Chapter 1: Where All Stories Start
There were two cartoon people in Walt Disney World.
That must sound like such a weird sentence. Of course there are cartoon people in Disney World and much more than two. There's Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Chip, Dale…
I get it, I get it. You're thinking of the Disney characters who are normally there and are actually just enthusiastic people in costumes. If you didn't know that, then I lied; the characters that take pictures with you and sign your autograph book are the real deal. If fact, you may not like this story and probably would prefer to read something else. Go ahead, you may leave.
…
For the rest of you, yes, the characters are just people wearing costumes. Now, mind you, their intent is not trick people. Their goal is to entertain children and allow them to pretend they're playing with their favorite characters (and earning a paycheck; hey, even players need to eat).
Nobody told that to the cartoon people I was referring to earlier.
Fitzgerald, a 18 year old beagle, and Alanna, an robot orangutan older by Fitzgerald by a solid 14 minutes and 23 seconds, were huge fans of the characters you see in Disney films. You see, those characters were real (cartoon) people and are seen as stars in the cartoon world as someone in the human world see George Clooney or Sandra Oh, actors with plenty of roles in films and theater not seen in the human world (Donald, for example, was a star of opera. One of his most critically acclaimed roles was for his role in the opera L'anatra Combattendo). Fitzgerald and Alanna desperately wanted to meet one of these stars but it's not quite so easy to meet them due to their schedules and their desire to live their own off-screen lives, not to mention that crowds tend to form wherever those Disney stars are seen. Granted, there's kidnapping, but that's not generally considered a polite way of meeting people (I personally have never seen a kidnapping that's taken into account whether the kidnapped party had plans that day or not) so the two friends just lived their lives, being good people and not intentionally causing mayhem, and kept their ears and eyes open for an opportunity to present itself.
That opportunity supposedly came when, just aimlessly surfing the internet one day, Fitzgerald came across a page for Walt Disney World. Intrigued, he read on. He read about the rides, attractions, and other fun stuff there. What caught his eye, however, was that guests could meet Disney characters in the park.
Fitzgerald bought tickets for him and Alanna almost instantaneously for Disney Hollywood Studios. He then realized that he had no idea whether Alanna could or wanted to go. Thankfully, it turned out that she would've been offended if he hadn't. That weekend, they were on their way.
The security guard needed a second when she saw a beagle, walking on his hind legs as well as a human, and a robot orangutan walk up to her line seemingly out of a cartoon show. She recovered and did her job as well as she's ever done. She checked both bags, seeing nothing unusual in Fitzgerald's save for a couple of dog biscuits, but she was almost shocked when she saw Alanna's bag filled with dark pink metal and mechanics.
"Ma'am, what's in this bag?" the security guard asked.
"Parts to build a helicopter." Alanna said.
"Why do you have parts to build a helicopter?" the security guard asked.
"Because it's too awkward to carry a built one." Alanna said, believing that should've been obvious.
I did say the security guard was almost surprised, so she let them through. As they left, she heard Fitzgerald explain to Alanna that most humans, in fact, did not carry helicopters to Alanna's obvious surprise. Rolling her eyes, the security guard radioed to her supervisor.
"Be advised, two cartoons are coming in the park." the security guard said.
"Crap." her supervisor replied. "Things are gonna get weird."