Disney Magic

Disney Magic: Chapter One

Dale?” A blonde kid, with a crooked grin and bright eyes bounced in front of him, hand stuck out and Harry, caught slightly off guard, took a step back instinctively, before shaking the boy’s hand.

“I-uh-Harry, yeah, Dale,” Harry sputtered and the boy, who’s Irish accent took over his words, laughed loudly, dropping Harry’s hand.

“I’m your Chip, or your Niall, depending on if I have a furry head or not,” Niall laughed at his own joke and reached forward to slap Harry’s back, who was still trying to keep up with the Irish boy. Niall began to walk away from the offices, motioning for Harry to follow him.

The two walked out into the humid, Florida weather, the heat almost unbearable for Harry, who was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. He didn’t even want to imagine what it’d be like once he put a fur suit.

They were  ‘behind the scenes’, the laughter and magic of Disney World only background noise in the distance as Niall lead him down a bath, littered with unused parade floats, and other maintenance items on either side.

Niall chatted the whole time, aimlessly and easily, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him.

By the time Niall had led him to a monorail, which was empty besides the two of them, Harry has learned that Niall was indeed Irish, moved here a week before the worker’s strike in hope of getting a job, he hated whoever played Winnie-the-Pooh because he always stole the costume presser at the end of the day, he didn’t like the fireworks at night because they were too loud and reminded him of bombings, but he did like being in the parades, something that normal daytime characters didn’t get to participate in, but because of the worker’s strike they were expected to perform in those as well, so Harry “Had better learn how to dance a bit”.

“They dropped your bags off this morning,” Niall was saying, as he stepped off the monorail and led Harry into a building of workers’ apartments. “Woke me up-“

“Sorry, “ Harry mumbled but Niall just laughed and shook his head.

“Mate, didn’t care, got me to breakfast on time. You’re quiet, aren’t you? Probably for the best, we can’t talk in character, gotta be more physical,” Niall swiped a card in an elevator, taking them to the ninth level of the massive building.

The building looked like an old hotel Disney just morphed into an apartment complex, the wallpaper had Mickey Mouse heads on it, and the carpet was bright and colorful and reminded Harry of an 80’s Casino or cruise ship.

Niall stopped at room 917 and banged loudly with his fist, before he continued leading Harry through the hallway without waiting for an answer, stopping at room 921, and swiping his card again. Harry walked in and looked around the cramped room, two twin beds shoved against the wall, a chest of drawers with an old TV set on top, and small bathroom tucked away in the corner.

Harry sighed, sitting down on the twin bed that was made up, clearly unused, and looked around the dreary room. He’d imagined the inside looking a bit more, happier.

“Me mates are coming over, thought you’d want to meet some of us, unless you’re too tired,” Niall continued talking from the bathroom, through the closed door, “In which case you don’t have to come. We’re just going to go to Downtown Disney. We get a 10% discount down there, and the people at T-Rex don’t mind if we use it at the bar.”

“I can’t drink,” Harry called back, “Underage here.”

Niall emerged from the bathroom and rolled his eyes, “Well we’ll get you a fake soon enough, but you won’t need it at T-Rex. If you’re older than thirteen they pretty much assume you deserve to get drunk. The Disney music gets to everyone after a while.”