Magical Keys, Brain Power Sprees, and Burnt Cookies

 DISCLAIMER: Due to the confidential nature of many of today’s events, this blog post has been censored, and confidential information has been redacted.

Day 11 of our Math and the Mouse trip started out bright and early as the group headed to Magic Kingdom for our Keys to the Kingdom Tour! We spent the morning walking around the park and backstage areas, led by our wonderful tour guide, Melissa. She was so enthusiastic in sharing the keys to the kingdom, which are *redacted* , *redacted* , *redacted* , *redacted*, and *redacted*. While backstage, she told us all about *redacted* things like *redacted* Disney *redacted* secrets! We loved learning about *redacted* how *redacted* Cast members *redacted* do *redacted* their *redacted* job and uphold the magic of Disney.

After the tour, our exhausted group made our way back to the hotel for a lunch break before getting back to work on our projects! Here, each group finished up the data-modeling grunt work of their projects and began transitioning into presentation and visualization mode. All of us were already burnt out from Excel, even in our short time using it, which made our next stage of the day particularly interesting.

We were then greeted by our second wave of guest speakers, Molly and Ross. Molly is a Furman and Math and the Mouse alum who is now working as a Merchandise Supply Chain Analyst for Disney! In this role, Molly focuses on reporting and analytics, inventory analysis, cost analysis, and labor and expansion. She shared with us about her team’s work in creating a tool to combine and organize past and present data, helping the Disney team determine how much new labor they will need for new shops and lands, and spearheading the initiative to add discrete digital signage to Disney merchandise scores. Additionally, Molly’s husband Ross works as a Shipboard Pricing Manager at Disney Cruise Line. In this role, he prices virtually everything on a Disney Cruise from specialty drinks to massages, excluding the initial room price and any merchandise on board.

After getting the chance to ask insightful questions and meet with our second guest speakers, we were able to brainstorm ideas for final projects. This was already done individually a couple of days ago, but we collaborated and put them all on the giant whiteboard within our classroom. These ideas ranged from the most optimal bench in epcot to minimize time in the sun throughout the day to whether the songs within Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind truly have the same probability, and whether the song played affects the overall ride enjoyment.

To finish out the day, our group headed in different directions. Della, Mara, and the professors headed to Hollywood Studios while the rest of the group enjoyed relaxing at the hotel, slow dinners, time at the pool, “family game night” featuring Brain Freeze, Mafia, and burnt stovetop cookies.

This blog post was written by Ashton Holt and Mara Johnson!