

9 - Me Before You - Jojo Moyes (Kate)

10 - A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (Cherry)

11 - The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (Sarah)

12 - The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks (Aly)

13 - The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka (BritMums)

14 - The Passage - Justin Cronin (Alistair). This was the one that I couldn't finish unfortunately, although I gave it a very good go. It had an interesting plot but I just found it too long.

15 - My Animals and Other Family - Clare Balding (BritMums)

16 - Quiet - Susan Cain (BritMums)

17 - Above All Things - Tanis Rideout (BritMums)

18 - The Judas Scar - Amanda Jennings (BritMums)

19 - Peaches for Monsieur le Cure - Joanne Harris (Mum)

20 - Travelling to Infinity - Jane Hawking (review copy from publisher)

Do you set yourself reading challenges? I'm finding that I have more time for reading now that the children are older and so I'm wondering if I should come up with something new to challenge myself with.