Living the Star Wars life, we try to add a little bit of Star Wars fun into everyday – even meals. After watching countless videos from the opening of Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, we decided to recreate a dish from Ronto Roasters that we could enjoy at home – the Ronto Wrap.

This menu item in particular stood out to us from the all the Galaxy’s Edge food vlogs, and one that seemed the easiest to recreate at home. We looked up the Ronto Roasters menu description, which lists the ingredients –

Roasted Pork, Grilled Pork Sausage, Peppercorn Sauce, Tangy Slaw, Wrapped in Pita.

So we headed to our local supermarket to hunt out matching ingredients. We’ve never bought pork sausages or peppercorn sauce before, so we were glad to find those easily (though the pork sausages aren’t as long as the ones used in the original recipe, we got the longest ones we could find).

Ronto Wrap Ingredients (Copycat Version)

• Pork sausages
• Sliced roast pork
• Pita bread (or similar flatbread)
• Slaw/coleslaw
• Peppercorn sauce

Choose a pita bread that approximately matches the size of your pork sausages, and similarly, use cuts of roast beef that will fill your wrap enough to give that double-pork flavor.

We cooked the sausages according to the packaging instructions, and warmed up the sliced roast pork and peppercorn sauce. We had fun assembling our wraps together, and really enjoyed the flavours. Of course we haven’t had the chance to try to Ronto Wraps at Galaxy’s Edge, so we can’t compare tastes, but our’s was pretty good! Somehow it just felt like Star Wars food, we’re definitely keen to make this meal again soon.

Granted, everybody’s homemade version of Ronto Wraps will taste a little different, based on the variations in the ingredients you have access to, but we hope you enjoy your Black Spire-inspired food, and feel like you’ve captured a little bit of the Star Wars essence in your meal.

Bright Suns!

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The new Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge expansion at Disneyland is now open, and as we can’t be there, we have been following all the excitement with some of our favourite Disney vloggers on YouTube.

From the livestreams, to the food vlogs, we have been watching Galaxy’s Edge videos all day. I can’t wait until we get to visit Disneyland and experience it all ourselves, but in reality that is still a while away, so I’m glad there are youtubers out there letting the rest of us watch along.

Here are some of our favourite YouTube videos from the opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland –

• Fresh Baked Disney –

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddQwd58Wr-s

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CfQ0Rful3s

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXHBgBrEbEw

• The Daily Woo –

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBoRk_jbRUg

• Super Enthused –

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KopYbPpiufk

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Today is Mother’s Day – and I am so lucky to be the proud mum of the most amazing daughter in the world. She shares my love of all things Disney and Star Wars, and we have had so many fun adventures together.

One of my all-time favourite family holidays was our 2015 trip to Disneyland. We spent three whole days celebrating our love of Disney together – complete with matching Minnie Mouse sunglasses!

I can’t wait until we can visit a Disney park together again – we’re already planning our coordinating outfits and choosing which rides and snacks to try! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

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I love all things Disney – it even got me interested in running! I had long admired my US friends running the Run Disney events at the parks, but when they launched Star Wars race events, I knew I wanted to go!

I was able to attend the Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend 2016 at Disneyland, and have just returned from the Star Wars Rival Run Half Marathon Weekend 2019 at Walt Disney World – and now have 11 Run Disney medals of my very own – including the Kessel Run Challenge!

I came home with an awesome haul of medals this year – in addition to the usual race medals, I also completed the Rival Run Challenge (10K and Rival Run Half Marathon) and the Kessel Run Challenge (Virtual Half Marathon and Rival Run Half Marathon).

The first medal of the 2019 Rival Run weekend was the Virtual Half Marathon medal – having completed this run at home prior to the event, I picked up my medal from the Run Disney race expo. This is the heaviest of all my medals, it is really thick!

I must note, this is not how my medal originally looked – it had a red enamel ‘eye’ detail, which fell out as soon as I took my medal out of the packaging! I was sad at first, but it doesn’t affect the look too much, and I don’t really want to replace ‘my’ medal, it is what it is, and it’s still very special to me.

The first race event of the Rival Run 2019 weekend was of course the 5K – the medal features Finn vs Captain Phasma, in a spilt design which is held together with a plate across the back. Captain Phasma’s side has a shiny silver finish with red and black enamel details, while Finn’s side has a matte brushed gunmetal finish.

While the 5K race is the shortest/easiest run of the Rival Run weekend, it was absolutely pouring with rain! The race was nearly cancelled due to electrical storms, but after nearly 2 hours waiting in buses, they finally started the race. It was hard running in such heavy rain, but looking back, it was a fun adventure, and something different from the other races.

The medal theme for the 10K race is Han Solo vs Boba Fett. This is a gold-toned medal, with blue enamel details for the text. The mdeal has matte and shiny finishes, to highlight the characters.

The Rival Run Half Marathon medal is my favourite of the race medals – not just the design, but it also has Rey! This medal features Rey vs Kylo, divided down the center with a white lightsaber-inspired detail.

Rey’s side is accented with a blue enamel background, while Kylo’s side has a red enamel background (and each side has black enamel starships).

As I signed up for the Rival Run Challenge, I also recieved the Challenge medal for completing the 10K and Half Marathon races. This is a spinner medal, with a split inner disc of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

The spinner disc is divided into two parts, which spin independently of each other – you can have both sides of Vader’s helmet, both sides of Luke’s face, or half and half (I prefer half and half).

Last but certainly not least, the Kessel Run Challenge medal. I received this medal for completing the Virtual Half Marathon at home, and the Rival Run Half Marathon event at Walt Disney World.

I have wanted this medal since it was launched in 2016 – back then it was a ‘coast to coast’ style medal, awarded for finishing the Light Side Half Marathon at Disneyland, and the Dark Side Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. The events were three months apart, meaning two international trips.

Since Run Disney events are currently not being held at Disneyland, the Virtual Star Wars Half Marathon event replaces the Light Side Half Marathon – making it so much easier for international fans to achieve, with only one trip to a Disney Park required. While I am sad that the Run Disney events aren’t being held at Disneyland at the moment, I am so happy that I finally got my Kessel Run medal!

For completeness, here are my earlier Run Disney Star Wars medals.

My first ever Run Disney medal was the Star Wars Light Side 5K medal at the Disneyland event in 2016. Back then, the 5K medals were the rubber versions (the last time the Star Wars 5K medal was rubber, sigh) – a bit of a shame, but I still love it, it will always be my first medal.

The next event was the Light Side 10K, and my first Run Disney medal made with metal. I really love this design – a gunmetal silver crest with a rebel X-Wing fighter. No enamel details on this one, but the all-silver design really looks pretty.

My first big race medal, and my first ever half marathon – the Light Side Half Marathon! This medal resembles the ‘Yavin medal’ Princess Leia gives to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. The shiny gold finish is just gorgeous, and features a yellow enamel ring around the outside with raised gold-tone text. It felt so good to get this at the finish line!

After finishing the Light Side Half Marathon, I also got the Rebel Challenge medal, for signing up for/completing the Light Side 10K and the Light Side Half Marathon. This is a spinner medal, with a circular inset disc – one side has a red Rebel ‘bird’ symbol, with the other side features R2-D2. I can’t decide which side I like best!

In early 2018, to replace the canceled Disneyland Star Wars races, Run Disney launched the Virtual Star Wars Half Marathon. The inaugural medal features Poe Dameron, with a little X-Wing fighter detail that slides up and down the right-hand side edge!

Living outside the US, it will be on only rare occasions I get the opportunity to earn Run Disney Star Wars medals at the race weekends at the parks, so I am so excited they have given fans around the world the chance to get involved and earn medals at home.

It’s so much fun to finally see all my Run Disney Star Wars medals all together! I love all the different medal designs, with the vibrant and detailed ribbons, I really hope I get the opportunity to add to this collection in the future.

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Happy 90th Birthday Mickey Mouse!

The very first Mickey Mouse cartoon premiered on 18th November 1928 – ‘Steamboat Willie’. Disney cartoons and films were such a huge influence on my childhood – growing up with The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. I am now able to share that love of Disney with my family – and have finally achieved that dream of visiting Disneyland and meeting Mickey Mouse in person.

In 2015 our dreams came true – a holiday at Disneyland! The very first thing we spotted when we walked under that arch – Mickey Mouse! We ran up and got our family photo with Mickey, it was the perfect way to kick off our wonderful Disney vacation. There was something so magical about getting to meet Mickey in person and giving him a hug – it was really neat that we got to meet him together as a family.

We filled our visit with everything Mickey – of course we had to try as many Mickey-shaped foods as we could! We spotted Mickey Mouse everywhere, and took so many photos of our adventures. We tried to spot as many ‘hidden Mickeys’ as we could, as well as the more obvious ones!

Mickey’s Soundsational Parade was so much fun – our very first Disney parade, we saw it twice during our visit. We also made sure to watch World of Color as well – the show was amazing! Our daughter has grown up with Disney songs, and it was so special to celebrate that music we love so much at Disneyland together.

Our very first Disney Park experience was in 2012 – we spent one day at Walt Disney World, while we were in Orlando for Star Wars Celebration. As you can imagine, one day is not enough to fully experience Disney World, but we crammed in as much as we could. After riding Star Tours twice in Hollywood Studios, we hurried over to Magic Kingdom to get as much done as we could. From trying Mickey-shaped ice cream, to picking up a few Mickey Mouse souvenirs of our trip – it was an amazing day.

Despite our limited time, we were determined that we couldn’t visit Disney World without seeing Mickey Mouse – and camped out to see the stage show in front of the castle. Thankfully the Florida rain held off long enough to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse out on stage, dancing with their friends. This was the first time I had ever seen Mickey Mouse in person, I felt just like a little girl all over again, reliving my fond childhood memories of Disney cartoons.

As much as we loved our Disney World visit, it felt way too short – we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to at Magic Kingdom, and never even set foot in Epcot or Animal Kingdom! We were determined to make our way back to Disney, and were finally able to visit Disneyland three years later – and spend three whole days at the parks! We didn’t want to leave, we had so much fun!

As we can’t visit the Disney Parks as often as we would like, we try to add a little Disney magic to our life in other ways. One particularly special event we like to attend as a family is Disney On Ice. We were able to see this show when it visited New Zealand in 2014 and 2015. They are just wonderful shows, full of our favourite characters – and it’s the only way to see Mickey Mouse here in NZ.

Sometimes it feels awful that we live so far away from the Disney Parks – we certainly hope to return to Disneyland sometime in the future. In the meantime, we will be watching Disney movies, listening to Disney songs, wearing our favourite Disney fashion, and remembering our amazing Disney family holidays.

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse! We hope to see you again soon.

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This is my custom ‘Droid Factory’ astromech figure, that I built during our trip to Disneyland in 2015. I took inspiration from the ‘Mickey Ears’ hat, which features a red Jedi Order symbol on it, and used the colour as the basis for my choices. The red components felt the most ‘Queen Amidala inspired’ from the available choices at the time, so it seemed like a fun mixing of classic Disney and Star Wars influences.

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This is my R7-domed custom astromech from when we were in Anaheim for the Celebration convention in 2015, and took to opportunity to visit Disneyland to assemble a few “Droid Factory” action figures. Disney has been offering the Droid Factory build-your-own-astromech system since 2012, with a growing number of combinations and permutations possible.

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