Trapped in The Happiest Place on Earth

Three

Authors note: The last line of the previous chapter has now been changed from “Tomorrow we go to the Magic Kingdom” to “Tomorrow we hit the parks, and they’re definitely the worst” to go with the overall theme better. Also, I do not own Disney nor anything in their parks. Enjoy!

Three

My family and I ride Disney’s complimentary transportation bus to the Hollywood Studios park early the next morning. We are welcomed by many park cast members asking for just one brief survey to improve the parks so I take up the opportunity and volunteer picking the worst/most complaining answer I can give to every question.

“That’s enough Mickey.” My mom says.

The cast member looks up and smiles at me. “Aw your name’s Mickey! That’s so special considering where you are and everything-“ She stops when she sees my threatening expression and goes back to the survey.

When we finish my family and I make our way to the back of the park. My mom has some kind of theory that if we start at the back the attractions’ lines will be shorter. The first attraction we ride is the Studio Backlot Tour which shows you how special effects such as earthquakes and explosions happen on the set of movies. When we are finished we watch the Muppet*Vision 3D show and let my brother play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure (that’s a mouthful). When we finish we ride the Star Tours attraction, eat lunch, and head to the Pixar Place and the Animation Courtyard, leaving Sunset Boulevard for last.

As I walk down the crowded streets of Sunset I quickly realize that I’m alone and my family is not behind me. “Mickey!” My mom yells. I turn around, practically getting run over by the crowd of unhappy people, and spot my mom at the entrance of the Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage attraction.

“Mickey, the shows getting ready to start, we might as well watch it.” My mom says. I jog over to her dodging the people coming down the street that make me feel like a fish going up a stream. “It’s a 30 minute show.” She says. I look desperately back to the Tower of Terror and whimper. It’s only 30 minutes. I reason and drag myself over to sit next to my dad.

The show begins with the introduction of how the beast became a beast. “This show is creepy.” I mumble

“And yet you like the Tower of Terror.” My dad says.

I smirk. “There’s a difference.”

“As in, there is no Disney evidence in The Twilight Zone.”

I nod and hold up my hand. “Except for the Mickey Mouse doll that the girl is carrying in the elevator. It was perfect without the Disney touch, and they just had to go and ruin it” I complain. My dad sighs.

“Nothing’s good enough for you is it?”

“Not here it ain’t.” I say placing my hand s in my lap. “I vote for the beach next year.”

“Have fun convincing your mother of that.”

“I will.” I say grinning evilly. My dad looks at me like I’m about to do some serious crime that I should be punished for. “Don’t worry.” I say, although I know that when it comes to me worry is all my parents do.

When the show is over  the line for the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is shorter than the Tower of Terror so we get in line and ride, leaving my mom and brother behind.. Dad and I have a blast screaming at the top of our longs as we go from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds. I exit the ride smiling and joking with my father about how Eric would have loved this ride. We find he and my mom sitting at a picnic table sharing an ice cream cone. “None for me?” My dad asks playfully. My mom smiles and motions for us to join them.

“Tower of Terror?” I ask impatiently. Eric smiles and jumps up excitingly. He’s finally tall enough to ride  and has been looking forward to it all year. I’ve done my part in not telling him about what actually happens on the ride. Sheesh, he won’t know what hit him.

“Yeah, let’s go.” My mom says. I take my brothers hand and run for the entrance. A 10 minute wait is practically nothing when it comes to this ride, so we basically walk on.

As we walk through the empty lines we hear the terrified screams of the guests coming from the elevator.

“Uh… What’s that?” My brother says worriedly.

“Oh nothing.” I shrug off. My mom raises her eyebrow and takes Eric’s hand. When we enter the hotel I watch as my brother looks warily across the room at the cob webs and dust that layers the furniture and walls. He looks scared out of his mind. Ha.

During the preshow with Rod Sterling I hear a slight sniffle and notice my brother is crying. My mom takes him in her arms and assures him everything is going to be okay. Ugh. Eric cries at everything. I swear that when he’s nineteen he will still be crying to my mom to make him feel better. 

Eric’s tears finally stop when we board the elevator; which if you’ve ever ridden, is actually kind of scary (I mean, not as much as rides like It’s a Small World and The Carousel of Progress, but still scary) so I don’t blame him for resuming his tears. I, of course, blame Disney.

Through the beginning of the ride I grin as I watch the events play out in front of me: the five hotel guests getting struck by lightning, therefore, taking them to the Twilight Zone. Dun. Dun. Dun!

“Raining. Pouring.” The little girl that looks like a hologram sings in an almost mechanical way. I look over to seem my brother shielding his eyes. Yeah, this ride kind of ruined that song for me too, buddy.

When we reach the part of the ride where we go up and down the elevator shaft I scream and enjoy myself to my heart’s content.  

“Is that a skeleton?!” I hear my brother scream. I look out the window and down to realize, yes, there is in fact a skeleton laying on the ground. It’s just a Halloween decoration, but if you’re going to give kids a heart attack please place it somewhere else. By the end of the ride I find myself laughing to the point that my stomach hurts, thinking the ride could get no better; however, I was proved wrong as just before we could exit the ride my brother starts screaming again. I look to my left where his finger is pointed and remember the ventriloquist doll that rests there. Sitting in a chair is Willie, a doll from a Twilight Zone episode, in which he comes alive and takes over the ventriloquist dude’s body. Although my brother has never personally seen this episode like I have, he continues to cry for half an hour after the experience because he has this fear of dolls, like they’re going to come alive or something. I blame Disney for the movie Toy Story.

“That. Was. The worst ride. Ever.” He whines as we exit. I mean, after I get the ride picture of course. I could use that as serious blackmail sometime in the future if I needed to.

“I’m sorry honey, I didn’t think it was that bad.” My mom says wiping his tears. She looks at me with the evil eye, as dad and me are the only ones that have ridden it for the past 6 years, and “should” have reminded her of how terrifying it would be for a six year old.

“Anyone up for another ride?” I ask deliberately. They all narrow their eyebrows and my brother screams “NO!!!!”

I laugh. It’s easy to say I won’t be riding that one for a while.