Howdy do folks! Sorry this chapter is so late! I just finished an outline on Chapter 11 of The American Pageant for history which took me three hours! Anyway, it's Friday and I've completed all my homework. I'm rewriting this chapter from memory on a way cool laptop as you all know the big computer won't turn on! I'm hoping it's not too different from my original version. Enjoy!
Chapter 24: Tale as Old as Time from 1939
The gelatin molds, feather dusters, dishware, spoons, and things all lined up, dancing to the music. A giant cup of pudding and fruit was brought out, and once the sides of the glass fell, a beautiful vocalist adorning a pink dress and fruitful hat was revealed.
Course by course, one by one!
'till you shout, "Enough, I'm done!"
Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you'll prop your feet up!
But for now, let's eat up!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Please…Be…Our…GUEST!
The audience all clapped enthusiastically for the performers' wonderful opening number. Hermione and Ginny all stood up and applauded.
"Singing candles? Dancing spoons and Jell-O?" Harry said to Ron as Hermione and Ginny took their seats. "What kind of show is this?"
"A kitchen cabaret cursed by Engora the Enchantress," Ron replied, watching the exiting female feather dusters and gelatin molds in their short costumes. "It wasn't too bad."
***
A beautiful, very different young woman dressed in blue walked out into the village scene. The other villagers were dressed in tones of orange and yellow, clearly making the woman in blue stand out very much.
Little town, it's a quiet village
Every day like the one before
Little town full of little people
Waking up to say…
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town
"Good morning, Belle!" the baker said to Belle. "
"Good morning, monsieur!"
"Where you off to?"
"The bookshop. I just finished the most wonderful story!" Belle said, showing him the book. "About a beanstalk, and an ogre an-"
"That's nice. Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!"
***
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast!
The performers took their final bows, Belle and her Prince bowing last as doves were released into the audience. All of the audience stood up, clapping with great excitement. "Encore!" they shouted as they waved good bye and the curtain fell.
"That was a great show," Ginny sighed as they exited. "I loved the costumes! Especially the pink ball gowns!"
"I know! The magical objects costumes were very elaborate, though I don't think teapots are that large!" Hermione said.
"Did you see that amazing bat things! They looked gruesome!" George added, recalling the forest scene.
"I liked the scenery," Mrs. Weasley said. "The village looked quite nice and the castle was beautiful!"
"I wonder how they made him transform." Ron thought aloud. "I want to see the show again and figure it out!"
"Yes, I'd love to see this show again!" Mrs. Granger seconded. "The musical numbers were quite a site to see!"
"The music was nice," Lupin commented.
"Oh, we're sorry, Remus!" Mrs. Granger said, remembering their fellow comrade's blindness, though of course Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley knew very well that he could see.
"So what's next?" Arthur Weasley asked. They looked around and found themselves in front of the tall, menacing Hollywood Tower Hotel. They heard some sort of car drop and an echo of screams.
"Let's go on that!" Oliver said, energized with curiosity of what the attraction held inside its walls. He and the twins quickly passed through the iron gates and joined the line for the Tower of Terror attraction.
"Are y-you sure about this?" Ginny said, looking up at the antique building uneasily.
"Don't worry, Ginny," Hermione said. "It's probably just another haunted house or something." Together they followed the boys and Harry and Ron through the iron gates. Mrs. Weasley felt her breakfast was fine where it was and went to get a snack at the nearby open air food plaza on Sunset Boulevard. The Grangers agreed and joined her. Lupin felt the same and struggled as he tried to pull Snuffles away. Mr. Weasley followed the kids.
"So then she says, 'No, but I have Krabby's!" a woman's voice said. (Hehe, an inside joke with my brother) A jolly little laugh was heard. The voice belonged to Professor Flitwick, or rather the 'child' Flitwick.
"Heh heh heh, Krabby's…" Flitwick laughed, wiping his eyes. The joke teller was Professor Sprout. She was standing in line with Flitwick, McGonagal, and Snape. The others were surprised to see them. Professor McGonagal looked very tense.
"Oh, have a little laugh, Minerva," Professor Sprout said. "We're on vacation. It's time to relax."
"I'm fine, I'm fine…"McGonagal said, though she looked exactly the opposite.
"Oi! Hullo Professors!" Fred said from behind. Professor McGonagal jumped.
"Oh, hello Mr. Weasley," McGonagal said. "Don't ever do that again!"
"Is our poor professor scarwed of the big building wide?" George asked as if addressing a first year.
"No, I'm just worried," McGonagal said. "I have no fear of these…Muggle…attractions. As you all know, the school letters have been stolen, and there whereabouts are still unknown!"
Don't say anything, Hermione. Harry thought, staring at the glow in Hermione's eyes. Harry, as well as Ron, have been meaning to read their own letters before they turned them in. Who wouldn't? Much to his chagrin, Hermione had to open her mouth.
"Oh, Professor! We've got them! Back at the hotel!" Hermione said excitedly. Professor McGonagal let out a great sigh. The letters were found. Everything was going to be all right.
"Where did you find them?" she asked suddenly. "Did you read them? Please tell me you didn't read them!" The other professors looked anxiously at them.
"No, of course not!" Hermione said. She gave a side glance at Harry and Ron. "We would never read something meant to be private until the information is fit to be released." A wave of relief came over the professors. The line started moving and they got closer and closer to the entrance of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
"You didn't tell us you found them," Fred said to Ron. "Leave it to the three musketeers to solve the mystery."
"Fred's right," George said. He joked, "Did you have to go into a forbidden chamber hidden beneath the Magic Kingdom castle and fight a dragon for out letter?"
"No, we-" Ron started. He was interrupted by Hermione's useless information.
"-we would've gone into a dragon's chamber if we went to one of the Magic Kingdoms in Paris, France or Tokyo, Japan. When building Tokyo Disneyland in 1982 and Disneyland Paris, then called Euro Disney, in 1992, the imaginers decided to add a secret dragon's lair beneath both castles where a giant audio-animatronic dragon lies in his slumber…"
"Hermione, don't tell me you've read and memorized Disney, A History," Fred said in response to her lecture.
"Why of course I read up on Disney theme parks. After all, I had a lot of free time after completing my Hogwarts summer assignments." The boys all felt remorse for asking, because they haven't even started their work yet.
"Oh, very good, Miss Granger," Snape said suddenly. "I'm glad to see you've rushed all your work just to learn about this Muggle rubbish."
"I didn't rush through my work, sir," Hermione said, patiently, though annoyed. "I found the work to be fairly easy."
"Even I find it preposterous that my work is not difficult, so I suggest that you redo it all and refrain from showing off your diligence again."
"Now, Serveus, we all know that Hermione is a very bright girl," Flitwick piped up. "No need to tease her." Snape just rolled his eyes and continued to walk forward in the line. For once, Harry was happy Snape spoke for it shut Hermione up for quite some time. Once they got into the very old looking lobby of the hotel, Hermione didn't start rambling on the technique of adding dust and cobwebs and aging paper. The Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby looked as if it was untouched for decades. "So tell us Miss Granger, what is the story behind this attraction?"
A/N: I've never had the stomach to go on this ride, so the description is only of what I've read and seen in the Wonderful World of Disney feature Tower of Terror.
"Well, the legend goes back to Halloween Night 1939. An elevator, heading for the Tip-Top club at the top of the hotel for the Halloween Party, had disappeared along with an entire guest room hall. A bolt of lightening had hit the Hollywood Tower Hotel and caused the disappearances. Those on the elevator was a child actress, her nanny, a singer, her admirer, and the bellhop. The hotel has been closed down ever since then and remains haunted and part of the Twilight Zone."
Ginny shook with fear as she looked again around the lobby. There were yellowing newspapers left open at the short wooden tables. Wine glasses with lipstick marks left behind by its users sat untouched by a rusted, dusty wine bottle. At the front desk lay an open guestbook. The last entry was Sally Shine, a name of the 1930's child star. They passed by the old, shorted elevator doors down an old corridor, which was for the help.
"We are sorry for any inconveniences," a spooky bellhop said as they boarded the service elevator, which had seats and safety bars, "but you have to take our service elevator."
"This is great," Mr. Weasley said, still looking at the Muggle boilers and mechanisms. "Do you mind if I stay a bit longer?"
"Please, board the elevator sir," the cast member said spookily.
"Oh! Hullo Tomás!" Harry said, recognizing the bellhop.
"Hello Harry Potter. The Hollywood Tower Hotel is pleased that you choose to check in with us," Tomás continued in his spooky voice. He refused to get out of character, for this trait makes a good cast member. Tomás was happy though, because he did not have to put on his glued on smile today. "Have a good trip!" The safety lap bars positioned down and the doors closed, hiding the manically laughing Tomás.
"Crazy American wizard…" Ron muttered as the elevator began to ascend up the shaft.
***
[I am currently unable to recall what I wrote for Percy and Penny, so expect their story to continue next chapter]
Tomás is popping up everywhere! He's a weird, funny guy. The school letters have been found and the Disney World trip is turning out to be pretty swell, but will the trip turn for the worst? Find out next in Harry Potter Goes to Walt Disney World.
Thank you all very much for your support and your patience with these slow updates! I'm so glad you all enjoy this story! Thank you for reading and have a magical day!
Crookykanks: Thanx for joining the list of readers and enjoying my story! I'm glad you like it! I also previously knew about Nahtazu thanx to Putercat and others who have pointed it out. Thanx anyway!
Muirin: I'm glad you too enjoy this Disney Harry Potter story and I am happy to give you a tour of the Florida Disney Park. Thank you for reading
Potter-Snape: Please do read more! It gets better and better! Thank you giving my story a chance, for many are discouraged to read ff with numerous chapters.
hpfreak2001: THANK YOU! What more can I say? I've had the pleasure writing it. It's readers like you (which I guess is all my readers) that keep a writer going.
TigerLily: Thanx for catching up on my story and I'm glad you've enjoyed it for so long!
Sailor Sol: As always, you've been checking out my story for so long. Thank you! I'll make sure to finish Like a Phoenix and leave a review soon!
Sako Akuri: It is tough to find time to update. Thank you for your patience and I'm glad you understand and enjoy the corny jokes.
MouseBrat: Thank you for reading my story and always showing great enthusiasm for it! I'm glad your starting to like Disney again!
Xenia: Don't worry! Percy and Penny will return soon! Thanx for reading!
Putercat: I hope you're enjoying the MGM adventure! I'm glad you like Dumbledore's reasons and that it makes sense. The more I thought about it, I felt it was kind of brash for Dumbledore to send them away, but he has his reasons, as everyone will find out in the sequel and probably the end of HPG2WDW. I've been meaning to ask, were you previously a cast member at Disney World? You seem to know a lot!
Inigma: Thanks for the e-mail! I'm glad you were able to save some of your story from the net and good luck at school with it! Thanx for reading!
More thank yous to: GEM, The Brainless Wonder, Mystic Queen, chicpinay, tempest in blue, Calliope, rainbow spy, fulvia, zephyre, Karen, and Trey Sierra
To all those whose name is not seen above: Thank you for taking time to read this story and please don't be shy and leave a review!