The Disneyland Quest

by Matt Ainsworth

  Chapter 5

  Dizzy and Travis had been standing in line outside City Hall for 45 minutes, listening to the group in front of them loudly explaining how they were going to spend their money. Steve and Michelle had taken Ana to see the rest of the characters that were stationed around Main Street. She told her mom she wanted to stay with Dizzy, but he insisted she went.

  “You don’t want to spend an hour waiting in this line,” Dizzy told her. “There isn’t even a ride at the end. Go with Mom and get some autographs.”

  Dizzy and Travis had learned the loud man in front of them was named Justin and was signing up with his two friends, Joey and Charles. They were in their early 20s and had been bragging about how easy the Quest was going to be. The fourth member of their group was a girl Dizzy and Travis’s age. She was shorter than Dizzy, had long blonde hair worn under a pink Minnie Mouse hat, big blue eyes, and was reading a yellow and black book that Dizzy recognized as Hidden Mickeys in Disneyland.

  “We have this thing in the bag,” Justin said. He was the taller than both his friends, and rested his elbows on each of their shoulders.

  “Heck yeah, Justin,” his friend Joey said. “That 250 grand is as good as ours.”

  “As long as slow poke here doesn’t slow us down,” Justin said, pointing to the girl.

  “You are such a jerk,” she said.

  “Listen Megan,” Justin began. “Mom and Dad are making me look after you. So just stay quiet and try to keep up.” He turned back to his friends and shook his head. “Sisters are the absolute worst.”

  Megan turned away from her brother and continued reading her Hidden Mickeys book.

  Justin made another joke about the rest of the “losers in the line,” which caused his friends to all burst into laughter. They were being really obnoxious, but were oblivious to the dirty looks they received from the people around them.

  “I’ve been to Disneyland so many times I bet I solve all the clues in the first hour,” Justin bragged, receiving high fives from his friends. “I bet these idiots in line behind me don’t even know there is a basketball court here at Disneyland.”

  He was of course referring to the famous basketball court that was installed near the top of Matterhorn Mountain. Rumor had it that the Disney company was forced to install a basketball court because of a city ordinance that said a structure of that size had to be a sports arena, so Walt had a basketball court built inside to get around the law.

  Dizzy didn’t know if Justin and his friends were referring to him and Travis directly as the “idiots in line behind them.” Travis looked at Dizzy and raised his eyebrows. He nodded his head toward the group in front of them, as if to say, go for it.

  “Matterhorn has a basketball court inside it,” Dizzy said. Justin, his friends, and Megan all turned to look at Dizzy.

  “What did you say kid?” Justin asked.

  “I was just saying that Matterhorn is the ride with the basketball court you were talking about.”

  Justin and his friends stared at Dizzy. Dizzy looked up at them, wishing he had kept his mouth shut. He looked over at Megan who gave him a small smile. Dizzy never knew what girls were doing or thinking, so he smiled backed, afraid to say anything else.

  “Yeah, well everyone knows that,” Justin said, ready to change the subject. “What are you two doing in line anyway? You think you are really going to win?”

  “It doesn’t matter if we win,” Dizzy started. “We are doing it because it sounds fun.”

  This caused Justin and his friends to explode with laughter.

  “We are winning this thing,” Travis said, interrupting their laughs. “So remember these faces when we open up that vault.”

  It was now Travis’s turn to receive a smile from Megan. Travis noticed and held out his hand.

  “Hi, I’m Travis and this is my buddy Dizzy.”

  She shook Travis’s hand and looked at Dizzy, waiting for him to extend his hand. He was surprised at Travis’s bravery and was caught off guard, and by the time he realized he should have stuck out his hand, the moment had passed.

  “I’m Megan,” she said. “Dizzy huh? Is that like a nickname or something?”

  “Yeah, it’s--”

  “Your name is Dizzy?” Justin interrupted. “What kind of stupid name is that? Were you born on a Merry Go Round or something?

  “He has a cool name,” Travis said. “And don’t worry, you’ll get to hear it again tomorrow after we open that vault and he is pronounced the winner.”

  “Whatever,” Justin responded. “I’m not wasting my time with some dumb kids. Just stay out of our way tomorrow.”

  Justin and his friends turned their backs on Dizzy and Travis and continued talking about what they were going to buy when they won the prize. Megan gave them a small wave, turned around, and continued reading her book.

  “You really think we are going to win?” Dizzy asked Travis a few moments later.

  “I think we can if you can drop the phony-bologna, ‘just here to have fun’ nonsense.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You told this bozo and his friends that we were just doing it to have fun. That’s not why I'm doing it. I am in it to win it. If we have fun, that’s great. But do you know what would be really fun?”

  “What?” Dizzy asked.

  “Seeing the look on this guy’s face when he finds out he was beaten by some dumb kids.”

  Dizzy thought about it for a minute. Dizzy was not a very competitive person. If he was playing basketball with his friends, he insisted they didn’t keep score. When he played a game with Ana, he often would lose on purpose just to see her victory dance. But Travis spoke with a certain intensity that Dizzy admired. Dizzy thought that if he was going to spend one whole day of his vacation competing in the Quest, he should do it right.

  “Ok,” Dizzy said. “I’m in.”

  The two boys shook hands just as Steve, Michelle, and Ana returned from getting autographs.

  “Look at you two,” Michelle said. “Friends already. How cute. Steve, hold my coffee so I can take their picture.”

  Justin and his friends overheard Michelle and all started laughing again. Dizzy looked over at Megan, her face still buried in her book.

  “Who are your friends?” Steve asked, nodding his head in Justin’s direction.

  “Nobody important,” Travis said.

  They stayed in line together until they reached the front. When they arrived at the signup desk, Dizzy and Travis were handed a clipboard that had paperwork to fill out. The top of the paper said “Disneyland Quest” in the famous Walt Disney script. Travis and Dizzy began filling out the paper work.

  “Wait, I want to try something,” Michelle said, taking her cell phone out of her purse. “Both of you look at me while you fill out your form. I want to take your picture for my Twittery thing. Say ‘Mickey!’”

  Both boys smiled without saying Mickey as Michelle took their picture. She tapped the screen and leaned back against the desk.

  “Twittery?” Travis asked.

  “I think she meant Twitter,” Dizzy said smiling.

  “You are going to need to have your mom or dad sign that,” said the woman behind the signup desk. She was trying to keep up the normal happy Disney Cast Member attitude, but after explaining the same thing to hundreds of groups over the past hour her impatience was starting to show. “Any groups without an adult need a parent or guardian’s signature.”

  “I’ll take care of that,” Steve said. He scribbled “Steve Manning” on the bottom line, crossing his t with a swipe of the pen. “Ok, so when does this thing start?”

  “The Disneyland Quest starts tomorrow morning. All teams will receive their first clue at precisely 9:00 a.m. and everyone will have until 7:00 p.m. to find the combination of the vault.” She seemed to be reciting all of the information without thinking, and the voice came out semi-robotic.

  “Sou
nds great,” Steve said. “I have to run to make a phone call real quick. Meet everyone at the flag pole?” He leaned over and gave Michelle a kiss on the cheek and left. Michelle was still busy tapping and swiping on her cell phone.

  “I did it," she said, showing her phone to the kids. “I twittered your picture!"

  “It's called 'tweeting', mom," Dizzy corrected her.

  “Same thing," Michelle said, returning the phone to her purse.

  “Mommy, I want to be on the team, too," Ana said. “Dizzy, can I help?”

  “Of course you can,” Dizzy replied.

  “No way,” Travis said. “She’s just going to slow us down.”

  “I will not!” Ana exclaimed.

  “Hurry up!” a voice shouted from the line behind them.

  “If Ana wants to join us, she’s joining us. Ok?” Dizzy said firmly.

  “Excuse me miss,” Michelle said to the woman behind the counter. “Can we have our sign up form back? I want to add my daughter to their team.”

  The woman handed Michelle the clipboard with their form on it. Michelle set it down on the edge of the desk and was bumped from behind, causing her to spill her coffee across the form. The papers were ruined.

  “Oh no,” Michelle said, holding the clipboard away from her. “I’m so sorry. Can I get a new form?”

  More shouts and demands to hurry up came from the other people waiting to sign up. The woman behind the desk sighed and handed her a new clipboard.

  “Why don’t you kids wait outside?” Michelle said while quickly filling out the paperwork. “Steve is probably wondering what is keeping us.”

  Michelle finished filling out the form and found Steve, Dizzy, Travis, and Ana standing near the stage looking up at the vault.

  “Here you go kids,” Michelle said, handing Dizzy, Travis, and Ana each a dark blue pin with the number 215 on it. “She told me to have you guys wear this tomorrow morning so they know you are registered for the Quest.”

  “215?” Travis asked. “Why does it say 215?”

  “She said you were the 215th group to sign up.”

  “Wow,” Dizzy said. “215 groups. Not to mention all the groups that are still waiting to sign up.”

  “There is no way 215 groups of people signed up before us,” Travis insisted. “That has to be a mistake.”

  “I bet most of the people in line ahead of you just signed up as their own group,” Steve said. “They can still work together, but if they are in multiple groups they figure they might have a better chance of winning. Especially if they all agreed to just split the money anyway.”

  “Winning this thing will be harder than I thought,” Dizzy said.

  The group began walking down Main Street toward Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and debated what their first ride should be. Dizzy did not join in on the discussion and said whatever everyone else wanted to ride was fine with him. They eventually settled on Thunder Mountain and Ana opened her map and began giving them directions on which way to go. Dizzy had been looking forward to walking down Main Street since he learned about the trip. He could spend the entire vacation hanging out on Main Street, perfectly happy to not go on a ride. But the shops, sounds, and smells didn’t even register. His mind was lost on the Quest and the hundreds of other groups that were still in line to sign up.

  Dizzy looked down at the 215 pin still in his hand, squeezed it tight in his fist, and shook his head.