Wrapping Up

Our last full day at Disney started early for some of us on Tuesday.  A group of seven went to Hollywood Studios for a final couple of rides on the Tower of Terror.  They had a fun time and bid farewell to one of the group’s favorite rides.

The entire class met after lunch in what has become our classroom away from Furman --- Room 440 (a.k.a. Dr. Harris and Dr. Hutson’s common room).  Groups of three each gave presentations on the projects on which they have been working.  Each group had prepared a poster (digital for now, but to be printed back at Furman) containing a description of the project and the findings.  The first two groups spoke about throughput and single rider lines (topics discussed in the previous two blog posts).  The final two groups discussed the third major project of the class.

Making the Rounds

As you may have read on the blog over the last few weeks, the students have been involved in a project that relates to the mathematically well-known Traveling Salesman Problem.  This problem concerns the discovery of shortest routes in a network of locations, and it is known to be very difficult to solve on a large scale.  The students developed networks that modeled the attractions at Epcot’s Future World and in the Magic Kingdom.  Using data collected by hand (and foot!) and from special distance-measuring iPad apps, the students determined all appropriate distances they needed to model these places.  A small group of students generated an algorithm that worked to find strategic routes through these parks.  The algorithm involved distances between attractions, average wait time for the attractions, and the ride times themselves.

Showing Your Work

The poster presentations were very well done.  Everyone was involved at some level with every project, and so each person was able to contribute to the content of the presentations.  The students will present these posters again as part of Furman Engaged (a day celebrating student research) in the spring of 2015.

After the poster portion of the meeting, the students spent some time discussing possible t-shirt ideas for our class.  They were excited about getting a t-shirt to commemorate what has been a great experience for them --- educationally, intellectually, personally, and socially.

The Final Evening

For dinner, the group went to Boma, a well-known restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  This was a buffet style feast of food from Africa, and we enjoyed it so much we wished we could be carried out afterwards (some called this a Boma Coma).

After dinner, the group gathered by the pool and presented Dr. Bouzarth with a surprise “Golden Mickey” award --- recognizing the fact that the wonderful experience we all have had (students and faculty alike) would not have been possible without her foresight, inspiration, and dedication to making it all happen.

We finished off the evening by one last trip to the Magic Kingdom --- a fitting way to end the trip as this was where the trip began three weeks ago.  We stayed until the midnight closing and enjoyed being with one another as we experienced the magic that makes up Walt Disney World.

Signing Off

We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog posts over the past three weeks.  If you have read all of them or just one or two of them, we appreciate knowing that others have been interested in what we have been doing. 

There are many people and groups who have made this experience possible.  We appreciate the support of Furman, the Office of Study Away, and the Mathematics Department.  Most of all, we want to end our posts by thanking the families of all of the participants whose contributions of many types made this the wonderful experience that it was.

As they say around here, we’ll see ya real soon!

A Day of Comparisons

On Monday, members of our group participated in several different activities.  One group of students enjoyed some time by the pool and visited Epcot and Hollywood Studios again.  Another group traveled to one of Walt Disney World’s primary competitors, Universal Studios, to do some comparative research (and to have a little fun, too!).  The group had its radars turned on in search of differences between the two entities, and we noticed quite a few.  We’ll say more about that in a bit.  First, we want to describe the second of the three major projects on which our students have been working during our time here.

Comparing Throughput

One of the things our students noticed as they experienced lots of attractions is that some lines move more quickly than others.  The line at Tower of Terror (Hollywood Studios), for instance, moves much faster than the line at Kali River Rapids (Animal Kingdom).  Another way to say this is that the “throughput” (the number of people that can pass through the ride in a given time frame) is greater for one than it is for the other.  Our students did lots of timing and counting at each of these rides, and they were able to estimate each ride’s throughput and compare their estimate to the official number given by Disney.  Their work on this project involved some fun data collection and some neat statistical analysis.

Two Different Universes

In one sense, Walt Disney World and Universal Studios are very similar -- they offer entertainment via rides and shows, they have lots of food options, and there are many, many opportunities to shop.  While they certainly fall into the same broad category of amusement parks, there are some noticeable differences between the two.  Here are a few that stood out:

1. Locker Use.  At WDW, riders with backpacks and bags just carry them on the rides with them.  At Universal, however, there are some rides where this is not allowed.  In these cases, riders must store their belongings in nearby lockers (which are provided free of charge for short periods).  The automated, fingerprint-based locker assignment system is pretty neat but it does cause delays at the little kiosks, especially when users are unfamiliar with the system or have trouble with the touch screens.
2. Visible Backstage Areas.  We learned on our tours that WDW goes to great lengths to hide backstage areas and anything that might distract from the “show.”  For instance, they noticed that part of a backstage building could be seen from one place on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride, and so they installed a rock façade on that part of the building to make it blend in with Splash Mountain.  Further, they do all of their regular maintenance (cleaning, painting) during the overnight hours when the park is closed.  The situation at Universal is quite a bit different.  There were many places where we could see behind the scenes, and we saw a worker doing some painting while we were there.  This doesn’t make Universal an inferior park at all, rather it just points out a difference in approach.
3. FastPass vs. Express Pass.   Each park has its own system for getting through some lines faster.  WDW’s FastPass system has a number of complexities involved, but the basic gist is that any park guest can request FastPass admission to several attractions.  This allows the guests to bypass the regular line at a certain time of day and avoid the longer waits.  Universal’s system is the Express Pass, and it is similar to the Fast Pass system in that users can bypass the normal lines.  The primary differences are that at Universal, there are no return times associated with the pass and that guests must purchase this privilege unless they are staying at an on-site hotel.   Disney’s FastPass system is available to all guests free of charge, but those guests staying on-site are able to access the FastPass system 60 days ahead of time, while day guests (not staying at an on-site hotel) are only have access to the system 30 days ahead of time. This represents an interesting philosophical difference in approach between the two parks.
4. Park Hopping.  WDW consists mainly of four major theme parks and Universal Studios has two.  In each case, guests can pay for the privilege to go from one park to the other on the same day -- to hop parks.  At WDW, park hopping requires a bit of effort -- it often involves monorails, buses, or ferries.  This, of course, takes time away from being in the parks themselves.  At Universal the two parks are side by side, and walking from one to the other is easy.

We should point out again that these differences are not meant to imply that one park is better than the other.  Each one has parts that are more appealing to certain demographics than the other.  Each park has different goals and strategies.  One nice distinction that came up in our discussion was that Universal is a very nice theme park, and WDW is a very nice “themed” park.

An Illuminating Day

Our student pairs have done great work with our daily blog posts.  Each pair has written three posts, and we hope you have enjoyed their descriptions of our group’s experiences over the past few weeks.  For the final three posts, the professors will take a turn at the keyboard.

We have been remarkably impressed with this group of students.  They are cooperative, inquisitive friendly, and eager to learn.  Their curiosity has led the group to investigate a number of aspects of Walt Disney World.  All students have been involved with collecting data in lots of ways, in analyzing that data, and in the preparation of findings.  In these last three blog posts, we will describe three of the projects that have resulted from their work.  (Don’t worry, we will also tell stories about our experiences on these days, too!)

Single Riders?

One of the things that the group has investigated involves what Disney calls “single rider lines” at some of its most popular attractions.  When a ride has its seats arranged in pairs, then it is often the case that odd-sized parties can be completed by pulling from the single rider line (which is made up of people who don’t mind riding by themselves, or actually, with strangers).  Our students are investigating several issues related to this type of situation (for instance, when it is advantageous to try the single rider line as opposed to the regular line).  The students collected lots of data in a variety of interesting ways -- and this caught the attention of many other park guests.   We were certainly proud of their creativity and their persistence.  Fortunately, their work (which was all perfectly legal) did not get the attention of Disney security!

A Blast of a Day

Today started with a little “probability by the pool” as Dr. Hutson met with a group of students to discuss some of the probability ideas relating to the single rider line project. 

After that, the group loaded up and headed over to Epcot to meet with another Disney cast member -- one that one of our students knew from home.  This cast member had spent a number of years working in the pyrotechnics division of the Illuminations nighttime show at Epcot, and he had arranged for one of the show’s directors to give us a backstage tour of the Illuminations setup area.  We learned a great deal about the complexity of the show’s setup, execution, and take down.  We got some very close up views of the huge globe that is the centerpiece of the show as well as a rare look at the inferno barge that was out of the water for routine maintenance.  We were also treated to a peek inside the show’s control room, which is hidden inside a tower in the Mexico pavilion.  Since photographs are not allowed in backstage areas, this exterior shot of Mexico will have to suffice as a memento of our fun time in the control room, marked by the small window peeking over at the top of the decorative stairs going up the building.

Whenever you see an amazing fireworks display, we learned that it's nice to show your appreciation to the unseen pyrotechnicians who safely prep the show for the guests by cheering loudly afterwards.  Next time we're watching Illuminations at Epcot, we'll be sure to applaud the efforts of these dedicated experts after a great show!

Just as we were about to head to lunch, the bottom dropped out of the sky and the rain started to fall -- hard. We delayed by riding the Gran Fiesta ride in Mexico (our group filled an entire boat), but the rain kept coming.  We decided to brave it and so we dashed over to the Land Pavilion for a nice lunch together.

We returned to the hotel for the students to have some work time, and they made the best of that.  After dinner, a small group went over to Downtown Disney for some shopping and snack finding.  The van rides to and from our destinations continue to be sources of great entertainment.  As various songs from students’ playlists play through the speakers, you never know who you will see dancing, singing, or playing air drums!