The Magic Begins!

After months of anticipation and excitement, our group's adventure to Disney World began today!

Our first official group picture inside the gates of Magic Kingdom on Wednesday evening!

Wednesday morning began with a bright and early 5:45 am meeting time for our group at the Furman McAlister parking lot.  While Dr. Bouzarth had arrived a day early in Disney World with her family, Dr. Harris drove part of the group in a large van while Dr. Hutson transported the rest of the crew in a minivan.  All packed up and ready to go, we hit the road only to very quickly have some tire drama; the rear right wheel of the minivan was losing air, and it was quickly discovered that the damage could not easily be repaired.  We stopped at a gas station in Greenville to attempt to fill the tire with air, and then were able to go to an Enterprise in Columbia, SC in order to try to get a replacement van.  While these stops came to no avail, we finally ended up at a Firestone in Columbia where one of the mechanics (shout out to Nathan!) recognized that the tire was not patchable and fitted a new tire in record time.

The minivan on its perch at Firestone in Columbia (proudly sporting her Furman math colors)!

After this small setback, we were back on our way to Orlando, although we were running somewhat behind schedule; however, everyone was in great spirits and the small tire trouble couldn't dampen our excitement to be in Disney!  After a quick break for lunch in the early afternoon, we continued on our way and arrived at our hotel, the Royale Parc Suites, at 5:30 pm, where we met up with Dr. Bouzarth and found our rooms.  We were able to make a quick grocery run afterward in order to stock up for the next few days and grab dinner, and then we all piled back into the big van and headed for the most anticipated stop of the day.

We were off to Disney World!  Our hotel is situated only about ten minutes from the parks, and so we were able to spend the majority of the evening in Magic Kingdom.  As expected, the park adventure was full of magic for the entire group, including for both the veteran between the two of us (Johanna) and the first-timer (Maria).  The highlight of the night was when we rode Thunder Mountain, a railroad roller coaster, because the group was able to align the timing so that we were aboard the coaster while the Wishes fireworks were exploding above us! Our group had a blast during the whole visit, although, like the ups and downs of Thunder Mountain, the evening had a couple unexpected twists and turns. While we were unable to ride Space Mountain due to technical difficulties that were announced in the moments before we were about to board, the upside was that we were able to use the time to ride the People Mover in Tomorrowland. The ride takes visitors around the perimeter of the Space Mountain ride, and, because of the repairs being done to the ride, we were able to see the interior structures of Space Mountain in full light - this was a very neat experience as normally the ride is cast in complete darkness!

The usually unseen design of the indoor Space Mountain structure!

Our group also had a great time bonding while riding other assorted rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain, and Peter Pan's Flying Adventure - we even had a mini sing-along while riding the iconic "It's A Small World" ride. We are looking forward to beginning our exploration of the mathematics behind Disney World tomorrow morning with our first group class, and then we'll head back into the parks tomorrow afternoon to begin studying the applications of what we're learning.  Today was a magical start to what is sure to be a fantastic trip!



The whole gang aboard "It's a Small World!"

Written By:
                      Maria                                    Johanna