Day 1: Welcome to Walt Disney World!

 And so our adventure begins! We met as a group at 10:15am this morning at the Indianapolis airport. The weather was not bad for this time of year in Indiana, but I think it is safe to say we were all looking forward to warmer temperatures down south.

Our journey through security was uneventful, and things seemed to be progressing smoothly (if a few minutes behind schedule) right up until we were next to board the plane. Just before our section was called, the pilot came up the gangplank to talk to the boarding agents (never a good sign). Apparently a hold had been put on our flight! After a brief discussion as to whether to unboard the people who boarded or just keep boarding, the decision was made to continue boarding the plane. 

Soon we were all loaded and waiting to pull away from the terminal. The was a brief (10-15 minute or so) delay, but at least we we given the all clear. We taxied out, and then taxied, and then taxied some more. At this point, I am pretty sure I wasn't the only one wondering if the plane was just planning on driving to Florida!  Finally, we stopped on the runway and were told that there was another delay. They would try to get us moving, but in the meantime we could stand up and walk around the cabin (never a good sign!). Eventually, we were able to take to the skies and after an uneventful flight we landed in Florida where we were greeted with some liquid sunshine (aka rain).

A Mears shuttle bus ride later, and we arrived at our first hotel of the trip: Disney's All Star Movies! We were all starving by this point, so after check-in we headed to the World Premiere Food Court for a meal and a discussion of the first half of Richard Fogelsong's "Married to the Mouse."

It is interesting tracing the history of how Walt Disney World came to be built in Florida, from the failed St. Louis project through the creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District meant to help Walt built his vision of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. The creation of Walt Disney World has left a major impact on the central Florida area, both for good and bad. Class discussion was great, I look forward to continuing it further as we enjoy our time in the parks!

After our meeting wrapped up, we headed our separate ways, some to get a good nights rest, others to Disney Springs to explore the nightlife there. Tomorrow is an early morning for us, we check out of Movies and send our bags over to All Star Sports where we will be checking in next evening. We will also head to EPCOT to see what became of the reason the RCID was created in the first place. Exploring how Disney portrays various cultures will be the topic for tomorrow, along with a possible Cosmic Rewind on the way!

All for now, join us again tomorrow when the students get to take over the blog!

Paul Fonstad

Math and Computing Department and lead instructor on our study away trip

PS Brad, if you are reading this we miss you on the trip and hope you are back to 100% soon!