History Fanfic / TheHappiestPlace

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The author stated Aurora was originally meant to be the central character in the story, but the concept worked better with Cinderella as the protagonist, so the latter becomes the main character.

* FiveManBand: The main princesses:
** TheHero: Cinderella
** TheLancer: Ariel
** TheSmartGuy: Belle
** TheBigGuy: Jasmine
** TheHeart: Aurora/Snow

* OppositesAttract: The clean-cut Cinderella with wild trickster Jack Sparrow. It turns out, however, that their surface-level differences [[Main/NotSoDifferent aren't quite the whole picture]].

The story begins with WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} forming an uneasy alliance with [[Main/InsistentTerminology Captain]] [[Franchise/PiratesoftheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] in order to get to the bottom of a deal brokered between Hook and Barbossa. What she discovers is just the beginning of a far darker, far more sinister plot: The Villains are forming a coalition, bent on [[Main/TakeOverTheWorld taking the park for themselves]]. As popularity for the characters directly contributes to how much power they wield, Mickey tasks [[Main/DreamTeam the Princesses]] with stopping them before they can cause serious harm.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: To be expected of a story focused around Disneyland. Most of the characters present in the park, even minor ones, make an appearance at some point.

** TheChick: Aurora/Snow

The story begins with WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} forming an uneasy alliance with [[Main/InsistentTerminology Captain]] [[Franchise/PiratesoftheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] in order to get to the bottom of a deal brokered between Hook and Barbossa. What she discovers is the just beginning of a far darker, far more sinister plot: The Villains are forming a coalition, bent on [[Main/TakeOverTheWorld taking the park for themselves]]. As popularity for the characters directly contributes to how much power they wield, Mickey tasks [[Main/DreamTeam the Princesses]] with stopping them before they can cause serious harm.

The story begins with Disney/{{Cinderella}} forming an uneasy alliance with [[Main/InsistentTerminology Captain]] [[Franchise/PiratesoftheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] in order to get to the bottom of a deal brokered between Hook and Barbossa. What she discovers is the just beginning of a far darker, far more sinister plot: The Villains are forming a coalition, bent on [[Main/TakeOverTheWorld taking the park for themselves]]. As popularity for the characters directly contributes to how much power they wield, Mickey tasks [[Main/DreamTeam the Princesses]] with stopping them before they can cause serious harm.

* AllLovingHeroine: Snow White. All the animals in the park fawn over her. This includes the crocodile from [[Disney/PeterPan Peter Pan]].

* AnimalMotifs: Cinderella is referred to several times throughout as a mouse or being “mouse-like”. Come the final battle, it’s revealed that [[spoiler:this trait is the reason why she is the only one who can pull [[Disney/TheSwordInTheStone the sword from the stone]] and fight Maleficent in Mickey’s stead]].

* BaitAndSwitch: After getting a cryptic message from the Tiki Birds and interrogating Honest John and Gideon, the princesses think the Villains’ plan is to [[spoiler:get the “eat me” biscuits from [[Disney/AliceInWonderland Alice in Wonderland]] to change Kaa to the giant size seen in Theatre/{{Fantasmic}}]] It turns out that this whole plan was a trap, with the end goal instead being [[spoiler:to get Cinderella out of the way through the use of the poison apple.]]

** When Cinderella is in the crowd during Theater/{{Fantasmic}}, she’s startled by the sound of a gunshot going off accompanied by the pirates passing between her and Big Thunder Mountain as part of the show. [[spoiler:Exactly ten chapters later, Jack is fatally shot by Barbossa on the attraction.]]

* InspirationNod: Much of the main plot and other elements are directly inspired by Fantasmic! Many nods back to the original throughout, with the show itself having a crucial appearance at one point.

** Many of the chapter titles are a reference to the attraction/characters that are prominent in it. “Plenty of Sunshine” takes place in Splash Mountain, for example, while “For Better or For Worse” is in the Haunted Mansion. “This Is My Dream” is a reference to Fantasmic!, which served as the main inspiration for the story. Finally, “And Yet So Far” is a somewhat stealthier reference to the song “[[Film/{{Enchanted}} So Close]]”.

What follows is a [[Main/DeconReconSwitch Decon-Recon]] of DisneyAnimatedCanon crossovers. Tackling the concepts of love, death, corruption, and how much control we really have over our fates, it isn’t afraid to take the darker elements the films have to offer and run with them.

* AccompliceByInaction: The rest of the princesses when [[spoiler:Ariel vocally tears Cinderella down in front of everyone, directly leading to the latter succumbing to the sleeping curse only minutes later]]. Earlier, Little Leota calls the characters of the Disneyland Council out on this when [[spoiler:half the ghosts vanish]].

* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Disneyland itself tries to automatically correct for this, It’s also why [[spoiler: Mickey refuses to take part in the final fight. If he’s in the battle, the park will let Chernabog out as well, which is almost guaranteed to result in everyone dying]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The original three princesses. By the end, [[spoiler:Snow led an army of animals into battle, Aurora got powers stolen from the Villains’ side, and Cinderella faced down Maleficent alone ''and won'']].

* TheBigDamnKiss: Cinderella and Jack get one after [[spoiler:their risky escape from Constance in chapter 31, and another to close out the story.]]

* DarkestHour: Chapter 34, both figuratively and literally. When the Villains launch their final attack on the remaining forces of good in Fantasyland, [[spoiler:Walt’s Lamp finally goes out]].

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Belle calls Ariel out on this for [[spoiler:pushing Cinderella over her breaking point by accusing her of no longer being a real princess, and therefore not belonging]].

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Cinderella stabs Barbossa in the eye with the heel of one of her slippers]].

** Ariel tells Peter at one point [[spoiler:that if he’s not careful, the fight against the Villains will get him killed. He’s downed by cannon fire during the final battle]].

* GoThroughMe: [[spoiler:Cinderella does this with Maleficent at the end.]]

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: In the attic of the mansion, [[spoiler:this time coming from Hades’ potion vial rather than one of the brides]]. Again a little later when heralding [[spoiler:the reappearance of Aurora, complete with what the characters think is a darker version of “once upon a dream”]].

* HypnotizeThePrincess: True to form, Aurora is hypnotized twice by malevolent forces over the course of the story. Once by [[spoiler:the idol of Mara in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye]], and again later by [[spoiler:the vial in the Haunted Mansion]].

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: [[spoiler:Tiana and Cinderella’s goodbyes before the final battle]].

* NeverMyFault: Ariel blaming Cinderella for [[spoiler:nearly losing the box containing the grow biscuits/shrinking potion and getting the Hatter captured, when she was the one that dropped it in the first place]].

* RelationshipSalvagingDisaster: Nothing gets a couple back together quite like [[spoiler:running from an AxCrazy ghost while trapped in The Haunted Mansion]].

* TrueLovesKiss: [[Jack wakes up Cinderella from the Sleep of Living Death with one. They're both pissed]].

* [[spoiler:AmnesiacLover]]: [[spoiler:When Jack is resurrected just before the final battle, he doesn’t remember anything of his time in the park, including Cinderella. She is understandably distraught.]]

** “Don’t blame us; we just work here.”

Oh, Crap!: Cinderella when she realizes at the ball that she has actually fallen for Jack.
One-Winged Angel: Maleficent in the final battle.
Opposites Attract:
Our Vampires Are Different: Every single Disney character in the story fulfills many of the archetypical features of vampires – they survive off of/gain power from some sort of mortal lifeforce (the belief of the guests), they never age, they must be invited into the attractions to gain entry, and they turn to dust upon being killed. Word of God states that they were meant to be seen as such.
Parental Substitute: Walt seems to have served as one for Cinderella, contributing to her breakdown at his passing.
Pocket Dimension
Poor Communication Kills: Cinderella not telling her friends, especially Mickey and Tiana, about the nature of her forays into the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction almost directly leads to the Mad Hatter’s Death and Cinderella herself falling under the Sleep of Living Death.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: “Oh, don't you know? It all started with a mouse.”
Really 700 Years Old: All the characters, but especially the ones present on opening day. Cinderella herself is actually 75 (19 as a base age + 56 years in the park at the time of the story).
Reasonable Authority Figure: Mickey Mouse
Reality Warper: Aurora in chapter 31
Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: Nothing gets a couple back together quite like running from an Ax-Crazy ghost while trapped in a haunted house.
Resurrective Immortality: All the characters
Robot Soldier: The dolls of It’s a Small World have been trained to be this by the time the story rolls around.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: The princesses
Rule of Symbolism: The park practically runs off of this.
Second Love
Shout-out: Many, many examples
Many of the chapter titles are a reference to the attraction/characters that are prominent in it. “Plenty of Sunshine” takes place in Splash Mountain, for example, while “For Better or For Worse” is in the Haunted Mansion. “This Is My Dream” is a reference to Fantasmic!, which served as the main inspiration for the story. Finally, “And Yet So Far” is a somewhat stealthier reference to the song “So Close”.
Jack tells Cinderella that he understands why she did what she did in her original film because she “waited for the opportune moment.”

Shown Their Work:
Significant Wardrobe Shift: Most of the princesses get a different outfit during the climax. Before this, there’s a shift in Cinderella’s wardrobe throughout, going from her wearing her ballgown most of the time, to changing back to her peasant clothes, to finally donning a suit of glass armor.
Slave to PR: All the characters, but especially the good and evil ones. The neutral characters are noted as having less restrictions, which is why some of them swapping to one side or the other comes as a shock.
Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: The animal characters all appear as they did in their respective films, which results in some of them being more anthropomorphic than others.
Stepford Smiler: Cinderella of all people, of the depressed variety.
Taking You With Me: Cinderella implies before her fight with Maleficent that, even if she does manage to kill her, she’ll make sure the evil fairy won’t make it out either.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Surprisingly, the Princesses. Specifically, Ariel and either Cinderella or Tiana depending on the situation.
Temple of Doom: The Indiana Jones Adventure.
The Chosen One: It’s revealed at the end that
True Love’s Kiss: Jack wakes up Cinderella from
Villain Team-Up: A central theme established near the beginning.
Who Wants to Live Forever?:
World-Healing Wave: Implied to happen offscreen when the good characters win the final battle against the Villains.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Cinderella’s whole character arc

Getting Crap Past the Radar: Many of the conversations between Cinderella and Jack might qualify as this.
Gilded Cage: Jack refers to Disneyland as this at one point, since none of the characters can ever leave Disney property.
Glory Days: Most of the older characters think of the days when Walt was still around like this. Snow even laments that things were easier and people argued less back then.
Go Through Me: Cinderella does this with Maleficent at the end.
Good Is Not Nice: While many of the characters are technically “good”, they’re often not above tearing each other down to get what they want.
Happy Ending Override: Their lives in the park serve as this for some of the characters.
Heartbeat Soundtrack: In the attic of the mansion, this time coming from Hades’ potion vial rather than one of the brides. Again a little later when heralding the reappearance of Aurora, complete with what the characters think is a darker version of “once upon a dream”.
Hero with Bad Publicity: Cinderella, with the idea that she’ll only ever be “the girl who waited and did nothing” eating away at her for years. It extends beyond guests, and even into interactions with the other characters. Ariel suffers from this a little as well.
Happiness Is Mandatory: The rules of the park require that the characters appear happy while in front of guests.
Hope Spot: When Rapunzel fails to heal the gunshot wound Jack sustained in Chapter 32, Cinderella realizes the others have left the Genie’s Lamp behind with one last wish intact and attempts to use it to save him. By that point, unfortunately, he’s already dead and the Genie can do nothing.
Hypnotize the Princess: True to form, Aurora is hypnotized twice by malevolent forces over the course of the story. Once by the idol of Mara in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and again later by the vial in the Haunted Mansion.
I Just Want to be Free: What Cinderella wants most at this point.