Vancleave native receives national recognition for her love of Disney
JACKSON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - Calling Mariah Lambes a Disney superfan might be an understatement.
“'Aladdin' is my absolute favorite Disney film with ‘Tangled’ coming in second,” she said. “I’m also a massive ‘Star Wars’ fan."
She’s been a cast member of the Disney Store at the Gulfport Premium Outlets for three years now and has visited Walt Disney World roughly a dozen times.
“Of course it’s the nostalgia for me but I also just love it,” Lambes said about her passion for Disney. “It’s always changing, and I just find something new about it every time I rewatch a movie or show. I think that goes for most cast members.”
Out of more than 3,800 cast members, Lambes beat them all in her love for Disney and is now the Disney Trivia Grand Champion. It all started at the Gulfport store.
“They put on Disney Store Trivia every year. In 2016 and 2017, I was Store Champion, but this year was the first time I was Market Champion as well,” Lambes said. There are six markets: north, northwest, northeast, west, central and south.
“For additional points toward my total, my store also submitted a 45-second ‘Mickey Appreciation’ video since this year was Mickey’s 90th Anniversary,” Lambes said. “All stores could submit a video for three points, and winning videos would gain another three points. We were one of the winners, so I got an extra six points toward my total. I did also have a perfect score on my two tests in store.”
That’s how she became the South Market Champion, earning her a trip to California to compete in the national Grand Championship.
“The trip was amazing. It was the very first time I had ever been to California. The first night we ate dinner at the Tam O’Shanter, which was one of Walt Disney’s favorite spots to eat with his animators and writers,” Lambes said. “The next day was Trivia Finals day so we didn’t get to see too much other than the trivia room which was in The Grand Central Air Terminal.” Lambes said Amelia Earhart used to fly planes out of there. “After the show we got to visit the Disney Store and shopDisney offices. After dinner, us Market Champions took an impromptu trip to Disneyland, since I had never been before, for just over an hour. On the last day, as my prizes for winning, I got to tour the Disney Archives, Animation Research Library, Animation Studios and Walt Disney’s office. The whole trip was amazing, and I wish I could do it all over again."
Disney has been a huge part of Lambes life, even the worst parts of her life.
“In July 2013 I was diagnosed with stage IIIB Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I did a two-hour round of chemo every two weeks over six months, and the cancer was gone,” Lambes said. “A few months later it did come back more aggressively, and I had to do five rounds of five-day long chemo treatments. At the end I had to do a bone marrow transplant and was in the hospital for about a month recovering. Afterward, I had to be in a sort of quarantine at my house for about three months. For the next year, I had to do these maintenance chemo treatments. They were only 30 minutes long, and it was once every three weeks. These were just to increase my chances of staying cancer-free. They seem to have worked so far since I am now three years cancer free.”
Lambes described a poster she had in her room during her stay in the hospital after her transplant to help keep her spirits lifted.
“The trip before my transplant, we took a big huge poster picture of us to get signed by all the characters,” she said. “We had it framed afterward, and it was in my hospital room with me that entire month. Even my doctors and nurses loved coming into my room and seeing that.”
Even through the adversity of battling cancer, Lambes stayed positive through the ordeal.
“Even during the treatments and everything, I tried to stay positive since it would make me feel better. Sure there were days that were really bad for me, days were I was so sick. But I thought to myself that yeah, I could just sit around and be miserable every day and feel sorry for myself, and some days I did, but if I could just keep up the positive attitude and show every one that I’m still the same happy Mariah that I’ve always been, then it’ll all be OK. I was very fortunate that the cancer I had wasn’t terminal, and that I was able to beat it. I thought about that every day. It was those little thoughts that made it easier for me and my family to deal with it. That’s why I also don’t mind talking about it. I know that there are people out there who are curious or they just don’t know about Lymphoma at all, so I like being that voice. Not to make everyone feel sorry for me but to just inform people that Lymphoma is a threat that can happen to anyone and the symptoms and the warning signs. Just trying to spread that Lymphoma awareness.”
So what’s next for Lambes?
“I get to help make questions for next year’s trivia so I’m looking forward to that,” she said.
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