Synaptic

The assignment asked students to create a podcast telling the story of someone who they think deserves more recognition. Chris chose one of Central’s own: Ron Rybkowski, our Musical Theatre department’s technical director. The podcast focuses on Ron’s earlier career working at Disney—and contemplations on why he left. Chris’s podcast stood apart due to his careful editing and his genuine curiosity about Ron and his story. I appreciated the way the podcast balanced a conversational style with a tone of learned professionalism.

-Dr. Kate Nesbit

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Listen to “The Magic of Disney” above. The text transcript of this podcast is available below

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (00:20):
Disneyland is widely known as the Magic Kingdom. People from all over the world travel to Disney parks for fun and relaxation. Beautiful flowers and exhilarating attractions are invisibly attended to by workers, all to provide a guise of effortlessness or magic to the park. It’s every kid’s dream to work there, but have you ever really thought about what it’s like to work for the mouse?

Ron Rybkowski (00:48):
My name is Ron Rybkowski. I am the technical director and lecturer of theater at Central College.

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (00:59):
That’s Ron, a tall, Hawaiian-shirt wearing tech director. You might not believe it now, but before he started working for Central College, he used to work as the entertainment stage technician for Disney’s Resort and Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. He worked on Disney Park shows like Luau, Hoop-Dee-Doo at Fort Wilderness, the Tree of Life Awakening, and Rivers of Light. Most of these attractions were not originally part of Disneyland back when the park was founded.

(01:32):
Walter Elias Disney needs no introduction. His legacy as the founder of one of the largest entertainment companies, as well as the creator of numerous fictional characters, has ingrained his name in the annals of American culture. But did you know that his first theme park looked like it would be a catastrophic failure? In a review of the book, Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow, Jan Susina wrote, “By all accounts, opening day was a disaster, known to workers in the park as Black Sunday.”

(02:07):
With only 80% of the park completed, the newly laid asphalt was still soft and women’s high heels became stuck. Concessions ran out by noon, and temperatures were over 100 degrees. Many of the rides malfunctioned. The only one that survived opening day without problems was the Jungle Cruise. Due to a plumber’s strike, Disney had to make a decision between installing drinking fountains or restrooms, and wisely chose the latter. The resulting reviews were highly negative with complaints of crowds and long lines. But if negative reviews were all it took for Disney to give up, he would never have created his first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The park continued to grow, even past Disney’s death, into the world-renowned tourist attraction and American icon it is today, and the place Ron would find himself working at.

Ron Rybkowski (03:00):
It was close to my final year of grad school. I went to the USITT Conference and a few of my friends from undergrad, they said, “Hey, we’re going to go talk to Disney. You should come with us.” I was like, “Okay, sure.” And then of course Disney was like, “Hey, we love you. We want you to come work for us.” And I was like, “Yes, I do. I want you to do that too.” So it was kind of unexpected to be thrown at Disney, truly. I never imagined that in my life.

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (03:32):
So working at Disney sounds like the greatest thing ever, right? It just might, if you don’t mind going to the doctor in the park, or walking a lot, or dealing with cast members’ egos. Still Disney magic has its effects, even on the people behind the curtain.

Ron Rybkowski (03:48):
I’ve always wanted to be a part of that illusion that they make. And so I think that was the most unique part, was seeing the guests interact with what we were creating for them and seeing the joy it brought them. And of course, they always go, “How did you do that?” And the response is, “Magic.”

(04:09):
I think my favorite story from Disney, I was working Rivers of Light that evening, and a cast member and I, we were walking down the path in Animal Kingdom, and there was a guest there who might’ve had a couple drinks in them at the moment. Maybe. We couldn’t really tell. But they crossed paths with us and they stopped us and very seriously looked at us and they said, “How did you do that,” pointing up to the sky, and they were pointing at the moon. And without missing a beat, the cast member I was with, he just said, “It’s Disney magic,” and we just kept walking. And so it was one of those things where they really thought we created the moon.

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (04:59):
It looked like Ron had achieved all he could ever wish for. He was happily married to his wife who worked at SeaWorld, he was getting to do work he enjoyed for Disney. But life changes and so do careers.

Ron Rybkowski (05:12):
I love Disney, however, the challenge with Disney is you have longer hours and unexpected work times. So there would be times where I’d be working through the night or I’d be working early morning or late at night, and it just depended on what was needed at the time for the company. So it wasn’t very conducive to a family lifestyle.

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (05:35):
So Ron picks up stakes, moves to Iowa, and starts in the theater department at Central. Pretty drastic change, right? Especially for a man who loved his job. How could Central College compare with Disney? As it turns out, moving to the sticks might’ve been the best career decision Ron made.

Ron Rybkowski (05:54):
So when I started college, my goal was to teach. I was like, “I am going to teach this. I love theater and I want to teach it. I’ll do a little bit professional, but then mainly I want to do education,” and that’s why I went to grad school. During grad school, about maybe a year into it, I was like, “I just want to do this professionally. This is great. I want to go off. I want to design lights. I want to work the kind of gig life that theater provides.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I’ve always wanted to teach, that’s why I have my MFA in theater, but the opportunity just never presented itself to me. And then I discovered Central. And I love the town, I love the community that Central has, and it just drew me in. I said, “Yeah, this is where I want to be.”

Chris Ver Heul ’26 (06:44):
So to the guests and employees at Disney, the magic is real. It was real for Ron Rybkowski, and he has continued to pass it on to all of his students. In the words of Walt Disney himself, “All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” Thank you for listening.