"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

-Arthur C. Clarke

August 12, 2016

Central Florida, Southeast United States of America

It was a sweltering, humid summer morning when the Laskey family finally stepped off the bus and into the Florida heat. Ethan Laskey longed for the air conditioning of the resort they'd just left. It was almost as bad as stepping on to another planet.

His younger sister, Emily, broke from their parents and rushed out in front of them. "Come on, come on!" She squealed, her curly hair bouncing up and down in her mad dash up the bus station.

"Ethan, can you-" his father started, prompting him to grumble, "yeah, yeah," and ran after her. That's just how things went. He was seven years older than her, and she was still in First Grade, which made her still a baby in his book. It also explained why they were at this place, and not somewhere more interesting, like the Kennedy Space Center or Universal Studios.

By the time he caught up to her, he nearly crashed into her. Emily stood, her eyes wide and a humongous grin on her face, pointing to the scene before them.

It was an old-style train station, or designed that way, at least, topped a giant flower garden and a sign written in an archaic style that served as an anachronism to its own text.

"THE MAGIC KINGDOM"

As if on cue, the speakers all around the entrance area began to play an orchestral version of When You Wish upon a Star.

Finally, after nearly a day of traveling by car, plane, and bus, Walt Disney World.

"Look, look, we're really here!" Emily said, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Yup," Ethan said, thinking kill me now, kill me now, kill me now, just the same. "Don't run off like that. This place is crowded and Mom and Dad will be pissed."

"But-"

"No buts. You stay with me. Got it?"

Emily returned an annoyed pout, but she didn't run off again.

After their parents caught up to them, they paradoxically found themselves in "The Happiest Place on Earth"'s security line, where Ethan presented his backpack to a guard for inspection. The Disney version of security was strange-uniformed and polished in a way suggestive of a police officer, but simple and congenial enough to feel like wait staff at a restaurant. The closest comparison Ethan could think of was a National Park Ranger.

They presented their passes, walked through a tunnel beneath the station, and the scene changed again. They stood in a grand square that funneled into a long town road. "Main Street USA" was modeled after city streets at the start of the 20th century, and Disney had taken great lengths to reinforce this with barbershop quartets, all manner of candy and fairground-like stalls, and a trolley full of performers singing a song from a long-forgotten musical. Emily, of course, was ecstatic. Ethan folded his arms in irritation and wondered how long it would take them to get to Space Mountain.

"Something on your mind?" His father asked.

"It all just seems so stupid," Ethan muttered. "All this kids' stuff, couldn't you have taken Em alone?"

Mr. Laskey grinned and said, "I guess as you get older, the story they're trying to tell does get boring, so let's look at this another way. Have you ever thought about the tech that goes into this place?"

Ethan looked around again at the 1910 facades in confusion. "What tech?"

"The tech to put on the show, of course." He pointed down the street towards the castle. "How far do you think that is?"

"I dunno. Half a mile?"

"What if I told you that it was just the length of a football field?"

"That's impossible! I mean, look at it!"

"I checked on Google maps… so how do you think they do it?"

Ethan looked around again, past his sister, past his mother and the performers, all the way up to the dots of people at the end of the road.

"... is it an optical illusion?"

"Sure is! The far side of the road was built narrower than the front side, and the buildings at the end are shorter than they are over here. It makes the castle appear further away. They use the same trick in the background of movies and video games to make you believe that a space is bigger than it actually is."

"Huh." Now Ethan couldn't help but look around him again. If that was just one trick, then surely there were more. "Are there any more?"

"All over the place. When they say the most Magical place on Earth, they actually mean the most illusions packed into a square mile. It's fun to see if you can spot them all, but Disney does a really, really good job of hiding the serious stuff."

Ethan nodded. He hadn't seen a single security person since the front gate… which made him feel the need to say, "Except the security guys at the front. They don't hide them."

"They used to. When I came here with my parents, they weren't there."

"What changed?"

His father's face darkened slightly. "Nine-eleven."

"Oh, right," Ethan said, but he didn't get it. Not really. He and his sister had been born years after that event, and while he had learned about it in history class, it meant about as much to him as the Revolutionary War or the Moon Landing. "Sorry, I-"

"Yeah, this isn't the place for it." Mr. Laskey smiled and said, "We'd better catch up with the girls, but really, keep an eye out for all the little tricks. You'd be surprised how often you'll find them!"

4:15PM - Cinderella's Castle Stage

In official Disney employee terminology, the title of Katie White's occupation was "friends with" Cinderella. It was a far stretch from her childhood dreams of Broadway, but it was generally a positive experience, and she didn't regret where her life had taken her.

In fact, in a way, the job was easier than a Broadway show. Sure, there was still makeup, costuming, scheduling, and standard drama that came with any place of employment, but she didn't have thousands of lines to memorize, didn't have a singing voice to protect, and she never got tired of making kids happy. If anything, the three toughest things were maintaining her figure to fit in the costumes, ignoring the Florida heat, and not accidentally signing her checks and tax forms as "Cinderella".

At the moment she was crowded into a space that was before the Castle, but behind a series of large stage props. In a few minutes, the show would begin, and everything had to go perfectly.

For Katie… for any of Disney's 'Cast Members', overall behavior was governed by a mantra of four Disney Service Basics.

1) I project a positive image and energy.

She looked over to her friend and coworker, Sandy Everett. Like Katie, Sandy was "friends with" Snow White, and was waiting in the full getup. Unlike her, Sandy had decided that the job was not for her, and had confided in Katie that she was going to resign at the end of the week to finish a degree in Accounting. As such, she had a far-off, distracted look on her face. Katie waved a hand in front of her to get her attention, then made a face. Sandy gave an out-of-character snort, but smiled nonetheless.

2) I am courteous and respectful to all Guests, including Children.

The lead stagehand gave their cue, and the first group of performers rushed out onto the stage to the delighted applause of the audience. Somewhere the music started up and Katie's heart gave a slight jump. She was used to this performance (who wouldn't be, after doing it three times a day, almost every day, for the past year) but the build up until she was actually onstage still made her slightly nervous.

3) I stay in character and play the part.

The second group of characters with the animatronic masks ran out next. She was on in 30 seconds. Katie took a slow, deep breath and dove into the character-she was Cinderella, this was her castle, and the actor standing at her other side was her Prince Charming.

4) I go above and beyond.

The last musical cue came on, and in that moment it was not Katie that stepped out into the light but Cinderella who was swept to center stage and burst into song.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes…"

4:25PM - Near Big Thunder Mountain

"But there's no rides there!" Ethan argued. "Why do it if there aren't any rides!"

"But I want to goooo," Emily answered with a huff, pointing across the river towards the heavily-forested island. "What if there's something really cool over there?"

It had been incredibly slow going, Ethan reflected. Emily had already wasted their time with Aladdin's Carpets and the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the line for Pirates of the Caribbean had been well over an hour long when they entered it. Now, they stood with the water ride Splash Mountain directly to their left, rollercoaster Big Thunder Mountain directly before them, and where did Emily want to go? Across the lagoon to Tom Sawyer's Island.

Of course, Ethan had never been there himself, but he'd Googled it before coming to the park. Apparently, the island was one of Walt Disney's original ideas with no clear movie tie-in, and had no rides, shows, or character meet-ups. It was purely an aging collection of picnic areas, walking paths, tunnels, and a snack stand. In other words, to Ethan, it was a complete waste of time.

This didn't seem to deter his mother, unfortunately. "Of course we will, honey," Mrs. Laskey said. "It's just about time for lunch, isn't it, Mark?"

Mr. Laskey wasn't paying attention. He had his cellphone out and was looking at something on it. "Pardon?" he said.

"Tom Sawyer's Island. Packed lunch."

"Oh." He looked up and over at the island, then back down at his phone, a pained expression on his face. "I'd like to, Dear, but I don't know what the reception is like over there."

"Reception? Who cares! It's Disney!"

"Yeah, but I just got an urgent text from work. Someone screwed up the Cisco ASA and now the FTP server isn't talking-"

"We're supposed to be on vacation."

"I don't like your tone."

As if this couldn't get any worse. Really? You're doing this now? Ethan sighed and said, "Em and I will go over, I've got my phone on me, call when you're ready for lunch."

He took Emily by the hand and together they made their way down to one of the motorized rafts. There was no line, and the staff member was more than happy to take them across. "What about mom and dad?" Emily asked him, grasping his hand and making him shake his head.

"Do you want to be around them while they argue?"

"No."

"Yeah, well, neither do I." He shifted the backpack with water and their snacks to his other shoulder and looked down as his cellphone buzzed at him. He glanced at the message and said, "They told us to wait on the far side. Sorry, Em."

But his little sister didn't seem to be that upset. "It's okay," she said, giving his hand a squeeze. 'After all, it's an adventure!"

Ethan rolled his eyes. Some adventure…

4:35 - Cinderella's Castle Stage

Katie took her bows, smile still plastered to her face, waved goodbye to the crowd once more, and followed the rest of the cast back in to the Castle. It wasn't until they were back behind the scenes that she finally let the character drop, pulled off one of her costume gloves and wiped off the sweat collecting on her forehead. Next to her, Sandy let out a tired groan. "Oh my gooood. Is it a hundred and three out there?"

"Felt like it," Katie said. "I wish they'd figure out a way to shove a cooling vest in this dress."

"Might not work. Do you know Jenna Li?"

"I think so… morning shift, right? 'Friends with' Mickey?"

"That's right. I hear that one time, the techs forgot to plug her cooling vest into the battery pack… she almost fainted onstage."

"Yikes. I heard that almost happened to-"

A cast manager was pushing through the crowd and said, "Oh, thank God. I need both of you upstairs, right now."

Katie and Sandy exchanged a look. "Uh, we just got back-" Sandy began, but the Manager shook her head.

"You don't get it. Some toddler dumped an entire container of syrup on one of the girls upstairs, and another one called in sick. I need a Cinderella and Snow White upstairs, and I need you up there now."

"We're covered in sweat," Sandy argued. "We probably stink!"

"It's just for an hour. You can't have Cinderella's Royale Table without Cinderella, right? Please, I'm begging you."

Sandy shot an irritated look to Katie who raised an eyebrow, grinned, and drew the same semicircle under her face as before. Somewhere out there was a kid that could use a good experience-maybe today was the day? Smile.

"Fine," Sandy said, "Just… let me towel off a little and reapply makeup. Is that okay?"

4:45 PM - Magic Kingdom "Hub"

Outside the castle the crowds had already started to disperse. Some trudged off to meet FastPass times, others wandered towards their next meal, and various families collected at points all around the Hub to take pictures of their kids or themselves with the castle, Disney statue, or various garden features or landmarks.

At 4:40 PM EDT, a random scattering of kids looked up, tugged on their parents' hands, and pointed.

It looked like a glimmer at first, but over the next thirty seconds the haze started to resolve into the shape of a building some thirty feet wide and twenty feet high, with an opening that faced roughly West, in the direction of Adventureland. Slowly, a crowd began to gather again, many pulling out cellphones and smartphones and camcorders to record the strange phenomena as excited murmurs and speculation started up. What was it? What exciting new technology was Disney using to make it appear like that? How had they hidden it in the first place? Was it a new show? A new ride? A surprise movie announcement? Part of the parade?

After a few minutes, a group of park staff members appeared and began waving the crowd back. None of them actually knew what was going on, of course, just that management had spotted the object and asked for crowd control. This made it hard to answer questions.

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise!"

But as the structure shifted from ghostlike to something far more corporeal, astute visitors would have noticed the staff on the west-facing end throwing nervous glances at the yawning portal behind them. When they first noticed movement, some of them forgot their duties and turned to watch as a mass of figures began to emerge from the gloom.

They were… soldiers? Not modern soldiers, clearly. They wore classical Roman attire, armed with swords and shields and spears, and were led by an officer mounted on a horse. This only prompted more wild speculation.

"New TV show?"

"I don't remember anything announced at D23."

"Live Action Hercules?"

"Those were Greeks!"

As the officer emerged into the sunlight, he regarded the assembled park guests with an arrogant sneer. Ooooh, this must the villain, the guest supposed, and the assembled mass exploded with the light of a thousand camera flashbulbs.

The officer reared his horse, drew his sword and yelled something in a language no one else understood.

Behind him, the army drew their own weapons, roared a battle cry, and charged into the mass of excited families.

Then, the blood and screaming began.

From the Author

Yes, we're actually going there. We're doing a Gate invasion in Disney World.

Hi, I'm 8andahalfby11, and you may have read some of my prior Gate stories, A Sky Full of Fire/Thunder/Starlight. This story does not follow from any of them, and does not use any of its characters or plot elements. It will, however, hopefully include some interesting trivia, and a new perspective on a familiar place.

That said, I'm already shooting myself in the foot. The show described in this chapter, Dream Along with Mickey, had its debut in 2006 and ran until April of 2016… just a few months shy of Comiket and therefore the canon timeframe of the Gate opening in Ginza. To compensate, I have given the show an extended run in this version of reality. Considering how fantastic the events that follow will be, I hope I can be excused a few small deviations from reality for the sake of the story. Anything obvious will be noted at the end of each chapter.

As of writing, I have six out of a planned twelve chapters drafted. Releases will depend on my availability, with an increased rate after mid-December.

Thanks for taking time to give this work a chance, and I hope the pages that follow entertain and surprise you!