from 2007
ADONIS REEVES
talks about her year as Disneyland Ambassador to the World

by Scott Wolf

Getting to know Adonis I've learned that she has a certain spark, contagious energy and charisma that makes her so much fun to be around. Since part of the joy of the Disneyland Ambassador is bringing the joy of the Disneyland Resort around the world, I can only imagine what it must have been like to see Mickey Mouse and Adonis enter the room together.  It's a pleasure to bring you my conversation with Adonis!

Scott Wolf: For those who don't know, what is the Disneyland Ambassador?

AR: The Disneyland Ambassador basically represents our 20,000+ cast members of the Disneyland Resort and also, if need be, representing the company. There's a lot of community events, in-house events, and also world events that we can go and extend the magic outside the berm. So we are basically the official hosts and representatives of the Disneyland Resort.

Eek!

SW: Yeah, that's a big responsibility! Did your reign begin on January 1st?

AR: Yes, officially at midnight on January 1st.

SW: Did you do anything on January 1st?

AR: Yes, the Ambassadors are a part of the countdown here at Disneyland, so when we do our big New Year's party the Ambassadors do the countdown east coast at Small World Mall and then we are part of the ceremony here at Sleeping Beauty Castle. So it's like you get your countdown and then it's, "Okay... now we're on."

SW: What was it like at the beginning?

AR: I know that the day of it, January 1st, it's basically kind of like our training wheels are taken off. In this case, our training wheels were our previous Ambassadors, Andrae and Becky. They were always there. We all shared an "Ambassacube" together but this time they're gone and you're pretty much on your own. We started training in I think October, so we went through maybe a two and a half month training process. I was officially out of my parade role (as a dancer) as of October. Then I was here training, learing the office, learning (Microsoft) Outlook, and learning basically what does day to day Ambassador role look like if there's not an event or if you're not traveling.

SW: Is there a typical day?

AR: It's different every single day.

SW: That's what I figured.

AR: We have office duties, emails, making sure we're up to date with Cast updates, writing articles for the Line (the Disneyland internal newsletter), thank you notes, all kinds of office type things when we're not out on an event or out traveling, but usually most of the time is preparing for that event, especially if we have a script or something that we need to prepare for.

SW: What was one of the first events you ended up doing?

AR: The first thing I remember being terrified of are our radio remotes which are basically going live on the radio and talking about what's going on at Disneyland. I was most fearful about that because I was not really knowing what I was going to be asked and if I knew the answer. So it was one of those things where it was like, "Oh, I just don't know about this. I don't know if I can have the right answer and use the right language." All those things. I remember one of my first radio remotes and Rick Dees was my first like, "Alright Adonis, sit down and let's talk," and I had an absolute blast. It was so much fun. Of course, I get comments all the time about my hair and about my name, like, "Your hair! Oh my gosh!" I know, it's totally out of control. It's my Ambassadoo.

SW: You've got your whole Ambassatalk.

AR: Yeah, the Ambassacube, Ambassaclothes.

Anyway, about my hair and about my name like, "I was expecting some type of buff man." Sorry, you just got me. So it kicked off with he asked me about my name and then the Ambassador program, "Tell me about that," and then we just started talking about "Rockin' Both Parks." We had "Rockin' Space Mountain" and "Rockin' California Screamin'," so I thought I was going to have a hard time with that but it ended up being an absolute blast.

SW: Throughout the year, did you feel more comfortable with those types of things?

AR: Yes and no. Yes, because I had done it before, and no because every disc jockey is different. It's just like, "Alright, let's see, what's he going to hit me with?" You can be prepared to talk about the holiday at Disneyland or Year of a Million Dreams and then you're on the air for three minutes talking about Lost & Found. So it does become easier, but it's not something you can develop a comfort in and lay your guard down just because you could be hit with any type of question and you have to be prepared to answer that.

SW: Did you travel a lot?

AR: This year we had an opportunity to experience an Adventures by Disney vacation and we went to Spain and we went to Madrid and Barcelona.

SW: Those are big, extravagant versions of Disney travel, right?

AR: Yes. The packaging and Disney heritage and values and family fun taken outside into the world, experiencing Spain the way Disney would experience Spain. World class tour guides and the best of the food. They take care of every single detail for you. As soon as you get off the plane you're taken care of. So there's a lot of promotion going on with that this year so we had to go and experience that and do some work while we were there.

We were in the outskirts of Barcelona in the middle of nowhere and the people were like, "Where are you from?" and we'd say, "We're from California." "Really, where about?" We'd say, "Disneyland." "Really?!" and their face would just light up. Some people spoke very little English but yet knew Mickey Mouse. Disneyland transcends all of that. It was amazing.

We also got to help with (Disneyland) Paris' 15th anniversary. It was amazing! They have a dragon underneath their castle. This seething dragon had smoke and animatronics.

SW: It's a walk through attraction?

AR: Yeah, you just walk through and there's this dragon bound to this castle. It just added an extra flair to the fairy tale.

We actually got to go to help out with their Volunteer of the Year ceremony. As the Ambassadors we are on the Volunteer Leadership Council, so we're able to assist in all kinds of volunteer events at the park, and we got to go to Paris and assist with their ceremony. We were only there I think three days, so it wasn't a whole lot of time, but we did get to spend one day in the city and we got to see the Eiffel Tower.

SW: Was it both you and Garnett?

AR: Yes, the whole worldwide Ambassador team went.

SW: Is charity work a part of being Ambassador.

AR: Being a part of the Volunteer Leadership Council we give a lot of time and efforts as we can, especially representing the resort.

There's a lot of times when we go and do things like a family volunteer day at the food bank. We'd go and help wherever there's a need. We'd help a lot with canine companions for independence. We volunteer for their events. A lot of our recyclables go to help with canine companions. It just depends on where our manager sends us to help out and to assist.

We worked with CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County), we had the CHOC walk here at Disneyland Resort as usual but then we had a mini CHOC walk at the hospital which we brought Mickey & Minnie and were able to volunteer helping the kids out of the hospital and walk around. They had Jamba Juice set up for them and Libby Lu, all kinds of places for them to visit and get little goody bags of things.

We actually went to San Diego to assist with the fire relief victims that were there. We took Mickey and Minnie, and Goofy went one day with us, just to bring some joy to these shelters, these people that have been displaced or are waiting to go back home.

I think it was the first one, there was a man, Mr. John Bay. Mr. John Bay was older, maybe in his eighties. He had his file of paperwork and pictures with him and he was just sitting in his chair. I had brought my guitar, I play the guitar. So I brought my guitar and thought it would be fun to bring some music. Sometimes you don't have words to say and sometimes it's nice just to have music. So I brought my guitar and I was talking with him for a little bit and he was telling me about their senior home and how he doesn't know if it's going to be there when they get back, but it's okay because he has all of his stuff.

He said, "I have my picture," and he showed me this beautiful black and white picture of him as a boy with his mom. Then he told me how important it is to cherish your family and give of yourself because that's what you'll be able to take with you. I said, "John, you're right," and as I'm talking to him he goes in to his little accordion file and he pulls out two dollars and he said, "Adonis, I want you to give this to someone in need." I thought, "You're amazing." That's what it's all about. Being in the midst of not knowing where you are or what you have, they were in a high school gym with cots everywhere, and being elderly you have your set ways of things and your routine and if anything throws that off it can be difficult. Just in the midst of all that and just having his file he was still able to give. I felt like, "Yes! I Love you!" That was a really special moment for me.

We visited at least twelve different shelters in a matter of two or three days. I think my favorite part of that was just being able to walk in with Mickey Mouse and you have this kind of somber group and all of a sudden everything is fine. It was absolutely amazing just to be able to walk in with him and instantly everyone knew that this was joy. That was a highlight I'll never forget.

To read more from Adonis, visit my sister site www.resortambassadors.com

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.