We are almost done in the wonderful Walt Disney World. As we wrap up our time, today’s task was the Traveling Salesman problem in the Magic Kingdom. We were given a list of 15 activities to complete as fast as possible. These ranged from Space Mountain to Journey of the Little Mermaid to meeting a character (with a 20 minute break as a requirement). We were divided into groups of three or four, so one major rule was that groups could not split into two teams and had to all wait in lines together. To make sure that we were actually accomplishing these activities, we had to send photos of our groups once completing an item. We had an advantage today as there were Extra Magic hours this morning, so most groups arrived around 8 am to begin the race. The first team was done at 1:15 pm. Today's adventures are brought to you by Lindsay Freije and Melissa Beer!
Last night after dinner, each group took time to come up with a game plan for the day. It seemed as though each group had the universal decision to start their race by rope dropping Space Mountain. From there both of our groups had the same plan to finish up in Tomorrowland, then move on to Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland. Each group already had Fast Passes for Haunted Mansion, the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and Jungle Cruise which are all popular rides in the park. Whether or not they took advantage of those Fast Passes was up to each specific group as it was possible to change them for something else.
My (Lindsay's) team decided that our best plan of attack was to go to the shortest lines that we could find on the My Disney Experience app, while trying to finish tasks in the same areas at the same time. We also worked around our already made Fast Passes which worked in our favor for the most part. One thing that also helped our group tremendously was going to rides right when they opened, in hopes to not have to wait as long for rides like Big Thunder Mountain or Space Mountain.
My (Melissa’s) group’s plan worked well throughout the day, but we had to adjust it a couple times. We did come out on top, and our winning move came with Haunted Mansion. For this ride, we had a FastPass in the afternoon, but since we were allowed to adjust those we decided to catch it at a low wait time. It paid off because while some teams waited in a long line for Big Thunder Mountain, we were able to knock out Haunted Mansion and catch Big Thunder Mountain at a low wait time later in the morning. While part of our success was due to planning, another part of it definitely had to do with some luck when it came to waiting in line. One struggle we had was trying to catch the Liberty Square Riverboats because they only run every half hour. But by 12:30, we were able to do that. From there all we had left was a 20 minute break to finish the competition with a selfie at the statue of Walt and Mickey Mouse in front of the castle.
After Len Testa’s talk with us yesterday, today was an interesting way to look at what truly is the best way to get around the parks. It seems like it pays off more to do everything in one area rather than just chasing the shortest wait times because if one person sees it is low, chances are another person will, too. Regardless of the order everyone finished, all the groups were done by 3 pm. This is pretty impressive for the number of activities we had and made for a very productive day.
Our day ended with a class meeting at Aloha Isle, where our instructors bought us some very yummy Dole Whip! We then discussed what worked and didn't work for each group and also took time to think back on some of our favorite parts of our trip! We shared funny stories and experiences over the last two weeks. While at Aloha Isle, we had a surprise, and we really mean surprise, visit from Captain Jack Sparrow who snuck up behind Lindsay (enjoy the picture below). After a group photo, we had the rest of the night off as groups were able to explore some of their favorite parks and attractions as we wrap up the trip. Our group's (mostly Lindsay's) personal favorite has been Tower of Terror, so we headed over to Hollywood Studios. Before the park closed we hopped on an elevator a couple times where we had a very "in character" cast member who got our heart rates up just a little more than normal.
Tomorrow is our last day in the parks, so we have a free day with a few fast passes reserved if we want to use them. Our goal for tomorrow is to individually come up with and explore aspects of the park that have to do with our majors to see how our individual interests relate to the operations of Disney World. We can't wait for a magical final day!
Signing off,
Lindsay and Melissa
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