Fact vs Fantasy

FACT vs FANTASY

So a big part of what you've probably read or watched online so far are they very upbeat, positive videos descriptions of the job that Disney releases. They do show a lot of the happier parts of the job, and if you haven't seen them yet take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8grB99WD7VI

Or even:

This gives you a pretty decent overview of what the spaces will be like, and the happy wonderful time you will have working there! 

I call this the "Fantasy" of working as a Youth Activities Counselor.  

When I first started researching the job and reading all kinds of things about it, I kept getting excited about all of the nice parts. But the whole time, I kept asking myself "there's got to be a catch, right?" and "NO one's telling me what the actual work schedule will be like!!". And while it's important to see the very enjoyable aspects of the job because it really is a very fun awesome time, you need to see through what those counselors  are trying very hard to keep a nicely positive euphemistic spin on (remember, they wouldn't show the Counselors saying anything about the unpleasant aspects of what we do openly!) - and get a grasp of the Facts of the job.

So using some of the things they talked about in the video... here's a little Fact vs Fantasy to help keep us all grounded!

Fantasy: "Counselors working for over 3 years or staying for a long time is the norm."
Fact: The opposite is actually true. Most counselors that you will meet, and that I've worked with usually leave the company within a year. In fact, of the staff of about 60 people that I began with as a new Youth Activities Counselor, only about 8 of them had "year pins" which meant that they had been there for over a year! Everyone else quit or was fired.

Fantasy: "If you have worked in summer camps, this will be a similar experience."
Fact: I have worked at summer camps for over 10 years of my life now and was a Camp Director at 2 of them. And being a Counselor for Disney Youth Activities was so much more intense and nothing like what I did before. Schedules are stricter and I've never before had so many rules about my appearance and where I was supposed to stand, and how often I had to clean things. Summer camps will help... but this is so much more.

Fantasy: "Counselors require a college/university degree related to working with kids."
Fact: While they will probably say this during the application process, the reality is that so many of the Counselors I worked with personally didn't have degrees that had ANYTHING to do with our job. We had journalists, nurses, biochemists, lawyers, dance instructors, nutritionists, translators, etc. To be fair, there were quite a few prospective teachers. But so many people barely had a college or university degree. So don't be discouraged if you don't have one, you can still be hired!


Fantasy: "This isn't a boring "office job" where you'll be sitting at a desk in front of a computer for several hours a day."
Fact: Be aware that if you stay more than your first contract on board, you will be asked to start working at the front Desk doing registrations and checking in/out. Where you will be instead standing in front of a computer for several hours every day (with no permission to sit! This part is usually the downer for many counselors).

Fantasy: "A typical day varies....you could start early setting up the space and just being with the kids ...or even later in the day like 1-3 in the afternoon"
Fact:  Regardless of whenever you start work, you will still be working about 9 - 11 hours a day. For every single day of those 4-5 months. There is an equal likelihood of you working for less than 9 hours as there is for someone to work over 11 hours (it does happen!). Your schedules will change day to day, and from week to week. One embarkation day you might start at 6:30 and finish by 4:00. You might start later at 2:30 in the afternoon but will definitely be working past midnight cleaning and scrubbing down every surface. For the most part, counselors can expect to generally be working from about 9:30/10 am and finish at closing time (midnight), with breaks in between.  (I'll explain in more detail in a later Schedule-related post)


Fantasy: "The job is like playing all day long for about 10 hours a day."
Fact: If that was mostly what the job was, there would be most Counselors sticking around for longer! Instead, looking at my schedules directly if I was to break it down to actual "play" time with the kids with games and activities this is only about 1-2 hours of my day. To be fair, I've been with the company for a while and so my duties are instead primarily on the front desk and supervision and less play, but the way the schedule is structured is that you WILL be placed in a monitoring location (Ex. on top of a slide, next to a bathroom door) that you are unable to leave from for 30 minutes or more, several times a day. How much you can actually 'play' while rooted in that spot and monitoring is limited.


Fantasy: "We do various tasks like serving food, or cleaning up the space."
Fact: This is a big part of the job, even more so than actual playtime on some days if you have an unlucky schedule. Mealtimes are a big, structured procedure with certain rules and processes to follow within a certain time limit; the same goes for cleaning which has a specific checklist and an inspection every single night to make sure it is followed correctly. Please prepare yourself to be doing a lot of cleaning: before and after meals, at the beginning of each day, over the course of the day and at the end of each day with diluted buckets of chlorine bleach. It is a USPH requirement and a very real part of our jobs, so get used to scrubbing and cleaning to avoid disappointment!


Fantasy: "You need to have high energy"
Fact: Ain't that the truth. If you are seen sitting down,  or relaxing by having a chat or reading a book, or not smiling, or demonstrating tired or lazy behavior like having hands in your pockets or leaning on anything you WILL get reprimanded by a manager (unless they're very nice and will just give you a little warning). There are cameras all over the space and you need to be on your game at all times, even after several hours. Don't burn yourself out at the start!


Fantasy: "On a quiet Port day there might be only 20 kids in the space. On a busy Sea Day there could be 200"
Fact: This is very factual, but those busy Sea Days will often happen more often than quiet Port Days especially on ships with longer itineraries and fewer Ports to visit. Ask any counselor, Sea Days are the worst and most stressful and threaten to bring out the worst in everyone, even breaking the most chipper counselors out there. Bring your A-Game for Sea Days ahead!


Fantasy: "The Youth Activities counselors won't be leading the big activities, and are there for support."
Fact: The fact behind this is that most of the character interaction, and the hosting of the programs and activities will be done by people in the department known as "Youth Entertainment Hosts". As a Counselor, if you're assigned to the program you will be there to sometimes participate, but mostly take a backseat role and make sure the kids aren't interrupting the host. If running these programs is more your style....apply and audition for it instead! (I'll discuss more about this Role later)


Fantasy: "You could be working at the Front Desk dealing with families, their issues and concerns."
Fact: Because of the generally high turnover of this job, rest assured that once you start becoming "Desk-trained" you WILL almost certainly be scheduled on there for several hours each day. When we begin as a Counselor most of our duties are with programs and games, but the longer you stay in the Role, the more Desk time you will have to work. Being Desk trained is a huge responsibility and comes with the most risks to your job performance with minor mistakes counting for big discipline; it can often be incredibly stressful with long lines and irate guests to handle. Not for the faint of heart!
Most counselors end up getting warnings and later fired for error made on Desk, it is that serious!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! (Whoops, did I just say iceberg on a ship?)

If you're a very strong, determined person and still up to the challenge of being a Counselor, good for you! I'm so proud of you! You have what it takes to be one of us on board - maybe what we call a Disney "lifer"!

In the next following posts I'll go into more detail about our pay, and our schedules and rules.