Each month, we ask a museum staff member to answer five questions about their position at The Walt Disney Family Museum, their fondest Disney memories, and personal tidbits. This is the sixth installment in our series titled "What Do YOU Do?" and this month, we're highlighting Chrysann Zongus.
What is your title and what do YOU do here at The Walt Disney Family Museum?
Visitor Experience and Admission Specialist. I started with The Walt Disney Family Museum as an original Front of House member. I now use those customer service skills and familiarity with the galleries and guests' needs to manage the Visitor Experience Associate team. The Visitor Experience Associate team covers a variety of positions that interact with the public daily. They are the smiling faces that you see at Ticket Desk, Coat Check, and at the entrance to and within the Galleries. More recently, my position has also taken on a hybrid role. In addition to working with the Associate team, I now also manage our Ticketing System, which serves guests both at the Ticket Desk and on our website.
Chrysann has a twin! She asks, "Which one am I?"
What is your fondest Disney memory OR what is your favorite gallery at The Walt Disney Family Museum and why?
I have been fortunate to grow up surrounded by Disney, enjoying many trips to Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and on the Disney Cruise Line with my family and friends. My fondest Disney memory would probably be taking a picture with Captain Hook for the first time. As a child, my grandfather taunted me that I was too afraid to take a picture with Captain Hook during our trips to Disneyland. I didn’t take a picture with Captain Hook until I was 17, after my grandfather passed away. Whenever I see Captain Hook in Disneyland now, it brings back great memories of going to Disneyland with my grandfather.
How does your job communicate and interpret the legacy of Walt Disney?
My job communicates and interprets the legacy of Walt Disney in different ways. As far as the ticketing aspect of my job, it provides the guests of our Museum convenient ways to access our exhibit, educational programs, and public programs, all of which are directly related to the legacy of Walt Disney. My position truly preserves the legacy of Walt Disney by the work I do with the Associate Staff on the floor. We are responsible for providing guests with the service standards that Walt Disney created many years ago. We also interact with guests on many different levels, whether it is simply helping them to enjoy the Museum to the fullest, or providing an ear as they share their own favorite Disney memories.
Describe your workspace OR your favorite item on your desk:
My desk naturally has many Disney items and memorabilia around. My favorite item is a Treasure Craft for Walt Disney Productions mug that I found at an antique store last year last year on Valentine’s Day with my fiancé. The mug is probably from the late 1960s or early 1970s; it is reminiscent of a tree trunk with the Disneyland castle and original Disneyland logo etched into it.
Tell us a little known fact about you!
I have competitively Greek danced on and off for the last fifteen years! This past year, our group won the highest prize for the competition, which included about a hundred groups from the Western United States.