that disney feeling

“You were my new dream” - Flynn Rider

“You are my greatest adventure, and I almost missed it” - Bob

“You know, I have the strangest feeling that I’ve seen that ship before” - Mr. Darling

“Thank you for the grand adventure” - Ellie

“All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable” - Walt Disney

“I kept dreaming of a world I thought I’d never see” - Kevin Flynn

“Hm. Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you” - Sebastian 

Now showing a series of your favorite Disney Art, posters, and designs!

It was an unforgettable day for a 12-year-old Guest during her family’s stay at the Walt Disney World Resort. Last New Year’s Eve, as lifeguards and Robin Burkett, Regional Recreation manager, prepared to close the pool at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, their focus shifted to the small Guest who suddenly collapsed.

“A Guest yelled that a little girl needed help,” Robin said. The girl “was already walking out the pool, so she was only about ankle deep. Then she just collapsed.” Immediately, lifeguards on duty — including four College Program participants and one coordinator — rushed to the girl’s aid with a trauma bag containing first aid supplies and an automated external defibrillator (AED). After checking her vital signs and receiving no response, lifeguards performed CPR until paramedics arrived to transfer her to the hospital.

“Once the paramedics got to the Guest, the lifeguards had already gotten her to respond,” Robin recounted. “The paramedics said what a good job the lifeguards had done, and if it were not for them, the outcome would not be as good as it was.”

The Guest’s family returned the following day to inform the lifeguards that everything was okay, and to thank them for their heroic act.

For their heroic efforts, the lifeguards received a Valor award for responding efficiently and honorably during their rescue.

 “Our lifeguards don’t do their job to be rewarded,” Robin said, but added, “It makes me proud to know that they used their training and did exactly what they needed to do.”

At Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, lifeguards undergo extensive training to ensure Guest safety, including four hours of in-service training monthly and an annual eight-hour recertification class.

In the days that followed the rescue, a Guest who witnessed the emergency wrote in:

“What we saw, we will never forget: a group of five lifeguards quickly, calmly, professionally and heroically save a young girl’s life. Each one knew the other’s job. For no other reason but the courage and training shown by these young people, this little girl’s life was given back to her. ‘Heroes’ does not seem to cover it. They are truly special people.”