Author's Note

So its a bit of a late upload, but, hey, still Wednesday! at least where we are. This chapter, the host club takes a ride on sailing ship Columbia! Enjoy!

Chapter 44

They walked over to the loading area, which was the same as Mark Twain's loading area. They watched as the crowd load onto the Riverboat, waiting for their own ship.

"Isn't the deck higher than the dock?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru continued with "How would we board?"

"You're right, maybe we have to climb the ropes up!" Tamaki had his best thinking face on.

"Or maybe we have to climb a rope ladder, like they do in the Pirate films! What do you think Takashi?" Honey asked his cousin. Mori shrugged.

They kept guessing, their ideas getting wilder and wilder with every moment. Kyoya rolled his eyes and Haruhi spoke. "You do realize that they wouldn't allow guests to enter like that, right?"

Steph laughed. "Funny, the way to get on board is in plain sight, yet they don't see it." Steph winked at Haruhi, who started to look around. She spotted the stairs and pointed them out to the group.

"But how do they get it from over there to the middle of the ship?" Tamaki asked, confused.

Katie decided to give them some help. "See the groves in the floor?" Everyone nodded, looking on the deck past the gate. The Mark Twain had just left the station. "It works as a track so cast members just have to push it into place and lock it in the center. Then, to make room for the Mark Twain, they move it out of the way."

"Ohhh." Everyone nodded in understanding. Made sense.

They were all admiring the river and chatting with each other as the Columbia pulled into the station. Haruhi had a question for the eldest sister. Everyone heard her ask it.

"Katie-Senpai, both the Mark Twain and the Columbia only sail until 5, even though the park is open much later than that. Why does it close so early?" Haruhi asked, curious. She expected Katie to answer it right away, she didn't expect Katie to pause for a few seconds.

Steph heard the question and stiffened. Would Katie give the straight answer or not? Katie saw everyone looking at her and sighed. She pushed up her glasses.

"There was a reason that we hung out in Tomorrowland last night instead of the other parts of the park. It was as far away from the main crowds as possible." She waited for everyone to make the connection. Or, at least, someone.

Hikaru was the first to get it. "But, the fireworks only really affected Fantasyland and Main Street. What else was there?"

Steph had to correct him with a smile. "Also Toontown. The fireworks are shot so close to there that that land is shut down."

Kaoru had to chime in. "Okay, it affects three lands out of the eight, what was going on in the other parts?"

Katie smiled at Haruhi. "For your information, Tom Sawyer's Island also closes at 5."

Haruhi didn't get it. "That still doesn't make any sense. Why close it early? And what makes the other lands crowded?"

Katie watched the crowd of people get off the ship they were about to board. "Look out at the island, past the ship and towards the center. What does it look like?"

Honey was now confused. "An island?"

Tamaki now joined them. "Well, it looks flat, almost so the island can be viewed easily. Maybe to introduce the story?"

He was halfway there, but Kyoya's glasses glinted as he pushed them up on the bridge of his nose. "It looks a lot like a stage."

Katie grinned. "A special show happens twice every night here during this season. They close the island to use as the backstage area."

That solved two questions. Critter Country, New Orleans Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland would be facing serious traffic issues. Which meant the only land not full to the brim was Tomorrowland. Also, it explained why Tom Sawyer Island had to be closed, but Haruhi was still puzzled.

"Why do these ships need to be closed until then?"

Tamaki thought he knew the answer. "Because they would be in the way?"

Steph decided to shed some light on the subject. "There are three reasons. One is that they would be in the way. Two is that the stage extends past that area on the island and the river itself is part of the stage." Everyone tried to imagine actors on the water, but couldn't.

"And thirdly, these vessels are used in the show." Katie finished as she stood up. It made sense now.

"Will we see this show soon?" Tamaki asked excitedly. Everyone else looked excited as well.

"Of course, Tamaki!" Steph exclaimed as they began to board the Columbia. "It's one of the best shows here! It has a fabulous plot and shows the struggle of good and evil!"

"Plus, the star is Mickey Mouse and shows off some amazing technology." Katie smiled. "But, back to the present. Before we depart, let's take a turn below decks. They have some really cool stuff down there. Plus, we want to be above deck while the ship is in motion." Everyone nodded. They were ready!

Before they made it below decks, they heard their captain speak. It was obviously pre-recorded, but they all acted as if a real person was talking.

"Welcome aboard, crew! This be the captain speaking. Before we make sail, we have a few rules on this ship!" He went over the rules, mostly about not going overboard, not smoking, and not sitting on the railing.

So they went below decks and those in the host club had an urge to cosplay as pirates. There were a lot of old fashioned props and such items. They enjoyed it and took a lot of pictures with the stuff. Tamaki was talking to Kyoya about completely redecorating the Club Room with a pirate theme. Kyoya disagreed with that, but had plenty of redecorating ideas to bring the magic of Disney to their guests.

They went above deck before the boat started to move. They saw all the sights they saw on the Mark Twain, but this had cannons and shanties, where Steph grabbed Honey to spin the boy around to a fun jig. Honey laughed as he danced with the older girl. The hosts clapped to the rhythm and everyone laughed.

They had fun and disembarked. Katie looked at Kyoya's watch and said the time was 12:30, which meant they had to quickly get to the stage. So they made it to the Fantasyland Theater at 12:40, five minutes to spare.

Author's Note

Now theyre off to see a show! I think its one the host club will enjoy.

Just a reminder to R&R (read and review) with any thoughts or questions, we really love hearing them! also, We have a youtube channel! Its Disneypros1955, and right now we just use it for shows. but if you wanted to see us do anything on there, let us know!

thanks for reading!

~That's All!~