Okay. I’m guessing that you’ve been to a Disney theme parks. And maybe you’ve already signed up for Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom. Which is the Mouse’s attempt to replicate the fun of visiting a Disney theme park, only in Internet form.
Well, you haven’t seen anything yet, kids. Just wait until this Fall. Where you can have the ultimate Disney theme park adventure by picking up a copy of Ridley Pearson’s “The Kingdom Keepers.”
This new Disney Editions novel — which is due to hit bookstore shelves in September 1st– is reportedly a fantastic thriller that deals with five teens who find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten the future of Walt Disney World as well as the stability of the world outside the resort.
Are you intrigued yet? Here’s a more detailed description of “The Kingdom Keepers” ‘s storyline. Set in a not-so-distant future, this novel starts …
When Disney comes looking for five teenagers to serve as actors for a new technology — Daylight Hologram Images, or DHIs — there is more to it than meets the eye.
Strange things have been happening inside the Florida theme park: parts of one ride are found mysteriously moved to another; in the Fantasmic! show, the dragon unexplainably over Mickey; little blips in story lines and offstage antics by characters trouble managers.
Finn Whitman, a middle-schooler, goes to sleep one night and has the dream of a lifetime. He meets an old man there, Wayne, who claims to be one of the original Imagineers and explains to Finn that he “and your friends” have a mission to save the park from forces that humans can neither see or near.
Not believing his dream, but not totally discounting it, Finn, back in real life, sets out to find the four other kids who have been chosen to be DHIs, and in doing so goes to sleep only to awaken in the park.
As he comes to accept that he’s actually crossing over and existing as a DHI at night, inside the park, (Finn) also comes to accept that Wayne’s mission is for real.
The five kids must solve the Stonecutter’s Quill, a puzzle/fable left behind by Walt Disney. The solution of each phase of the puzzle involves a different ride in the park. The kids must come together as a team if they’re to defeat the evil powers that only they can see and contend with.
That Wayne and Imagineering created them as DHIs intentionally for this purpose will take time for Finn and others to realize. But by the time they do, there is no turning back — the forces are stronger than ever, and the future of the world is suddenly in their hands …
That is the early plot description for “The Kingdom Keepers” as was provided to me by Hyperion Press. And — no — this isn’t a piece of fan fiction. This is a really-for-real book written by Ridley Pearson, the author of that recent Hyperion Press best seller, “Peter and the Starcatchers.” Which was a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan.”
So what do you folks think? I mean, sure, it’s hard to judge a book just by its plot description. But does “The Kingdom Keepers” sound like the sort of the book you’d enjoy reading.
Me personally? I have to admit that I’m intrigued by this brief description of Pearson’s story. But — that said — I still wonder: Is “The Kingdom Keepers” perhaps pushing this whole corporate synergy thing a bit too far?
Well, I guess we’ll all know for sure when this Disney Editions novel finally hits store shelves on September 1st. But — for now — what are your thoughts?