The Wave at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Changing Names is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

Numbers Rules Your World: The Hidden Influence on Probability and Statistics on Everything You Do describes our touring plans and the inner workings of Disney’s FASTPASS system to explain how queuing theory and statistical modeling come together to make families’ visits to Walt Disney World better.   Numbers is written by Kaiser Fung, a professional statistician and the author of the Junk Charts blog.  (He’s also got degrees from Cambridge, Harvard and Princeton, in addition to a gig as XM Radio’s statistician.)

I’ve read most of the book this week, and Kaiser has done a remarkable job of explaining how statistics and probability work.  One of my favorite examples is a comparison of the odds of winning the lottery and dying in a plane crash.  Both are apparently about the same (one in ten million as described), yet the average person’s behavior illustrates that we think both events are much more likely to happen.

Coincidentally, I’d read SuperFreakonomics last week.  Numbers Rule Your World is written in a similar, easy to read manner, and focuses on statistics instead of economics.  If you liked Freakonomics you’ll definitely enjoy Numbers.

Our Disney Touring Plans Featured In “Numbers Rule Your World” is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

Raytheon also has a website, www.MathMovesU.com, which includes math quizzes related to the attraction. Playing around on the website this morning, this question caught my attention:

The Split S barrel roll maneuver requires flying as fast as our jet will allow; Mach 6.7 (mach being 340 m/s).

What is the number of miles per second you will be going when you complete this maneuver?

An interesting question. The speed is given in Metric units (meters per second), and you have to specify the answer in Imperial units (miles per second). I like it!

So I did the math:

The jet flies at 6.7 * 340 m/s, which is 2,278 meters/second.

Using Google’s conversion tools, 2,278 meters is about 1.415 miles. Thus, the jet is moving about 1.415 miles per second.

However, when you enter 1.415, 1.42 or anything close to that as the answer, you’re told you’re wrong. Then you get this hint from the website:

Mach 6.7 simply means 6.7 times the speed of sound, which is 340 m/s. In order to solve this problem, we need to multiply 6.7 by 340.

Multiplying 6.7 x 340 yields 2,278. But that’s only a partial hint, since the question says you have to answer in miles per second. This was apparently missed by the folks who worked on the MathMovesU website, because the website thinks 2,278 is the right answer. (That is, the website thinks the jet is traveling at 2,278 miles per second, or roughly 1.2% of the speed of light.) To put this in perspective, the website thinks jet’s speed is more than fifty times faster than the Helios 2 spacecraft, the fastest speed ever reached by a man-made object.

Of course, I could be wrong about the math. Let me know if you see anything.

Finally, we’ve updated our Lines, our mobile website for WDW wait times, to include estimates for Sum of All Thrills wait times.

Sum of All Thrills – Great Attraction! Ummmm….about the math on the website …. is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

- Virginia

Yes, Virginia, there is a new discount coming out on December 21. It exists as certainly as Buzz and Woody and Belle exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no discounts! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no Splash Mountain, no Tower of Terror to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in discounts! You might as well not believe in fairies!

[Note: In keeping with Bob Iger's recent statements about 2010 discounts we don't expect this discount to be as steep as Buy-4-Get-3-Free or Buy-5-Get-2-Free.

Update: We hear there's a five-day minimum. Travel dates are January 3 through June 3, 2010. Those who stay at value resorts will get a $300 gift card. Moderate resorts get a $500 gift card. Deluxes get a $750 gift card. Blackout dates are March 28 through April 10, 2010. There's limited availability.]

Updated: Yes, Virginia, There Is A New Discount Coming Out on December 21 is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

Disney Testing New Queueless Standby Line at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

We’ve also created touring plans for each park, for adults and for parents with small children (under 48″) who can’t quite yet ride some of the more intense slides. These touring plans are the first to feature full color maps of the parks. And to save on ink when you’re printing these at home, the backgrounds for each page are not colored.

Disney’s water parks are larger and more heavily themed than almost any water park you’ve seen. If your upcoming WDW trip includes a day at either, a subscription to the site will tell you what you need to know to have fun.

Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon Water Park Details and Touring Plans Available is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

We’ve created a new one-day touring plan of the Magic Kingdom that accommodates these kinds of requests. It includes thrill rides such as Space Mountain and Splash Mountain, and provides details on how to use the “Child Swap” (a.k.a., “Baby Swap” or “switching off”) technique to only wait in line once per group.

Comments and feedback on this plan is welcome. And if you can think of a better name for it, let us know.

One-Day Magic Kingdom Touring Plan for Parents of Pre-Teens

New Magic Kingdom Touring Plan For Families With Younger And Older Children is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

The touring plans include options for focusing on attractions, and for focusing on events specific to the Party, such as the Totally Tomorrowland Christmas show.  Plans for adults and for parents with small children are provided.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Touring Plans Updated is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

I’m spending the weekend finishing up the Epcot chapter of our new color guidebook to WDW.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with the text we have in the regular Unofficial Guide, of course.  However, Epcot is my favorite park, so I want to explain in text what makes Epcot special and why everyone should love it.

I’m trying to make two points: Epcot is a theme park about ideas.  And the attractions work best if you consider the impact of those ideas on everyday life.  Whereas the Magic Kingdom is focused on fantasy and adventure, the Studios is a look at entertainment, and the Animal Kingdom is a view of … the animal kingdom, Epcot is an exploration of humankind’s role in the world.

In fact, I’d argue (but I can’t yet find the words) that Epcot is the thing that differentiates Disney Imagineering from every other company that builds amusement parks.  No other company would have either the vision or the corporate will to create and build such a park.  I don’t mean this in a negative way, but I doubt seriously whether Universal, Six Flags, or the folks building up Bahrain could even conceive of the concept of Epcot on their own, amass the expertise and funding to build it, or explain concepts such as energy and communication in a way that makes people want to visit.

I could be wrong.  In any case, here’s the intro text I have so far.  Comments and suggestions welcome.

It’s probably safe to say that Epcot was the park that Walt Disney most wanted to build after the success of Disneyland.  Designed to demonstrate new technology and innovation, Walt envisioned it as a sort of permanent World’s Fair for companies, universities and governments to show off their latest creations.

On paper, that doesn’t sound like the recipe for a fun vacation.  Indeed, Epcot’s educational theme and corporate imagery lacks some of the obvious warmth and charm of the Magic Kingdom.  And unlike the Magic Kingdom’s attractions, many of which assume you’re going to sit passively and watch whatever is in front of you, Epcot is a theme park about ideas, such as ecologies, energy sources, and the role communication systems play in human societies.  Epcot’s attractions work best when you consider the impact these ideas have – and will have – on the lives of everyday people.

Do not worry – these concepts are presented in an upbeat way, with lots of dazzling visual effects and humor, and most visitors find plenty of entertainment and education.  In fact, Spaceship Earth, the ride dedicated to exploring communication systems, was for more than two decades the most popular attraction in all of Walt Disney World.  (That distinction is now held by Soarin’, also at Epcot.)  And Epcot is usually the third-most visited theme park in the United States, behind the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.

Besides futuristic attractions, half of Epcot is devoted to World Showcase, a collection of elaborate pavilions representing the landmarks and culture of various countries from around the world.  Each country is staffed by young adults from that nation, so it’s possible your children will hear French spoken in the France pavilion or Mandarin in the China pavilion.   Every country has at least one restaurant, too, making Epcot home to the most diverse set of dining options on property.   Combined with top notch attractions, Epcot may be the best of Disney’s theme parks.

Saturday Morning Musings – The Introduction to Epcot is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook

Reminder: Disney Dining Reservation System Goes Back To 180 Days Today is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook