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Disney after Dark

Pearson Ridley (EN)

ALSO BY RIDLEY PEARSON

Kingdom Keepers II— Disney at Dawn

Steel Trapp— The Challenge

WITH DAVE BARRY

Blood Tide

Cave of the Dark Wind

Escape from the Carnivale

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

Peter and the Starcatchers

Science Fair

The following are some of the trademarks, registered marks, and service marks owned by Disney Enterprises, Inc.: Adventureland® Area, Audio-Animatronics® Figure, Big Thunder Mountain®

Railroad Disneyland®, Disney’s Hol ywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, Epcot®, Fantasyland® Area, FASTPASS® Service, Fort Wilderness, Frontierland® Area, Imagineering, Imagineers, “it’s a smal world,” Magic Kingdom® Park, Main Street, U.S.A. Area, Mickey’s Toontown®, monorail, New Orleans Square, Space Mountain® Attraction, Splash Mountain® Attraction, Tomorrowland® Area, Walt Disney World® Resort

Wonderland Music Company, Inc.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters © Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar Animation Studios Toy Story characters © Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar Animation Studios Wi

Shepard

Al rights reserved. Published by Disney•Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

For information address Disney•Hyperion Books, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

Printed in the United States of America

New Disney•Hyperion paperback edition, 2009

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.

ISBN 978-1-4231-4112-9

This book is dedicated to

anyone and everyone

who ever wondered what happens when the gates are closed

and the lights go out.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To whoever invented holograms, thanks for the ride.

Without people who make books come true, like Al Zuckerman and Amy Berkower at Writers House, and Wendy Lefkon, my editor at Disney • Hyperion, projects like this would never happen.

Thanks to you all.

Thanks also to Laurel and David, who read this far too many times, red pens in hand. And to Christopher Caines for his keen eye and great suggestions.

And thanks to Jason Surrell, a Disney Imagineer who has the “keys to the kingdom.” He toured me through an empty Magic Kingdom on more than one occasion, and helped to make magic out of reality. Jason repeatedly served up the history of and little-known facts about the park, though he’ll probably deny it in order to keep his job.

Thanks, too, to Wayne and Christina—and a dozen more who shall remain nameless—who live this fiction. Wayne works behind the scenes at Splash Mountain, and the lovely Christina at Space Mountain. They provided mountains of help.

Special thanks to Paige, Storey, and Sophie, through whose eyes I’ve seen the Magic Kingdom so many times now, and who got me wondering what it must be like at night after everyone’s departed…or almost everyone.

And thanks to Dave, who teased me relentlessly for my study of the trash evacuation system during one of our secret tours of the tu

—R.P.

February 28, 2005

St. Louis, Missouri

He found himself standing next to the flagpole in Town Square, in the heart of the Magic Kingdom. In his pajamas. How he’d gotten here, he had no idea. His last memory was climbing into bed—it felt like only minutes earlier.

Gripped by a sense of panic, awed by the sight of the Cinderella Castle at night, Fi

“It looks so different,” he thought, only to realize he’d spoken out loud. Main Street stood empty, not a person in sight. He glanced around and quickly saw that he was all alone.

“Not so different as all that,” came a man’s voice. Though faint, it startled Fi

There! An old guy with white hair, on a bench in front of the Exhibition Hall. He sat so close to a seated sculpture of Goofy that Fi

The old man wore khakis, a collared shirt, and a name tag: WAYNE.

“Where is everybody?” Fi

“Is it empty?” the man asked, looking up anxiously. “Tell me what you see.”

“Well,” Fi

Wayne’s expression changed to disappointment.

“What am I supposed to see, exactly?” Fi

“You’re only supposed to see what you can see.”

“Whatever that means,” Fi

“It means exactly what it says.”

“If you say so.”

“Listen, young man, I’ve been around here since long before any of them were even created. I live in the apartment above the fire station.” He pointed right at the firehouse and then looked back at Fi

Seniority or senility? Fi

“Nice pajamas,” the old guy said.

Wayne’s ice-blue eyes drilled into him. “How do you think you got here, young man?”

“That depends on where I am,” Fi

“Very good answer. I expected no less of you.”