Danny Rivers

Me

Hello! I'm a rising sophomore at Furman University from Raleigh North Carolina. I'm majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science, and I don't like formalities, so I'm just going informal from here on out. I'm a total math nerd - I love solving complicated thought-provoking problems, and I'm pretty good at solving them (as long as I get enough sleep.) It's not just math that I enjoy - it's logic in general, the idea of knowing that you have the right answer, and really understanding the entirety of a system, being right about things and especially forming conclusions correctly. I just find that math has a lot of systematic treatment of these ideas, and math makes sense to me, so I stick with it.

Why Math and the Mouse?

As you can probably see by now, I love figuring out how things work. And that's exactly what happens at Disney. Disney studies how people move through a space, how to be comfortable, how to accomplish amazing feats with limited resources, how to look pleasing, and a million other things, all while juggling thousands of guests at a given time, and with millions more always on the way. I want to go to Disney to study this science. But I don't only want to see what Disney sees - I also want to see Disney itself. I think it would be really cool to not just learn from Disney, but also about Disney - not just the psychology of everyone, also the psychology of a Disney worker. Disney can teach us a lot about the system that we're in, but I also want to learn about how a massive organization of happy people can fit together to pull off incredible feats, from removing the trash over 40 square miles to designing and creating plazas and themes that transport you to another reality. On that note, thanks to my dad for teaching me to see these kinds of incredible feats for what they truly are. On our trip to Disney last summer (my second trip, my first was when I was very young) he pointed out how complex and difficult some of these problems are, something that a visitor doesn't normally notice when seeing Disney's perfect presentation. I'm very excited to study in-depth and academically some of the logistics that we could only guess at together last summer.

Restaurant Preferences

If money were no issue, the first restaurant I would go to would be the very fancy French restaurant at the World Showcase. We ate there last summer once, and they had delicious food. I got to try escargots (snails, they're better than you think) and an amazing chocolate cake with real gold on the top! However, it was incredibly expensive. After that, I'd have to go to the Be Our Guest restaurant for a classical princess-ballroom experience. Finally, I'd go to San Angel's Inn, mostly because of the incredible way that they set up the impression of night time even at noon, and the way that they make an indoors restaurant seem like it's outside. I don't even like Mexican food that much - I'd go just to see the optical illusion.

Entertainment Preferences

Along with Dr. Hutson, I'm a Tower of Terror junkie. I just can't get enough of the stomach-in-your-throat feeling, and I'm super excited to ride it over and over (and over) again.  I'm also excited to try the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - I have vague memories of it from my first trip to Disney, but didn't get a chance to ride it last summer. It was the first roller coaster that I ever went on that had any sort of warning about Gs, and I felt really cool because I went on a roller coaster with Gs! I'm also looking forward to Space Mountain (I rode it many times with my brother), Expedition Everest, and the Test Track (I've never done this one, but I hear it's a lot of fun!) I'm very excited to go on the biology tour to see how Disney takes care of its plants - that was one of the things I remember considering with my Dad last summer, so I'm excited to see how our hypothesizing matches up with what actually goes on.