Rick Stockton never runs out of things to write about.
He's a senior writer, design and layout man for the creative services division of Walt Disney World Marketing. If he ever needs any inspiration, he steps into the imaginary world of the Magic Kingdom."I don't come into the park often enough," he said, glancing around a little wistfully. "Whenever I do, I get a new infusion of pixie dust. There are 1,000 miracles here every day."
Stockton, a high councilor in the Orlando Florida Stake and Scoutmaster in the Kissimmee (Fla.) Ward, is one of many Latter-day Saints working at Disney World's Epcot Center, Magic Kingdom and Resorts. Behind the exhibits and rides, in the shops and hotels are hundreds of Church members among the 26,000-plus employees of Disney World. Four years ago Stockton moved to Florida from West Valley, Utah. A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he first worked as a sports writer for the Miami Herald.
"A Mormon friend in Vietnam talked me into going to BYU, where I graduated," he said about his conversion to the Church 15 years ago. "After I read the first page of the Book of Mormon I knew it was true; but being a journalist, I struggled for six months to get it right."
For Kerry Christensen, music chairman in the Kissimmee Ward, the Magic Kingdom provides an opportunity for him that he wasn't sure existed a few years ago - that he could make a living in music, and still support and nurture a family.
Raised in a musical farm family in Grace, Idaho, he served a mission to Austria, where he fell in love with the countryside and the folk music, especially yodeling, a skill he taught himself by imitation.
He graduated in business from BYU in 1980 and worked at a restaurant in Farmington, Utah, until 1984 when his yodeling abilities took him to Epcot's German pavilion. There he leads the night band in the restaurant - five shows a night, singing, playing guitar, accordion and occasionally the alpen horn.
"I've taught several people to yodel," he said. On the side, he has a business promoting inventions for his inventor wife, the former Kathie Knaphus, "and other ingenious people. There's a lot of opportunity here," he said.
David Opificius, Young Men secretary and Single Adults president, also found this to be true. Opificius is a Greek name, but he's from England, and he's a convert to the Church. He moved to Florida in 1974 from Detroit, Mich., and now lives at Ocoee, Fla.
Ten years ago he beat the fierce competition at Disney World for jobs in his construction speciality and was one of four selected from 180 applicants. Disney sent him to Mid-Florida Tech, where he specialized in architecture. He loves working in the construction shop, a vast barn-of-a-place teeming with activity.
"We can make anything in the world here," he said. This includes working in metal, wood and fiberglass for the rides and water crafts, road signs, art work for the attractions, and scenic backdrops.
Re-creating the songs and dances of a world far removed from Florida is just part of the job for Tania Sanft Landers, Relief Society inservice leader in the Kissimmee Ward. She vowed she'd never stay at Disney World more than six months, but six years later she's still here. Born in New Zealand (she's part Maori and part Tongan) and raised mostly in California, she came to Florida at 17 to work with a Polynesian entertaining group in St. Petersburg, then moved on to Sea World. She met her husband, Doak, at Disney World, where he is a foreman for Disney's Buena Vista Construction.
Tania performs with a troupe of island dancers and musicians. She also works with Disney's Make-A-Wish Foundation, serving terminally ill children from throughout the world. She doesn't find it depressing, because at Disney World "these children are happy," she said.
Many other young Latter-day Saints also dance and sing in shows at the Epcot Center, including Catherine (Hyde) Boyd, Duke and Jan Tanner, Candi Thompsen and Alan Newbold. Several were picked up at BYU, a favorite recruiting ground for Disney, said Sister Boyd. "They like our standards, and it's easy for us to live our religion here."
Sister Boyd, a stake missionary, appears with the World Dancers at the American Garden Theater at Epcot, which present four shows a day, displaying America's ethnic diversity in song and dance. The group frequently appears in Disney commercials.
Scott Sorenson began work with Disney in Anaheim, Calif., in 1969. He moved to Florida from Long Beach, Calif. Since 1972, he has been in the St. Cloud Ward, where he is now elder's quorum secretary and helps his den leader wife with the Cub Scouts.
His career at Disney has resulted from on-the-job training. He's now a glass blower and cutter for the Austria-Tyrolean Imported Crystal Arts Shop on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, and his wife is a salesperson. Always smiling, Sorensen says it doesn't bother him to have people watch him work. "It would bother me if they didn't," he said.
