Disney Resort Ambassadors - Liz Hetzel

Interview from 2008
Scott Wolf: What were you doing before you were Ambassador?
Liz Hetzel: I was working as a Stage Manager in Guest Talent.
What is Guest Talent?
LH: If you ever see a high school band or an outside band march down Main Street USA before a parade, that's Guest Talent. People from outside the company coming in and performing
inside the resort.
What does a Stage Manager do for them?
LH: I would wear the headset and make sure that everybody gets to the places at the right time and make sure that the background music is appropriate levels and all of that.
I usually ask what year were you Ambassador, but you are still are today.
LH: Yes, I am the 2008 Ambassador indeed.
Do you have any favorite memories of your year so far?
LH: I really think that spending the day with Julie Andrews, seeing her without her people. It wasn't even about me spending time with her, it was about seeing her interact with people and knowing that that's what Disney is. Just making people feel like royalty, making them feel like this is the place they want to come and be. It was such a great day.
What was she here for?
LH: Her book signing. Her book, "Home." Great book, everybody should read it!
Is that when they also dedicated a carousel horse to her?
LH: Yes, the same day, so I met her in the morning over at the carousel and then we spent the day, and then we came over here and did the signing at Lincoln
(theatre).
When did you start at Disney?
LH: 1996, so I've been here for awhile.
Was this the first time you tried out for Ambassador?
LH: Yes, indeed it was. Adonis Reeves, I saw her ceremony and I thought oh my goodness,
what an amazing program. So classic, so important to the resort. So I immediately went home, bought four books on Disney, read them all, started reading everything I could about Disney and then just went after it.
What was the training like for you?
LH: With training, there's nothing that beats our worldwide training. All of the worldwide teams come together and train together here at the Disneyland Resort and then over in Florida. To immediately have friends from Tokyo, from Hong Kong, from Paris, just that experience is like, this is amazing!
Did you get to do some of the cross training, too?
LH: Oh, absolutely. One of the ones that really sticks out to me is when I got to cross train with the train engineers because we all know that this started with a railroad. Walt Disney loved railroads and he loved the idea of riding on it, so to spend the time with them, they know that. They know that they're the history of Disney, so it's so fun to be there and be around the nostalgia of Disney and just Cast Members that really take pride in their work. So yeah, I loved cross training with the train engineers.
Today was the ceremony to announce next year's Ambassadors... do you remember much about your ceremony and what are your feelings about it being today, nearly the end?

LH: I will tell you, just to be honest, I really didn't think I was getting it. I was hoping I would get it, but I really thought I wasn't going to get it, so I was standing over there just trying to enjoy every moment and when they called my name I almost died. If you've ever seen the footage of it, I really have a look of shock and that is a real true surprise moment. That ceremony will be one of my treasured memories forever.
Today, what an amazing experience to watch someone go through it and know exactly how they feel. I'm watching Danielle and she said, "Are you kidding?!" She said that when she got called and I thought, "That's what I thought!" Exactly the same emotions. It's so fun to go through that with them.
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