FIRST Finale Question
 

Does anyone know when/if FIRST Finale tickets are going to be available for teams who didn't book through STEEL? Or any ideas of prices? I can't find any information besides the description of the event on the Championship information page on the FIRST website. Please help!

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

My best answer: Find a team going through Steele Meetings and request for them to order X amount of more finale tickets, as it gives them that option. My Finale ticket is ordered that way at least.

My ticket was an extra $35

Send me a PM and I might be able to add your team on our order at $35 a piece.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I was informed that any remaining tickets which are not taken by teams booking hotels through Steele Meetings will be available for sale at Championships.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I gotta ask:

The science center is pretty cool-looking, I admit, and it would be fun to see, but:

How crucia is the finale? An extra $35 per student is another $700 we don't have, but if we hear that "you just gotta go, man, or you missed out on the whole week!" then maybe the kids can find another $35 to take with them.

So again, is this a "oh man, you just can't miss this" kind of an event?

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I'm curious about this, too...this is our first time to champs, and I've heard the food at Finale is great...what is the deal with this event?

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Last year I went to the science center and I LOVED it. The planetarium has to be the coolest thing ever, especially the spaceship themed elevator. Not only that but the amount of food they had was absolutely amazing, catered food from just about every restaurant in St. Louis (at least that is what it seemed like to me). The only part I didn't like was how short it was, I only got the chance to explore maybe half of the museum.

I would highly encourage you to go, and find the extra $35. It is a great ending to the year in my opinion.

Official description of the event.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

When the CMP was back in Atlanta, I would say absolutely - that was loads of fun.
In STL? You probably won't look back and say "Man, I REALLY regret not attending".

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

So after talking to my team we decided we won't attend the Finale. My team went every year in Atlanta and said that they couldn't do more than one or two activities because there are literally thousands of people there. Thank you for all the help anyways!

We do, however, want to attend the Science Center as it is a World Class facility and seems like a ton of fun. Normally, the Science Center has free admission (with things like the IMAX movies costing extra). We are planning on going to the Science Center all day Sunday before we fly out that evening so we don't miss out! This would be a good option for teams that don't want to miss the Science Center, but can't attend the finale if your travel plans allow. The Science Center is open from 11am-4:30pm on Sunday and I believe it is open 9am-4:30pm the rest of the week.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Anyone know if teams who didn't qualify for champs can still get tickets for the finale? My team has a group of students going down and were hoping to go...

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I have two students doing the same thing, they have their room through Steele Meetings. I ordered one extra ticket through them for myself, if you have at least one hotel room through Steele Meetings I believe you can order an unlimited amount of tickets.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Did anyone remember to order the hail storm? I want to go home with a dimpled car again :rolleyes:

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Someone needs to tell the museum to get the ball contraption to 100% operation. I've been there twice with only partial activity going on it. I'm not sure how the museum will stand up to a FIRST onslaught though. It's good that the non-US FLL teams get to see it before the event. The timeline looks very compressed for a party. Maybe there is not a good spot for such a large celebration in the St. Louis area.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I haven't been to the science center yet, but last year the team attended the finale at The City Museum and it was astounding! If I had to pass on the finale i'd go back in a heartbeat, and I think it's cheaper per person but it wouldn't include dinner.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Mythbusters did prove they get better mileage :rolleyes:

If we didn't book through Steele, what would the suggestion be?

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

To be 100% safe I would suggest finding a team to purchase extra tickets through. I may be able to add a few to our order but please send me a pm asap.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

It may be too late in the game, but are there any teams we can piggy back 5 tickets off of? We just figured out our plans for going. PM me.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I apologize if this is "old news", but I just noticed the sign about an hour ago: "Special appearance by Dean Simmons and the Kamen Brothers". Have they been playing the CMP since it moved to STL? Never saw them at Atlanta but did catch their gig at IRI in 2011. Highly recommended!

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

I remember them from IRI. They alone are worth the price of admission! :eek:

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

No idea if they actually played at the Finale or not. We didn't arrive until 8:30pm (for the usual reasons) and the best we could do was to fight our way in (using only methods that our grandmothers would approve of) grab some tortilla chips and popcorn and then get the heck out.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Wait? What are you paying for? I mean it can’t be the science center.

I am from a local team, so I guess since we didn’t stay in a hotel we missed this information. The science center along with many other Saint Louis altercations is Free to enter or a very reasonable price.(Science center, the zoo, and the forest park art museum are free, along with other things) So are you paying for the food, and/or other things invovled with FIRST?

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

That ball contraption has to be powered by that hamster wheel, and we all know not everything can be 100%.
The Museum as quite big, and holds up pretty well to big groups and plenty to do. I have been there many times over my childhood and every time I go I find something I didn’t see before. There is defiantly plenty to do for a day there.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Dean Simmons and the Kamens did not perform. Some members of the band got stuck at the dome for the late proceedings on Einstein and the resulting traffic exiting the dome.

As a roadie for the band, I know that they were putting together a great accoustic performance of a song very related to Ultimate Ascent. They have decided that they will try to fit that song into a future show (except that it will be with all instruments - not accoustic). As a side note, the song has nothing to do with shaving cream.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

Did the AndyMark FIRST has Talent show go off? Any reviews? I was really Looking Forward to that as well.

Re: FIRST Finale Question
 

got there late and after figuring out how the food worked and where it all was, all I saw was a guy playing guitar. he seemed to be a local performer and was okay, but after about three songs, time was up and they were kicking us out.

if the talent show happened, it was probably so early that anyone who stayed until the end on Einstein missed it.

that's always the problem with these post competition parties. they mean well and put together a good event, but there is just not enough time to do it right.