Scott Wolf: What is the Disneyland Ambassador?

Diane Killeen: We are just looking at the description because we're now a global program. Before it was Disneyland Resort and they expanded to Walt Disney World and now each of the resorts have it so we're really in the process of reevaluating what our mission statement is, but technically we say that they are the representative of your Cast Members and the emissaries of goodwill.

Their role is to really represent the Cast Members at the resort in their community and we used to say worldwide. Now we have a worldwide program and they're really site specific and we really stay kind of regional. But, their role is really for any type of cast opportunity or guest opportunity or community opportunity, that they're engaged and they're able to really be that face of the Disneyland Resort out in the community.

Their main responsbilities are getting out in cast events, supporting any resort initiatives that are out there, so if there's a ceremony or celebration, they're involved in that. They do quite a bit of media. They spent the last three or four days with the Miley (Cyrus) event "Sweet Sixteen" event that was happening here. We also launched Halloweentime and we're getting ready to launch the holidays. They'll help with the media for that.

They support marketing tours, for instance Becky and Andrae did the fiftieth tour for us, so what I do is I put one out on tour and I leave one here because there's so much to do here and then what I'll do is I'll switch them, probably about halfway through on the tour, but they'll support the western United States and Canada. Then Florida will support the eastern United States and Canada on that coast for any marketing or promotional tours. Then if there's community needs we'll send them out. They actually support community parades. If there are community celebrations that are happening they'll request an Ambassador. Sometimes they'll be an emcee for a particular event, so there's a lot for them to do, and they get extremely busy.

For Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World it really warrants teams because there's so much work and we really don't want to have to ever turn anything down. The global sites will have teams, but they usually only have those during anniversary years.

I think it makes sense to have two, because when it all started it was just one park... Disneyland, not even the two parks in the resort.

DK: Right, and we're expanding, we have Adventures By Disney and our cruise lines.

The Ambassador does promotion for both of those?

DK: How that works with Disney Cruise Line is Walt Disney World will support their initiatives down there for their cast, so I believe right now they're sending an Ambassador on the ships quarterly and they do quarterly updates, so those Cast Members feel really engaged still with what The Walt Disney Company is doing. Walt Disney World will put a presentation together and travel with them that week and they'll bring their Cruise Line Cast Members in in shifts and give a cast quarterly update.

Adventures By Disney is different, we've had the Ambassadors go on the trips last year and this year to experience it so they can go and help us to promote that with Guests. So if they're on the radio and somebody happens to ask about it, they've experienced it. There's nothing like experiencing something firsthand where you can actually talk about it. So the first year Jay Rasulo sent the Ambassadors to Spain and then the last year they did the Germany trip. Great experiences.

Speaking of getting experiences, can you tell me about their cross training opportunities where they can spend time working in various positions throughout the resort?

DK: That is actually one of my strongest initiatives with development for our Ambassador program is getting them out there in cross training. I like if they can schedule one two cross training experiences a month. It's hard for them to talk about what the Disneyland Resort is all about if they don't understand everybody's role. It's you going out and experiencing and walking in their shoes. Then you’re on the radio and you’re talking about that we're having a job fair and we're hiring for custodial, you can say, "Let me tell you how fun custodial is. I've actually walked in their shoes." That's a great experience and it's also an opportunity for them to get to know Cast Members that they may not have ever had that opportunity to do. Then they come back and take their photos and we share those on website, they'll share them in the Line (the internal Disneyland newsletter) and on the hub and it's an opportunity for them to recognize those Cast Members for what they do and it's always fun for the Cast Members to read about themselves and those experiences.

For us, it actually gives the Ambassadors an opportunity to talk about the Ambassador program, too, so if you are say a custodial or parking lot Cast Member that maybe doesn't have exposure so much to the Ambassador program, but you have questions or you want to know about it, or perhaps you've never even heard about it at all, now you have the opportunity to learn what the role is and what the requirements are, and it is a huge endeavor that you take on for a year of time. You're on call 24/7. There are times when you're working seven days a week, depending on what events are going on and it's a commitment. You have to be willing to make that commitment. Cast Members expect you to be at certain events and you can't just say, "I'm really tired, I've been doing six events this week and you're asking me to go out for my seventh night." Yeah, we are.

Fortunately we have great Ambassadors every year and since I've been doing this I don't have very many complaints at all. In fact, I'll tell them they NEED to go home and have a day off and they'll say, "No, I just heard about this event that Dave Smith's doing down at the studio, I'm going to drive down to the studio!" So we're very blessed.

More from Diane:
The Disneyland Ambassador selection process

Once an Ambassador is selected

Hospital visits, and Diane's personal favorite Ambassador memory


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