(A/N: Woop! Woop! Less than a month until my first EVER trip to Disney World! Anyhow, the weather's warming up and I'm sure that's got a lot of us to thinking about going to the water park! Well, first, let's see how it goes for our three TLK friends. All characters owned by Disney)

Kiara led her parents through the gates, running all the way up to a giant, blue water fountain before turning back and calling "Mom, Dad, hurry up!"

Simba chuckled while Nala glanced around anxiously at all the crowds, rides and, most significantly, water that was around her.

"No need to rush Kiara, we've got all day," Simba said, making his way up to her.

"Wow, look at all these rides!" Kiara exclaimed, her eyes darting left to right and back to left again. "The log flume, the rapids, the speed slide…"

Kiara gasped as she caught sight of a giant ride off towards the back side of the park.

"…the Waterfall…" she uttered majestically, taking a step forwards towards it, trying to get a better look.

Nala glanced over towards it. "It looks just like a regular log flume," she observed.

"Mom!" Kiara exclaimed. "The waterfall is much more than just a regular log flume. It is the tallest, most epic, most awesome log flume ever built!"

Simba agreed. "Nala, the Waterfall goes up to a height of 150 feet. You drop at a speed of 50 miles per hour at 65 degrees. It's calculated that, were the force of the splash to be condensed into a cubic milliliter, the energy released from it would be enough to vaporize any material that it were to pass through."

"Wow," Nala replied sarcastically, "I didn't come here for a science lesson, Simba. In fact, how did you talk me into coming here again?"

"It was cheaper than the theme park…and I made you breakfast in bed."

"It was a bowl of cereal. And it wasn't very good either."

"You're just grouchy because you don't want to get wet."

"This is true."

"Mom! Dad!" Kiara shouted; wanting them to shut up so that they could hurry up and get on a ride. "Come on, which ride should we go on first? The kayaks? The wave pool? The water playground?"

"Well, your mom's the grouchy one," Simba reasoned. "Let's let her decide."

Five minutes later:

"The lazy river," Kiara observed, unenthusiastically.

"Doesn't it look fantastic?" Nala asked. "I think I could spend all day on here."

"Is that why you brought a sunhat, sunglasses and a magazine?"

"Oh boy Simba, you are a smart cookie, aren't you?"

"Alright, well let's get this over with," Kiara commented, grabbing an inflatable, yellow hoop off of the concrete path and walking her way over to the water. Simba and Nala followed.

Kiara and Simba walked straight into the water and set themselves inside their hoops once they were in the current. Nala set her hoop down in the water, then walked along the concrete path until she was alongside it. She rested her rear legs over one side of the hoop and lied her back down on the other side, limiting the amount of fur that she would get wet. She used her paws to cling onto the side of the concrete path. She wasn't ready to go just yet…

"Come on Nala, it's a water park," Simba reasoned, "you're bound to get wet sooner or later."

"Coming Simba," Nala replied, kicking herself off of the siding and joining the others in sailing along the current.

Nala opened her magazine and began reading while Simba and Kiara slowed down and waited for her. As the current brought Nala closer towards them, she could tell that her husband and her daughter were giggling. She set her magazine down.

"Something I'm missing?" she asked.

"Nope, nope, not at all," Simba replied hastily.

"Don't worry Mom, you're not going to get wet," Kiara added, in the same hasty tone.

Quite satisfied, Nala picked her magazine back up and continued on her relaxing ride.

I know why they were giggling, she thought. They think I don't know about the sprinklers around the corner. But they're stupid. I know about those sprinklers…I research places before I go to them, you know. Their sprinklers are set to turn on every thirty seconds for a period of twenty seconds. That is why I waited before we left…because I was looking across the river to check that the timing of the sprinklers was just right. I weigh 314 pounds and…given the speed of the current…my weight should slow this tube down to a speed of about 1.6 miles per hour. If I timed it just right…I should be able to pass through the sprinkler section when they're all turned off.

Nala gave a feeble smile. It was hidden by her magazine though, so Simba and Kiara couldn't tell. That combined with the fact that Nala was wearing sunglasses, gave her the perfect poker face.

"Oh, by the way Nala," Simba commented.

Annoyed, Nala set her magazine down. "What?" she asked.

They were approaching the sprinkler section. All the sprinklers had just turned off.

"I think I know what was wrong with your cereal this morning. I used whole milk instead of your regular skimmed."

"Oh, yeah, that probably explains it then," Nala replied. "Don't worry Simba, I'm not mad. I was just messing with you, that was all."

"Yeah…but…judging by that…you probably actually weigh 315 pounds right now."

"So?"

"Well…I know you Nala…you're smart. You probably did research and calculated the timing of the sprinklers before you entered the water. Well…thanks to that whole milk increasing your weight…your calculations are far off."

Nala's ears dropped back. He'd figured her out…he'd been one step ahead this whole time. Nala turned back around and saw that, indeed, the sprinklers were already off. That wasn't how she planned it. Her timing was off, and those sprinklers were set to turn back on any…second…no—

WHOOSH!

"AARGH!" Nala screamed.

She dropped her magazine into the water and began paddling backwards, trying to avoid the sprinklers. It was in vain though. Nala was, slowly but surely, being dragged by the current into the sprinkler section.

Simba and Kiara were already passing through.

"Watch that one on your right!"

"Missed it!"

"One on your left!"

"Ah! It got me!"

"It got me too! Boy that's cold!"

"Oh – one more behind you!"

"Woohoo!"

Nala, meanwhile, was still paddling franticly against the current.

This isn't working, she observed, as the current pulled her closer and closer towards the sprinklers. Time for another plan.

Nala turned around and began paddling with the current. The first sprinkler was on the left side of the river, so she turned right. The second one was on the right, so she turned left. She stayed there as she passed on by the third and fourth sprinklers, then ducked as the fifth one shot horizontally right above her head.

So far, so good, but there would be no avoiding the sixth one. A sprinkler on the left and a sprinkler on the right meant that everyone who was passing through that point of the river was being covered with water. And, judging by the consistent pattern of everyone shivering and shaking as they passed under it…the water was cold. Very cold.

Nala gulped. There was only one way out of this one.

She reached for the concrete siding and grabbed hold of it with her claws. The current was still trying to push her down the lazy river, but Nala was in control this time. She was not budging.

The lioness let out a sigh of relief.

Then, however, she looked down at her chest. Her magazine had just floated on by her in the water's current. Then, it passed the sprinklers and floated towards the river's edge. There, it got stuck on the end of the water pipe Nala was clinging next to.

The sprinklers stopped sprinkling.

Nala smiled. "Finally," she said, letting go of the siding. Nala gave herself a kick off the concrete edge and began to flow along at 1.57 miles per hour down the river again.

"Ah," she sighed, closing her eyes. This was bliss.

She opened her eyes again…and then realized that all was not quite as it seemed.

The pipe that she had been clinging next to was now thicker than it had been before. Nala looked back farther upstream. Some of the sprinklers on the other side of the river were still running.

But, Nala thought, then it couldn't have…shut…OH NO!

Nala worked it out. Her magazine had clogged up the pipe's end. Consequently, the pipe was now building up more and more pressure and was becoming wider and wider. It was getting set to burst.

"Uh oh."

Nala quickly paddled her way back over to the river's edge and jumped out of her hoop. An instant later, and the pipe burst, blasting all of the lions next to it off of their hoops and submerging them into the water.

"Alright Kiara, where to next?" asked Simba.

"I don't know…" Kiara replied, her eyes still darting around at all the attractions around her.

"How about that giant pool over there?" Nala asked. "Looks nice, we're close to it and we don't have to worry about lining up for it."

"You'd come in with us?" Simba asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ankle-deep, yes," Nala replied. "That's almost full body-height for Kiara."

Simba groaned. "Alright, wuss. We'll stay in at the shallow end."

"Sounds good to me."

The rest of the duo's conversation turned into repetitive calls of "slow down!" and "be careful, Kiara!" in an attempt to stop their daughter from slipping as she ran over towards the pool. The family soon found a giant, unattended beach ball as they entered the pool, and they spent their first five minutes just enjoyably batting it around to each other.

Eventually, a loud, low hum echoed off of the walls around them.

Nala's ears perked up. "What was that?" she asked.

Simba and Kiara both turned and smirked at her.

"Did you not see the name of this pool when we walked in?" Simba asked.

"It's just a pool, isn't it? It doesn't have a name."

"It's called the wave pool," Kiara replied.

Nala looked up. Indeed, she could now see, the first wave had just been released. It started off as a small ripple in the deep end, then increased to a size of a couple of inches in the middle, then turned back into a ripple by the time it got to Simba and Co.

Nala shrugged. "That wasn't so bad," she said.

"Oh," Simba replied, "they'll get bigger."

Nala looked up just before the second wave got to them. It was about half an inch bigger…not much.

The next one was about another inch larger…then another inch…then another inch…then another inch. In the middle of the pool, the waves were now altering the elevation of the water by about a foot or two. But, by the time it got to the shallow end, it was barely having an effect at all.

Still, it was enough to make Nala slightly weary.

"Simba…hun…I don't know…I think Kiara's going to be a little out of her depth if these waves get much larger. Perhaps we should take a few steps back."

"Nonsense!" Kiara exclaimed, swimming over towards her right and grabbing an unattended float. "See, look! I've got a boogie board!"

"A what?"

"A boogie board. You put it under you and it keeps you afloat on top of the wave."

Simba was delighted to finally see Kiara with her own personal floatation device. Now it meant he could finally go in towards the deep end.

"Come on Kiara, let's go and catch some waves!"

Simba began treading water while Kiara jumped up on top of her boogie board and paddled behind her father towards the deep end of the wave pool. Simba checked over his shoulder.

"Coming Nala?"

"Eh…sure…hold on a sec…" Nala replied. She began looking around to see if she could find another unattended boogie board. If she could, she would be able to use it to ride on top of the waves in the deep end. That way, she would be able to stay dry and she would be able to spend quality time with her family.

Finally, she found one leaning up against the far left-hand side of the wave pool, not in an area much deeper than where she was now.

She waded over towards it and pulled it away from the side.

Within an instant, she realized that she had made a mistake. The water around her was getting sucked towards the wall.

"Ma'am, that's not a boogie board!" exclaimed a park worker, standing above her on the tiled edge outside of the pool, "that was a patch being used to cover up one of our broken filters!"

"Well surely it can't be too bad, can it?" asked Nala.

Suddenly, a large BANG was heard, emitting from the far side of the pool. Nala looked over, and her pupils dilated as she realized what had just happened.

The wave machine had broke…and it had just shot out a five foot wave that was getting larger and larger as the pool got shallower. The wave was tossing all of the swimmers off of their floats as it drew closer and closer towards the shallow end.

By the time it approached Nala, it was about fifteen foot tall.

"Eep," Nala squeaked.

Hurriedly, the lioness turned around and stepped on top of her 'boogie board.' Riding this wave was the only way she could prevent herself from getting soaked.

Nala checked over her shoulder and saw a wall of blue right behind her. She closed her eyes as she braced for the watery impact…

…

It never came.

Nala opened her eyes again. All she could see was sky.

She looked down.

"Aargh!" she screamed, taking a step back on her boogie board. Somehow, she was right on top of the wave! All of the other lions in the park looked like ants right now, as she flew along twenty feet above the ground, petrified about the possibilities of what could happen when this wave finally broke.

Seconds later, and it did.

Nala was thrown off the top of her boogie board and landed with a thud as she rolled down onto a series of wooden planks. The landing was rough and painful…but she was alive.

And she was dry.

Nala lifted her head and tried to get an idea of where she had landed.

Her questions were answered when her drenched husband and daughter ran on by her, cheering as they charged across the wooden planks and began to make their ways up a wooden staircase.

"Woohoo! You found the log flume Nala! Come on; time to go!"

Nala groaned and made her way back up to her feet, reluctantly following the rest of her family.

(A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Part 2 will be posted tomorrow! Reviews appreciated!)