Day 2: Drastic Decisions for Dins in Disney

Welcome to Day 2 of Math and the Mouse 2026!

After a great night of sleep following the long drive yesterday, we had a hearty breakfast at our hotel, went to Target for groceries, and prepared our laptops and got our notes ready to begin our first classroom lecture.

Today’s lecture introduced us to the mathematics behind decision making. When making a decision have you ever wondered if you are making the right choice? Some people make pros and cons lists, some follow their heart, and others follow a decision making framework. Whether we are aware of it or not, everyday life is full of decisions, from big to small, and meaningless to life-changing. Making decisions can be a difficult thing to do so mathematicians have devised many models and methods to aid in the decision making process. 

The first decision making framework that we have is called “The Similarity Matching Problem”. Have you ever finished a show on Netflix and a screen popped up recommending different shows you might like? The problem Netflix is solving here is that you are done with a show and you need something new to watch. Netflix has collected all the data of the shows and movies that you have watched, and which ones you have liked and disliked, and they do this with everyone! With this data they create groups by matching those with similar interests, so when you see a show the Netflix is recommending just for you, it's because someone who has similar taste to you has watched and liked that show. This is done using fun but complicated mathematical models, but we aren't the type of blog writers to bore you with that. 

After class, we had lunch and ventured into Magic Kingdom. As a group we went to Space Mountain, It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Thunder Mountain, and as you can see from the picture above, Dr. Hutson was enthusiastic about It's a Small World. Riding rides was not all we did, in between we began discussing upcoming projects and ideas.

Speaking of projects, after initially riding Space Mountain, the group took a quick detour underneath one of the overpasses. Here, we took another group picture and started discussing one of our first projects: Queue Data Collection. In this mini project, we will soon be rope dropping Magic Kingdom and calculating lots of data points including time from entering queue to starting the ride, every person exiting the ride, time interval between consecutive dispatches, and other meaningful factors. In order to accomplish this task, we divided into two groups randomly to gather data for both Tron and Big Thunder Mountain at rope drop.  Some found out they were able to ride some of the biggest rides at rope drop and were ecstatic while others reluctantly accepted their necessary roles.

Next, we took a break after riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to discuss the placement for each person for the Data Collection project to visualize the incoming game plan, pictured above. Additionally, we discussed our first main project, the Mobile Mickey Bar Stand Ice Cream Stand. This project will focus on attempting to optimize and map out a location for a new mobile Mickey bar stand to rotate around the park. After introducing the concept, we were divided into four groups: CL3 East, CL3 West, CL7 East, and CL7 West. Since it is centered within Magic Kingdom, the park is divided into East and West sides where the individual groups will be focused solely on their side initially. Further, the CL3 or CL7 indicates the crowd level or density of people in the park where a higher number indicates more people. After giving this brief overview, the group was able to explore the park without the professors for the first time. 

Initially, the entire group agreed to adjourn dinner and wait in line for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, but this plan soon caused divides as wait times went up during our approach. This led to a split where a group of 4 waited for Tron, and others stuck it out for 7D. For those that stayed, we gathered for a Mickey Bar group sweet treat to cherish our unity as we made our way towards the Under the Sea Little Mermaid ride and dinner. For the group that fractured to Tron, popcorn and soda was their dinner, but the others dined at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe until a sudden GroupMe notification halted the refueling. 

The notification explained that a select few were able to get into a boarding group for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Lightning Lane prior to reuniting at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. In that group, only three were able to ride, and they made sure to get the 0.5 to prove it. 

After meeting with the professors again, the group also rode Haunted Mansion before scurrying out of the park to avoid the immense firework traffic that followed behind. Today was full of decisions, both for the group and the individual. Together, all of these decisions helped to strengthen bonds and communities that have already begun forming, but future projects and decisions will help analyze what is best for the Mouse. 

Today's blog was written by Julia Torres and Ashton Holt!

Math and the Mouse: Day 1 Blog (5/13)

Welcome to the Math and the Mouse 2026 Blog! This is the first of 21 daily posts of detailed stories and events of our adventure here at Disney World. We’re super excited to share the highlights of our trip with you all!

We started the day off dark and early at 5:45 where we met up to leave Furman's campus for Disney World! We took two stops along our nine-hour drive, one at a Pilot gas station and another at Buc-ee's for lunch. After finally making it to the hotel at around 3:30pm, we took a much-needed break before departing for Epcot at 4:00.

Once we arrived, Dr. Hutson spent some time introducing us to some of the mathematics behind maps and coordinates that we will be learning more about in the coming days. Not only did he talk about optimization and boundaries on a graph, he applied it to the map of Epcot in a fun way so we could easily visualize the concepts.

We then made our way to Test Track, the group’s first ride of the trip. By then, the professors were getting tired of hoarding several hungry college students around, so we all got dinner at Connections Eatery. We spent the next few hours riding Soarin’, Spaceship Earth, and the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros in Mexico.

From there, we headed to the Guardians of the Galaxy ride; despite the wait time displaying 105 minutes, there was a near even split of students who wanted to ride and students who wanted to head back. Dr. Harris heroically rallied to accompany the students who wanted to wait in the line, while Drs. Hutson and Bouzarth took the remaining eight to view the fireworks.

Unfortunately for the firework-viewing group, it began to pour so they all collectively decided to head back to the hotel after half an hour. Everyone, exhausted from the long travel day, headed to bed early awaiting the long day ahead of them, full of math and the first Magic Kingdom visit of many!

This first blog was written by Aidan Barnard and Annmarie Henderson!

Welcome to Math and the Mouse!

We are very excited about the opportunity to run this study away May Experience course in 2026! You will find information about our adventures before, during, and after our trip as we bring Furman to Florida to explore ways that mathematical thinking and quantitative approaches to decision making and problem solving are used throughout the Walt Disney World Resort. 

We will be at the Study Away Fair during Family Weekend, but we will also hold information sessions specific to Math and the Mouse during October. The information sessions are all held in Riley 105 and will take place October 9th, 4-5pm, and October 22nd, 5-6pm. Applications for all MayX programs are due by November 3rd.

This program is open to students in all majors and has a prerequisite of MTH-145 or MTH-150. 

We look forward to talking with you soon!

Drs. Liz Bouzarth, John Harris, and Kevin Hutson