The Curse of Walt Disney World

The Animal Kingdom Hunt

After a day of rest, relaxation, and play at the hotel, our heroes slept like babies. Well, everyone, except for Ivan. He had no idea that he was part of a prophecy, and he knew this would interfere with him telling Cat how he feels. Veronica stayed up a bit that night, trying to boost his spirits.

"Veronica, this is a major problem. I want to tell Cat that I love her, but this whole prophecy thing is going to get in the way. What should I do?" Ivan asked frantically.

"Ivan, relax. Eventually, we'll defeat Eisner, and we'll have a celebration. That would be the perfect time to break the ice. For now, we just need to worry about finding the four keys." Veronica said.

"I guess you're right." Ivan said.

The next morning, our heroes woke up extra early so they can start hunting right away. They were ready to leave for Animal Kingdom at 6:30, but Tim was still sound asleep. "Hello, Tim, if you don't wake up you'll be late for work." Cat said.

"Cat, this is how you wake up a teenage boy." Veronica said as she approached Tim's sleeping body on the couch. She started shaking him up and shouting "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" She shook him so much, that she accidentally threw him off of the couch.

"Ouch, okay!" TJ said as he opened his eyes to find himself on the floor.

"We're all ready and we're leaving without you." Cat said as she led the group toward the door.

"Okay, Louis is going to meet you at the turnstiles to give you your first clue." TJ said as he headed to the bathroom.

After a very short five-minute bus ride to Animal Kingdom from the hotel, Louis was there to greet Cat and her friends.

"Alright guys, here's our first clue. 'To find your next clue, please don't bark, think of a cruise hosted by former Radio Disney DJs Zippy and Just Plain Mark.'" Cat said.

"I remember those DJs!" Samaria said. She has been a fan of Radio Disney ever since it was launched in 1996.

"Yeah, me too! I think I remember an ad for Animal Kingdom mentioning a Radio Disney River Cruise or something like that." Alexandria said.

"Oh yeah! Come on guys, I know where to go." Cat said. She led the group to an abandoned dock near the Tree of Life.

"I remember riding the Radio Disney River Cruise as a kid when the park first opened." Cat said as the group was searching for the next clue.

"Cat, I found something!" Veronica yelled. She found a plaque hidden by trees behind the dock.

"Okay, 'To find your next clue you need to look for the theater that was home to Journey into The Jungle Book.'" Ivan read.

"I'm thinking Theater in the Wild." Cat said.

"Cat, with Tarzan Rocks closed, the theater is locked up." Alexandria said in a concerned voice. Cat didn't reply, she just led the group to Dinoland USA where the theater was.
"Just let me do the talking." Cat said as she rolled up her sleeve and walked up to the security guard. "Can we check out the inside of the theater please? We're here to defeat Eisner and put an end to the curse." Cat said showing her birthmark to the security guard. The security guard happily let our heroes in to explore.

After a lot of searching and tearing the entire theater apart, Ivan finally found something interesting behind the stage curtains. The rest of the group was still looking in anywhere but the stage, so Ivan just read the clue very loudly.

" 'To find the next clue, think of Big Red, who before the park opened, was put to bed.'" Ivan read.

Automatically, Cat, Veronica, Alexandria, and Samaria all said in unison, "Kilimanjaro Safaris."

The group went to Africa and lined up for the Safaris. The wait was an hour and a half, but they needed to find the next clue. They didn't find anything in the queue, nor did they see anything during the ride. The most promising bit of information that was found was near the exit. Samaria had the honors of reading the clue that was hidden beneath their feet, literally!

" 'To find your next clue, think, they like baths, and in this show, you'll find one that can do math!'" Samaria read.

Even Cat seemed stumped with this clue, since she never saw the show the clue was hinting at, but Veronica knew. "Flights of Wonder! See, Cat's not the only one that can figure out a clue!" Veronica gloated.

The group went to Asia to catch a showing of Flights of Wonder. Cat never saw the show in her many visits to Disney World, so she was amazed at what these birds could do. After the show, the audience was given an opportunity to see the birds up close. The bird the clue hinted about was named Quasar. As soon as Cat walked up to him, he said something.

"To find the key, some are called liars, think of a creature that breaths puffs of fire." Quasar said.

"Wow, that's one smart bird!" Veronica commented.

"I don't know if you guys heard this, but some say that they've seen puffs of smoke from a dragon hiding near the bridge to Camp Minnie-Mickey. I think that's what Quasar was talking about." Cat said.

"Perhaps the Imagineers are hinting about Beastly Kingdom?" Alexandria asked.

"Maybe. The concept wasn't scrapped, just shelved." Cat said.

The group headed toward Camp Minnie-Mickey, and they found something shiny and gold on the bridge.

"The Simba paw key!" Veronica yelled.

"Great job guys! How about we stick around for the parade, since we have time?" Cat asked.

"Sounds good to me!" Ivan said.

Our heroes had fun eating ice cream and watching Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. After the show, the group left the park and headed back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where the first treasure chest was waiting to be opened.

Stick around for the next chapter of The Curse of Walt Disney World!