Author's Note
so this is today's second chapter, which I promised due to our forgetting to post a few times. also, were having a contest! more info at the bottom authors note. Enjoy!
Chapter 35
"I have heard that this ride was one of Walt's special projects." Kyoya exclaimed as they made their way to the boats. They were walking rather fast with Katie at the lead, but Steph was at her heels. Steph laughed when she heard Kyoya's remark.
"This whole place was Walt's special projects!" Katie cast her a silencing look, but Steph just playfully nudged her sister.
"It was indeed. Walt had a thing for miniatures! Come on, let's load up!" So they got to the giant whale with boats lined up in front of it. They all loaded onto one boat, the WENDY, while a cast member, their cruise captain by the look of his garb, was about to get in as well. Katie stopped him.
"Sorry, captain," She said as she pulled her Disney badge out. "I believe that this voyage is mine to direct." The guy looked at the badge and nodded. He helped get them ready to go, but, for some reason, the boat wouldn't go. Steph was helping Katie look for the problem and they both muttered on about finding 'it'.
Suddenly, the eldest sister's face lit up to a laugh. She turned to Mori, who was to her left near the back of the boat. "Mori, if you would be so kind as to get your foot off the break and we can go?" Mori's feet jumped up and the boat started moving. However, when he looked down, there was no break! Everyone laughed at the clever little prank. Katie had a hold on the microphone and was talking I it so all could hear her clearly over the boat's engine.
"Oh, don't take it so hard, that joke has fooled even American Presidents before." Katie said to Mori with a smile. "Here we go, and for your safety keep all those hands, arms, feet and legs inside the boat and please supervise your children to make sure their ride doesn't end with a soggy every after." She said with a witty grin. Everyone laughed again.
"Why aren't you providing comentary, Steph?" Kaoru asked as he saw the American lazily look out at the arranged flowers.
"This is something she loves to do and she does all the work," She answered with a wink. "So I get a break. Now shut it and listen." The twins grinned at their companion between them and looked towards the huge whale they were heading for. Katie spoke again.
"Now, I know most people begin their Once Upon a Time through the pages of a book, or one of Walt Disney's animated features, but for those of us that visit enchanting adventures in person do it by rabbit hole, pixie dust, or even a giant whale mouth. It may be magical, albeit sometimes menacing. But our Monstro is harmless, right? Yes he is."
So through the whale's mouth they went, now completely alone. The magical land was theirs to cherish.
"Yes, we are harmlessly passing through the jaws of the same giant whale that swallowed Pinocchio and Gepetto and into the magical place known as Storybook Land."
They came to a bright light and they were surrounded by a green landscape. Everyone gasped in awe at the beautiful village to Katie's right.
"Our story will begin with a Once Upon a Time, but in this case it's the cave coming up to our left hand side. It is the home of the big bad wolf! If you thought Monstro was scary, try this guy. He is constantly bothering those three little pigs. Look, across their way is their houses! One of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks." And there they lay! Everyone gasped at the exquisite houses.
"How cute!" Honey exclaimed. Everyone agreed, the houses were adorable. Soft music was playing in the background and it gave everyone the feeling as if they were in the pages of a book.
"I believe our story is taking a strange turn, because on our left is a quaint house where a girl named Alice lives." Everyone looked at the beautiful little cottage by the canal. It looked magical.
"If you recall one Golden Afternoon, she followed the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole and fell all the way down, down, down, to Wonderland where things only became curiouser and curiouser from there."
The host club saw the rabbit hole and heard Alice's lovely singing as they floated along the canal, unable to speak. There was such simple beauty everywhere, one could only be overwhelmed by it! Katie continued.
"This place is filled with such enchanting places, such as London Park where Peter Pan, Michel, John, and our Wendy flew with Tinkerbell's pixie dust to second star to the right and straight on till morning, where Neverland resides." The park was sparkling and, Tamaki noticed, it wasn't due from sunlight. It looked like pixie dust still remained behind, as if the flying children left it there only moments ago. He pointed it out to Haruhi, who gasped in wonder at the little details.
Then, everyone looked in front of them to see a beautiful gold palace that filled them with excitement.
"Look ahead, my friends, to see the city of Agribah, a city of mystery and enchantment, where a young, dashing street rat named Aladdin first bumped into princess Jasmine, falling in love." Katie dreamily sighed. "He was a thief, but one that stole her heart. From two worlds, overcoming adversities with the help of a blue genie, hey were happily married and now reside in that beautiful castle together."
Katie wasn't the only one sighing over that story. Haruhi never stopped taking pictures as the twins would ooh and ahh. Kyoya was hastily writing down notes and made hasty drawings of the sights, for they were all too beautiful to not get down on paper. His pencil stopped when they came to be under stunning archways. Everyone looked up in wonder and awe.
It was quiet, except for soft music in the background.
"A Whole New World…" Mori muttered. It was playing. Katie nodded. She didn't use the mic this time. "If you want to see a more spectacular display of this, come at night. It's beautiful."
"It already is." Tamaki whispered.
They all sat there, taking in the wondrous view and the rare silence Disneyland has before it opens. As they turned the corner, Katie used the mic again.
"These places are truly where love blooms forever, just like the roses on the archway above us. The same ones that two lovers flew over, sideways, and under on a magic carpet ride, which sounds very familiar and almost like when my parents had their first dance after they got married." (True story, FYI) Steph chuckled and nodded appreciatively at her elder sister. "Both set of coupes flew into a Whole New World." As she said that, the music softly swelled and came to an end.
"Now, all good stories have love and light, but they have dark places as well, such as where we are approaching. Places of mystery like the Cave of Wonders, just ahead. In Disneyland Paris, this ride actually has a Monstro like middle, where they enter through the cave's true mouth, but here we are taking a side entrance, it's much quicker." Everyone gasped as they entered the cave and was plunged in a blue lit darkness.
"Now, this treasure bears a curse that can only be lifted by the magic genie of the lamp, and, legend has it, that whoever sets the genie free will be granted three wishes."
They looked to their left and saw a bunch of gold and rubies, along with a dramatic looking lamp. Honey reached out, as if to touch it, but Mori stayed his hand and shook his head. Honey looked to Katie, who winked.
"Now it is also said that if you make a wish in this cave… It just might come true." Everyone's eyes widened, then they all snapped shut in order to make a wish. Most were similar to last night's wishes, with some variations of "I wish I can stay here forever." Katie and Steph made eye contact upon seeing this, knowing what they were wishing.
The sparkling of gold could be heard, but no one wished for that. No, they all wished for more important things. The ride continued on.
They exited the cave and came back into the light.
"And we know that Snow White wished for a safe place to escape that evil queen and she was granted that wish in the form of a cottage owned by seven dwarfs, which is on our right hand side, and they gave her a home in thanks for her kindness. And as you pass their mine, maybe you can hear them whistle while they worked!" Everyone listened and could hear the merry tune come from the mine, which looked amazing.
"Let's turn the page to our left side, where Cinderella grew up with her wicked stepmother and stepsisters." And there the manor was, looking beautiful. Everyone gasped at the French setting and old cottages as Tamaki snorted back a tear. He missed his lovely French Countryside a lot. "Now, wishes are a powerful part of every story, like her wish to go to the ball and her magic Fairy Godmother granted that wish, with the warning to return by midnight, her coach turned back into an old pumpkin. I wonder if you can see it still lying there on the bridge today."
Everyone gasped and looked for it. "THERE!" Kaoru pointed when he saw it. Everyone cheered as the boat moved down.
"Now, although magic has its limits, Cinderella now lives with her prince and has her own Happily Ever After. Such a Charming Prince, too!" Haruhi sighed. She liked the idea of goodness winning. Hence, why she likes Cinderella.
Their journey continued past some oddly arranged set of miniature flowers. Kyoya noticed a railroad track above it along with a bridge. He asked about it and Katie was more than happy to provide an answer.
"Up there is the lovely Casey Jr Railroad, where circus animals travel over the magical land. We can go on that ride after the park is fully open, okay?" Everyone agreed. It would be awesome to see these miniatures from up high.
Katie continued. "We often dream of wishes coming true in slumber, as these flowers to our left show. They were inspired by the Silly Symphony Cartoon, Lullaby Land. And as we pass the London Park, where children are led to Neverland so they would never grow up, we can appreciate all the miniature plants and trees that will never grow up as well. They are all real, despite early protests to have them just be plastic back when this ride was being built. When being challenged that 'no one would know the difference between real flowers and fakes', Walt Disney curtly replied with 'I'll know' and that is why we have real flowers today."
Everyone laughed at the story, it sounded like something Walt would say.
"Some stories Walt enjoyed were like that of the Wind in the Willows, with Moley, Ratty, and Mr. Toad, whose stately manor is coming up. But it looks like none are here today, for he must have taken that motorcar of his and gone out on a wild ride to nowhere in particular." Everyone laughed, remembering the funny ride they rode that morning.
But the little Toad Hall could not hold their attention for long, for the newest addition to the miniatures were in place and huge before them.
"A new story is that of Arendelle, where you can see the north mountain and Queen Elsa's castle, where she lets it go, and also the castle where Anna, Sven, and Kristof play and ask 'do you wanna build a snowman?'" Everyone just gaped at the wonderful display and burst out laughing when they saw Oaken's Trading Post.
Katie managed to direct their attention to another nice cottage and village. "The alpine village to our right has a woodcarver named Gepetto first wished upon a star for his puppet to become a real boy. It wasn't until after Pinocchio saved him from the belly of a whale that the blue fairy granted that very wish."
Everyone sighed at the nice little cottage and they moved on, drifting through the water.
"If you look to the right as we pass under this bridge you will see a watery palace that holds Ariel's father, King Triton, as well as her sisters after she wished to become a human to be with Prince Eric. But to the left here is her castle where she gave up life under the sea to live in his beachside palace."
"Like all stories do, we will end ours with a Happily Ever After, and I hope you enjoyed Storybook Land Canals!" Katie finished with a flourish. Everyone gave her a round of applause and they pulled back into the dock and got out.
"Its eight fifty, Katie, we got ten minutes!" Steph said. "What should we do now?"
Katie thought and turned to Haruhi. "Quick, Pinocchio or Sleeping Beauty Castle!"
Haruhi didn't hesitate as she answered…
Author's Note
We need your guy's help here! Some audience participation, if you will. Katie and I want you to decide what the host club does next. The choices are Pinocchio's Daring Adventure or Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-Through.
Here's the way it will work: the FIRST PERSON to comment on this chapter stating which attraction they pursue and why, Wins! Not only will you get to choose, but you also get a shout-out from us in the first Author's Note of the next chapter. Remember, you MUST include a reason for your decision. I look forward to your participation!
also, Heres a link to the storybookland cannal ride-through video. The audio is a bit bad, but its better than nothing: /YWzGN0Bezz8