Kingdom Keepers The Return

   After finally having time to read again, I started with an almost absolutely fantastic book.  The 2nd Kingdom Keepers series.  So, here I'll explain the Kingdom Keepers and why I love them so much, by the way even though the storyline is fictional,  the Disney that Ridley Pearson writes about is spot-on, it pays to have a writer who knows what they're writing about. The Kingdom Keeper books are about 5 kids who become "models" for Disney and their new DHI (Disney Host Interactive) experience, the kids become Hologram guides in the park.  Although these guides are helpful and popular around the parks, the Imagineers have alterior motives for them, to help save the parks from OverTakers, the Disney Villians.  At this point, you may be thinking, that's so childish, and seems so cliché, but the books are so cool.  The teens help protect the parks as holograms inside the parks after hours, hence the name Kingdom Keepers.  So, the first series was so amazing, I pretty much read the first 4 books in a week and had to wait a year each in between the last 3 books, because I would also read those in a week.  I was absolutely heartbroken when I found out that book #7, was going to be the last one in the series. I knew he was going to make another series around Disney but wanted the same characters back again.  Apparently all of his readers wanted that so he made a new series around the same characters but from a different character's point of view.  Hence, series #2.

Sorry, had to put some kind of Disney gif in there. 

Okay, so not only is the old gang back but they are now in College and are "done" with being Kingdom Keepers, let's see how long that lasts.  So, as I said before Ridley Pearson really knows his stuff about Disney, they let him visit at night and talk to imagineers and see the archives and all kinds of crazy, cool stuff. So all the books have very, very good imagery and are able to take you into the parks with the Keepers. Also in the new book, one of the main Keepers, Finn (The only one that still wants to be a keeper), is transported to what I think is another time period. So here is some great imagery from the book, "The boys in the audience wore dress shirts with button-down collars;the girls, cardigan sweaters and pleated skirts. Most of the women wore white gloves, while the men had slicked-back hair, clean-shaven faces, ties and jackets. Not a single tattoo or piercing." (Pearson 40). Given this clue, some foreshadowing from the book in between the two series, I assumed Finn was transported through time.  

Another good piece of Imagery was this, " The decorations hadn't been changed in forty years. A colorful carpet, a pair of antique chairs,  a standing lamp, and two daybeds resplendent with needlepoint pillows. A small round table held the historic glass-domed lamp Walt Disney had once used to announce his presence in the park." (Pearson 18).

If you are a Disney fan, I strongly recommend that you read these books. 

Disney Column

We all remember how it was to be a tiny child.  Maybe watching our first movie, drinking our first Swiss Miss dark hot chocolate after a snowy day, playing our first game of Monopoly Jr.,  or even opening our first present on Christmas morning.  But everyone has had their favorite childhood moment.  Going to Walt Disney World is mine.  From the giant "Walt Disney World" sign when you first enter Lake Buena Vista to the view of Cinderella's Castle from the monorail.  Disney is my favorite place to be.  But, now that I am a teenager who isn't as into character meet and greets and shows, what keeps my family and I coming back each year?  

The service.  Or not the service, but the people who provide it.  I don't think that any Disney Cast Members, the employees, have ever been anything but polite, respectful, and helpful to anyone I know.  They always return questions, comments, and critiques with a smile and a helpful response.  To me, Disney is fantastic.  Of course, not everyone thinks this way.  To some,  the rides are boring and character meet and greets a waste of time.  To some, the thought of planning out a vacation more than a month in advance is pure torture and getting there without plans is even worse.  To some, Disney is a soul-sucking corporation that just wants to take your money.  It’s true, after   almost 60 years prices have increased by $101.50,  full price today being $105 for a day.  But, even so, I ask them, “Have you ever given it a chance?” 

When I was 3, we visited for the first time.  After my birthday there, we lost our Casio camera with all of the pictures from that day.  Now, how many places that big would be able to get back that nice camera?  We were able to get back all of those memories with the help of Disney’s staff.  It’s times like these when almost all hope is lost, that memories are made and something becomes truly special.  I think that maybe we don’t give enough credit to something that should be standard.  I believe that the world, in the most general sense, needs to be more caring, more respectful, more loving, more Disney.  There are other companies out there that are mostly this way, one that comes to mind is Carnival.  But, nowadays it is too hard to find businesses, or even people that care more about others than money. That, I believe needs to change.  So think hard about this the next time you give someone an attitude or are rude, remember the “Golden Rule” : Treat others how you want to be treated.