Cast Member Lonnie Lindley Retires After 45 Years at Disney

Lonnie Lindley was born in Long Beach, California and went to Long Beach Polytechnic High School, which is the same high school that Mouseketeers Annette Funicello and Bobby Burgess attended.

After graduation Lonnie worked selling guide books to guests at the main entrance to Disneyland. The guide cost 25¢ and Lonnie was able to keep 2¢ from each sale.

By 1963, Lonnie went to work at Disneyland in the Parts Warehouse and was responsible for supplying the maintenance team with parts and fasteners to keep things running smoothly.

Soon, Lonnie began work as a painter trainee and became an apprentice in the Union. It was during this period that Lonnie first met Walt. We’ve all heard that Walt was a very curious fellow and a frequent visitor to the park. His hands-on approach to guiding the finished product made him stop and chat with the workers all the time. Walt’s attention to detail and high expectations for quality became bedrock foundations of traits that Lonnie would exhibit throughout his career.

Lonnie fondly recalls on the times Walt took a personal interest in an aging effect to highlight a pattern on some wall covering at the Plaza Restaurant that Lonnie was working on. Walt worked with Lonnie and another trainee to achieve just the right finish. When the Journeymen took over the job, Walt wasn’t happy with the work so he had Lonnie and the other fellow finish the project, much to the Journeymen’s chagrin. Walt knew what he wanted and he knew Lonnie would get it right.

Lonnie continued to grow in experience and expertise. Lonnie was gaining a reputation for his keen eye for color and he was recognized for his ability to achieve the vision set out by Walt. Always eager to take on new challenges, Lonnie transferred to Florida in 1970 to join the Magic Kingdom Construction team.

Lonnie came to Florida and was responsible for the material end of the business for all paint work on the construction of the Magic Kingdom. Lonnie worked with the Buena Vista Construction paint team and helped coordinate all the colors and prep materials. John Hench was Lonnie’s primary source for the exterior color palette. By late 1970, Lonnie was running all of the paint operations on property overseeing the work of 300 to 400 workers.

From the late 70’s through the early 80’s the Facilities team experienced tremendous fluctuations, re-organizations, operational appraisals, re-organizations, more management audits and more re-organizations. By 1981 Lonnie was the Superintendent for both the Paint and Sign Shops at the Central Shops.

Throughout the 80’s and well into the 90’s Lonnie continued to provide leadership and direction to the paint and sign shops and the never ending stream of new projects, parade floats, rehabs and refurbishments brought ever more challenging requirements that Lonnie and his team always rose to the challenge to complete.

In 1998 Lonnie moved over to the Ride and Show Engineering group and eventually became part o Architecture and Facilities Engineering as our resident coatings specialist.

Lonnie is a certified member of NACE, the International corrosion specialist organization as well as SSPC, the Society for Protective Coatings. Lonnie has been instrumental in developing site-specific standards for architectural, industrial, floor and ride vehicle coatings as well as sealants, water repellants and water protections. These standards will go a long way in ensuring the further integrity of our Company’s valuable assets.