“Stop it, would you, please,” Mr. Jollysnaps shouted.
Conversations between Flamario, the silver fox, Captain Fibs, and the toady trolls came to an abrupt halt. Everyone turned and directed their attention to Mr. Jollysnaps.
“Our little friend has something to tell us. Now, instead of sitting here arguing amongst yourselves, why don’t you all follow me down into me lair and listen to what he has to say.”
“What makes you think he’s going to tell us anything worth listening to,” Fibs blurted out.
“Yes, why would the little man have any reason to tell us the truth,” Flamario added, as small puffs of fire shot out of his mouth and nostrils.
“Now-now, fellas, no need to start getting all worked up about it. What’s done is done. I know we missed our opportunity to get the watch last night, but if we can persuade little Benny to tell us what he knows, then we’ll get another shot.”
“Lets say we do convince him to tell us what the Patrons and their little outsider are up to. And, we get another shot at the Watch of WONDER. Who’s to say you fellas won’t go and mess it up again, like you did last night,” Duke said, pointing his large, ugly, toad-like finger at the shadow villains.
“What? Are you blaming us for not getting the watch last night?” Flamario shouted. Again, he took a stance and prepared himself for battle.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” the silver fox said, stepping in between the giant man and the toady trolls to make peace. “ I believe Mr. Jollysnap’s idea has merit. If we can persuade the red headed fellow to tell us what the Patron’s plans are, and I’m sure I will have no problem doing so, then our chances of getting ahold of the watch will improve dramatically.”
“What makes you so sure you can persuade Ben to tell us what he knows, foxy?” Fibs asked.
“My good fellow, the silver fox is the best persuader in the land,” Mr. Jollysnaps said.
“Though I don’t like to brag, I must say, Mr. Jollysnaps does have a point,” the silver-tongued fox added, striking a noble pose.
Captain Fibs paused…he rubbed his chin and stared at the fox and coachman over the rim of his steamed up glasses—contemplating whether he should believe the shadow villains or not. Then he looked at Duke and Grim and gave them a nod.
They pushed their belt buckles and returned to their human animation forms.
“Alright then fellas,” the captain said to the fox and coachman. “If you can persuade old Benny to tell us what the Patrons and their little outsider friend are up to, then we’ll back you up. After all, getting our hands on that watch is the most important thing. No matter how we do it.”
“Precisely,” the fox replied with a grin, as the two shook on it.
It was 9:40. Charlie and his family were closing in on Toy Story Mania, weaving in and out of the crowd. Their father was leading the way, while Charlie, Michael, and their mother followed close behind. As they entered the attraction FastPass queue, it was clear to see it was going to take a few minutes before they reached the loading area.
Then, something odd happened. Charlie, who was passing time by taking photos of the queue area, noticed through his phone screen that everything began to move in fast-forward. People moved ten times faster, and their speech was ten times quicker and very high pitched. It gave the term FastPass a whole new meaning. He turned to his family and even they were moving and speaking in rapid motion. Everyone, that is, except for Charlie. At ten times the pace, the queue line moved quickly—turning a ten minute wait into just one minute. Just as they approached the vehicle boarding area, everything magically snapped back to normal.
“Michael, you feel OK?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Never mind.”
As the vehicles approached, Charlie mumbled to Michael, “We need to ride together.”
His brother nodded to confirm.
“Mom, we’re riding together, OK?”
“Sure honey, go ahead. We’ll be riding on the other side of the same vehicle.”
The two boys jumped into their vehicle and donned 3D glasses, as they readied for action.
“So what are we looking for, Charlie?”
“I have no idea, but according to the cast member at the gate entrance, ‘something special’ is going to happen on this attraction. So keep your eyes peeled.”
“You talked to the cast member?”
“It was more like she talked to me.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. Does it really matter? No. Just help me out here, would ya.”
The boys warmed up with the Pie Throw Practice round, while Charlie’s mind eagerly waited for something special to happen. The attraction did not disappoint. On their first spin around, the boys landed at the Ham and Eggs booth. Immediately they started launching plastic eggs at Barnyard characters—knocking them down one after another. But is was a yellow duck that caught Charlie’s attention. The duck broke free from the row it was fixated to and began to fly around sporadically—doing loop-de-loops, and what not, around the entire booth. Then, breaking out of the booth completely, the duck shot off like a yellow blur—quacking uncontrollably, as it took off over their vehicle, spun around, then zoomed back, landing on top of the young man’s head. Charlie turned left, right, up, down, and any other way he could possibly position his head to try and get a glimpse of the crazy duck. Just as he was about to give up,”QUACK-QUACK-QUACK,” the inverted face of the duck came face-to-face with his own.
“See the sweeper! See the sweeper! For he’s the keeper! QUACK-QUACK-QUACK!”
Then just like that, BOING! The duck snapped back into line with the other targets in the booth, as if nothing had happened. Their ride vehicle moved on to the next booth.
“What was that?” Charlie blurted out—his hair all a mess, and his 3D glasses sitting cockeyed upon his nose. “Did you see that, Michael?”
“See what, Charlie?”
“Ugh! Never mind.”
Over the next few minutes the two brothers enjoyed the rest of the attraction—slinging, shooting and tossing stuff at the moving targets in each booth. During the entire time, Charlie’s mind was preoccupied, playing back what the duck had said, over and over again.
Visiting the Star Wars Launch Bay, checking out several shops, and watching the Voyage of The Little Mermaid show rounded out the morning of magical activities for the Zastawits family. Which also meant it was close to noon and time for lunch. Charlie had well over two hours to think about the crazy duck’s message and saw lunch as the perfect time to run his thoughts past Michael. After everyone had sat down to eat at the ABC Commissary, Charlie pulled out his phone to begin a text conversation with Michael:
Put your phone on vibrate so Mom and Dad don’t get suspicious.
OK.
Looking for a sweeper.
A sweeper?
Yes.
Like someone with a broom?
Maybe.
Could it be someone who works here?
Possibly. But I think it might be someone famous.
Like someone on an attraction?
Yes.
Star Wars?
No.
Indiana Jones?
No.
Muppets?
I don’t think so.
What about The Great Movie Ride? Any sweepers there?
Let me do a visual search online. Just a sec.
OK.
BINGO.
You found something?
Mary Poppins. On roof with Bert.
Bert?
He’s a chimney sweep.
Gotcha.
After lunch we go there.
10-4.
“You guys need to put those phones down and finish your meals,” Mrs. Z said.
The boys respected their mother’s wish, put away their phones, and, quickly finished eating. Shortly after, Charlie and his family headed out the door for more Hollywood Studios fun and adventure.
“Well what ne
xt, Ed?” Mrs. Z asked.
“It’s beginning to heat up. What do you say we go check out the Great Movie Ride. Should be nice and cool in there.”
“What do you boys think?”
“Sounds good to me,” Charlie said. He gave his brother a secret thumbs up.
Based on the video he had watched earlier, Charlie positioned himself on the far right side of the Great Movie ride vehicle so he would be nice and close to the Mary Poppins scene. Bert’s secret message was not to be missed. As the ride vehicle rounded the corner and slowly made its way towards Mary Poppins the young outsider focused intently on Bert, the chimney sweep. Charlie continued to stare, waiting for something magical to happen. Yet, nothing did. Feeling let down, he began to lose hope, as the ride vehicle continued onward.
Then, everything went blurry and started to move in slow motion. Everything that is, except for the area surrounding Bert. But it wasn’t Bert that delivered the message. Instead, it was the silhouette of a chimney sweep, just to his right, that spoke.
“This evening you’ll gather where all are around.
A place full of magic and water abound.
Good things and bad things will be shown in the spray.
Where you’ll learn from a friend what’s happened and what may.”
As quickly as the silhouetted sweep came to life, he snapped back into a static pose. It all happened in the briefest of moments. Fortunately, Charlie had been prepared, and was able to record the message clearly with his phone. His work was done for now. With a relaxed smile on his face, the young adventurer sat back and enjoyed the remainder of the attraction with his family and other guests, who as usual, were totally unaware of the magic that had just taken place.
Through the rest of the afternoon and early evening the Zastawits family enjoyed a multitude of laughs and adventures, with attractions such as Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular show. And in between, they had managed to get in an ice cream snack, several popcorns, a few bottles of water and a tasty dinner at Mama Melrose, which included passes to the Fantasmic nighttime show—here, the Zastawits family planned to end their day. During their busy afternoon, Charlie had managed to review the chimney sweeps message and thoroughly dissected it with the help of his younger brother. Just before dinner, the boys had reached a decisive conclusion. The message was to be delivered during the Fantasmic show.
Dusk had settled in. The soft hues of orange, purple, yellow and blue painted the skyline. People were filtering into the stadium and grabbing quick snacks of popcorn, cotton candy and other tasty treats from the concession stand at the top of the stadium, as they eagerly awaited the big finale show of the evening, Fantasmic. The stadium continued to fill, cast members entertained the seated guests with sing alongs and other fun activities. Soon, the sun retired below the horizon and the evening sky set the mood for the show, which was about to begin. All was dark, as the narration of a female voice flooded the stadium, and then… ”IIIIIMAAAGINAAAATION,” echoed through the silence. An arrangement of random flashing lights and smoke filled the area. Concentrated streams of water shot skyward and were highlighted with colored lights—followed by giant, misty water walls, which captured a series of beautifully animated scenes. One of which, was a series of characters encapsulated in giant floating bubbles.
At that moment, as Charlie and the rest of his family were fully entranced by the show, the young outsider was pulled back to his purpose by an incredible occurrence. About half way through the series, one of the bubbles jumped out to capture Charlie’s full attention. It was a large animated head of Frank—all distorted in and arrangement of psychedelic colors. The bubble took a steady position, holding up the rest that were still to follow. And just like all of Charlie’s previous magical encounters in the parks, the entire audience and crew of cast members began to move and talk in slow motion. It was time for something special.
“Hello my friend,” Frank said.
“Hey Frank.”
“I have some very interesting news for you, my boy. The Patron council just received word today, from a source we wish to keep secret at this time, that Bella Bark, witch of the enchanted forest, was the shadow villain who tried to destroy the Watch of WONDER by casting down a lightning bolt from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.”
“Bella Bark? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of her,” Charlie replied.
“Most have not. In fact, I’m almost certain nobody, except those familiar with WONDER, have ever heard of her.”
“And why is that?”
“Well, for one thing, I’ve been told by other members of the Patron council that she was once a young princess.”
“A princess?”
“Yes, a princess of a magical forest. Which, by the way, is the same forest where the magical wood of Pinocchio and Sassyfran came from.”
“So the two are related?” Charlie asked.
“In a strange and magical way, yes, you could say that,” Frank replied.
“So why did the princess become a witch?” the young boy asked. “I mean, after all, she was a princess and probably had more than any normal person could ever wish for.”
“Under normal circumstances, one would think this to be true,” Frank replied. “But from what the Patron council has told me, Bella Bark, formerly known as Princess of the Enchanted Woods, did not listen to the warnings handed down by her royal family. And in a moment of misguided temptation, she picked a magical pear from the golden tree of hope and took a bite in her moment of weakness. Little did she know, a tree with such beauty as this carried with it a terrible curse. Instantly, the young, beautiful princess grasped her throat, as her mouth became dry and hoarse. Her hair turned white and frazzled, her skin shriveled up and turned a grey-like brown, with deep lines and wrinkles, resembling the old bark of a tree. The whites of her eyes grew dim, yellow and lifeless—no longer carrying within them a glimmer of joy. And her shriveled body became cloaked by a gown made of old, weathered leaves.
The young princess had been transformed into a hideous and hateful witch, who swore there would never be another peaceful day in the enchanted woods as long as she lived.”
“Sounds like she made the wrong decision,” Charlie said.
“Yes, a very keen observation for a young man of your age,” Frank replied. “Just remember, Charlie, the choices we make in life are a direct reflection upon who we become. Anyway, she’s out there…somewhere. And we are quite positive she will be looking for the watch. So be on your guard.”
“So the Patrons still have the watch?”
“Indeed we do. Ticky, Tocky and Midnight escaped with the watch last night, while the rest of your party held off a sneak attack from a few Thorns and shadow villains. Fortunately for us, they were unable to get their hands on what they came for. Including you and your brother.”
“We were attacked last night? But how…why…what?” Charlie said with a look of confusion.
“Raphael will explain tomorrow. For now, all you need to know is that the watchmaker is safe—hidden away in the snow fairy’s secret cottage.”
“How are we supposed to find them?”
“That’s the easy part. Tomorrow morning you and Michael will meet Midnight on the west side of the World of Disney Store, near the plush section. And from there, he will help you find your way back to the watchmaker.”
“Sure, but—”
“Don’t worry, Charlie, we’ve taken every precaution to make sure you and your brother remain safe on your journey tomorrow.
“And our parents?”
“They’ll be taken care of in your absence as well. Now, it’s time for me to go. I have other things to attend to. Besides, we need to let the guests get back to their show.”
“Oh, right. I guess that would be good.”
“Indeed it would, Charlie. And remember, tomorrow you will need to follow the frost trail to find the snow fairies cottage. There you will find the watchmaker.”
“F
rost trail?” But how—”
“You’ll know when you see it. Plus, Midnight will be there to assist you. Good luck, and enjoy the rest of the show.” POP! Frank’s bubble burst, and he was gone.
The Fantasmic show continued—guests and cast members carried on as if nothing had happened.
Charlie pretended to enjoy the rest of the evening with his family, though deep inside his head, all he could think about was the upcoming day and the challenges he and his brother would soon face.
Chapter Thirteen
Day four of their vacation began just like the first three. The boys awoke, their mother was already in the restroom doing her hair, the early sun was shining through the cracks of the blinds, and their father was out taking his early morning stroll. An ordinary beginning to what Charlie anticipated would become a very unordinary day. On their way back to the resort the night before, it had been decided today would be a “break from the parks day,” which meant the family was headed to Disney Springs for a slow day of shopping, eating and possibly a movie or bowling.
As the bus hummed and bumped along, and the narration continued to play over the speaker system—highlighting all the wonderful things to do in Disney Springs, Charlie and Michael sat far back in the rear, going over a vague game plan for their day of uncertainty. Neither one knew what the day ahead would bring.
“OK, I brought you to the back of the bus so we could talk without Mom and Dad hearing us,” Charlie said.
“Obviously,” Michael replied, in typical, younger brother fashion.
Charlie shook off his brother’s remark, while rolling his eyes and clenching his right fist—wanting to punch his brother in the arm for the way he was behaving. But knowing it would only turn out bad for him in the end, he kept his composure and calmly continued. “So, as I was about to say, last night during the Fantasmic show, I spoke with Frank, and he informed me that we’re to meet Midnight on the west side of the World of Disney Store, near the plush section.”
“You spoke to Frank?” Michael said with a scrunched up face.
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