This husband and wife are the voices of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, respectively



“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…,” says the male announcer in a home recording booth.

In a twin booth just six feet away at the Highland home, a female voice says the same thing.

Both recordings will be heard at the Disneyland Resort – his at Disneyland and hers at Disney California Adventure.

They are Bill Rogers, 66, and Camille Dixon, 51, the official voices for each park, and they’re married – to each other.

“We met in 2000, a client booked me at his studio,” Dixon said.

A romance between the two voiceover announcers blossomed and 10 years later on Christmas Eve, they married.

Rogers became the official voice of Disneyland in 1991, when Jack Wagner, the original voice of Disneyland, retired. And on the basis of a two-take audition, Rogers got the gig, and has been doing it for 25 years.

“I think I’ve said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls’ about 90,000 times,” he said.

Rogers had been doing voice work for a variety of clients, when an associate at a recording studio asked him if he knew Jack Wagner.

“I told him I didn’t know him personally, but he was my hero,” said Rogers. “He was the most effective spokesman for the Walt Disney Company that I could imagine,” Rogers said of Wagner. Rogers said that with his voice, Wagner could be a ringmaster, a grandfather and an authority figure at the same time.

Meanwhile, Dixon had been doing a few announcements for Disney California Adventure since it opened in 2001, but was not the official voice.

As the opening for Cars Land neared in 2012, Rogers had several days on his calendar blocked out to record all the announcements for the park when the couple got a call from Disney.

“I was driving; Bill answered the phone,” Dixon said. It was Disney and park officials asked to speak to her. They wanted to have a different official voice for the park before its rededication, and offered Dixon the job.

For the next 10 days, Dixon had to re-record the entire catalog of park announcements, including her favorite.

“The rope drop announcement is my all time favorite because I talk about Walt Disney’s arrival in California in 1923 to follow his dream.”

To make things simpler, the couple built recording booths at their home here in Highland, and identical ones in Utah, where they split their time. They said it’s easier to record lines via high-speed connections and it makes them more efficient to hook up with directors and engineers from session to session.

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“When voice-over actors and the engineers, producers and directors get together, there’s a lot of coffee consumed and a lot of stories told, taking lots of time,” Rogers said.

“It also saves us driving time going from recording studio to recording studio in Los Angeles can take a while,” she added.

The announcements for each park include things like announcements about shows to those canceling shows due to inclement weather.

“I’ve gotten calls from friends mad at me for canceling the fireworks the day they visit the park,” Rogers said. “They forget it’s just a recording on a computer hard drive.”

Rogers and Dixon each recorded “contingency announcements” that would be used in case either park had to be suddenly closed due to weather or other emergencies. Because they are the official voices for the parks, they are not used as characters in the attractions or elsewhere.

But they do have other clients besides Disney.

Rogers was the announcer for the Orange County Newschannel while it was in operation. He also does instructional videos for Medcom/Trainex and voice-over commercials for Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

Dixon also does work for Hyundai, Toyota, and Kroger’s grocery stores in the Midwest. She’s also been the promotional announcer for PBS SoCal for 20 years, and 10 years ago, Rogers joined her.

But their role with Disney is the one they enjoy most, as sometimes it means doing live announcements at the theme parks.

“I’ve been at the four ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ premieres at Disneyland. Where else do you get to announce ‘Johnny Depp’ and ‘Keith Richards’ in the same announcement?” Rogers said.

Rogers also provides live announcements at the Disneyland Candlelight Ceremony.

Dixon’s favorite moment was hosting a live interview this year with Disney Legend Kurt Russell at her park’s Wine and Food Festival.

“What an amazing, incredible generous person. Who knew he made wine?” she said. “It’s really good wine, too.”

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