Dream #4 - Rona Gindin - Little Black Book of WDW

Try to imagine the ideal career, one that keeps you busy doing exactly that you enjoy doing. How does writing about Disney, travel and eating at fine restaurants sound? That’s exactly what Rona Gindin, author of The Little Black Book of Walt Disney World. is doing. "I am living my ideal when it comes to my professional goals. I write about restaurants, travel and Disney World, from the comfort of my home. I have amazing clients who care about quality as much as I do. I get to snoop behind the scenes at all kinds of attractions and in all kinds of restaurants. And I get to share my discoveries with like-minded readers. It's a good gig."

So naturally Rona must have grown up with a passion for all things Disney, right? "Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with Disney World at first. I'd heard about it as a kid. Fellow students returned from Florida vacations joyous at their experiences -- oh, the talk when Space Mountain opened!" Unconvinced, Rona took a trip to find out what all the excitement was about. "I finally made it down to Magic Kingdom in my early 20s and spent the day with a friend who had visited many times. She squealed with glee over the Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World. I was underwhelmed. I suppose my expectations were unrealistically high so my response was disappointment."

Trained in New York City and based in Orlando, Florida, Rona takes editorial projects from conception to finished product. She is the author of two travel guides, was the founding editor of three magazines, and is a respected restaurant critic. She hosts a popular local television show celebrating Central Florida restaurants.
So how did this skeptic go from disappointed in WDW to Disney author? "I felt the same way when I moved to Orlando 15 years ago, although I did go wild when one of my 3-year-old's favorite characters glided by during a parade. Then, slowly, over the years, partly as a regular park guest, partly as a travel writer, I began to learn about and appreciate what Disney does. Every animal carved into Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life, the stern waitresses at Prime Time Cafe who "punish" mothers for not finishing their vegetables, the green army men costumes ... Disney's brilliance, its creativity, its attention to detail ... I gained respect for it all gradually over the years."

Who inspires Rona? "It's my kids who are my personal heroes. I have marveled since they were infants at how creative they can be, how open to new ideas and now, how comfortable they are with technology. Their amazingly open brains inspire me."

You can keep up with all of Rona's work at RonaGindin.com and also follow her at Facebook as well as her Blog and Twitter page.

Sent "Crew 6" Pilot to William Shatner

Some of you know the interesting Christmas break we had. Jordan ended up in the hospital for a week from flu leading to dehydration. We are happy to have him home now and everything seems to be fine!

During the break Jordan and I talked about sending our "Crew 6" pilot to William Shatner. It was always our intent to do this, and I guess you could say we're feeling a bit more bold. I sent Mr. Shatner a copy of the pilot and our hope is that he just lets us know what he thinks.

Jordan and I continue to talk about new episodes. We have the premise figured out and we really enjoy batting around ideas. I'm honored that Jordan even enjoys it because he devours books and has a lot more clout than I do in this arena.

If anyone wants to have a look I'm glad to send you a copy but with a non disclosure agreement. Just shoot an email to me - dean@dreamersempire.com

Apr 1st, 2015 - Heights Theater - Minneapolis

I'll be running "The Ten Commandments" on Wednesday, April 1st at the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights, MN. The doors open at 6:30 and the film starts at 7:00.

Back in 2009 I ran four classic films starting with Ben-Hur. I wanted to run The Ten Commandments back then but the format we needed wasn't available until now.

I recently saw Exodus and it wasn't as horrible as I had heard, but really its like trying to re-create a Charlie Brown Christmas show, you just can't match it. That is the way Cecil B Demils "The Ten Commandments" is, you just can't match its epic scale production. 

I will make more announcments in regards to this event. You can purchase tickets on the right hand side of this page.

Click here to join the event through Facebook

Dream #3 - Waltcast Podcast

To chase their dreams, Shawn & Katie Bonneau have done what a lot of us only dream about. In the summer of 2010 they packed their bags and moved from Maine to within one minute of their favorite place on earth. That bold move to just outside the gates of Pop Century sent their dreams skyrocketing above anything they imagined. "We have already blasted way beyond our dreams" says Shawn, whose podcast with wife Katie is netting some incredible guests.

Waltcast: A Disney Podcast began during the summer of 2009 after Katie appeared on an episode of "All About the Mouse" during a listener interview. Both Shawn and Katie had been frequent listeners of numerous Disney podcasts, but after Katie's appearance on "All About the Mouse", they both had been bitten by the podcasting bug and wanted to host their own show. Although a direction had not been determined during the early days of the show, it eventually evolved into a show dedicated to bringing up to date news from around the Disney universe, as well as celebrity interviews (voice-actors, members of the company, authors & actors/actresses).

Before booking celebrity guests, Shawn and Katie started talking with other podcasters from around the community. After their first celebrity guest Eddie Carroll (former voice of Jiminy Cricket: 1973-2010), they became confident enough to go even further and now have spoken with the likes of Larry the Cable Guy ("Cars" and "Cars 2"), John Ratzenberger (Every Disney/Pixar movie), Kelsey Grammer ("Toy Story 2"), Melora Hardin ("Hannah Montana: The Movie"), and Jim Cummings ("Princess and the Frog").

With guests like that and over 100 podcasts under their belt, where do Shawn and Katie hope to have their dreams take them to next? "To live your dream is truly exciting. But, there are more dreams and pursuits on the horizon. If you run out of dreams, what fun is life? You always should have one or two dreams you are chasing." Shawn is also a singer/songwriter and has had the privilege to play with some famous musicians and had his some of his work played on College and Sirius XM radio stations. "In the Northeast and parts of Ohio and North Carolina people know of me and like my music. I am slowly gaining a fan base in Central Florida as well. I go out and do concerts and make albums and EPs and singles. I am always busy chasing that dream and each passing year seems to push me a little closer to it. Patience gets me through it."

Shawn and Katie also blog their frequent visits to the parks (4 to 5 a week!) at www.disneydowntheroad.com. "We'll blog about what we did that day and post a list of attractions we did. People find it different and entertaining and we try to keep it separate from the show."