Day 16: The Day We’ve All Been Waiting For!

Welcome back to our blog, and thank you for following along on this journey with us. It's hard to believe that two weeks have already come and gone, and yet, here we are, with one more incredible week still ahead. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we still have a full day to tell you about. Shall we get into how it all began?

 

Hooray!! Today is the day we have all been waiting for. We finally get to show off our work to Disney professionals. Although everyone stayed up pretty late last night, adding our finishing touches to our presentations, we woke up early this morning to run one last practice presentation before heading to a Disney office. We left the hotel with excitement and also nervousness since we were presenting in front of people who have been working for many years in this industry. That being said, we were ready. Behind us were countless hours of research, slide revisions, practice sessions, and, perhaps most importantly, the unwavering support of our professors who believed in us every step of the way. Whatever the outcome, every group showed up that day having given their absolute best. And to us, that was all we needed.

When we got to the office, we were very lucky to see lots of Disney employees. These people were so kind to spend their days with us to teach us more about the company and, of course, listen and ask questions on the projects we’ve been working on for the past two weeks. We were able to hear from people working in various fields such as computer science, operations research, data science, industrial engineering, and even an Imagineer! Although we were nervous to present to such esteemed people, everyone was so kind, and every group did amazing!! The Disney cast members had a lot of great things to say and were impressed with our knowledge and presentation skills. They came ready to ask questions, but lucky for us, we knew this information like the back of our hands, so it was nothing we couldn’t handle. Even though it might have been the first time for some of us presenting in front of experts in this field, we all successfully gave wonderful presentations.

Then, after a full day of learning and presenting in the Disney office, the cast members had a nice game for us. Of course, given the people we are, this turned into a serious competition. We each had 90 seconds to draw a picture of Kermit the Frog from memory. Let’s just say… It’s a good thing we’re math majors instead of art majors. 

After saying goodbye to the Disney hosts, our professors complimented us on our presentation, telling us they were really proud of what we had accomplished. For that moment, it felt like everything had paid off. Just 24 hours ago, we spent time in the lobby of our hotel to make sure our presentation looked good. Now, all the hard work was over for now, and we could celebrate. Our professors took us to Panera Bread for dinner. After a long day at the Disney office, we were all hungry, so it was time for us to recharge our energy before heading to Magic Kingdom. The professors kindly decided that we deserved a night in the park with no data collections or projects, and to just celebrate the hard work we had done. Even though the weather wasn’t its best, we persevered and threw our ponchos on to still have a great time!!

The rain can't stop us from having fun!

During the night, a couple of the members in our cohort had their big break on the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor comedy show. In the middle of the show, the camera panned to Cassie, and she was handed a microphone. She knew what she had to do; she hyped up Furman, our class, and, of course, MATH. We got a round of applause for Furman, and Cassie soaked in her two minutes of fame.

After a couple of hours in the Magic Kingdom, and what felt like the longest day of our lives, we were EXHAUSTED and ready to get to bed!! Rumor has it, they’re letting us sleep in tomorrow :)!!

Mara, Cassie, and Connor are really exhausted!

Today’s blog was written by Dylan Daniels and Tram Le. 

Day 15: Sunset Boulevard Sounds, Presentation Bounds, and Tower of Terror Ups and Downs

    Today marks just one week left of our incredible MatM journey, which is absolutely wild to think about. Leaving is the last thing we want on our minds, so let's get into the highlights of the day!

    It was yet another early morning start for the MatM cohort! Just as we all helped collect data for the Guardians of the Galaxy song distribution group, we collected drop sequence data at the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios for the group studying the drop sequences. To collect as many data points as possible, we did our best to separate ourselves onto as many elevators as possible. Every time we were about to enter the main elevator shaft (where the “ups” and “downs” occur), we began recording our voices using the Voice Memos app on our phones. We had to speak into our microphone and clearly say “Up,” “Down,” or “Jiggle” if the car went up, down, or shook, respectively. This data will help the Drop Sequence group determine if there is a pattern or fixed number regarding the drop sequences in the Tower of Terror!

    After successful data collection, we were rewarded with Lightning Lanes to use at the new version of Smuggler’s Run, themed to The Mandalorian and Grogu. This was a nice break from the stress of data collection and gave us a great break to quickly track down the latest most prized bounties.

    At this point, we sadly had to return to the hotel right after finishing up collecting our bountiful profits. Here, each group continued to steadily work on their presentations for Disney; the pressure was certainly on. In order to not hinder work time, the professors picked up food from PITA to help us refuel within the chaos. As presentations began seemingly wrapping up, groups were called one by one for practice presentations to receive as much feedback as possible. The presentations began to feel very real; the fate of Furman’s reputation relied on us. 

     

    After almost all groups were able to receive feedback, we were visited by our fourth guest speakers. They talked to us about their roles within the company, how they came across and eventually started their jobs, and details about various different projects they’ve worked on. As always, it was both insightful and meaningful to hear directly from two of the behind-the-scenes Cast Members, especially since one is a Furman alum!

    Soon after the guest speakers wrapped up their talk, we headed back to Hollywood Studios to eat dinner and collect more Tower of Terror drop sequence data. The group split up into several smaller groups; some went to eat first while others headed down Sunset Boulevard first so that we could gather data points from as many unique elevators as possible. Somehow, against all odds, Dr. Harris used his sweet-talking skills yet again to get our group Lightning Lanes to Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster and Toy Story Mania! How does he keep getting away with this? We’re certainly not going to question his methods. 

    Once we all got done using our Lightning Lanes at about 9:30, we headed back to the hotel to wrap up our Disney presentation preparations. Most groups had extended last-minute discussions with the professors to ensure their presentations were as strong as possible. Then, after some final group discussions, everyone went to bed anticipating the long day ahead. Our entire cohort has worked tirelessly yesterday and today on these presentations, and we are eager to present them to our peers, professors, and Disney professionals. Tomorrow is one of the few days we’ve all had circled on our calendars for months now; we may have had a minimal turnaround time between the Project 2A and 2B presentations and the Disney presentations, but trust us when we say we are all more than ready to knock it out of the park tomorrow!

Today’s blog is brought to you by Aidan Barnard and Ashton Holt!

Day 14: Schnitzels and Slideshows

As we are finishing up week two, we started the day off with our second project presentations. The groups shown below spent the past week working with the data we collected back on day five of our journey here in Florida. Both groups used that data to put together a model that could help predict the queue buildup for the rides TRON and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Queue Group: Ashton, Dylan, Julia and Harrison (left to right)

TRON Queue Group: Della, Luke, and Cassie (left to right)

The other two groups that presented this morning focused on a very different topic. They have spent the past week working on a workforce scheduling model to figure out the number of staff needed at Ohana, a restaurant at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, throughout the day.

Workforce Scheduling Group #1: Tram, Aidan, Mara, and Annmarie (left to right)

Workforce Scheduling Group #2: The Anh, Isabella, and Connor (left to right)

After spending the bulk of our morning on project two presentations, we went straight into project work for our Team Disney presentations. The Team Disney project presentations are coming up this Thursday, and it is a quick turnaround from the end of project two to finalizing presentations for Team Disney. Luckily, three of the four groups for the Team Disney presentations are assigned with presenting topics from projects one and two, so it is just a matter of finalizing from pre-existing slideshows to be ready for Team Disney. The other group is presenting about the traveling tourist problem and our race to complete twelve magic kingdom rides in one day from day six. While the timeline is short for our Team Disney presentations, the professors have provided lots of helpful feedback and are very willing to help out as we prepare to present some of our mathematical work to some real professionals in a couple of days.

Once groups were at a good spot in their projects, we headed to the parks to start collecting data for our third and final project. Since finding our presentation groups a few days ago, everyone has been getting very eager to start collecting their data. In order to get a start on this, 13 of us headed to EPCOT, while the remaining four went to Hollywood Studios. The group in EPCOT headed straight to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind to start collecting data for one of the group's projects. Their project is centered on song distribution played on each cart during the ride. The group that went to Hollywood Studios went to the Tower of Terror to plan how they wanted to collect data regarding drop sequences in the ride.

Once the Guardians group finished the ride, they had free time before dinner. Some groups went to attractions like Imagination with Figment and were called to stretch their imaginations in the wildest ways possible. Some students dreamed of being professional mathematicians, some professional athletes, and others (like Tram) dreamed of becoming other animals, like a frog! While most seem to be content as humans, Tram kind of liked the idea of being a frog.

After the Tower of Terror group finished their data, they headed to EPCOT to meet the rest of the group after their free time for dinner at Biergarten. At dinner, we all enjoyed a delicious traditional German buffet meal.

At dinner, there was a German-style performance that included lots of singing and dancing. At one point, the performers started to sing the chicken dance. When the professors looked up on stage at this time, there were a lot of little kids up on stage and even a group of 14 college students stealing all of the spotlight. But who could have done this? Yep, you guessed it, that was all of us!

After stuffing our mouths with bratwurst, meatballs, and pretzels, we did the sensible thing and headed straight for the most thrilling rollercoaster ride that EPCOT has to offer. When we arrived at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the wait for the standby line was 105 minutes. While this may have seemed like a disappointment in the moment, it was likely a blessing in disguise, as it gave us time to digest our food before hopping on the ride. We eventually made our way to the front of the queue as excitement built for what is likely the group's favorite ride of the trip so far. We spun through outer space and saved the world with the Guardians of the Galaxy before exiting the ride with smiles written on all of our faces. As we walked towards the exits of the park, thinking to ourselves, “I could live in this moment forever.” Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The reality of only a week remaining on this trip began to set in as we took the vans back to the hotel. We have all enjoyed the trip up to this point and can’t wait to finish the last week out strong!

This blog was written by Harrison Brown and Cassie Larsen

Day 13: Work Hard, Play Harder: Probabilities, Party Sizes, and Wilderness Exploring

We want to acknowledge the sacrifices of our United States military this Memorial Day. We thank you for your service. 

The group at Magic Kingdom

Another day, another rope drop! Our group started our day by traveling to Magic Kingdom to beat the crowds. However, we had a different goal today. We began collecting data for our third and final project! We split into groups and went to five different attractions: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean. We collected data on the number of people in each party, to varying success. Two groups ended up with Lightning Lanes due to ride issues! Once we were done with data collection, we all rode Tron as a group and got yummy snacks!

Quick meeting on the ferry to Magic Kingdom!
Class is wherever we're together.

Data collection in action: Tram, Dylan, Annmarie, and Cassie (L to R)

What else to do when data collection is complete? Julia, Mara, and Della rode on the teacups!

Luke and Dr. Harris on Tron: Lightcycle/Spin

Once we got back from the parks, we soon reconvened for class. As a continuation of yesterday’s lesson on probability distributions, Dr. Bouzarth walked us through expected value using a fun example about roulette, and Dr. Hutson finished the lesson by walking us through formulas for the calculations. We found that, given enough iterations, a bet on something with a high probability and low payoff will end up with the same expected value as something with a low probability but a high payoff. So, if you’re playing roulette, go big or go home! It all ends up the same in the long run. 

Class time!

A standout highlight of the day (because every part of our day is a highlight!) was welcoming Olivia McGuirt ‘21, to share her experience working with Disney World thus far to our class. An Elementary Education major with a Masters in Special Education from Furman, Olivia offered a unique perspective on the Disney experience, having not been part of a Math and the Mouse cohort during her time at Furman. Her work allowed us to understand more about what goes into different Disney operations beyond the bounds of this class and the countless academic backgrounds that can lead to a career at Disney. 

She began working in Animal Kingdom two years ago as a guide in the Wilderness Explorer Program. However, she was quickly promoted to a coordinator within the program. Today, she oversees instructing future Wilderness explorers, acting as the perfect channel between the scientific backgrounds of many of her colleagues and the children who participate in the program. Olivia’s elementary education background also helps guide Wilderness Explorers in conveying their vast scientific knowledge to younger audiences. Her degree in special education allows her to expand the accessibility of the Wilderness Explorers Program to neurodiverse audiences. She has had a great deal of experience working throughout high school, college, and her professional life as both a volunteer and educator with ADHD students, so she is a big proponent of the kinesthetic learning that this program offers. Through regaling the class with entertaining stories in the magnificent Animal Kingdom but also seriously reflecting on the non-linear path that led her to Disney, Olivia’s sparkling personality and passion for spreading positive environmental messages to audiences of all ages shined through her presentation, uplifting and invigorating us all for the busy week of presentations we have ahead.  

The group with Olivia!

After Olivia left, everyone went to work on our presentations for tomorrow, and began brainstorming for the presentations that we’ll give to Disney professionals later this week! Though we’re almost two-thirds of the way through our MayX, we’ve still got lots more exciting times to come! If you enjoyed today’s blog, it was written by Della Avent and Luke Brownlee. Otherwise, it was written by Mara Johnson and Annmarie Henderson! 😉

Signing off, 

Della and Luke

Day 12: Liar's Dice and Everest Heights

After yesterday’s activities, the group got to sleep in a little and begin class at 9am. Today’s class started with a fun and interactive activity before we moved into the main lecture material. We were introduced to the game Liar’s Dice, a game centered around probability, estimation, and strategic thinking. Each player had five dice, and during every turn, a player would make a bet about how many dice showing a certain number existed across the entire table. The next player then had three choices: challenge the bet by claiming it was incorrect, claim that the bet was exactly right, or increase the bet by making a higher estimate. Since nobody could see the other players’ dice, the game forced us to make decisions based on incomplete information rather than certainty.

Annmarie, The Anh, Harrison, and Aidan play Liar's Dice

The class was divided into five different tables, and we competed against one another until each table had a winner. The winners then advanced to a final round. The Anh almost won the entire game, but in the end Aidan came out on top, so congratulations to him for the victory!

Aidan takes the win!

What made the activity especially interesting was how naturally it connected to the topic of binomial processes and probability distributions. While we were playing, we were unknowingly applying the same kind of probabilistic reasoning used in statistics and data science. For example, if I had several dice showing the number three in my own hand, I could estimate the likelihood that other players also had threes. Instead of making completely random guesses, we were mentally calculating what outcomes were more or less likely based on the information available to us.

The game demonstrated how probability can be used to predict outcomes when dealing with repeated independent events, such as rolling dice. Even without writing equations, we were constantly analyzing risk, estimating chances, and adjusting our decisions based on previous information. The activity made these mathematical ideas feel much more intuitive and practical.

The discussion then expanded beyond the game itself and connected these ideas to real-world applications, especially within Disney operations. Probability models and binomial processes can be used to estimate ride wait times, predict the likelihood of ride failures, and analyze guest flow throughout the parks. For example, engineers and analysts can study how often a ride may temporarily stop operating over a certain period of time or estimate how efficiently guests can be loaded into attractions. These same concepts can also help create algorithms that optimize ride seating, reduce unused capacity, and improve overall operational efficiency.

Dr. Hutson teaches binomial processes

After a short break for lunch, everybody reconvened to work on our projects. Today was all about putting everything together and preparing for our presentations on Tuesday. Since most of the calculations and analysis are complete, the groups focused on polishing their PowerPoints and figuring out the best way to present their data.

Once we all found a good stopping point, the group left for a few hours of fun at Animal Kingdom! Upon arrival, we divided up into a few groups and enjoyed a little free time. Some chose to explore more of the park, while others focused more on a specific attraction (translation: rode Everest six times in a row). Despite it being free time, the professors encouraged us to practice a little data collection to prepare for our next projects. One example of this was on Everest, which divides its queue into even and odd parties. Even though one group of six started ahead of a group of seven, both groups ended up on the same train because of this process. 

         

                                     The even group                                                                (Most of) The odd group

The group met up for dinner at the Yak and Yeti restaurant before venturing off for a final hour of park time. We all experienced a little (or maybe not so little) splash at the Kali River Rapids, but fortunately it was hot enough to dry most people off.

Connor, Ashton, Aidan, Mara, Isabella, and Della before riding Kali River Rapids

The Anh, Cassie, Luke, Dylan, Annmarie, Harrison, Dr. Harris, and Tram after riding Kali River Rapids

The same Everest group tried to ride it one more time, but sadly it was already closed for the night due to technical errors. They still commemorated their record number of consecutive rides with celebratory Yeti plushies. Dr. Hutson and Dr. Bouzarth managed one more ride of Everest before getting stuck at the top! Fortunately, they were rescued by friendly cast members and returned to the group safely. To cap off the day, a few group members stopped for some Mickey Bars on the way out of Animal Kingdom (you might remember those from our first project). Tired and still a bit wet, we all returned to the hotel for a quiet night of project work and sleep. 

                         TBDeti, Yeti, Jetty, Edi, Betty, and Confetti                   Della and Mara with their Mickey Bars

Today’s blog was written by The Anh Nguyen and Isabella Sanchez!