First KFC and McDonalds - now Disney World!

A few weeks ago for a class lesson on the importance of taking notes, I put together a Powerpoint presentation of the Seven Most Popular Theme Parks in the World. Needless to say, my students paid extra attention, especially when the "Disney-esque" theme park in Beijing was mentioned. Not only did I have some updated shots of Minnie and Mickey (they look JUST like Disney's Minnie and Micket...hmmmmm), I also had to explain the theme parks slogan: Disney is too far away, come here!...naturally a conversation about copyright and infringement followed but it's just standard business practice over here and the kids know it.

And just today I read that the real Walt Disney has agreed to begin construction on their largest theme park yet - in Shanghai.

The initial resort, with a mix of shopping areas, hotels and a Magic Kingdom-style theme park, will sprawl across 1,000 acres of the city’s Pudong district — with the theme park occupying about 100 of those acres. It would be a little bigger than Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and on par with the parks in Paris and Tokyo. It is expected to open in five or six years. Disney’s plans are ambitious: If further development of the resort happens as expected over the coming decades — still a big if — it will encompass more than 1,700 acres and have a capacity rivaling Disney World in Florida, which attracts about 45 million annual visitors.

In a few short years Disney will land on Shanghai like a virus, taking over what is easily the coolest, most exciting city in this massive country. I guess since we are scheduled to leave here and head back to Tampa in several weeks, we will miss the biggest injection of western influence since KFC opened up here in the Middle Kingdom. Maybe Shanghai will get lucky and they will get a Chinglish version of Space Mountain. Or they can import some of the original folks from the globally-rich strangely adorable, It's a Small World ride...

We are supposed to be flying back to Tampa on December 22nd, thanks to a very unprofessional and lying British Airways, we must use our non-refundable tickets and can not extend them past one year although we were told personally about six months ago we could. Short of buying two more one-way tickets (about $1,800) at today's prices, we are being forced to leave about six weeks before our original contract is up. Our school wants us to stay the entire contract period but they are not offering us any money either so it looks like we will be home for Christmas after all. We have our passports in our possession at all times here so we like to think we are free to leave whenever we want...

We are excited about getting back home to see family and friends and already planning for our next adventure in 2011, after we work and save up some more money in 2010. I'm throwing in a few pictures of our students during a Halloween Party Jenny and I threw for them complete with candy, costume contest, pin the stem on the pumpkin game, and the highlight of the night was teaching them how to play musical chairs. They loved it...

Be home soon, and Happy Holidays to you all!

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