From Dreamer to Dreamfinder

A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behind a Name Tag

By: Ron Schneider

Narrated by: Ron Schneider

Ron Schneider takes you on a journey through 40 years of personal triumph and corporate challenges. It's an intimate look into the creative worlds of Disney, Universal, and Six Flags Magic Mountain; a no-holds-barred memoir filled with wild characters and wilder concepts, complete with a step-by-step guide to how the magic is made!

©2012 Ron Schneider (P)2012 Ron Schneider

Insightful and entertaining!

I'm a big fan of Figment and Journey Into Imagination, so this was an obvious purchase. Ron Schneider is a fascinating man and a wonderful narrator. I enjoyed hearing about every stage in his entertainment and theme park career. Of course, when he said lines from the original Figment, I have to admit I reared up a little!

An amazing story from an amazing man

I was not born when Dreamfinder was around, nor was I alive when the look alike program in USF was in its heyday (and living in California didn’t help either). However, I fell in love with Dreamfinder because of the Internet. When I picked up this book, I thought it would just be about Ron’s time with Figment. I was gladly mistaken. This is a story about a fan, a creator, and an entertainer. This is a story about a man who puts other people’s joy and entertainment above his own. If you want to learn about how one man went from job to job and brought his own touch to make themed entertainment what it is today. I would recommend this book if you have any amount of love for theme parks or themed entertainment.

And to Mr. Schneider

I don’t know how often or if you ever check these. In hopes that you do, I would like you to know how big of an inspiration you are to me. After seeing interviews and videos of you as Dreamfinder, I wanted be a Cast Member. I wanted to be the reason a child smiles and a family fondly remembers their vacation. Unfortunately for me, I’m not much of an actor. Instead, I come to the parks every day with the goal of making at least one child smile. It’s because of you, I try to make everyday I work the best I can for everyone around me.

In short, I wanted to say thank you for all you have done for me and the rest of us theme park enthusiasts.

Love Figment and loved this book!

I enjoyed this book so much that I listened to it almost nonstop. It has great insight into the theme park industry, as well as telling the very interesting story of the author. If you liked Steve Martin’s audio biography, you’ll love this one too! I only wish I could see the pictures!

Very insightful look into the themepark business

Would you consider the audio edition of From Dreamer to Dreamfinder to be better than the print version?

Yes. The author really knows his own life better than anyone so he adds emphasis where he needs to easily

What other book might you compare From Dreamer to Dreamfinder to and why?

Rolly Crump's new bio from Bamboo Forest Publishing. Another unique look from an insider

What about Ron Schneider’s performance did you like?

His periodic outbreak into the Dreamfinders Voice! A blast from my past! I got to meet the Dreamfinder once when I was a kid. He and Figment were awesome!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Epcot: a Dream from the 80s turned into total crap by a company I love in the 2000s. or

Epcot: How one company destroyed something totally cool for no good reason.

Disney: Destroying Epcot one Future World building at a time

Epcot: Where in the hell is Horizons?

Epcot: Where in the hell is Wonders of Life?

Epcot: Where in the hell is World of Motion?

Epcot: Why are there animated fish in Sea Base Alpha?

Epcot: Out of all the Future world destroyed, why does the sucky World of Energy still exist????

and finally:

Epcot: WHAT CRACK HEAD THOUGHT IT WAS OK TO TURN IMAGINATION INTO THE COMPLETE AND TOTAL PILE OF JUNK IT IS NOW?????????

Ok that should do it. Should be some great movies.

Any additional comments?

I wish he was still Dreamfinder and still at Epcot. He was awesome. I am really furious what Disney has done to Epcot and particularly Future World. I proposed to my wife on freaking Horizons for goodness sakes. Happily married for many years, we miss that building terribly. They built a glorified zoo with Animal Kingdom and its just ok, Not much to draw people to it. They have abandoned Epcot like River Country. Its like a shell of it former self. Disney has done well with the Magic Kingdom. Fantasyland is great. Cars Land at DCA is a masterpiece. My problem with them is that this all feels reactive rather than pro-active. If I was Disney, I would build a 5th gate with Star Wars immediately and make people remember that they are the 800 pound gorilla in the game.

Fantastic through and through

The only real non-positive I have about this audiobook is that there was a time or two where Ron Schneider restarts a line, which took me out of the story. It's a rare and minor thing. The man's voice is so well suited to telling stories that it was easy to fall back into the tale he was telling afterwards, hence why I didn't knock a star off.

You can tell he loves his craft and wants others to be as passionate about it, either in performing or watching, as well. The stories are at times almost too wild (working next to a grown lion) and full of wonderful coincidences (meeting a child actor who shared the screen with WC Fields) to seem like the actually happened. As they say, life is stranger than fiction. For people wanting to get into performing, he has tips at the end of the book that I feel would be worth a full reading of his book.

A disnerd’s must-read

Absolutely loved this book, what a fabulous journey!! If you are a theme park junky at all, especially one who loves love and interactive entertainment, you need to give this book a read/listen.

Absolutely delightful!

What a fun and heartwarming trip into the exciting world of entertainment in themed areas. An absolute treat for fans of Dreamfinder and anything else theme-park history related.

Figment Lives On

Ron Schneider made this production so much fun! “[Figment] is my best imaginary friend; just like that we’re back again!” The amazing life Ron has led - this book was so much fun! I will relisten to it again I am certain! It’s so much more than Dreamfinder and Figment - Ron has experienced many creative aspects of his various name tags! Including introducing his readers to a host of other actors we should know! I loved this journey! I am sad it came to the end! Thank you Ron Schneider for this creative masterpiece!

Great Read

When the author also narrates the book it can be a crapshoot, but this was WONDERFUL! The book is really his professional life wrapped up with a great bow at the end but really the stories are the best part and Ron really basically travelled the the modern history of themed lived entertainment. Very enjoyable read