Sisters Act Magical Disney Challenge

In January 2017 I was on my way home from London after a day at work when I was looking through Twitter and came across Walk the Walk’s tweet about a new challenge called the “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo Challenge”. The challenge was a power walking weekend in Disneyland Paris consisting of a 10km and a half marathon. I was so excited when I saw the challenge and couldn’t wait to get home to tell my sister Becca, who like me, is an absolute Disney fanatic. Within an hour we were both registered!

The thought of going to Disneyland Paris was so exciting and raising money for a cause so close to our hearts made it feel even more magical. Like many who take part in the Walk the Walk challenges, we have a personal connection to wanting to raise money for the wonderful charity. We lost our beloved Nan to Breast Cancer and have many friends and family who have undergone or are undergoing treatment.

This was our second Walk the Walk challenge, the first being The MoonWalk London in 2015.

Training

Training for the challenge was difficult because of Becca being a hockey player playing and travelling around the country most weekends with her Hockey Club. However, the training started really well and we were training very early on Sunday mornings together. Most of our training was done after work or during lunch breaks. I was lucky enough to walk up to the lovely Regents Park. My sister, on the other hand, did her lunchtime training by the sea in Folkestone.

We knew the distance of the event wouldn’t be a problem, as we had completed The MoonWalk in 2015. What worried us was the speed as timings played on our mind throughout the training process. We needed to do the 10k in an hour and a half and complete the half marathon in three and half hours.

Towards the end of the training, Becca had to do training on her own as I had an injured my foot. I just had to go into the challenge weekend hoping for the best!!!

Disneyland Paris Challenge Weekend

The weekend had finally arrived after months of counting down the days and both of us were so excited. The Facebook Page created for people taking part in the challenge was very useful, it got many of us talking beforehand and helped us get through the training.

A group of us decided to stay in London on the Thursday night before leaving on Friday morning. At the hotel seven of us met for drinks and had dinner together, which was a lovely idea; we got to know each other before the weekend started and talked about why each of us were doing the challenge.

On Friday the first thing on the itinerary was to meet the rest of the team at St Pancras before we boarded the Eurostar. We finally arrived at Disneyland at about 3pm, where we checked into the Disney Sequoia Lodge. We were welcomed by Sam and Jo from Walk the Walk who explained how the weekend was going to work and what the timings were for the races.

After our welcome brief we headed to the Disney Expo to get our race numbers, t-shirts and party pass for the Opening Party at World Disney Studios at 9pm.

Next, we headed into The Magic Kingdom for a team dinner at Captain Jack’s which was fun & everyone talked about what they were expecting from the Challenge. After dinner, the team bonded and went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was great fun. 

Both my sister and I met some amazing people throughout the weekend. We spent Friday night with two lovely ladies, Gynette and Carol, who we had a blast walking around and going on Thunder Mountain with! 

Saturday

At 4.15am the alarm went off for our first challenge, the 10k, both of us were nervous but excited and just wanted to get to the start line. Once we arrived at the start line our bras were out raising awareness for Walk the Walk.

The fireworks went and we were off! The challenge was amazing as the walk was all around the Disney parks so you always had something to look at and never knew what characters were going to be around the corner. The staff were also brilliant cheering us on as we went past but the biggest shout out has to go to Jo from Walk the Walk who was a welcome sight at the tough points cheering us on!

During the final stretch, it was amazing to hear the crowd cheering on with Goofy at the end to give us all that final push. We were so happy to complete the 10k challenge in the set time.

After the race, we went back to the hotel for our second breakfast of the day and to get ready for a day in the parks. It was a great day, with lots of laughter and screaming from the rides.

Saturday was finished off by a team dinner in a steak restaurant which was another team building evening and yet again was a fantastic evening with a great group of people.

Sunday

Once again the alarm went off at 4.15am to do the half marathon and complete the challenge to win the three medals.

I walked with Sam from Walk the Walk and I could not have asked for a better walking partner as we had a great time taking pictures in front of the castle in our bras and playing games most importantly though Sam helped me get to the end. I seriously couldn’t thank her enough for her support throughout the weekend.

Three and half hours later we had completed the half marathon and what an achievement it was for us both.

After we had had our pictures taken and collected our medals it was time to go back to the hotel for breakfast and have a leisurely morning. Sunday was a day to do what you liked and a few of us decided that it would be nice to eat together so Jo managed to book a table at The Plaza where we had a lovely meal and a great laugh followed by the fireworks.

Disneyland is just such a magical place and we couldn’t have asked for a better place to do our Walk the Walk Challenge.

Monday

Becca had to leave first thing on Monday to start a new job in Amsterdam but the group were brilliant. We headed into the parks and because Becca had left, I got away with doing the gentle rides like It’s a Small World before heading back to the UK.

It was such a great weekend and we made some friends for life who all have the same passion.

Sister Act raised over £1,300 for Walk the Walk by participating in such a fantastic challenge.

If you are thinking about doing this challenge … DO IT! You will have the best weekend with an amazing group of people, raising money for an incredible charity!

Thanks again to Walk the Walk and the Disney 2017 team, we had the best time!

Sam and Becca x

Calling all big kids, come and play at Disneyland Paris in 2019... entries are open... join us now!