Kingdom Keepers
The Kingdom Keepers is a fantasy thriller novel written for young readers by Ridley Pearson and published in 2005 by Disney Editions. A proposed sequel entitled The Kingdom Keepers 2: The Rise of Chernabog is set to be released in fall of 2007[citation needed].
Synopsis
The book is set in and around Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, with most of the events taking place inside the park at night. The story is told in third person limited omniscient style with middle-schooler Finn Whitman as the lead character. He and four other students were selected before the beginning of the novel to be models for a new hologram technology invented by Walt Disney Imagineering. DHI, which stands for both Daylight Hologram Imaging and Disney Host Interactive, refers to these five lifelike hologram projections of the teens which act as tour guides in the Magic Kingdom.
Many nights, the kids find themselves appearing in the park in the form of their DHIs while they are asleep. Herein they discover that the park comes to life after hours, and a senior cast member named Wayne explains to them that the Magic Kingdom is endangered by a mysterious group of characters called the Overtakers. The children must battle these Overtakers and determine their leader.
The plot unfolds as the group searches through the park’s attractions for clues as to what can stop the Overtakers, and one of their lower leaders, the witch Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. They soon learn that the secret weapon they need is Walt Disney’s first pen, which is kept at the One Man’s Dream exhibit at Disney-MGM Studios. Upon retrieving this magical pen, Finn and his friends are finally able to thwart the Overtakers’ plan to overtake the Magic Kingdom, and, eventually, the world outside of it. Ridley Pearson has announced that there will be several Kingdom Keepers books coming out sometime in the future.
Trivia
- The DHIs in the novel are comparable to Pal Mickey, a computerized plush toy of Mickey Mouse that is sold in certain stores at Walt Disney World, which, by way of infrared transmitters, knows its location in any of the four parks at the resort while being carried around, and can thereby share fun facts about the area and its attractions, thus making the toy a programmed tour guide of sorts.
- The layout described for some of the rides in the park are incorrect.
- The rules of VMK are incorrect, but make sense for the book. VMK has a limited chat dictionary so the kids couldn't have said things like Overtakers and Wayne. There also is no proximity rule in VMK you can see any chat that goes on in the room.
- The Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin attraction is mistakenly called Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, which is the name used in the Disneyland version of the attraction.
- The Fantasmic nighttime show is mistakenly called Fantasmics.
Characters
DHIs
- Finn Whitman--the chosen leader and protagonist (although it is not made clear why he was chosen as leader). He was brought up to very self-confident and plays soccer.
- Isabella Angelo (Willa)--a vaguely moody person who is extremely intelligent and slightly geeky. She is the "creative" one in the group. She is described as having brown eyes and dark hair.
- Terry Maybeck--the tallest of the group and an aspiring actor. His stage name is Donnie, but he goes by Maybeck. He has a suspicious nature and distrustful of people. Maybeck plays as the computer freak.
- Charlene Turner--Blond, blue-eyed, and gorgeous; she's also a basketball athlete. Has a tendency to whine in bad situations. She is often the most reluctant but she gains confidence as the story progresses.
- Philby--Seems older, but is really the same age as everyone else. Hails either from Australia or New Zealand. The group's resident genius.
Additional Characters
- Wayne Wonka( Wayne Kresky in the book)--an elderly Imagineer who acts as the group's mentor and guide. He speaks in mystical clichés. He helped come up with the idea of DHI's to save the Magic Kingdom. He is in fact a real cast member at Walt Disney World, and was put into the novel after he showed the author Ridley Pearson around the Magic Kingdom[citation needed].
- Amanda--she helps Finn locate the other four DHIs in their real life aspects; seems to have a few secrets of her own. She is very good with people and seems to be interested in Finn.
- Jezebel--another girl who seems to be interested in Finn, but has it in for the other DHIs. She is later revealed to be named Jessica and is actually Amanda's twin sister
- Dillard--Finn's best friend, although Finn begins pushing him aside as he gets drawn further into his adventures as a DHI.
ISBN
- ISBN 0-7868-5444-8 (hardcover, 2005)