Where the Magic Happens

Kent was happily surprised at how much he actually liked and got along with Oliver. They had a lot of things in common and as for the many that they didn’t, Kent was fascinated by. For example, Oliver had won dance competitions across the country with only four years of formal dance classes. He said that he’d danced before he took any classes and that his aunt taught him a lot over the years. Kent still couldn’t fathom winning national competitions with so little formal training.

The two boys became instant friends and spent an amazing day around and backstage of Walt Disney World with Kent leading them everywhere, pointing things out, showing Oliver the ropes, introducing him to people and being an all around spectacular tour guide. One thing that could have made the day better, in their view, was if they had time to explore deeper. Of course, Kent had done quite a bit of exploring in his own college days, as well as afterwards when he took up a permanent job there. Oliver, however, was like a little school boy visiting Disney for the first time all over again. The only other time he had been to Disney World was on a family vacation so many years ago where he was a mere ten years old. “You know, I really don’t have that many solid memories of the trip,” Oliver explained to Kent as they walked through the backstage area. “At least not many that aren’t in the form of pictures. I've forgotten a lot about these parks.”

“Well I can guarantee you that you’ll soon know much more about this entire place than you’d have ever imagined knowing,” Kent laughed softly.

Once Kent finished showing Oliver around Epcot, they boarded the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom, the park that most epitomized Disney World. In reality, Epcot seemed more to be the park that adults or the intellectual enjoyed most, whereas Magic Kingdom seemed more to be the park that the children or the young-at-heart enjoyed most. So for two very intellectual young adults, going from Epcot to Magic Kingdom was not as wonderful as it would have been had the boys been younger. Of course, both of them were fairly young-at-heart and still very much enjoyed Magic Kingdom while getting things done that they needed to get done.

The next park on their stop was Animal Kingdom, which they had to ride one of the complimentary Disney buses to get to. Some people say that Animal Kingdom is merely “a zoo on steroids”. However true that may be, it is a pretty spectacular zoo on steroids and is nothing to ignore or turn a blind eye to. Even though the boys were technically visiting the parks on business, Kent made sure they took a half an hour out of their schedule to see The Festival of Lion King, which he found absolutely necessary for Oliver to see on their tour. Really, Kent was in love with the show and saw this as a perfect opportunity to see it once again.

Lastly was Hollywood Studios, in Kent’s opinion the park with the least things to do. It was more of a shopping and sightseeing park, although there are many shows and interactive things to do and see. The thing that attracts the most people though is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a ride based off of an episode of The Twilight Zone . It was by far one of Kent’s favorite rides in all of the parks and was also one of Oliver’s memories of his previous trip. Oliver laughed and looked at Kent with amusement as they came closer to the ride. “Even when I was ten I’d wanted to ride this so bad. I practically begged my parents to let me ride it with them, and in the end I was the only one that wasn’t freaked out by it. I love this thing so much.”

“I suppose we’ll just have to ride it then, won’t we?” Kent smirked, grabbing the younger boy’s hand and starting to run towards the entrance. Oliver laughed again and followed the Brit as he ran down Sunset Boulevard like a giddy little boy, eager to get on the thrill ride.



However much Kent didn’t want to, he had to work the next day. He’d have rather spent another day “showing around Oliver”, which of course would have just been the two boys having another fun day in the parks, but he did have obligations. He felt as if he’d known Oliver for years, even though they’d just met. Of course, spending an entire day together didn’t hurt them when it came to getting to know each other better.

This day, Kent was working in Epcot again, but instead of playing Mushu, he was tending shop in the World Showcase’s United Kingdom section. His short stature made him perfect for playing Mushu, but the fact that he was a wonderful people person and had a knack with children made him a great candidate to work in “The Toy Soldier”, a mainly kid-related store in the United Kingdom. He actually really enjoyed working there, because he got to see the looks of joy on the faces of the children that came in. Of course, retail is never a very spectacular job to have, but working retail in Disney World is a bit of a different story.

That day, his greatest amusement surprisingly came from a group of American teenagers and a middle aged woman that was with them. Presumably, the woman was the mother of one or more of the teens, but the way she interacted with them made it seem as if she was one of them. The group consisted of five girls and two boys that didn’t exactly look like they belonged together but surely functioned as if they were the best of friends.

“Ooh, excuse me,” the girl with the dark and slightly unruly hair asked Kent, leaning on the checkout counter.

“How can I help you?” he asked politely, smiling at the brief look of amazement on the kids’ faces because of his accent. He never got tired of the look that the majority of Americans got on their faces upon hearing an accent foreign to them.

“Does Peter Pan show up in the UK at any time?”

“Well Peter comes to London all the time, didn’t you know?

The girl and some of her friends laughed. “No,” another girl piped in, chuckling. “Like, does the Peter lookalike come here to Epcot?”

“Oh, he’s not a lookalike, my friends. He’s the real deal. He’s Peter Pan!”

Kent just loved messing with the guests like this.

“But between you and me,” he whispered, leaning across the counter with a smirk on his face. “I heard from a little fairy that Peter and some friends of his are making an appearance over in front of “The Rose and Crown Pub” in about five minutes. So if you’re wanting to go catch them, you may want to head over there soon.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” the first girl giggled. She was obviously the one that wanted to meet him the most, although the others all looked fairly excited as well.

“But remember, it’s our little secret. Just between the nine of us, okay?”

“Of course,” they agreed, most of them either laughing or smiling.

“Okay, is anybody getting anything?” the mother asked, looking around at all of the teens. Nobody spoke up, so the woman continued. “Alright then, let’s head on over there so Tori can get her much wanted picture.”

Kent smiled as the group left the shop, laughing and smiling at whatever they had started talking about. He saw people and groups like that nearly daily, and it never got old. He never got sick of making people laugh or even just helping them in a creative way. To him, he had the best job on the face of the planet.