Remembering the Magic

<p></p><p>A Monkey Paw in the Magic Kingdom</p><p></p><p>When R.J. and Suzanne Ogren remember the magic of Walt Disney World they're not remembering their trips to the most magical place on earth they're remembering their jobs: Suzanne as a character performer R.J. as an artist. Their backstage stories are like none you've ever read before.</p><p></p><p>How do the ghosts pirates bears presidents jungle animals and all the other audio-animatronic figures in the Magic Kingdom look as flawless today as they did when the park first opened in 1971? Disney employs an on-site team of artists to inspect and repair every figure equipped with motion and sound in every attraction as well as all of the sets murals and props.</p><p></p><p>R.J. Ogren joined the Magic Kingdom's mischievous prank-playing team of artists in the 1970s. He survived nearly drowning in the Jungle Cruise; an oil-spewing country-singing bear in Country Bear Jamboree; runaway ghosts in Haunted Mansion; and many other close encounters of the magical kind armed only with his paint brushes scrapers and black-light paint.</p><p></p><p>Along with his wife Suzannne who worked as a character performer and later in the Entertainment Department of the Magic Kingdom R.J. counts his time spent as a Walt Disney World cast member as some of the best years of his life.</p><p></p>