Disneyland President to Retire on Symbolic Date : Management: Executive is retiring at important juncture in Magic Kingdom’s expansion. Two will take over his duties.

ANAHEIM —  As well-wishers telephoned and sent notes to Jack B. Lindquist on the eve of his retirement as president of Disneyland, the park’s communications division found a novel way to make a lasting imprint. They beeped his electronic pager.

“The message was ’30 hours, 46 minutes and counting. We’ll miss you,’ “said an amused Lindquist as he prepares to leave the company he joined 38 years ago as marketing director.

He chose this date for its symbolic value: Today is considered Mickey Mouse’s 65th birthday. Though both Lindquist, 66, and the mouse have reached retirement age, Mickey vows to stay on the job.

Not so with Lindquist. The Magic Kingdom faces an uncertain future without him, and no replacement has being announced. “I don’t know who will be signing the checks Friday,” quipped Lindquist, who added that he has deliberately stayed clear of the selection of a successor.

A Walt Disney Co. spokesman said Lindquist’s position will be left vacant--for now.

The president’s responsibilities meanwhile will be split among two executives, one as well-known to Anaheim officials and longtime residents as Lindquist himself. The other is a fairly private Disney veteran, an operations specialist who is a bit of a local mystery man.

The public persona is Ronald K. Dominguez, an executive vice president of Disneyland’s parent group who grew up on part of the property that is now the theme park and who got his start with the company as a ticket taker when the Magic Kingdom opened.

He is a rung higher up the corporate ladder than the private face, Norman L. Doerges. As the top-ranking executive under Lindquist, Doerges is an experienced hand in theme park operations at Walt Disney World in Florida. So far, Doerges has yet to make the community relations and press interview rounds, a role with which Lindquist was so comfortable.

Lindquist’s retirement creates a noticeable void in Disney’s community relations, some city officials have said privately. And that is troubling, they say, at a time when the company is trying to woo public support for its ambitious $3-billion expansion project at Disneyland.

Perhaps sensing that sentiment, Disney plans to keep Lindquist on its payroll as a consultant. That way, he can stay involved in the massive urban resort project. He can also stay on to shepherd Disney’s Mighty Ducks through their first season, oversee other Disney-sponsored sporting events and stay active in local charities.

The reduction of Lindquist’s duties as Disneyland’s ambassador to the community is offset somewhat because Dominguez will be stepping into that role, civic leaders said.

Over the past couple years, Dominguez has been Lindquist’s shadow, accompanying the president at school board meetings, rallies, council meetings and other public events at which the company’s Disneyland Resort project was being discussed.

Dominguez, 58, is considered “from the same mold” as Lindquist, Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler said.

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride stands where the Dominguez family home stood when Disneyland was only a dream and Anaheim was largely orange groves. Dominguez joined the park at age 19 as a ticket taker. A year later he became a ride operator. His relationship with Disney was only interrupted by his schooling. He attended Fullerton Junior College, then transferred to the University of Arizona where he majored in business administration.

After college, Dominguez rose through the ranks at Disneyland’s operations department. In 1970, he was elevated to director of operations. Four years later, he became a corporate vice president. In October, 1990, he was promoted to his current position as executive vice president.

Dominguez is from Disney’s “old school, where a deal could be finalized with a handshake,” Pickler said, adding that those days are sadly coming to a close.

Many in the community know what to expect from Dominguez, but what Doerges will be like is uncertain.

Doerges, 47, returned to Anaheim from Florida’s Epcot Center, Walt Disney World’s futuristic, internationally themed park, when Lindquist became president in 1990. He is known as a hard-nosed operations chief, the one charged with keeping the park sparkling, the guests happy and the rides running.

He first joined Disney in 1967 as a swimming pool manager. A former college swimming coach, Doerges later served as an area supervisor at Disneyland and as Florida vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s design arm.

The former vice president in charge of running Epcot Center, Doerges is known as one of Disney’s preeminent “guestologists.” That is, he helped perfect the layouts so that the theme parks were inviting to people in ways they might not even understand.

For instance, Doerges pointed out to one Florida reporter how the film store was situated on the right side of Main Street USA at the Magic Kingdom because most people are right-handed, and that’s where they expect to find such things.

But in Anaheim, Doerges has been remarkable for his low visibility outside the theme park. In keeping with that, he declined to be interviewed for this story. Several Anaheim council members had to ask “who?” when told that Doerges was going to split duties with Dominguez at the park. “Never heard of him,” Councilman Bob D. Simpson said.

Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim Area Visitor & Convention Bureau said: “I just don’t know him.” Thinking for a moment that he might have been introduced to him once at the Disneyland Hotel, Ahlers added, “He seems like a personable guy.”

Ditto for Ed Arnold, the KTLA television sportscaster who emcees charitable events and is co-chairman of a citizens promotion group for the proposed Disneyland Resort. Dominguez, he said, is a selfless, up-from-the-bottom executive “who never lost track of his roots.” Doerges, he said, may have decided to hang back from more community involvement just because Lindquist and Dominguez were so omnipresent.

“You probably did not need one more,” Arnold suggests Doerges might have surmised.

With the Disneyland Resort at a critical juncture--Anaheim city and Disney officials are negotiating to decide who pays for what--he said the retirement of Lindquist comes at a difficult time. But he said having Dominguez there to take Lindquist’s place, even if not directly by title, will make a difference.

“I dread the day we don’t have Jack or Ron,” he said.