Scott Wolf: What were you doing before you were Ambassador?

Shari Bescos Koch: I was a ticket seller.

What year did you become Ambassador?

SBK: 1969.

So you were the fifth Ambassador.

SBK: I was chosen in '68 and then my year was '69.

What kinds of things happened with the park the year you were Ambassador?

SBK: The Haunted Mansion opened, so that was probably the biggest thing that happened, well not the biggest thing but as far as inside the park that was the largest event that I had.

Still a classic today.

SBK: Oh, still today and I had been in high school watching the Mansion being built. It sat there empty. Walt had passed away and the Mansion still sat there so the fact that I got to open it was kind of exciting because when I was in high school it was this building we kept waiting for it to open and it didn't open. It was a lot of fun.

Were involved in the opening?

SBK: We opened, we did a press opening at Club 33 in New Orleans Square and that night we walked at midnight, we walked along the river in front of the Mansion and went back in and opened it in the back.

The press event was at midnight because-

SBK: Because it was the Haunted Mansion! It was great, it was a lot of fun.

Was it common to do press events at Club 33?

SBK: No, not before. That was the first and only time I did anything at Club 33 as far as press events.

Do you have any favorite memories of being Ambassador?

SBK: I think my all-time favorite, I had traveled to the orient during August in 1969 and I was sitting with the Governor of Tokyo when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, so I have a picture of myself sitting there with him with a TV in the background and we're watching the event happen, and he congratulated me on behalf of his country to my country. So I was sitting there thinking, "Wow, here I am the Disneyland Ambassador, but this is kind of bigger than Disneyland," because I was really representing the country at that point which was really exciting for me.

So many people remember watching the moonwalk, but wow. What an experience.

SBK: Yeah, I was overseas when it happened.

What did you do after you were Ambassador?

SBK: I actually went to work at the Club up until I got married and starting raising my family, so I worked at Club 33 up until I left the park.

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