Quick Trip Home

Lifeguarding - Audit's

Let's take a minute to talk about the thing all CP lifeguards fear coming into the program - audits. If you know what you're doing, and you do it well, audit's are quick and simple. Basically, and audit is a test to make sure you're doing your job the way you should be, to the standard Disney and Ellis hold us accountable to. Easy right?

Who does audits?

There are different groups of people who can do an audit. There are coordinators, Tier 2[Managers], Tier 3[Disney Higher Ups], and Ellis. Coordinator audit's don't count unless a manager is present (which usually makes it a Tier 2 audit), which means they rarely audit.

What is an audit?

There are multiple types of audits. The first, most common, is a VAT, which stands for Visual Awareness Training. Then there are visual audits, technical audits, and audit's that test your knowledge of the resort and the pool deck (a.k.a. the once a year Tier 3 audit).

What is a VAT?

A VAT is a weighted silhouette that gets laid at the bottom of the pool. There is a tan (light) side and a dark side. When a VAT gets laid you have to respond to it as if someone was drowning in the bottom of the pool. This means spotting it in 10 seconds, reaching it in 20, calling the coordinator, activating your EAP, everything.

What is a Visual Audit?

A visual audit is when someone come's out and watched you on stand. If it's a manager or a coordinator, they'll just watch you for a while and maybe take notes. If it's Ellis, they'll record you with a video camera. They're looking to make sure you maintain your 10/20, that you're not falling asleep, making sure you're in Disney Look, you don't hold extended conversations, that you rule enforce, everything.

What is a Technical Audit?

A technical audit is the big scary that hardly anybody ever has to deal with, also known as a 3 Whistle Audit. This is where you respond to a VAT, reach it, and someone says "This is an audit". At that point they start enacting one of our "worst case scenarios" and we have to treat it like it's a real situation. Clear the pool, do "CPR", the whole 9 yards. Technical Audit's are a big deal, and Ellis only does them once a quarter per pool. In some regions, the managers do technical audits, but those aren't quite as big of a deal (still a big deal)

That being said, most CP's spend a lot of time freaking out about VATs. VATs are usually relatively easy to spot (in fact, I've seen them in other people's water before...) and they only do the bare minimum each month. Once you've been on stand for a month or so, you'll be able to recognize your managers and coordinators in the pool and know a VAT is coming.

Personally, I've been through several audit's. I have been visually audited by Ellis, one of my managers, and a manager at Art of Animation. I was technically audited by a manager in my region. And I was Tier 3 audited at Coronado a few months ago (Did you know Coronado has the longest resort water slide on property?) Once you know what you're doing, audit's seem like nothing. In fact, there are days when you'll be on stand wishing someone would VAT you because it's so hot or you're so bored. Getting in the water is the quickest way to cool off, and no one looks at you funny when you do it to get a VAT!

Life Update

Dumela! I am so sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth. Needless to say, I'm kicking myself more than you are, because I have so many things I forgot to write down. It hurts to think of all the memories that are slipping away even now.

A lot's happened since I last wrote. I got extended through the summer as a lifeguard. Animal Kingdom Lodge and Coronado Springs got divorced, which was a huge change. I'm the only CP that got statused at Coronado. I hardly ever worked there for the first month, I was constantly getting deployed, and I loved almost every place I got deployed to. I, along with all of our spring CP's, got denied for an extension through the fall. It was crushing. I can't tell you how many times I almost quit and went back to camp. Even now the mountains call to me every moment of every day. But I'm determined to make my dreams a reality, and to follow this through.

So I decided to stay in Orlando full time. Which is... wow, it's hard to make that kind of choice with so little time to follow through. My sister is staying with me as well, and our puppy Ginger will eventually be coming down. We've gone through a few potential roommates, and now we know for sure we're going to be living with another guard I work with, Kallie.

Trying to get a job is the worst part. As a CP, you can put in for a full time/part time transfer 6 weeks before the end of your program. I applied for Attractions and Resort Activities (CAC), which requires an interview to make sure you're an appropriate choice for the role. During my CAC interview, they asked me if I had an prior experience with children, and I nearly fell out of my seat laughing, since that's basically all I have experience with. There were no open positions in either of my chosen roles, so the wonderful recruiter who interviewed me helped me find a position that was open that I would be willing to take. I ended up accepting a part time job in watercraft at Sassagoula.

It's not something I ever would have imagined myself doing, but I'm excited about the upcoming opportunities. I'm always willing to try something new, and it's not lifeguarding! I'll be able to talk to people and get the guest interaction I came to Disney to get.

I will also be able to pick lifeguard shifts for the next 6 months as long as I continue IST. That being said, I can't rely just on a part time job. So last week I had an interview at Universal for an Attractions job. It went really well and she said that I (and my sister) had both been put through, but they want us to finish our program. So we go back next week to decide what we want to do.

I'll admit, I'm a little nervous. They interviewed me for a leadership position, which I had originally decided I didn't want to try for yet. I have no experience with working in a theme park, which I would like to do before working a leadership role there. Ultimately, if that's all they're willing to offer me, of course I'll take it, but I'd rather build up some experience first.

A lot of not work related things have happened in the last few months as well. For as big of a disappointment as my first set of roommates turned out to be, my second set more than made of for it. Mary, Jenna, and Courtney turned out to be some of my best friends on this program. I was heart broken when they went home, and I can't wait until they come back to visit. At first it was awkward, because I was so messed up from the weirdo's that were my first roommates, and because our schedules so often didn't line up. In fact, I didn't even meet Courtney for the first week. Eventually though, things got worked out and we became fast friends. It just goes to show that sometimes rando's are better than people you plan on living with.

We had terrible tragedies strike Orlando one after the other. Going to work after everything that happened got more and more difficult. Disney was amazing with the way they responded to things and offered their cast members any support they needed. But, inevitably, people will take their frustrations out on you. Guest interactions were intense for a few days, but it's amazing how short people's memories are...

I went home this last weekend. I'll do an entire post on my love of Chicago, but right now I'm just sort of overwhelmed. Coming back to CP housing was and is strange. I feel all sorts of out of place and in between adventures right now.I wasn't ready to leave the Midwest, but it's time for me to start something amazing.

At 24 years old, I'm finally starting to feel like a adult. Not a college kid, not a teenager playing grown up, but an actual adult. It's a scary feeling. Picking out an apartment, job hunting, and knowing this time I don't have anything to fall back on. A big part of me wants to run back home with my tail between my legs. How could I ever think I could move so far away from home and everyone I love. A significantly smaller, but infinitesimally more stubborn part of me is insisting I stick it out and work through the panic attacks and the anxiety. I can do this. I can live my dreams and my life without letting things get me down. I will do this.

DCP To Part Time - Lifeguarding At Animal Kingdom Lodge

You Can't Get Rid Of Me Yet