Discovering Disney through a Foreigner's Eyes

[katoot]

Hey all. This is my first attempt at a PTR, so bare with me a bit.

When: Jan. 21-Feb 1, 2011

Where: Walt Disney World and Universal

Why: Honeymoon

Characters: Me, aka Casey. Originally from Wisconsin. I've been to WDW twice, although I was only 4 or 5 around that time, and both trips kinda bleed together in my memory. I've also been to Tokyo Disneyland when I studied in Japan for a year in 2006. I'm a 28-year-old English Teacher, living in South Korea. I've been here for two and a half years and am loving it. However, most of that is due to...

DW. Korean. We met through mutual friends in December of '08 and hit it off immediately. There was just one problem. She doesn't speak English, and I don't speak Korean. Yet, somehow, we are able to understand each other (usually). Flash forward to now, and we've been happily married for two months. Her English has gotten much better, while I am still struggling with Korean. She's visited my family in Wisconsin twice, and I've met her family many times. This will be her first time to Disney World and she doesn't quite understand yet why I am so excited to go. She is also relatively unfamiliar with Disney characters, so I'm trying to get her to watch as many movies and such as I can.

With Guest Appearances by:
My Brother, His Wife, and their 3-year-old daughter. They will be at the resort from 1/22-1/29. However, this will be their first vacation by themselves (meaning without our Mom or his in-laws tagging along) in about 7 years or so. Our plans are to meet up and spend our last full day at MK together.


Brief Schedule thus far:
1/21 Arrive in Orlando, Stay at Pop Century, have dinner at California Grill and watch Wishes.
1/22 Relaxed visit to Epcot
1/23 Epcot, then to Fantasmic at DHS
1/24 DHS, Dinner at 50'sPTC
1/25 Relaxed Day, perhaps some minigolfing and shopping
1/26 MK
1/27 AK, then to MK to see the Electrical Parade
1/28 MK with Bro's Fam, dinner at 1900
1/29 Check out of Pop, and into a hotel near Universal
1/30 Universal Studios
1/31 IoA (Early Pass, with Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks)
2/1 Return to Wisconsin

Bookending this Florida trip is a brief stay in Wisconsin from 1/19-1/21, and a slightly longer stay from 2/1-2/5. Classes at my middle school resume from winter vacation on 2/7. Whether or not I will be well rested to start teaching again is yet to be seen.

 

[katoot]

So now we've got just over one month to go. I got a few things sorted out that needed fixing, and I'm ready to go! If only I didn't have to wait that month...
Anyway, here's a picture of the wife and I, taken at the beginning of this year, just after the largest snowfall Korea got in something like 30 years.








Well...I was going to, but I didn't realize you needed to have at least 10 posts in order to post an image...


Anywho, I should get back to work (but secretly continue planning our trip in my head).

 

[Turkey Lurkey]

Subscribing.


Your brother sounds like an incredibly intelligent, creative, and handsome guy!



TL

 

[katoot]

Ok, I think I'm pretty much set on our itinerary. I had to move some parks around to get some less traffic filled days, and I've added, changed, and canceled various ADRs.

Starting to get a little stressed. We leave Korea two weeks from today, and we have yet to start packing. Because we are traveling in essentially two different climates (Wisconsin and Florida), I'm trying to figure out what to bring and how much. Plus with the uncertainty of Florida weather...it's a little overwhelming. Also, I want to make a little guidebook for DW full of pictures of the food at the restaurants we'll be eating at, as well as various parts of each of the parks and DTD. However, I also have to finish getting ready for an English Camp I teach at my school next week. It's times like these I wish I was more organized and less of a procrastinator.

Anyway, here's that picture I mentioned in my last post of DW and I.

 

[katoot]

Alright. So we will be leaving Korea in three days, and arriving in WDW in five days. Awesome!

Except, we aren't near ready to leave. We haven't started packing. If I understood the news report I saw earlier today, Seoul is experienced one of the coldest days in the past 10 years, so our water pipes are frozen, and we can't do laundry (plus we don't have a dryer, so we have to air-dry everything ). We still have some shopping to get done, but both DW and I have to work until we leave (I work 8am-4pm, while she works about 7pm-4am, so we can't really coordinate any after-work shopping together)

So far, I'm 10 pages in for the guide I'm trying to put together for DW. Unfortunately, that's only covering 3 days of our vacation/honeymoon (basically the day we leave Korea through the first day at Disney), which means I still have about 15 more days to cover. Fortunately, the two days I have to go to work, I have no classes to teach. So, for those 8 hours on those two days, I'll be researching as much as I can, trying to finish her guidebook. I'm hoping to get most of it done tomorrow, so that I can have one of my coworkers try to translate some of it into Korean for DW.

Speaking of which, I will try to work on the guide a bit tonight. I will also try to update this one last time before we leave.

 

[katoot]

After reading my brother's newest entry in his (much better than mine) PTR (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2559296), I have decided to give a list of things I am looking forward to the most on our trip. In no particular order (except for #1):

1. Watching Wishes from the Contemporary Resort on the first night of our visit.

2. DW experiencing Disney magic for the first time (including her first rides, first Character greetings, and first view of Cinderella Castle [see no. 1]).

3. Spending a day at Magic Kingdom with my 3-year-old niece.

4. The weather. Really looking forward to the nice warm weather of Florida after having the coldest weather in Seoul in over ten years and visiting Wisconsin for a couple days.

5. Reminiscing on the trips I made 20+ years ago. I know a lot has changed (heck, they even added two theme parks since I was last there), but I should be able to recall certain things that I wouldn't have been able to until I get there.

6. Fantasmic. I'm just hoping it's half as good as I've heard.

7. All of the attractions I loved when I was a kid and all of them that I haven't had a chance to experience yet.

8. Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

 

[katoot]

We are leaving Korea in just about 24 hours. Still not packed (or have even started). However, I did finish my WDW/US Guide Book for DW. Clocked in at 41 pages. Even got it printed in color. Now, to wait the five minutes for work to finish, then rack my brain on what needs to be done (besides packing) over the next 21 hours...

When I return, I shall have a better, stronger, faster Trip Report (and possibly Dining Report, as well).

 

[Turkey Lurkey]

Safe trip, brother! See ya real soon! HaHA!


TL