Ron Schneider - From Dreamer to Dreamfinder

FROM DREAMER TO DREAMFINDER:

A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behinda Name Tag

Ron Schneider

Copyright 2012, Ron Schneider

Smashwords Edition

Cover Design: Dan Carro

Cover Photos: Bea Goodman, Larry Nikolai,Jeff Palmer, and Denise Preskitt

DreamCatcher Art: Joshua Harris

Interior Layout: Jonas Kyle-Sidell

Editor/Fact Checker: Hugh Allison

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book maybe reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical meansincluding information storage and retrieval systems, withoutpermission in writing from the author. The only exception is by areviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

This book is neither authorized nor sponsorednor endorsed by the Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries. Itis an unofficial and unauthorized book and not a Disney product.The mention of names and places associated with the Disney Companyand its businesses are not intended in any way to infringe on anyexisting copyrights or registered trademarks of the Disney Companybut are used in context for educational purposes. The opinions andstatements expressed in the quotations and text are solely theopinions of the author or those people who are quoted and do notnecessarily reflect the opinions and policy of the Disney Companyand its businesses nor Bamboo Forest Publishing.

Although the Publishers and the Author ofthis book have made every effort to ensure the information wascorrect at the time of going to press, the Publishers and theAuthor do not assume and herby disclaim any liability to any partyfor any loss or damage caused by errors, omissions, misleadinginformation, or any potential travel disruption due to labor orfinancial difficulty, whether such errors or omissions result fromnegligence, accident, or any other cause.

ISBN: 978-0-9854706-6-1

Published by Bamboo Forest Publishing

First Printing: July, 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY LARRY NIKOLAI

I have had the great fortune to know RonSchneider for 35 years. We started work at Magic Mountain'sSpillikin Corners on the same fateful day in 1977 and spent thenext three years together entertaining the guests in that sadlylost (but fondly remembered) slice of Southern California themepark history.

I say "entertaining the guests" actually Iwas running the old time tintype photo shop while Ron wasconstantly wandering through, disrupting the operation in hisboisterous Professor Spillikin persona. We both recognized kindredDisney fans in each other and fell into an easy friendship ofshared hopes for a future where we would finally leave thetemporary blissfulness of Spillikin and move on to biggerthings.

Ron made the first move toa bigger thing and finally landed at the Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland.He was kind enough to invite my wife and me to the Disneyland 25thanniversary employee open house, and here I got my first glimpse ofbackstage at the park all the geeky things I had wanted to seesince I was a kid. It was here we saw two Pecos Bills face off on theHorseshoe stage Ron and his idol, Wally Boag.

On another evening we visited C.L.Womphopper at his Wagon Works and were treated to a personalmessage broadcast over the restaurant paging system: "We have aphone call for Mr. and Mrs. Nikolai the babysitter wants to knowwhere you keep the fire extinguisher!" And on our first trip toEPCOT Center a couple of years later we were treated to a backstageaudience with Dreamfinder himself, complete with the little purpledragon that I've come to know and love.

And yet, after reading this thoroughlyentertaining memoir, I realize I don't know Ron as well as Ithought he's done so many things in the intervening years that Iwas not aware of. I've known and enjoyed many of the shows he hasworked on without ever knowing he was involved!

Ron has worked and walkedwith many theme park legends, and I dare say he is one himself.This guy is themedshow entertainment personified, and this book proves it.

Larry Nikolai

March 27, 2012

AUTHOR'SFOREWORD

The spark that inspired what follows hasbeen with me a long time.

As a young man I collectedbooks and manuals about Disneyland and amusement parks, but theywere all about the parks ingeneral ; historical records, picture books,souvenir guides... filled with facts and dates and lovely colorphotography, but not much else.

The few authors who wrote about the parkscritically were either dismissive or glowing in their praise. Andsociological studies were filled with psychobabble and mutedwarnings of the imminent arrival of well, Disney's 'Next Gen'Technology is being installed as I type this, so I guess there wassomething to their paranoia after all.

But I never found anything that addressed myarea of interest live themed entertainment. It fell to me toapply my own performance training to the jobs I got and find outwhere the two meshed and clashed.

There can be no argument that when itcomes to the wide variety of jobs I've had and the challenges I'vefaced I've been outrageously lucky. I was born in SouthernCalifornia in September of 1952, greatly increasing the odds that Iwould be, as I was, in attendance on Disneyland's first day ofregular operation.

I was the perfect age to open and grow withMagic Mountain, and used that experience to make me the perfectcandidate for Universal Studios and Disneyland in 1980... and so onthroughout my life.

Of course there was more involved thantiming; there was the very human instinct to 'follow my bliss'. Thelove of theater, of performing, of magic and puppetry andDisneyland drove me from a young age to acquire the knowledge andexperience I'd need when I was finally presented with thoseopportunities.

The final thing I would need to realize mydreams was the people... the wonderful friends, family and fellowperformers, competitors and collaborators, teachers and employerswho would cheer me on, boost me up, tutor and challenge and give mea break. And in that, I was unendingly lucky.

As I went along from job to job I keptrecognizing patterns in the work, both my own and that of thetalent around me. I discovered principles that made the stuff wedid work (or not work) and I kept thinking, I'm going to have towrite that down some day.

It's the nature of theme park entertainmentthat what we do seems easy, light and frivolous... and most of itis. Because it's 'Disney' or 'fantasy' or 'childlike', it'ssometimes tough to think of it as art, as something that cancontain infinite subtleties and can be used to move a sophisticatedaudience. This is the dichotomy that has fascinated me these pastfour decades.

So here's the story of what I did and what Ilearned and how. If you've ever lost your heart to a theme parkperformance... or dreamed that you could live and work in thatMagic Kingdom... or had a yen to push the envelope of interactiveentertainment... or just wondered what it's like to live with amischievous purple dragon, then Hello, there! So glad you couldcome along...

Dedication

- For Katie Marie

It starts when we're kids, a show-off atschool,

Making faces at friends, you're a clown anda fool;

Doing pratfalls and bird calls and badimitations,

Ignoring your homework, is thatdedication?

You work to the mirror...

You're getting standing ovations!

-From The Muppet Movie ,l yrics by Paul Williams and KennyAscher

INTRODUCTION

The Earl of Sandwichrestaurant in Downtown Disney makes a great Thanksgiving Special:turkey, gravy, stuffing, mayo and cranberry sauce on atoast ed roll. I nearly choke on mine whenmy Disney pal Matt says, "We want to bring back theDreamfinder."

I cough, collect myself, and ask, "Who is'We'?"

"D23, the Official DisneyFan Club, is planning a weekend in May of next year to celebrateWalt Disney World's 40th anniversary. The finale will be a concertof music from the parks starring Richard Sherman; we wantDreamfinder and Figment to honor Richard and surprise the D23Members by showing up to sing One LittleSpark with him."