Legends & Legacies

Tony Baxter joined Walt Disney Imagineering when he was 22 years old and is among the first of a second generation of Disney creatives who fashioned the magic found today in Disney parks worldwide. He would stay with the company for nearly fifty year and today serves as a mentor and consultant to the new, younger generation of Imagineers. . Tony is credited for helping create such Disney attraction icons as Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and the Indiana Jones Adventure. He has been lauded for his creative leadership at Disneyland Paris Resort, is a Disney Legend and has a personalized window on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland Park, considered by many to be one of the highest honors a Disney employee can achieve. From ice cream scooper in 1965 to Senior Vice President of Creative Development in 2013, this is his story.

Roller coasters took Dick Kinzel slowly to the top and a $1.24 billion acquisition ultimately, lead to his direst years. During his 39-year career (25 as president and CEO) with Cedar Point and Cedar Fair parks, he built the world's first 200, 300, and 400-foot tall roller coasters. He is responsible for adding more than 35 multi-million dollar scream machines to the company's 11 amusement parks. It was he, who delivered the first shot in the coaster wars of the 1990s, when he built the Magnum XL-200, the first to top the 200-foot barrier... He brought big, edgy and expensive coasters to Cedar Point knowing that the bigger the thrill ride, the bigger the crowds. He made sure Cedar Point remained the "Amazement Park" and the Roller Coaster Capital of the World. His story is one of tenacity, conservatism and risk taking. It's one of big business and one of fun making. Dick spent his life putting smiles on people's faces and fear in their eyes. For the first time his journey is, told in full: from his highs and lows to the laughs and tears, this is the story of the man who brought more roller coaster to Ohio than any other man. This is the official biography of Richard L. Kinzel.