Route-Planning Algorithms for Amusement-Park Navigation

Abstract

This paper describes route-planning algorithms for navigation in amusement parks (e.g. Disneyland). Unlike conventional shortest-path-finding used for traveling salesman problems, the authors provide several algorithms that consider waiting time estimates in real time, exploit the reservation facilities of an attraction such as Fastpass in Disneyland, and balance a series of enjoyment types such as excitement or relaxation. These features make the new shortest-path algorithms more flexible and dynamic for supporting the cognitive aspects of enjoyment. The authors developed a navigation tool as a Web application in which users select their attractions of interest and the application suggests reasonable and enjoyable routes. An experiment was conducted to demonstrate the performance of this application, focusing on well-known attractions in Tokyo Disneyland.