Continental has always been proven to be an expensive airline...im not suprised with the high rates.

heh, I bet we could all fly United for cheap :p

On the other hand..

Im with Mr. Flowerday on the priorities of FIRST

Be happy there is a championship..

Its the expierence, not the attractions for the reason I am in FIRST..

I could honestly care less if FIRST put the championship in a corn field in Nebraska, with nothing for miles, as long as the event happened.

This is insane.

I think everyone needs to figure out why they are in FIRST, because from the response Ive heard on this board, some of these people are in FIRST for the wrong reasons.

My $0.02: Get with the program or get out of the way and make room for the people who are actually inspiried to do this competition. :mad:

Thanks DJ. That's what we needed to hear. I think a year to a year and a half ago i realized the real reason that im in FIRST. I have not looked at it the same way since. FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" not For Entertainment and Theme Parks for Teenagers.

....But surely my opinion will be held by the vast majority of other people.

Ahem. Anyways, I think that you will probably have more time in the park Friday and Saturday than you think. FIRST is buying out the park, after all, and they would realize that shutting the park down 2 hours after pits close would be silly.

As for entertainment near the hotels, I have yet to see a list of the hotels, but I'd be happy to make up a map of entertaining locales near the Dome and the package hotels.

Also, I can compile a list of dream coasters I'd love to cram into a park as well. The real question is whether the ride selection at Astroworld is really that much worse than the entertainment available at WDW. While the miscellaneous shows and tours aren't as good, I think the coaster selection is much better.

Finally, the Crawfish Festival was apparently Apr 12-13 last year in Kemah, so if it works out the same this year, you could always do that on sunday. :D

Edit: Take back the cornfield statement! I just read "Children of the Corn," and I don't like the implications.

Facts:

The Championship is in Houston.

The Championship will take place April 10-12.

There is no Disneyworld in Houston.

There's not much that any of us can do to change it.

This is how it's going to be.

- Katie

Being involved with FIRST is a privilege, not a right.

Look out the back window, there goes your credibility with me.

I don't want to turn this into the 'we have good entertainment' 'no you don't' thread, so lets cut this off before we kill someone.

I promise to not post in this thread again just to kill it and end this horrific debate.

Hey, so I love this whole Houston thing, except for airfare. Can someone explain why from Cleveland to Houston... Cleveland being a hub for Continental... they tell us still $300 a person. Other airlines all being more on Expedia, Orbitz, etc. Good thing some parents of our members are travel agents :).

Hmmmm.... do you really think Disney realled gave a FREE fireworks show. Made a FREE sign, and built a FREE venue. I seriously think not. As a matter of fact I know not. Noone provides anything like that for free, let alone Disney. And anyways why are you so pissed about nats being in Houston. If you don't like it don't go. But please stop reiterating your points over and over again. We have all heard them, and you telling us every other post is not going to change our views. I believe that Houston is going to be a great venue. If it turns out to be horrible, then you can bash it all you want. Until then, please give it a chance.
And to everyone complaining about any aspect of nats, there is nothing more I would like than to be able to attend nats with my team. I had the greatest time ever last year, and I am sure I would have an even better time this year, no matter where it is held. I guess I just feel a little bitter since lots of people who can go are complaining about entertainment when people who cant attend but want to with all their hearts cannot.

So.... I think the smoke has cleared now...

I was reading the announcment about the Championships and found the wording to be typical of FIRST. They say that the event will be held at Reliant Park (true), but which building in the park? There are many buildings, you have the Stadium, Astrodome, Arena... should I go on? As I read on I saw this "...when you compete in the action-packed final elimination rounds in the newest state of the art, high-tech domed stadium in the NFL."

Does this mean that the event will be held in the stadium? As we all know Dean said on AM radio that it was to be held in the "old Astrodome".

Now I have a few points to make...

1. If you want to go to Disney go to Disney don't go to the Championship because it is obvious that is why you went to Nats to begin with. I do agree it was a perk.

2. It doesn't matter what you think about the travel package FIRST is offering unless your the Travel Coordinator or such for your team. If your a student and you have to pay your own way if you team goes I can understand, but you oly have one choice and that is to go or not.

3. Just like at Disney if you stayed on property there were busses that were exclusive to FIRST teams. If you stayed off-site there was not. I bet this is how it will be in Houston.

4. If you are competing in one of the last regionals and quallify for Nats your team should think about raising money for Nats NOW if you don't make it save the money for next year. You should NEVER only raise the money you need, you should ALWAYS raise as much money as possible. Keep selling that candy.

5. Your a member of your team first, but in the end you are a mamber of FIRST. When your team is competing root for your team, when there not root for your favorite team (other than your own).

Those first two things seem to me like Finals will be held in the new stadium, and the rest of it in the old Astrodome. Perhaps they don't want us in the new stadium all the time...

Travel Package: 122 is a fairly well funded team; however, last year students did have to pay for the trips. It will be no different this year.

Thats what Im thinking. If you have 10,000 students/teachers/parents/engineers/volunteers in a football stadium only on Saturday afternoon, the chances of something bad happening to the brand new expensive stadium go down.

Like I said before, Continental is a good airline, but they have proven to be quite expensive in the past.

Hey you could look back at Gillette Stadium. A few weeks before there grand opening on Monday Night Football they lost power one day and the elevator system the next. But hey the place was only a couple months old, this place has been broken in.

I assume that the airline portion of the trip is seperate from the hotel booking giving that they gave a discount code to use. If this is the case find someone else to fly with like SouthWest they aren't booking right now for those dates, but they have promotional fares around $99 all the time.

That awesome, i'm so glad that they finally made a decision. I think it will bring a lot of publicity because of it's location. No matter where the location is I know that we'll have the same great enthusiam and competition. Good Luck to all!

change can be good

We like the prices so far :p. Right now from Milwaukee To Houston on the dates we need is $200 round trip, without the FIRST discount, so if we can get that and cheaper we'll be happy, if not, there's always a road trip!!! :D