IMAGINE if it was your job to organise more than 50 Disney characters across the world, travelling more than 17,000 miles from capital city to capital city?

That's the challenge facing Hawarden woman Keri Nicola Jones, who has gone from life as an ice skater with Disney On Ice to working as tour co-ordinator for the huge production as it travels from continent to continent, bringing joy to thousands of children across the world.

Keri, 45, was 27 when she joined the production in 2000 on a seven-month contract, but ended up staying as a member of the cast for 13 years.

"In the first year I went to the USA and then Puerto Rico before ending up in Venezuela and Argentina, and that's where I got the bug," she says. "We're so lucky on Disney On Ice. We get to do something we love and on top of that you get to put smiles on people's faces and make them laugh for a couple of hours.

"Then there's the travel and I'm lucky to have been to nearly every continent and that's what keeps me coming back."

With one eye on the future, Keri began training to become a cosmetologist and learnt how to style all the wigs in the show - Keri also started to help out the tour co-ordinator with the tour's PR and press.

"I was very fortunate that the company saw something in me and gave me the chance to go in this new direction as a tour co-ordinator," she says."I've learnt so much, have new life skills and still get to travel the world."

A typical day on the road for Keri can involve everything from dealing with lost passports to booking the crew's transport to the venue they are performing at.

"I am in charge of making sure every person has the correct visas for each different country and we have 14 different nationalities at the moment, so it can get a bit complicated," she says. "I'm also in charge of all the travel and getting the 41-member cast and 13-man crew from venue to venue and then home at the end.

"We are in a different city every week and I also deal with all the PR for the whole season and any injuries or medical issues that any of our personnel have.

"When we come to the UK I like to be able to pass on tips of where to go and what to see - we've been in Leeds recently and I've been telling them to get the train to York and Harrogate and have a nice afternoon tea.

"The job is always a challenge but it's so much fun and when you hear the crowd clapping and cheering from the office we know we've done a good show."

This spring sees Keri arriving closer to home when The Wonderful World of Disney On Ice skates into the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool from April 17-21.

"There are so many different stories included," explains Keri. "I can't even count how many Disney characters we've got. I think my favourite bit is the turtles from Finding Dory, who are just so cute."

Crowd interaction is a key component to the Disney On Ice experience, with the focus on immersing audiences in key segments of the production. "In The Wonderful World of Disney On Ice, we've created a beautiful moment where an audience member gets to release a lantern with Rapunzel and Flynn at the beginning of I See the Light, says Keri. "It's breathtaking to watch, and then Rapunzel and Flynn skate a beautiful duet with the lanterns glowing above them.

"Later on Jesse from Toy Story gets the audience up on their feet and teaches them some moves. It's such a fun and upbeat show and I'm really looking forward to everyone seeing it. We come back year after year, so the creative team are always looking at doing something different."

Keri jokes that she has only seen the show in Danish so far and can't wait to see it when it reaches the UK and adds how brilliant it is now that the show can combine classic and modern Disney and Pixar stories.

"We start off with the Lion King which is one of my personal favourites and I still always cry when I watch the movie," she says. "We've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Little Mermaid and then we jump to the more modern films like Finding Dory, Toy Story and Frozen. In this production, our amazing creative team chose action-packed stories that really resonate with not only kids today, but with their parents as well."

It all started for Keri when she first visited Deeside Ice Rink as a five-year-old and she still has a lot of fondness for the leisure centre.

"It's been over a year since I put my skates on," she laughs. "The cast keep yelling at me to have a go but I tend to travel with just one suitcase, so I can't fit them in at the moment.

"When I think of Deeside Ice Rink, I think of practicing for hours and hours and hours and there are so many memories. It is such a great grounding for anyone who wants to go into a career in ice shows. I still have friends from those times 30 years ago and some of them will be coming to see the show in Liverpool.

"I always remember the rivalry between the different ice rinks in Liverpool, Deeside and Altrincham and I know there's a lot of people from there who've made careers in ice shows and I'm very passionate about trying to keep that tradition going - I'd love some more skaters from Deeside to have the opportunities I've had and I'll be going back to talk to them and encourage them to do just that. Wouldn't it be brilliant?"

The Wonderful World of Disney On Ice is at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool from April 17-21. Visit www.disneyonice.com for details.