Sunday 3 July 2011

Update July 3rd!

OK so this may be a long blog since I have not updated in over a week.

Last Saturday I had my second day of lifeguard training which basically involved more in water training, CPR and first aid. We were put into groups of four and told that we would be working together the next day for our in water assessment. As part of our assessment we had to perform CPR on adult, junior and baby mannequins and also had a 60 question multiply choice quiz. Most of the girls at my training were meeting at night to revise and practice together......I decided that a visit to Hollywood studio instead :) I went with Joanne, Melissa, Suzie, Kirsten and Kirsty and went straight to Tower of Terror ( the best ride EVER!!!)


We went on three times,

then went on the rock n roller coaster. I got in at about midnight and revised for about 30 mins.....then went to sleep!

On Sunday morning I went back to Mickeys retreat for the last day of the lifeguard course and exam day. After a quick practice of CPR, everyone headed to the pool in their groups for the water exam. Firstly I was in the water as part of another groups scenario, where the instructor set up a scenario which the group had to react to. For my scenario my group had to react to a "child" who was unconscious in the pool. We had to work together to get them out of the pool on a back board then perform rescue breaths using an oxygen task and then had to use an aed (which gives electric shocks to re start the heart). Our child survived and we passed that part of the test. When the last group were testing one of my group members was lying on the floor as she had fainted (for real!!!!!!) All the instructors ran and helped her so we got an early lunch (yay). After Lunch I sat my CPR exam......and passed all three test first time :) Then I scored 59/60 in the paper exam......so gutted haha!  I am now a fully fledged Disney lifeguard :D To celebrate I went to applebee's for dinner then went back to Hollywood studios with Suzie and Kirsty to ride the new star tours ride, great movie ride, tower of terror, rock n roller coaster twice and saw the last showing of fantasmic.......great end to a great day :)

On Monday morning I started my first day of training at typhoon lagoon at 8am. I met up with Emma (a new lifeguard too) at the bus stop at 7.10 and arrived at 7.45. My groups trainer for the day was Rhianna. She firstly drove the 6 new cast members to the pop century resort to get our uniforms. When we arrived back at Typhoon she showed us round the park, teaching us the one million different names of the lifeguard stands, lazy river entrances, slide names, where all the back boards and trauma bags were and loads of other important stuff we needed to know. We also read some documents online about the different slides we would be life guarding at the bottom of. Lots to learn. I finished at 6pm then went round to Kirstens and Kirstys for a movie night. This involved sitting speaking all night and watching of no movies :).

Tuesday morning I was back at typhoon for 8am for a day of shallow water training. This involved being with my trainer Rhianna and going round some of the shallow stands like I would if I was on a shallow rotation. I was on the lazy river and the bottom of the raft slides. I like the family raft (gang plank falls) as you get to help people out the massive tubes and you can cool off lying in the water which is amazing!!! I enjoyed the day and felt more relaxed about life guarding alone on the shallow rotation. After work I met up with Suzie and Kirsten and went to Epcot. It started raining as we were on the bus so made a quick dash for a Disney poncho. Then I decided I wanted dinner at the UK pavilion in world showcase and the others headed to Morocco for dinner. The moroccan man here gave us all a free coke :D yay!! This is me in Norway.

We then headed to the finding nemo ride and crush talk which is sooooo cute.

 Then went on test track before heading home.

On Wednesday morning I had work again at 8am. Today was an official tour of the park so I was required to wear smart clothes. We walked round the park again this time looking at the merchandise stores, food and beverage locations, and restrooms etc. After this we then had a great presentation about manual handling........NOT!!!! We finished early and got home at 12.30. In the afternoon I met with Kirsten and went to the Magic Kingdom. We bought cookies and ice cream :D then went on loads of rides and met these characters.


Here is me and Kirsten on the buzz light year ride....




Thursday morning 8am back to typhoon for deep water training. Again like shallow training I was with Rhianna on rotation at the shallow stands. Deep rotation is so much fun. I get to be in a shark reef swimming about with flippers on helping people with their masks and snorkels. I also got to help people who basically couldn't swim.....at one point I had 2 kids holding on to my tube while I swam them to the end of the reef. I also got to lifeguard the wave pool :o It is surprisingly easy to lifeguard (maybe it was just quiet ). 30 minutes from the end of my shift there was a massive storm, meaning the pool was shut down. I had to stand under a wooden hut with some guests until I was finished. My clothes were soaking right through and I was freezing.....What happened to the sunshine state???????

Friday was my 1st day off since I arrived :) I went to the pool in the morning with the girls then got some Wendy's chicken nuggets. Later in the afternoon I went to downtown Disney with Suzie and had my 1st earl of sandwich since arriving (bacon sandwich) sooooooo good. Then headed to magic kingdom for the night.

Saturday (another day off) met with Joanne at 10am and headed to the animal kingdom for the day. We headed straight for the dinosaur ride which is sooooo good/scary lol. We went straight back on. Then we headed for expedition Everest ride where we saw Suzie working :) We got some lunch and waited until Suzie finished then she joined us for the rest of the day. We watched the finding nemo musical, went on the safari, rode dinosaur again, went on Everest another 5 times then watched the Lion King show. At about 7.30 we got the bus back to Vista.

Today (Sunday) I woke up at 11am and chilled in my apartment until i got the bus at 1.45 for my first proper day at work. The traffic was so bad today and the 25 minute journey took 50, making the 11 lifeguards on the bus 10 minutes late for work. Fortunately the managers will remove the late clock in from our record cards. I was on a shallow rotation today, starting on the lazy river for 3 stands, then on the bottom of the crush and gusher water roller coaster slide. Nothing of interest happened except one conversation with a guest........

Guest- hey where are you from
me- Scotland
guest- oh do they still have Scotland yard there
me- yes
guest- so is there a lot of crime
me- well I guess its just like everywhere isn't it (I'm sorry I don't know crime rates)
guest- do they have churches
me- yes
guest- oh what kind
me- ehh different kinds christian, catholic........
guest-oh so you have learnt about Jesus and our almighty lord blah blah blah.....
me- just nodding
guest- so do they have Muslims
me- yes

At this point i am going to stop typing the convo as this guest should have just shut up with his opinions....I walked away........I am here to lifeguard not to be told what to believe in and who to like and hate!!!! What a twat!!

Just been in at Suzies and Kirstens tonight  chatting and typing this really long blog. Think its time for bed now.....sorry for the long and probably boring blog. xxxxxxxxxx