Page 3 of Love at Full Tilt
Starshatter Hotel, Fableland
Orlando, FL
Nothing helps you beat the heat like Fableland’s new Cartography app.
Blending the wait time updates that have become a staple of amusement park apps with the latest in crowdsourcing and mapping features, Cartography will, quite literally, plan your day for you.
Just tell it what rides you can’t miss and where you want to eat and shop, and it will map the park to ensure the shortest wait times and least amount of walking.
All you have to do is let GPS lead the way!
***
“Holy crap, look at this place.”
Tess stops beside me, taking in the large banquet hall with her jaw hanging open. Issy flanks her, eyes wide as planets. Above our heads a sparkling blue, white, and gold banner (Fableland’s signature colors) welcomes Superfan Scavenger Hunt contestants.
In the information packet I’d received, the welcome event was described as a small gathering to give contestants a chance to meet and learn the basic rules of the scavenger hunt.
I’d expected some appetizers, a few small tables to sit and eat at, and some Fableland employees floating around, greeting newcomers and handing out guidelines.
I should have known better. Fable Industry never does anything “small.” Especially not to celebrate a milestone anniversary.
Booths have been set up throughout the space.
Each offers different Fableland merchandise, from mugs to clothing to enamel pins and stickers and key chains to posters and artwork, all special editions available only for this event.
Tables fill the center of the room, their round tops draped in delicate gray cloths and decorated with blown-glass planets surrounded by tea lights.
A buffet with nearly twenty different chafing dishes and every kind of salad, bread, and dessert you can think of stretches in front of a large stage.
If this is a taste of what’s coming this week, it’s going to be more than I could have dreamed of.
“What do we do first?” I ask.
“Merch,” Tess declares at the same time Issy says, “Eat.”
I, of course, want to head straight for the contest info booth. The details of the scavenger hunt have been kept securely under wraps for the past few months. No one on F 3 has uncovered any hints about the rules or how you win. I’m dying to hear more so I can strategize.
I wish Tess and Issy were as invested in me winning. But I don’t need them to read a pamphlet. I can handle that on my own. “Divide and conquer?” I suggest.
Tess runs off toward the enamel-pin booth. Meanwhile, Issy has her phone out and is already recording for her foodie YouTube channel as she makes her way to the buffet.
I head left to the information booth. A girl with a blond pixie cut and a purple uniform that looks like a space suit sits behind the table. She checks my name off a list on her tablet, then smiles and hands me a small booklet and a large pin.
“Directions for downloading the app are on page one. You’ll need your phone to compete in the scavenger hunt, so make sure to keep it charged or to visit one of our many complimentary charging stations in the parks.”
My parents recently upgraded my phone because the old one could barely hold a charge for a few hours. I know it’s so they can keep better tabs on me, but right now, I’m grateful. It will give me an edge to have a battery I can rely on.
The girl points to the pin in my hand, which takes up most of my palm.
It’s circular and has a yellow background with a white rendition of Percivel Night’s insignia—a crescent moon with a sword struck through it—at the center.
The word Superfan is written below the symbol in fancy blue lettering.
“Make sure you wear that at all times in the parks. It’s how we’ll identify you as part of the contest.”
I nod and secure the pin to the strap of my tank top as I step aside.
After downloading the app to my home screen, I fill out all the necessary information to sign up.
As soon as I’m done, I open it and poke around, hoping to discover more surprises, but there’s not much there.
Just another place to find the rules as well as the first clue.
Every time I inhale, a new delicious smell invades my senses, and the excited chatter around me has gotten louder as more people arrive. The sounds thrum through my bones like the bass of a really good song.
I’m surrounded by so many people who love this place as much as me.
Some of them look my age, others older. One of the tables is occupied by a group of girls talking loudly and laughing over half-full wineglasses.
I see parents doting on their kids as they fill their bags with merch.
Couples wander the room holding hands. At the buffet, Issy is trapped behind two college-age guys with their contestant pins fixed to the sides of their baseball caps who are stacking their plates dangerously high with food.
Everyone’s wearing Fableland-themed clothing or singing along with Fable Industry’s signature songs blasting from the speakers.
How am I here? At Fableland ? And not even as a guest, but as a VIP. I can’t wait to try everything at the buffet and grab any Sunspark special edition merchandise they have.
It would be cool, too, to meet some other contestants. Make a few new friends who understand how I feel about this place and its movies.
But first, I need to figure out how I’m going to win.
My eyes scan the rules as I make my way around the edge of the banquet hall.
It looks like there will be three clues a day.
Each will lead us to a new location, where there will be a QR code to scan.
Beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be much to the rules.
Just the basics: no getting hints or help from the staff, no interfering in someone else’s attempts to scan the codes or get around the parks, absolutely no violence or misbehavior.
The most important thing, though, is that timing matters. Each day there will be fewer and fewer people moving forward. I memorize the numbers, whispering them to myself.
Day 1: 95 people
Day 2: 70 people
Day 3: 60 people
Day 4: 50 people
Day 5: 25 people
Day 6: 1 winner
Tess and Issy aren’t contestants and they can’t win the prize, but I hope they’ll be willing to prioritize the scavenger hunt for me over everything else we want to do.
There should still be plenty of time to explore, even if we’re chasing clues in the morning.
The marketing team wants contestants to spend time in the parks and blast social media with photos and updates.
At least, that’s what the handbook says.
I’m trying to come up with ways to convince them of this when I’m suddenly no longer vertical. My hands and knees hit the floor with a painful thump, and I can’t help but groan. Hardwood and bare skin are not friends.
Sitting up, I glance around to see what I tripped on. A guy occupying the table closest to me has his chair pushed out to accommodate his long, long legs.
My cheeks go up in flames. I was pretty focused on my phone, and I must have caught my foot on the leg of his chair when I walked by.
I clear my throat. “Uh, sorry about that.”
He doesn’t react. His whole body is curled in toward the book splayed open in his hands.
I cough this time.
No response.
Now I’m staring. And still sitting on the floor. I can’t help it. The more he seems not to notice, the more openly I gape at him. His stillness is like the eye of a hurricane, a blip in the Matrix, so out of place in the noise and color and commotion around us.
“You might want to push in your chair.” I usually have a quiet voice, but I say it as loudly as I can. What Tess would call “with my whole chest.”
That finally breaks the guy’s trance, and he turns to me.
He’s got one of those faces that should be staring out at you from a big screen or brooding in the shadows of those paranormal romances that make Issy die from swooning.
All square jaw and cheekbones and a straight nose and sun-kissed skin.
His mouth has a natural downturn that makes him look like he’s constantly ruminating on something.
When his eyes meet mine, they shine like shards of glass.
I can’t tell if they’re blue or gray or a really unique shade of brown.
I have to swallow a frustrated sigh. Of course he’s ridiculous levels of hot. We normal-looking people have situational awareness. We know where to put our chairs.
“Why are you on the floor?” There’s no judgment in his deep voice, just confusion.
“I think you mean, ‘Are you okay?’?” I mutter as I climb to my feet. I’m not proud of the way my entire body short-circuited the moment he looked at me. I should have stood up ages ago. “That’s typically the response when you trip someone.”
“I didn’t—”
I point emphatically at his chair. Although he stays silent, a chastised look settles across his brow as he glances behind him. He runs a hand idly over the open pages of his book, the cover flat against the table so I can’t see it.
I cross my arms over my chest. “What are you reading that’s so interesting?” Imagine being so oblivious to what’s happening that you aren’t aware of crowds of people falling over your chair. (To preserve my dignity, I refuse to believe I’m the only one to do so.)
He peers down at his book, and his jaw tightens. I wonder for a moment if he’s not going to tell me. Like it’s somehow too personal or top secret.
But then Tess calls my name. A second later, she’s at my side, her arms weighed down with overflowing tote bags. She waves them at me. “This was all free!”
She zones in on the guy at the table, and a mischievous grin spreads over her face. That expression means nothing but trouble.
“Well, hello,” she says. “Who’s this?”
I’m already spinning her around and pushing her away. “Another contestant.”