ICP stands for I'm Closing Pools

Ive almost been here a whole month! It doesn't feel like it at all, its gone so fast, especially now the proper work has started!

I finished my on the job training a week ago. It was over three days where we wore our costume (i STILL haven't taken a picture!) and trained at our location. 

The first day was at Coronado, and i was late because of a stupid social security appointment, where Disney didn't really care that i had work early and did nothing to help me get there as soon as possible. But anyway, it was nice to finally see where i would be working, and we got to learn all the zones of the pool, how to close for weather, we did some vat training to see all the blind spots of the pool, then we got to go on the water slide!

The second day was at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and it was a closing shift, so we did the same as we did at Coronado, but also learned how to close the pool at the end of the night, which was going to be very useful as i learned CP's basically get all closing shifts! Animal Kingdom Lodge has two pools as it is kind of split into two resorts. There is the main part, Jambo house which has the bigger pool, then there is Kidani Village which is part of the Disney Vacation Club, which has its own smaller pool. We closed for lightening for like 4 hours so we spent most of the day at Kidani. This was pretty boring, just sitting around, but this is Florida and its going to happen a lot this summer!

We had to have an extra morning to make up for the training we missed at Jambo, but this was just another day of slide testing, vat training and zone learning so it wasn't too bad!

Then i had my kapa, which is the on the job test you have to pass before you can go on stand on your own. There is a written test, where i only got like two wrong because some of the questions were quite badly worded. Then a practical test, where you go on stand for real and the coordinator will drop a vat somewhere in your zone. I got it in 3 seconds and i passed! 

I went straight into my first ever shift the afternoon of my kapa. It was a long day but hello overtime! Luckily i was at Kidani so it was a nice ease into it and i did quite enjoy myself! The hardest part in my opinion is when you're on the stand with the slide. No matter what pool you are at there are kids that like to test the rules, and of course its your job to tell them off! I now know from experience that no matter how hard they pretend they don't understand my accent, they do. Ive never shouted 'feet first buddy/princess' so many times in my life!

I also jumped in for the very first time, on my very first shift. A little boy ended up too far out in the pool and started panicking and crying, so i jumped in, at the same time as his dad… I felt a bit stupid when his dad just picked him up and took him out just as i got to him, but the other lifeguards all said well done to me so i felt a bit better.

My life since then has basically been the same as that pretty much every day! I work 1:45-10:15 and i have now worked at every pool. My favourite is definitely Kidani. I like meeting new people i work with since there are so many guards at Coronado and Animal Kingdom, and the guests are always nice to chat to, especially when they see I'm from Scotland.

My least favourite parts are weather closings. We have to stand and make sure the pool deck is clear while the pool is closed. Some guests get quite annoyed the pool is closed, even if there is thunder and lightening right over head! Others just get angry that you don't know EXACTLY when the pool will reopen, I'm sorry i cant predict the weather! 

Ive had one or two days off but they just sort of blur into one, so heres some photos, i hear everyones enjoying my photos!

 A trip to magic kingdom on my own meant Mickey pretzels!

The new Tangled themed bit of Fantasyland.

Looking extra scared on Dinosaur. 

Meeting Russell and Doug!

My camera has been out of battery for the past week or so and i am yet to charge it...

Officially a Disney lifeguard!

On Wednesday we had our final day of lifeguard training which meant one thing, tests, tests and more tests! First we had our group test in the pool, where we would come out as a team with everyone else in the pool, as if we were actual lifeguards on duty, then two things would happen where we would have to act. My team was second to go. We came out and straight away we had a vat (a silhouette of a person made out of material) on the bottom which another girl jumped in for. Then my flatmate Rachel started to 'drown' and i immediately blew my whistle and jumped in, without really thinking about it. We had to do an unconscious rescue using a backboard, then do AR (artificial respiration) and then CPR using a trauma bag, which has oxygen and a defibrillator in it.
We passed! There were a couple things we did wrong but we wouldve saved her life in the end, so we "made it work".

Next we had the written test. This was multiple choice and really easy, i passed fine and only dropped one mark!

While the written tests were going on, they took two of us at a time to do the CPR test. We were tested on adult, child, then infant CPR. My adult went fine, then i thought my child was going fine until i realised that i hadn't called for help, but i did it as soon as i realised so it ended up ok, then my baby was going ok until i was trying to clear the airway and got confused, but i still sorted it all and passed them all!

So finally i was a fully trained Disney lifeguard with an Ellis licence!
We went to Downtown Disney to celebrate with an Earl of Sandwich. I had the chipotle chicken avocado, and it was one of the best sandwiches i have ever tasted!
Then i had five days off to do whatever i liked!
Thursday:
Rachel also had the day off, so we went to Epcot! Epcot is my favourite park and we did spaceship earth and the new test track, the nemo ride and ellens energy adventure. Then we had a wander round the lands. We met Donald in Mexico.

Then i had my first funnel cake of the year in America!

Then we came back to Patterson and sat by the pool for a bit when Bex was back from her training. Magic Kingdom was open until 12 that night so we thought we would go. I finally managed to get a good photo of the castle too!

We managed loads of rides since it wasn't too busy including the three mountains, space, thunder and splash! We also went to Gastons Tavern and tried Le Fou's Brew, which is mango and passionfruit juice/slush with marshmallow foam on top and it is goood.

We also went to meet Ariel.

Then we had to get the bus back, which is always an experience. We went to the contemporary thinking it would be quiet, but everyone had had the same idea as us and it was busy! We had to stand all the way back too, chivalry is dead! But it wasn't too bad, there was just a few moments that i thought i would end up sitting on the people behind me.

Friday:
We decided to have a bit of a lazy day. We went to Cast Connections in the morning. Cast Connections is a shop for cast members and their families where they sell discounted Disney merchandise, most of which is out of date, broken(but still in pretty good condition), or display items. They also sell some food really cheap! I got some apples, a bottle of water and some postcards, and it cost me about $4, whereas if i had bought it in the parks it would've been about $10!
Then we came back and sat by the pool. My tan is coming along nicely, but i can tell when i start working I'm going to get some strange tan lines.
We went to Cici's Pizza for tea which is my new favourite place! Its an all you can eat pizza buffet, and with cast member discount, it only cost us about $2 each! And the pizza is amazing! They even do a macaroni cheese pizza which is so wrong, but yet so right!

Saturday:
Bex had the day off, so we went back to Epcot! We got fast passes for Test Track and we went on Soarin, which only had a TWENTY MINUTE QUEUE! It was definitely longer when we got off. Then we went on Mission Space. I had only ever done green, which is the 'less intense' version, but we went on orange, where they spin you so you feel g-force, and it was so much more fun! Then we went to Test Track, and the new bit where you design your own car is so good! I think we got a bit too into it, making the least eco friendly car possible.
We also met our new boss,

Mickey!
Then we did the usual trip around the lands, then headed home for a trip to Walmart.

Sunday:
We had planned to go to Animal Kingdom, but i managed to catch a horrible cold, in Florida of all places! So i stayed behind, and spent the day in bed trying to recover before i start work on Tuesday! I felt a lot better in the evening though, greatly helped by my roommates finding a tv, which had been sitting outside the apartment across from ours all day and security said they could take! So now we can watch all the trashy American tv we want! Our new favourites include Long Island Medium and Breaking Amish.

Today I'm giving myself another day to recover from my cold, beside the pool of course. And tomorrow i have my orientation at Coronado Springs! Which I'm really looking forward to.

My Location and the Dreaded Swim Test

I had my lifeguard swim test along with all the other lifeguards from the UK and Hong Kong at 6pm last night at Mickeys Retreat, which is an area for cast members and their families where theres a pool and tennis courts and a little beach etc. There were two lists, one had the names of the people in water parks, the other was the people in resorts, i was on the resort list, and we did everything second.

First we had an eye test, just like when you go to the opticians, i don't need glasses or anything so that was completely fine for me. Then the watermark lifeguards did their test. They all had to do the deep water test, regardless of whether they were a deep or shallow water guard. They had to swim 8 lengths of the pool (200 metres i think…), tread water for two minutes with their hands out of the water, then pick up a brick from 8 foot deep water.

Then we had to do the shallow water test, where we had to swim two lengths of the pool (50 metres?), then we had to pick up a brick from 5 foot deep water. Its safe to say we all passed, although a couple people struggled with the brick, but its disneys choice…

We then got told that we would have to do the test all over again when we start our proper Ellis training.

Then, the moment we had all been waiting for, we found out our locations!

You get a bit of paper with your schedule for the next few days, and the top right corner looks like this,

So my main resort will the Coronado Springs Resort! 

I have never stayed in any of the Disney resorts, but my roommate says it is one of her favourites so i am quite excited to start.

It also says AKL beside my area so I'm assuming that this means that i will also rotate between Coronado and the Animal Kingdom Lodge!

I officially start work on Friday with Traditions, then i have my recreation training on Sunday, then i start my lifeguard training on Monday and i am on my way to being Disneys newest qualified lifeguard!

(Pictures are not mine)