During my recent sojourn in Disney World, I began thinking about really big numbers as I tried to calculate the total value of that enterprise as a whole. I knew the Magic Kingdom theme park was built in the early 1970s, at the cost of roughly $331 million dollars. More than two decades later, Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park was added at the cost of a cool $1 billion. Epcot cost about $1.4 billion to construct, more than twice its estimated budget. Golf courses, hotels, shopping malls, Hollywood studios, infrastructure: it was pretty easy to estimate the net worth of the forty-seven square mile intelligently designed world of alternate reality would run into the hundreds of billions, perhaps as much as $1 trillion dollars. Mickey Mouse is worth a considerable amount of money. We're talking about some really big numbers. Given the fact that advocates of evolution seem to frequently argue that I fail to grasp the significance of a really big number, as I rode around on the monorail and pondered the value of Walt Disney World, the idea for writing this article popped into my head while I watched a river of cash flow through the Magic Kingdom. If only that were the case...I almost wish that I couldn't grasp the concept of a really big number. After all, ignorance can be bliss. The sad truth is that I’m constantly worried about big numbers. I'm painfully aware that the amount of outstanding federal debt for the United States is currently well over $16 trillion dollars. Granted, it is more money than I've ever seen, but the numbers do follow a … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2013
The best possible experience at Walt Disney World
For a relatively modest donation to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, you can scuba dive or snorkel for several hours in the Living Seas Disney aquarium at Epcot. It is the second largest aquarium in the world, only surpassed in size only by the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. After some mild trepidation at the idea of swimming with sharks, the grand kids had a blast. Admittedly, it was comforting to know the sharks are hand fed every morning, first thing. You can have the experience of a lifetime and help save an injured manatee at the same time. How sweet can it get! … [Read more...]
The second best experience at Disney
Riding Space Mountain with my fearless grandchildren. Not pictured: my wife, in the seat immediately behind me and screaming at the top of her lungs. … [Read more...]
Smart phones make some people act stupid
This is the start of a quick flurry of brief posts of observations that I made during our recent visit to Disney World. Now I want to clear the queue with a few comments that are relatively short and to the point before returning my full attention to a little more serious business. We had begun an unfinished conversation on evolution shortly before the start of vacation. I sincerely hope Dr. Leblanc and Andrey Pavlov will find the time to rejoin our conversation, as soon as their schedules permit. But while vacationing in Orlando, I couldn't help but notice that smart phones appear to make people act considerably more stupid than they might actually be. It seems that Disney provides several applications for mobile phones that allow people to know which rides have the fewest people waiting in line, maps to the park with a handy "You are here" feature, which rides offer their "Fast Pass", etc. These Disney mobile apps seemed to do just about everything for you except slice the bagel and butter it with cream cheese in the morning. Unfortunately, these apps proved so useful that many visitors were incapable of taking even a single step without staring at their phones. It often gave one the sensation of playing bumper cars with human bodies, a particularly unpleasant experience when one is not intimately familiar with the instigator of the collision. After several attempts to "turn the other cheek" and simply step out of the way, eventually I gave up and revised my park navigation strategy. When the meanderer in question managed to mirror every … [Read more...]
