The human government brands every merperson at the age of one, because the mers can morph their tails into legs to walk on land for short periods of time. Their gills are in the backs of their throats so it’s almost impossible to distinguish them from humans. The brand is done by laser and is on the back of the neck, at the base of the skull. On branding day, every mer with a one year old child is required to bring the child to the branding. Anesthesia is available for those who come voluntarily, but there are always those who try to hide their children. Human soldiers sweep the trench every branding day and root out the hidden children, whose parents are forced to watch as they’re branded without anesthetic. There are penalties for unbranded older children, adults who have escaped branding or tried to hide them and other offences  - facial branding, air torture, fin cutting, labor and penal colonies, and children taken away from their parents. Mers disappear regularly to never be seen again…they are sent to the water harvesting plants or mining colonies where the life expectancy is very short.

The government also utilizes child labor in secret. Parents who have their children removed are told that they’re going to be sent to government run orphanages, but are instead sent to the labor colonies to do work that adults can’t to because they’re too big, like clearing blockages in pipes. Mortality rates are extremely high. An escaped child reveals this to the mers, which is the seed that plants the idea of rebellion.

Around the same time, a mer woman is caught topside after curfew and raped by human police. The government covers up the crime and the woman disappears, but there was a secret witness.

There are mer rebels who have found ways out of the Trench, even though the penalty for any mer caught outside is death by topside public “air drowning”…mers must submerge and morph every twelve hours or so to survive. The rebels are unbranded or have found ways to hide their brands to walk around topside undetected. They have infiltrated government to high levels and have a system for hiding children outside the Trench on branding days, census days, and the day they’re born to avoid detection. The high-level government rebels have sophisticated hidden water tanks in their houses so that they can live topside as humans.

The rebels discover a secret that the humans have been keeping for a number of years – that Salvation is running out of water. The human government is planning a genocide of the mers by draining Mariana to squeeze all the water they can out of the planet, which will be teraformed and colonized by humans once it’s nearly dry. The rebels hatch a plan to overthrow the human government and seize the teraforming equipment to rehydrate Salvation. In the process of planning the coup, they discover that the second highest ranking government official is a mer who leaked the genocide plans to the rebels. He helps them successfully overthrow the government at the cost of his own life, and Salvation is returned to its natural state. The mers start selling water to the human colonies.

Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney and at Animal Kingdom
T-REX in Downtown Disney
Wetzel’s Pretzels in Downtown Disney
Traders Island Grill at Best Western Lake Buena Vista (Downtown Disney area)
TGI Friday’s in Crossroads Center
Chevy’s Fresh Mex in Crossroads Center
Perkins in Crossroads Center
UNO Chicago Grill in Crossroads Center
Quiznos in Crossroads Center

House of Blues (Downtown Disney) – Happy Hour from 3:00-5:00 pm and 10:00 pm to closing: $2 domestic beer; $3 imported beer, house wine and house cocktails; 1/2 price appetizers.

Raglan Road  Hole In The Wall Bar at Cook’s of Dublin, on the side of the main restaurant.
Daily 3-7pm • $2 off all draft beer, house wine & house liquors. Irish dancing girls nightly for Kevin.

Jiko has a bar where you can order apps; you can also get Jiko food in the Victoria Falls lounge – take drinks out to the fire pit; also wine and cheese tastings wednesdays 3 – 4 $25.

Cape May Cafe has AYCE crab legs

Check Italy M and Th 3 – 4 for free wine tastings

Kimonos Lounge at Swan for sushi. Warning: karaoke

Watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly…eat at Ohana or get food from a CS place and take it with. Very romantic. Take the monorail.

Jellyrolls does NOT serve food. Drinks and popcorn only.

When you eat breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8am you get into MK up to an hour early.

Don’t forget to stop at Club Cool in Epcot to try sodas from other countries. Beverly is the nasty one.

Where the crowds are going to go as soon as the park opens:
At Magic Kingdom, they will head towards Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Fantasyland (mainly Dumbo and Peter Pan) and Space Mountain.
At Epcot, they will head towards Soarin’ and Test Track.
At Animal Kingdom, they head straight back to Kilamanjaro Safaris.
At Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Mania is the main attraction with some people heading towards Tower of Terror and Rocking Roller Coaster.

Each morning, Cast Members hid paint brushes on Tom Sawyer Island. If you can find it, your entire party will be rewarded with a FASTPASS.

There is a sled located outside Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square. This would be a great place to take your Christmas card photo.

have a Disney Chase Visa? If you do, you can stop by the Innoventions West building between 1:30 and 4:30 and get a private meet and greet with Mickey and his friends. You’ll also get a FREE 5×7 photo.

There is a “secret” entrance to AK through the doors in the back of the Rainforest Cafe gift shop, then through the garden.

There is a semi-secret path located off the trail to Harambe Village. it is the very last path to the right after the Tree of Life and just before the bridge to Harambe Village. It’s entrance is somewhat covered with vegetation so it can be easy to miss. If you see rocks with holes in them, be sure to look through the holes for a nice surprise.

Instructions just for Sarah

Stuff you’ll need:

• Butter
• Arborio rice
• Half a chopped onion
• Dry white wine like sauvignon blanc
• About four cups of chicken broth, kept warm on the stove
• Shredded or shaved parmesan cheese
• Chopped mushrooms (or whatever else you want to mix in)

Before you begin, saute the mushrooms – or prepare whatever you want to add to the risotto – and set it aside.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few pats of butter and wait till it foams. Throw in the chopped onion and cook until just starting to turn transparent. Add enough rice to make a single layer in the pan plus a little more. Cook the rice till the edges are transparent – only takes a couple of minutes. Add a glass of wine in, and constantly stir until the wine is absorbed. If you run your spoon through the rice and it doesn’t come back together, it’s ready. Add a ladle of broth and do the same as you did with the wine. Do this four or five more times until the rice is done.

You need to stir risotto pretty constantly because the friction of the rice rubs off starch, which is what makes risotto creamy. It won’t ruin it if you leave it alone for a few minutes, but make sure you at least give each addition of broth a good stir.

The only way to know if risotto is done is to taste it. Do it after the fourth time you add broth and every time after. It should be firm but not crunchy on the inside. If it’s soft like regular rice, you over cooked it. If it’s still crunchy, add another ladle of broth. When the rice is done, reduce heat to low and throw in a generous handful of cheese. Stir until melted. Add in the mushrooms or whatever and it’s ready.

Some people like risotto creamy and more like mac & cheese consistency; some people like it firm enough that it will hold a shape. I’m somewhere in the middle. You can control this by the cooking time of the last broth addition – the longer you cook it, the more firm it will be. Just be careful not to overdo it.
Bon Appetit!