The Key To the Kingdom (46 page)

T
HE ROOM BEHIND THE DOOR
was a reception area. Plush carpet covered the floor, and in the center of the room an oversized chair faced a wall of thick glass. The glass wall reached from floor to ceiling and stretched twenty feet across. The reception area was well lit but what lay behind the glass wall was cloaked in darkness. Hawk stepped behind the chair in the center of the room and looked into the murky blackness behind the glass. He was sure he saw something moving, but could not make out what was in the shadows of the room. His own reflection kept getting blocking his field of vision. The lighting contrast between the two areas sufficiently kept him unable to see what was behind the glass. Apparently that had been the idea.

“Please have a seat, Grayson,” came a familiar voice from a set of speakers embedded into the ceiling.

Hawk moved cautiously around the chair, trying to distinguish why the voice was so familiar. He had heard it before many times, he was sure of that, but his name sounded strange as the voice said it. Taking a seat in the chair, he sank into the cushioned back as the chair engulfed him. Staring toward the darkness he waited for what was to happen next.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” the same familiar voice said again as the lights softly began to pierce the darkness behind the glass.

Hawk leaned forward slightly as the lights began to warmly radiate from behind the now transparent barrier. The voice had been familiar but now as he sat staring he knew what he was seeing was impossible. The voice speaking to him was Walt Disney’s.

Rising to his feet from behind his desk was the creator of the things so familiar to Hawk. The dreamer, the doer, the man himself; Walt Disney smiled as he stood, giving the preacher a chance to absorb what he was seeing. Mr. Disney was in his office, just like the one Hawk had broken into at One Man’s Dream.

Suddenly Hawk’s gaze shifted to the right as he noticed someone seated in the office facing Walt. This man now rose to his feet and turned to face the stunned preacher on the other side of the glass. This too was a person very familiar to Hawk; it was his friend Farren Rales.

The old Imagineer was beaming as he turned to face his dear friend. No one uttered a word as the reality of what he was seeing rippled through his brain cells. Hawk sat in disbelief as his eyes flitted between the two legends, Walt Disney and Farren Rales.

“Hello,” Farren said, smiling excitedly. “I knew you would find us.”

Slowly Walt turned and looked toward Farren as he spoke and then sat back down behind his desk. Walt’s hair was mostly white yet his facial features, the distinct mustache, and the familiar frame were exactly what Hawk had seen time and time again on television, DVD, and in pictures. This Walt Disney was an older version of the man who had spoken to him on the
Old Yeller
DVD. The genius turned his head back toward Hawk as Farren sat back down, spinning his chair toward the massive glass wall to face his friend.

“You know,” Walt Disney said, “I’ll bet you have a million questions. Now that you’ve made it here, you can have those answers. But before I let you and Farren talk I just want you to know that I’m glad you finally made it.”

“I got here as soon as I could,” Hawk softly said and then realized how dumb it sounded. His mind was a blazing racetrack of activity. What he was seeing was impossible; Walt Disney was over one hundred years old. There is no way he could be here talking to him right now. Farren Rales hadn’t disappeared, instead he was hiding, and they had been waiting for him to come and find them. It didn’t make sense.

“I suppose all of this is pretty difficult for you to understand right now,” Walt continued. “Believe me, Grayson, all of your questions will be answered, and I think you are going to be pleased with what has happened.”

“Pleased?” He couldn’t seem to string together an intelligent set of words.

“It hasn’t been easy for you to get here, I understand that.” Walt smiled as he spoke. “But I think you will agree that all of this mystery must be for a good reason. The problem is you don’t know the reason . . . yet. While you have been looking for us you have had a chance to go on a bit of a treasure hunt. You have discovered some of the history of how we do things here at my company. Actually you have discovered some of my history. I hope you have enjoyed that part of your adventure.” Walt chuckled. “I know I enjoyed living it.”

“How can this be happening?” Hawk interrupted.

“Hold on, Grayson.” Walt held up a hand to stop the question. “My friend Farren here is going to tell you everything you need to know, but first let me finish.”

“Sorry,” Hawk apologized.

“No problem.” Walt laughed. “I’m sure you have quite a few stories of your own to tell about all that has been going on. But now that you are here, you have to know how important it is that you found us. You did exactly what we hoped you would do and now my kingdom will be safe. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Hawk said softly. “But I don’t—”

“Farren, you have made a good choice.” Walt did not give Hawk time to finish his thought or ask the question that had to be coming.

“Thanks, Walt.” Farren was absolutely bursting with pride as he looked at his friend. “I knew he could do it and I knew he wouldn’t let us down.”

“Okay, Grayson.” Walt grinned. “I know you are anxious to get a few answers. I know I would be. I’ll be quiet and let Farren explain anything you want to know.”

Walt looked toward Farren, who stood and approached the window. Hawk also rose to his feet and stepped to the glass. They were close with just the glass wall separating the two of them.

“Well?” Farren said with a sparkle in his eye.

“Uh . . .” Hawk had so many questions he didn’t know where to start. “How can this be happening?”

“You are at Walt Disney World,” Farren said matter-of-factly. “Magic happens here all the time, you know that. This is a place where dreams come true.”

“But Walt Disney is over one hundred years old. How can he be sitting there talking to me?” Hawk looked at Walt then back to Farren. “No disrespect intended, Mr. Disney, but how can you be here?”

“It’s a good question,” Walt agreed. “I’ll bet you feel like Alice getting ready to step through the looking glass. You’d better go ahead and tell him, Farren.”

“Walt is not here, Grayson.” Farren studied Hawk’s face and he looked over toward Mr. Disney, who looked entirely present to Hawk. “Walt Disney is dead.”

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-E
IGHT

Day Seven Afternoon

“I
AM DEAD,”
Walt Disney said. “I died in December of 1966.”

Hawk closed one eye and looked at Walt. The conversation had turned from unbelievable to surreal. He turned away from Walt, who was now smiling and obviously pleased with the impossibility that Hawk was dealing with, and looked back toward Farren, who was nodding in gentle understanding. The preacher was at a loss for words.

“Would you like to step into the office and have a seat in here?” Farren offered.

Hawk nodded and then walked alongside Farren on the other side of the glass partition as they made their way to the end of the room. The Imagineer stepped out of the very same door that Hawk had used to enter the recreation of Walt’s office and momentarily disappeared. Instantly the one remaining door in the reception area opened and Farren stepped through, embracing Hawk in a huge bear hug.

“I am so pleased you got here,” Farren whispered as he held Hawk tightly.

“I’m glad you are all right,” Hawk uttered, realizing for the first time that his friend was really safe.

Keeping an arm wrapped tightly around the preacher’s shoulder the Imagineer lead him through the door into a hallway and then back through the door in Walt’s office. Gesturing for Hawk to take a seat, Farren waited for him to sit down before taking a seat next to him. They both faced the desk as Walt Disney looked back at them.

“Dr. Grayson Hawkes,” Farren said formally. “I would like for you to meet the one and only audio-animatronic Walt Disney.”

Walt Disney nodded. “That’s me. You have to admit I look pretty good for an audio-animatronic creation. Pretty amazing what they can do now with technology.”

Now that Hawk was seated close to the entertainer he began to notice the slight hints that he wasn’t a real person. Yet he was amazed at the realism that had been captured in this recreation of the legend. Farren gave him a few moments to gaze closely at the magnificent lifelike image before him. Amazingly as Hawk stared at Walt Disney, Walt smiled and looked back at Hawk.

“Back in the 50s Walt was traveling and purchased a mechanical bird,” Rales began.

“I was on vacation in Europe actually,” Disney added.

“After he got back, Roger Broggie and Wathel Rogers started working on what they called Project Little Man. They developed a miniature figure that would tap dance. It was primitive but it was the starting point for what would later become known as audio-animatronics.”

“The first true audio-animatronic technology was used in the birds we designed for the Enchanted Tiki Room and for the figure of Abraham Lincoln in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” Walt filled in the history.

“Hawk, you are familiar with how much audio-animatronics have helped to create the magic in Disney theme parks. The A-100 Audio-Animatronic figure was debuted as the Wicked Witch of Oz on the Great Movie Ride at the Studios. This technology was groundbreaking; the movements and gestures were so lifelike and complicated. It took eight hours to animate one second of movement.” Rales looked from Hawk to Walt and then back before continuing. “We kept dreaming and engineering and the technology allowed us to keep getting better and better. Meeko from
Pocahontas
became our first portable audio-animatronic figure. Lucky the Dinosaur was another breakthrough for us when we were able to create a free-roaming audio-animatronic figure. Each time we created something better we amazed ourselves.”

“We sure have come a long, long way from the first birds we created, that’s for sure,” Walt injected.

“The biggest A-100 creation is the yeti in Expedition Everest. Over eighteen feet tall, he is quite an accomplishment,” Rales continued.

“Yes.” Hawk decided to join the conversation. “I met the yeti up close.”

“Ah, but of course you have.” Rales knew exactly what Hawk was talking about. “The beast is pretty intimidating, isn’t he? The most closely inspected A-100 was the Captain Jack Sparrow figures we added to Pirates. The most complicated is Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story Mania.”

“The potato is so advanced that he removes and reattaches his ear. His lips move and he is able to look our guest in the eye as he speaks,” Walt explained, looking directly into Hawk’s eyes as he said it.

The irony of what he was hearing—and whom he was hearing it from—unnerved the preacher. “But that is what you are.” He pointed toward the audio-animatronic Disney.

“Not exactly,” chuckled the rich voice as Walt looked once again toward Farren.

“A lot of people didn’t realize we made a decision that for some was controversial,” Rales began to explain. “In 2007 we decided we would start outsourcing some of the design and creation of our audio-animatronic figures. Some people screamed that we were hurting the company and that Walt never would have done it this way.” Both Rales and Hawk looked to Walt, who remained silent with a mischievous expression on his face. “The reason we outsourced is so we could take some of our most creative designers and put them to work on the next level of audio-animatronics.”