The Exillirous Safari modelling exercise 2022 Assessment
The problem
Exillirious Safari is a very famous attraction in the UK entertaining families and adults for over 50 years. The main park visitors are families with children. Normally thousands of visitors are admitted daily from 9am-5pm, especially during peak periods (summer period and weekends). Last entry to the park currently is set to 4pm currently. The safari park manager is keen to explore their trade on the weekend and reports that Saturdays are the same as Sundays.
Table 1 The data on weekend (e.g. Saturday) arrivals provided by the Safari park manager, based on her best guess and the numbers are approximate
|
Arrivals of different groups: |
Between 9 am and 11 am |
Between 11 am and 2 pm |
Between 2 pm and 4 pm |
|||
|
Families (parents with children in any combination) |
200 arrivals in this period |
120 arrivals in this period |
40 arrivals in this period |
|||
|
Couples |
100 arrivals in this period |
200 arrivals in this period |
5 arrivals in this period |
|||
|
Friends (groups of four people) |
100 arrivals in this period |
50 arrivals inthisperiod x |
30 arrivals in this period |
|||
The safari park manager is particularly concerned about the visitors experience at the park and does not want them to feel like they are spending their day queuing so will go out of her way to avoid those scenarios. Customers should not spend more than 10 minutes queuing for any attraction. Now Covid restrictions have been lifted, numbers are expected to increase but the park’s management still want to keep some Covid safety measures in place so that more vulnerable visitors feel safe to visit! To keep the park COVID-safe, the one-way system has been kept at the theme park so visitors can keep to some social distancing. This means that you can only visit each attraction once with the one way system. The management need to manage the overall number of admissions into the park but also into the different attractions, to ensure that the number of people in an area does not mean excessive queuing.
The park has recently undergone some updating to its facilities and the expected opening date is the 12th of May 2022. The management team is considering how many visitors they should allow into the park daily and whether they should make any changes to their operating times or outlets.
More information about Exhilirious Safari
Exhillirous Safari is an open-air entertainment park. It has a large car park with fields nearby to accommodate overflowing parking with extensive capacity. It holds over 200 species of exotic animals, taking care of the largest groups of white lions, cheetahs, hippopotami, and meerkats in the world. The park is dedicated to the conservation of animals. Amongst other staff it employs five full-time researchers (animal biologists) and does a great deal of work in species conservation.
The most popular attractions are the Safari Adventure (a drive-through area where visitors can see the animals up and close following the dedicated path) and the Theme Park where visitors need a separate ticket to enter unless they purchase a combo admission ticket for both the
Safari and the Theme Park. In the past 100% of ticket sales were combo tickets with 100% of all categories of groups doing the Safari adventure on arrival before parking. There is unlimited capacity here because of the available space and this usually takes around an hour. Tickets are typically purchased online and on mobile apps and the car registration is scanned on entry.
The safari park manager provided you with a map of the theme park which is usually given to visitors. Attractions at the Theme Park include the African animals village trail (e.g. caged animals); the penguin cove; the dinosaur world; and a playground (which provides a lot of seating for those with picnics even if they are not families). These are available to all visitors depending on their preferences. Most visitors go to all the main attractions if they have the time.
The park facilities include two shops (one at the entrance and one at the exit) selling souvenirs and products suitable for visitors to purchase, 2 theme park restaurants (near each other), 3 kiosks selling ice cream, drinks and sweets.
Table 2 The data provided by the Safari park manager, based on her best guess and the numbers are approximate
|
Gift shop use (open all day) |
Restaurant (open between (11am- 3pm) |
Kiosk (Open all day) |
|
|
Families (parents with children in any combination) |
95% use the gift shop at the exit point but hardly ever (5%) at the entrance point. They spend around 2 minutes paying. |
20% of families will use this. Others bring food with them to have a picnic. They typically will spend between 20 and 40 minutes. |
99% of families will purchase something from any of the kiosks at least once during their visit. They spend 5 minutes on average choosing and paying. |
|
Couples |
50% will use the entrance shop buying things to use during the visit. They almost never buy anything at the exit (2% max will spend 2 minutes paying). |
30% of couples will use this rather than a kiosk to purchase food. They typically will spend between 20 and 40 minutes. |
99% of couples will purchase something from any of the kiosks at least once during their visit. They spend 5 minutes on average choosing and paying. |
|
Friends (groups of four people) |
Only 5% of these groups spend any time at the gift shop at the entrance or exit and will spend 2 minutes paying. |
This category of groups don’t use the restaurant and prefer the kiosks for food purchase or bringing their own food with them. |
99% of friends will purchase something from any of the kiosks at least once during their visit. They spend 5 minutes on average choosing and paying. |
|
Other covid restrictions |
The gift shops have 4 tills each at the checkout point currently. The size ofthe stores is large and restrictions have ended so there is no limits on entry to this. Browsing in the store is usually only about 5 minutes. |
The restaurants are identical and can cope with 100 groups (50 in eachrestaurant). Tables need to be cleaned in between groups and it takes 5 minutes to clear these. |
The theme park is spacious and people often stand near the kiosks in the open airto consume food (doesn’t take more than 10 minutes) and drinks purchased at the kiosk. There is plenty of space and unlimited capacity here. |
There are plenty of toilet block and sanitation facilities.
Your task
Consider the information provided and decide which parts you will include in your simulation. As part of this assignment you will: develop a Conceptual Model; develop a baseline computer model (the current situation); undertake Validation and Verification (and/or report what you would be doing here ideally); Undertake Calibration; Undertake experimentation (report baseline findings and report on scenarios). You will be uploading a simul8 model and a technical report to Moodle May 11th 2022 by 2pm. There are no extensions possible beyond this date (you would need to go through a formal KBS process not managed by me and provide evidence).
You are allowed to work in small groups of up to 5 people to develop the baseline model (current scenario) but then you must work independently for the remainder of the assignment. Getting into a group is your responsibility and not a requirement of the assignment as the work can also be done independently. There are no extra marks awarded if you work alone or in a group. This is a personal choice. Each individual will be submitting a technical report and a baseline model.
