Disney announces Top 10 Dream CMO finalists

Online voters will cast their ballots over the next three weeks for their favorites among the Top 10 finalists in the Disney Dream Chief Magic Official (CMO) competition. (Vote in our Dream CMO online poll.)

The Top 3 vote getters travel to a Disney theme park in mid-April for a head-to-head competition that will be videotaped and voted on again by the online public. The winner serves as a goodwill ambassador at Disney parks around the world. (Read profiles of the Dream CMO finalists.)

See the Top 10 finalists after the jump:

Amy Kate Connolly’s professional quality Fairy Godmother video resume puts her in the running for the Top 3 alongside Patrick Hurd and Justin Muchoney.

Karrie Dunkin emerges as the lone animation video — knocking off two stronger entries by Andy Peterson and Chad Thompson. I was wrong before about Dunkin and she may prove me wrong again. The sexy negligee should help drum up votes.

David Hawley plays a pirate, a miner and even Tinkerbell, but the best part of his video resume is the 15-second blooper reel at the end.

Patrick Hurd built his own cut-out Disneyland complete with 13 attractions and a fireworks finale. My favorite rides: Pirates of the Caribbean (”Rum?”), Jungle Cruise (”Hippo!”) and Splash Mountain (”Ahhh!”). Hurd is my hands-down favorite.

Justin Muchoney brings a crazy energy and effusive personality to the competition. Muchoney’s screwball Snoop Dogg vocabulary — “adventurosity,” “extrovertaneous” and “obsessidisivation” — made me fashizzle my izzle off. If he can make the Top 3 — and I think he should — he could win it all in the final round when personality comes into play.

Jennifer Sechler almost perfectly embodies the Disney princess persona. She is my dark horse for the Top 3.

Work-from-home-mom Tangela Walker-Craft delivers the most business-like video resume of all the Top 10 finalists citing her college degree (creative writing) and work experience (school teacher and sales representative) as the chief qualifications for hiring her as CMO.

Meggin Weaver emerges as the lone pixie dust candidate from a field once overrun with the magic stuff. Her peppy personality seems perfectly suited for Disney. I picked Meggin to finish last in the Top 20 field, so what do I know.

Radio DJ Tripp West from Atlanta’s Star 94 (WSTR-FM) took the most heat in the online chat rooms for the unfair advantage his personal pulpit seemingly offers him in the upcoming campaign. I said he wouldn’t make the Top 10. I was wrong. Don’t be surprised if he rallies his legions of listeners and advances to Top 3.

Semi-retired pharmacist David Wotruba’s casually paced Autopia-themed video resume appeals to a demographic under-represented in the contest.

My Top 3 (in order):
Patrick Hurd
Justin Muchoney
Amy Kate Connolly

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland.

— Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 9:08 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Disneyland, Family & Kids, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.