Disneyland Disaster

by Djuna Elkin

Ben’s eyes opened wide, his mouth dropped, and he shrieked with excitement. He had just caught a glimpse of the magical gates that led to Disneyland. He had never been there before, but had always wanted to go. He asked for years to go for his birthday or Christmas, but his parents always made other plans, ones that he had no say about. But this was his year. They had finally caved in and brought him to the happiest place on earth for his seventh birthday.

Overjoyed, he grabbed his father’s hand and pulled him forward to get to the massive gates faster. This is it! he thought, looking at his mother who had a tired look on her face. He could tell she wouldn’t be much fun. Although it had been a long drive he had hoped his parents would have more energy. He looked at his sister, She’ll be more excited! However, she had her phone out and was texting her friend, who was supposed to be going to Disneyland that same weekend. Her focus was on the phone; she looked as though she couldn’t care less about where she was.

Ben urged his family forward. His father got out the tickets and presented them to each family member.

“Now don’t lose these or we won’t be able to get back in,” he said in a shallow, tired voice.

They showed their tickets to the park employee. Ben’s father went through first, followed by his sister, then Ben, with his mother following close behind. Once he got to the other side of the gates he stopped in awe. He saw the big wall of flowers in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head, each flower placed in such a way that it looked real, like Mickey Mouse was staring right at him. He saw the train, puffing in the train station, remembering the times he had dreamed about conducting a train. All the Disney characters were standing, waiting to greet the guests. Everyone was there. He could see Belle and the Beast, Peter Pan and Wendy, Aladdin and Jasmine, all his favorite characters.

“BEN!” he heard his father shout from a distance. Ben ran toward his voice. “Don’t get lost. This is a big park and we need to stick together.”

“But there are so many rides!” said Ben, pleading. “I want to ride them all!”

“We can ride them all, but we need to stay together. Mommy and I are tired so we might be a little slow.”

“Awwww,” moaned Ben, worried that his parents might take the fun out of his first Disneyland trip.

“Let’s make the most of the time we have. Which ride do you want to go on first?”

“I wanna go on the Tea Cups,” he said. “Jimmy said they were fun.”

They headed down the main street. There were so many people, yelling and running around. He heard a mother call for her child, and felt thankful that the lost child wasn’t him.

He grabbed his father’s hand, pulling him through the crowds.

“Calm down little guy,” his father said. “We don’t wanna lose the rest of the gang.”

Ben slowed. He looked around at all the giant stores, feeling the hustle and bustle around him. People pushed by trying to get to their favorite rides. He wished he could do the same.

He tugged on his dad’s hand. “You know where we’re going, right?”

“Of course. It’s not like I haven’t been here before. Plus we have a map,” he smiled, patting his back pocket.

“Good.”

Ben looked up. He dropped his father’s hand, and stopped in his place, amazed at what he saw. The white turrets and elaborate castle that he had always dreamed about seeing were right in front of him.

“Ready to go champ?” His father said, as Ben reached up to grab his hand. His father squeezed it tightly. He nodded his head excitedly, expressing his fearlessness.

They walked through the crowd of people, each step bringing them closer and closer to the magical experience that Ben knew they would have. They strolled through the castle, Ben marveling at anything and everything. It was all so new and different to him. His amazement was overwhelming. He began to pull his father’s hand again, pushing his way through the crowds.

“Wrong way, little guy,” his dad said, laughing. “The Tea Cups are this way.” He pointed toward a large group of people. His sister and mother were already in line. Ben pushed his way through a few people, reaching them right before the gates opened so they could get on the ride.

Ben clapped with joy. My first ride at Disneyland! He ran to a plain blue cup with a white rim. His family filed in behind him.

His father closed the gate of the teacup behind him and sat down. It was a tight fit, Ben sat between his 17 year old sister and his mom. All of their knees were hitting each other, but Ben didn’t care.

“How does this ride work?” asked Ben.

“Isn’t it simple?” his sister replied. “You twist the big round disk in the middle and it spins it. God! Why do you have to be so annoying?” Ben punched his sister in the arm.

“Ben, stop that!” his father said. “You too, Jessy.”

Jessy kept looking at her phone and pressing buttons, brushing off his scolding.

“Good morning and welcome to the Mad Hatter Tea Party! Please keep all…” A booming voice came from the speakers. Ben was ready. He had been ready his entire seven years of existence. He placed his hands on the disk. “…Have a nice ride!” the voice finished as the ground began to move underneath them. Ben’s excitement rose to another level. He pulled on the disk. Nothing happened. He tried again this time, putting all his body weight into it. It creaked, slowly turning. This was it. He was moving. He was on his first ride at Disneyland and it was amazing. He looked up and around him, looking at all the lanterns above him swirling, making different shapes and patterns.

The ride started to slow down. Each rotation of the disk became harder and harder. Until it came to a stop. That’s it!?! he thought, it should’ve been longer.

“I wanna go again,” Ben whined.

“You can, but mommy and I are tired and this ride is making us feel a little sick. Jessy, can you please go on the ride again with your brother? There’s no line, so you can just stay in this tea cup.”

“But dad! I’m supposed to meet Nat in five minutes,” she complained.

“Go on the ride with your brother. We don’t want to leave him alone. You guys can go on a few rides then come find us. This is a big park and we need to use the buddy system. I’m sure Natalie won’t mind waiting an extra hour.”

“Fine!” she whined, “but you owe me.”

Ben watched his parents go out the exit. The booming voice started again. This time Ben new what he needed to do and quickly got the ride moving. He looked at his sister who was avidly typing on her phone, not caring about what was happening around her. Ben looked up again, feeling the wind blow through his short strawberry blonde hair. Why can’t everything be like this? he wondered. The ride began to slow again, and soon came to a stop.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” he yelled, running towards the exit line. “We should go on another fast one. The big one on the mountain looks really cool. And what about Indiana Jones? That one is really cool. At least that’s what Jimmy said.” He grabbed his sister’s yellow Abercrombie t-shirt and pulled on it. “What do you think? Where should we go? Can you see mom and dad?” he asked, looking up.

His heart sank. This was not his sister. This was a girl wearing a yellow shirt who was around his sister’s age, but not his sister. He quickly let go of the shirt he was holding, pulling away his hand like he had touched a spider.

“Aw. You’re so cute,” she said smiling. “Are you lost?”

He stared at her, not saying a word. She looked nice enough, but his father had told him not to talk to strangers. He stood still for a second, petrified. His adrenaline began to pump. He made a run for it. He ran through a large group of people who were screaming and yelling about how they didn’t want to go on this ride or that. Where am I? He looked up at one of the turrets, hoping he would remember a sign of where he was. There was a window with its curtains closed. Maybe if I go up there I’ll be able to see them. The curtains were quickly pulled open. The witch from Snow White was standing in the window, staring right at him holding an apple.

“No!” he screamed, jumping and running as far from the evil witch as he could, he pushed his way through the crowd, becoming more and more frantic with each step. He ran into a large figure. He looked up. He knew the figure was Woody from Toy Story, but he was so big. His large, out-of-proportion eyes were staring at him. His giant hands looked deformed and claw-like. Fear struck Ben. This is not what Disneyland’s supposed to be like! he panicked. Hot sticky tears began to run down his face.

“Are you lost, little guy?” a young woman looked down at him. Her expression was quizzical. She was holding a camera in her right hand and was reaching towards him.

She’s with Woody! She’s gonna try to turn me into a doll! Run! He pulled away from her hand, which she had reached out toward him. He ran into another group of people that pushed him far, far away. His heart was beating faster. Where are my parents? Where’s Jessy? Where am I?! he thought as he was pushed into a line for the Alice in Wonderland ride.

He was pushed into a seat and the ride began. It was slow and rickety, making him feel even more uneasy. The ride twisted and turned, jerking him from side to side. There was Alice, she had just fallen into the hole. She was lost just like him. The music began to play. He saw the tall hat and wicked grin of the Mad Hatter. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum looked at him with cold blank stares. The Cheshire cat appeared out of nowhere, its head spinning around…and around... and around. He let out a screech, beginning to cry louder and louder. He was no match for this magical and scary place without his parents. He couldn’t survive here without them. He continued crying his voice becoming horse. Through each of the scenes of the ride, he became more and more agitated and scared. He covered his eyes, only peeking to see if it was over. When he saw a door with light illuminating around it, he urged the ride to go faster. He didn’t want to be here in this scary place.

The ride jolted to a stop. No!No!NO! he thought. It can’t stop here! I’m almost out. This can’t be happening! He out cried loudly.

“Ben! Ben! Are you in there?” He heard the familiar voice of his sister calling to him.

“JESSY!” he cried through his tears. The ride started again. He was pushed into the light and saw the relieved face of his sister. He was let off the ride and ran into her arms. “Jessy I was so scared. I don’t like it here. Where did you go? Why did you leave me? Why is it so scary here?” He grabbed her legs holding them close to his body, not letting her go.

“It’s ok now Ben. I’m here. When we got off the Tea Cups you went running off into the crowd. I couldn’t keep up with you, you just disappeared.” She unlatched his arms from her legs and bent down to hug him. “Its ok now.”

“But how did you find me?”

“I knew you wanted to go on the big mountain, so I came in this direction. I heard someone crying, and recognized it. I knew it had to be you. Everything’s ok now,” she said, hugging him tighter. “I won’t leave you again.”

“You promise?” Ben said wiping the snot from his nose.

“I promise,” she smiled at him, giving him reassurance. “Now let’s go find mommy and daddy.”

They walked briskly through the street, Ben grabbed Jessy’s hand tightly, determined not to get lost again. Their parents were sitting on a bench talking about some parent mumbo jumbo. They saw their children.

“How were the rides?” they asked.

“They were scary, but Ben here is a brave little trooper,” Jessy said smiling down at him.

“Ready for another one?”

“Only if I can sit next to Jessy,” Ben said.

“Of course you can, little man,” his father said and Jessy gave him a smile.

You can’t hurt me now Disneyland! he thought. Now that he was safe with his sister and family he could beat anything Disneyland threw at him.