his role as Dreamfinder to enhance guests ’ experiences in an individual way .
“ The guests became my sparks of inspiration ,” Schneider said . “ I started treating them as wonderful objects that I had found , just like Dreamfinder collecting sparks of inspiration in the ride .”
Becoming Dreamfinder was both an art and a science for Schneider . Sounds familiar , right ? Those were two of the Realms of Imagination ! He told WDW Magazine that high-quality Disney expectations left no room for improvisation , just consistent perfection : “ My performance had to be reliably entertaining on a daily and hourly basis .” So , taking a cue from Dreamfinder ’ s ride script , he began to collect and store guests ’ responses to Figment . “ Everyone thinks they ’ re having a spontaneous and totally original reaction , but they ’ re not .” In Schneider ’ s observation , there were only about four or five ways that people would react to a guy with a dragon . He recombined those responses and reactions in
ABOVE : Ron as Dreamfinder . BELOW : Ron with Figment at home . PHOTOS COURTESY OF RON SCHNEIDER