lifeguard

Discovery Cove Orlando

If you like working in the heat and interacting with guest from around the world and the sand doesn’t bother you this job is the perfect job for you!

Job is pretty self explanatory, just do what you’re told and you won’t find it hard. They’re pretty good about school schedules and can accommodate your schedule if you’re going to college. Earliest shifts start at 6am & latest shift end at 11pm. Mostly college kids but the occasional older crowd. Pretty chill job & everyone gets along. 

Only cons would be management isn’t the best and there is a lot of favoritism. There is barely any room to advance unless you’re on okay terms with everyone. Another con is sometimes you get overwhelmed when your co workers don’t show up to work so it can get mostly understaffed half the time. You end up doing a ton on those days. Another con is everyone is lazy or starts to get lazy so you have to do more of the work than you should when your co workers are lazy. 

Only pros would be the free entry to all three parks & free tickets for your friends and family after a year you get four annual passes. Extra tickets for Christmas time. The occasional free food/snacks they hand out. Meeting new people & making new friends. 

The job starts at $10 an hour and pays bi weekly. There is advancement to gain 25¢ more per being trained in different areas but you’re usually over worked for 25¢ more than you’re already doing. Also they have a 401K plan.

A typical day at work is spent in the employee lounge where I serve my fellow coworkers from different departments, and then ring them up on the cash register. I tend to learn a few things from them, but what I'm most interested in hearing about is the dolphins and how they are doing on a day to day basis.
Management... I guess would be like most of the management people out there; although I do grow worrisome because sometimes they tend to forget to do things. I understand fully that they have a restaurant to run, but I leave reminders and yet... That doesn't seem to work.
My coworkers are fantastic. I would not ask for a different group. They help out when I need it, they teach me knew things about what is going on outside of the employee lounge by keeping me up to date.
The hardest part of my job, I would have to say is working back at the restaurant. I do not mind it, but it is simply the fact that I am always down at the employee lounge and then one day out of the blue, they will throw me back into the restaurant and I would have no clue as to what is going on. Or how we are serving people, or what we are serving. Though I must add, that I do fall back into step fairly quickly.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the fact that I can talk to people, whether they are my coworkers or the guests in the park. I get to experience how their day is going by simply asking them and having a a conversation and seeing the happiness in their faces and in their eyes.

A typical day at work would consist of the usual food prep and area prep and cleaning while inside. If not inside, patio work consisted of keeping the outdoor dining are clean and guests trash taken care of. Usually, the environment is fast paced 100 percent of the time. The management at Discovery Cove changes very frequently but the short time a manager is  there, us as employees get to know them and learn their different styles of managing which helps so at another job, you can know what to expect if the management is similar. The employees I work with are extremely fun to be around. We as employees keep the flow going steadily as possible by performing all tasks and responsibilities in a timely manner. If not, it would be chaos. I personally, have never had a problem with any employee at my job but if I were to, I would handle it appropriately. The most difficult part of the job is having others call out for shifts and being shorthanded because we are already in such a fast paced environment. If we had more employees, I believe we wouldn't have that issue. The most rewarding part of my job that I enjoy the most is seeing guests smile as they enter the park and fill with excitement knowing their day ahead will be a once in a lifetime opportunity that they will remember forever. Seeing the expressions on their faces first thing in the morning, lets me know it will be a good day ahead.


Starting pay remains at $14 for most positions, which is significantly lower than the $16+ offered at competitors like Universal and Disney. Despite increasing guest capacity and workloads, there have been no pay raises since 2020 and no increase in staffing, leading to low employee motivation and a lack of recognition.
To address this, I believe we could benefit from implementing a Career Ladder for the photography team (and others). This would establish clear pay tiers tied to specific specialized skills such as moving from standard guest interactions to VIPs, PR, and Weddings. Currently, there is no pay progression to distinguish a beginner from a veteran photographer capable of handling high-stakes wedding packages. Transitioning to skill based pay would ensure that photographers are fairly compensated as they master more complex assignments. This tiered competency model would provide a clear roadmap for new hires and motivate the team to constantly level up their skills, ultimately leading to higher quality outputs for our premium guests.


Working at Discovery Cove is like working in paradise — beautiful scenery, happy guests, and a mix of young and older coworkers who are honestly really cool to be around. We have our ups and downs like any job, but overall the vibe is good. One thing to know: attendance here is a big deal. You’ve got to keep up with your schedule in the app and be on time. If you can’t make a shift, cancel at least 1–2 weeks ahead so someone can cover it. Calling out last minute (like a couple hours before) will cost you points — two points for missing a shift, one for being late.

The perks are great: you can get employee discount tickets for only $50, and most of the park experience is free for guests — food, beverages, the Grand Reef, and more. Scheduling is very flexible, and you can work as many days as you want as long as you’re responsible about showing up and following the call-out rules. If you’re dependable and love a beautiful, team-oriented environment, and surrounded by animals at times,  you’ll enjoy working here.

Worked at Discovery Cove for several years. Loved my coworkers and loved the park, and i would not trade my time there for anything. HOWEVER: the staffing issues that they are experiencing create absolutely brutal working conditions for every department, particularly Water Safety (lifeguards). Everyone is always trying to come up with creative solutions to fix the problem when the fact of the matter is they need to pay their employees more. Seaworld is no longer competitive when it comes to their pay rate for lifeguards, and that is why they can not retain their staff. Why would someone willingly stay at a job where they are overworked and underpaid when they could go down the road to Universal/Disney and make more money? Every single department deserves a raise, ESPECIALLY Guest Service/Resort/Zoo/Water Safety, and it is frustrating for your employees to be told by upper management that there is no money in the budget when we see you spending thousands on mismanaged projects that require us to work harder to compensate (like refurbishing Laguna twice because you got it wrong the first time). Treat your employees better and they may actually stick around 

As a restroom and pathways attendant, the bathroom shifts are up 10 hours with only one 30 minute break. That is very short compared to that long shift. If I had a pathway shift doing patio, those shifts would sometimes be too long as well. Some of the leaders in that department were rude and the coworkers I would be partnered with were rude and unkind as well. I would be left doing the bathrooms by myself while the lady who was supposed to help me with the bathroom would be in the back supply room on the phone while the bathrooms would be packed with a lot of guest and the leaders would not do anything about it. On patio some of the coworkers would just stand behind the podium staring into space while I would be the only one picking up the trays or they would just move to another section that they were not supposed to be working in and leave me by myself.

Was very excited when I was able to start working here, however would not recommend it if you plan to relax. I was audited on my rescue performance 3 whole times over the summer I worked there. You absolutely cannot slack off, even though plenty of people did. From what I heard from others who worked there, it's hard to progress much past being a lifeguard, so if you wanted to be a dolphin trainer or take care of birds in the aviary I'd reconsider. There were also cliques depending on your job ie the dolphin trainers were pretty rude to the lifeguards. Despite this there were days I did really enjoy working there, and there are some really good people mixed in with those who don't care that much.

This is the easiest job you'll score in the theme park industry. As a park host we make sure the guests day goes just as planned from suiting them to flipping to same wet-suits at night until 11 pm (so keep that in mind for your availability for the first 90 days).
The job is chill and laid back but management, isn't what anyone would expect. The managers just go on power walks and criticize the actions of the employees. Management never praises any employee. The sea world money COIN is never given out here for any reason (kudos dont get you a thing here) & a guest compliment gets you a 4oz slurpee.
Not a lot of room for advancement in here and lots of favoritism, this is a temporary job more than anything

Work-life balance
Flexible, managers and supervisors were willing to work with you if you needed time off.

Job security and advancement
Was able to move from a new employee to On the job trainer rather quickly.

Management
Management was great. Everyone got along with each other well. If there was ever an issue our manager and supervisor took care of it quickly. Very helpful team players

Overall
Overall Discovery Cove was a great place to work, it was actually my favorite job that I’ve had. Management was always helpful and friendly. Co workers mostly got along. Everyone knew that in order to get things accomplished; team work was essential. Honestly if I didn’t have to move out of state I’d still be working there!

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