Chapter 29: The Magic Kingdom Part V – From Adventureland to Main Street U.S.A., Part Deux
After exiting Frontierland, it was in the late afternoon and the group passed into Adventureland, where there were really only four attractions. If you've ever been there, are under ages 18-20 in the year 2017, and are reading this right now, then you may recall Adventureland paying host to five different attractions. Remember, this story takes place in the year 1994. The fifth attraction had yet to be conceived and would exist until the 100 Years of Magic Celebration of 2001-2002.
That attraction was The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
Imagine Danny's reaction when he hears about that. Also try to imagine his disappointment when he finds out that it won't exist until he's 20.
I myself call it seven years bad luck.
But I digress.
The first thing they decided to do was to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. It was closest to where they entered from and it would be faster to go through the closest attractions anyway.
Harry grinned at the Weasley siblings.
"You'll love this," he whispered.
He was pretty much right and I don't think I really need to describe the experience on it. Only this time, Harry was inclined to ask Hermione…
"Wouldn't it be funny if Disney made a film… or five… out of this?"
Hey, can't beat breaking the fourth wall, can you?
Well you know what they say…
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Anyways, the group then headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room, then known as the Tropical Serenade. This attraction didn't seem too weird to the Weasleys. Being people who believed virtually anything they either read or were told was true, they expected the parrots to come out and sing.
But for the most part, though, they enjoyed it because it had air conditioning in it. I think you can expect that they'd keep going back into escape the heat. It filled up several hours and it would allow them to get to Main Street U.S.A. in the early evening to have dinner and go shopping before watching the fireworks and Electrical Parade.
After the Enchanted Tiki Room, they headed over to the Swiss Family Treehouse. Here, Danny ended up having to tell them the whole story again, of the Swiss Family Robinson, this time. The Weasley siblings were particularly fascinated here and imagined themselves in the story.
"If we were rich, then we should acquire a private tropical island and build a treehouse on it for a summer home," Ron thought to himself.
Not a bad idea, Ron. Not a bad idea.
I may very well write another story about that.
Anyways, after leaving the Swiss Family Treehouse, they headed over towards the final attraction, The Jungle Cruise.
Fred and George wanted to be prepared, though. They raced over to a nearby gift shop to buy the proper attire, as well as other souvenirs. They each bought a cotton slouch hat with a Mickey Mouse head embroidered on the front, which you can see them wearing in the cover image, along with two different Jungle Book plush characters with Velcro hands to wrap around their necks. Fred bought a Baloo, George a King Louie, even though the cover photo… or drawing, rather… shows them both with a King Louie. That I'll explain in a few pages.
Harry then took out a stuffed Simba with Velcro hands and wrapped it around his neck. If you haven't guessed, this was from Legend of the Lion King, when he bought out the whole store. He wanted to get in on Fred and George's act and they all headed towards the Jungle Cruise.
Along the way, Fred and George found the miniature Shrunken Ned's Junior Jungle Boats. They grinned at each other and each inserted a coin to give it a try. They stayed there for quite some time, that Ron and Ginny had to pull them away so they wouldn't miss the ride. When they got on the ride, they saw that there was no guide there. That was my doing too, for I had a rather amusing idea to give to Fred and George. The both of them stepped up to the boat's helm and started acting like guides, very much like how Danny and Rachel did on the PeopleMover.
"We taught them well, didn't we?" Danny asked.
After disembarking, they headed towards the Adventureland Veranda overlooking the river, where they got a rather surprising surprise; all of the Jungle Book characters, or at least all the ones that had ever appeared in the parks, were gathered together and posing with guests for photos. There was Baloo, King Louie, Mowgli, Col. Hathi, and some of the Monkeys. Apart from the first two, the rest were mostly used in parades by this time.
But… I digress.
I don't even need to describe Fred and George going for a photo op.
After taking some pictures with the characters, including ones where they switched the stuffed toys around their necks so people couldn't tell who was who, they all headed towards Main Street U.S.A. It was early in the evening and they had a dinner reservation around this time, so they'd have plenty of time to shop.
They headed over to Tony's, an Italian restaurant modeled after the one seen in Lady and the Tramp, which was playing on a small television in the waiting area. They ended up waiting awhile, so the kids were able to see a good portion of it and get an idea of what it was about while waiting. This was especially new to the Weasleys, who never had a taste of Italian cuisine before, but with what they'd eaten over the past few days, there was no doubt that this was going to be interesting. After eating a delicious selection of pastas and salads, they headed down the streets to do some shopping before the parade and fireworks started.
They started over at the Penny Arcade, which most of you are too young to remember. It gave them all a sense of how gaming worked in the early 1900's. Game machines only cost a penny to operate, and operated mechanically, as opposed to electrically. There were games like pinball and miniature sports games, as well as fortune teller booths, and kinetoscopes, in which you inserted a coin and cranked the machine to see moving pictures. For the kids, all they needed to have fun in here was a dollar. This attraction, unfortunately, would close the following year, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Afterwards, they headed over to the Confectionary, or in simpler terms, the Candy store. Do I even need to describe Ron's reaction to the place?
"I feel like a kid in a sweetshop," Ron muttered.
"You are a kid in a sweetshop," Harry reminded him.
This, naturally, became an instance where Ron ended up buying the whole store.
Afterwards, the group headed over to the Main Street Emporium. For a while, though, Harry was too busy looking at the Lion King displays in the windows and Danny had to pry him away to get him inside. As soon as they got in, everyone split up to look around. Hermione and Rachel started looking for Beauty and the Beast things, while Ron and Sirius started looking for the Goofy products. As soon as they found them, they remembered the idea they had at EPCOT.
"Ready… GO!" Sirius shouted.
He and Ron raced through the store towards the Goofy products, being careful to avoid bumping into other guests, which made it seem like more of a race than they were expecting, as if they were on a Nickelodeon Game show, like Double Dare, GUTS, or Legends of the Hidden Temple.
But, let's not digress again, shall we?
Anyways, they got to the Goofy products in a tie and they both ended up buying a Goofy hat and a stuffed Goofy. While Ron wasn't watching, though, Molly replaced his Goofy hat with a Peter Pan hat and for awhile, Ron couldn't tell why everyone was laughing at him.
Over near a section where Lion King products were being sold, Harry saw something else he wanted; Another stuffed Simba with a mane, standing 28 inches tall. It looked very much like the large Simba hand puppet he'd gotten before, but he saw a smaller child grab the last one.
"Oh well," he thought to himself.
Danny and Rachel saw this and smiled at each other, knowing what to do. You can read about that in Harry Potter and the Cultural Phenomenon. I'll continue with that story after I finish this story.
After leaving the store, they all headed over to the curb to see the parade. This version of the Electrical Parade was called SpectroMagic, and most of you are too young to remember it. This parade was shorter than the original Electrical Parade and limited the movies in it to just three; Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia. They saved the other classics, like as Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland for the finale. But it was an entertaining parade to say the least, just ask Dora about seeing Cinderella.
After the parade, it was time for the fireworks. All five of the couples were either huddling close or stealing kisses. Seeing the other couples do it, Sarah knew her teasing would be ineffective now. To make up for her disappointment, she decided to go pick on Percy.
Percy was looking up at the fireworks kind of casually, until Sarah poked him in the side. He noticed her and smiled a little and then diverted his attention back up to the fireworks, wondering whether or not he was trying to hide anything.
Fred and George grinned at each other, trying to decide whether or not they had anything on the fireworks here. Hermione was tempted to drag Harry into waltzing to the music with her, and Rachel joined in dragging Danny. They didn't grab too much attention, though. All the other guests were too busy looking up and watching the fireworks.
The parents decided to get a picture of all the kids together in front of the castle. When they all gathered together, Fred and George had an idea. Fred switched out his stuffed Baloo for a King Louie so people lookin at the picture couldn't tell who was who. Ron finally figured out why everyone was laughing at him before. He was glad he still had his Goofy hat and put it on. He also took out his stuffed Goofy and bought himself a Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar for the picture. Ginny took out her stuffed Flounder, Hermione had her Beauty and the Beast T-shirt on and took out her stuffed Beast and one of her stuffed Simbas. Harry took out his large Simba hand puppet and some of his Lion King action figures from Mattel and had his Legend of the Lion King shirt on, along with his Lucky Lennon hat.
I pretty much described the cover image for you.
This was all the perfect way to end their magical day at the Magic Kingdom. But this isn't quite the end of the story yet, though. We still have one more chapter left.
So stay tuned…
