Okay I believe Houston was horrible if you had ever been to any Nats before. I went in thinkin that it would be diff but feel the same and i was soooooooo wrong. Here is what I felt was wrong w/ it:
1. Food need I say more it was the worst crap I have ever tasted in my life, the only reason i gaged it down was because it was free

2. the seating @ the end sucked cause the teams were separated onto balconies and over into the seating for the other fields

3. The walk to and from the pits, what were they thinking way to far

4. Team Party- i know we can't have dancing but the team party @ the end sucked nobody really socialized w/ other teams unless they went there w/ them, unlike epcot where u could make a few more friends @ the party.

5. Teams- apparently being here meant some teams didnt need to follow FIRST etiquette, really is booing necessary, teams werent nice to eachother unless they had met before. The spirit of FIRST wasnt at Houston

Im not sayin all this stuff cause i hate houston in fact i was born there it just wasnt very good. hopefully next year we'll be able to go back to epcot. maybe people will then go back to having the Spirit of FIRST w/ them.

Not entirely true... I know Saturday we hung out with some of 47's drive team. So, there was at least some inter-team socialization, though I would agree there was not as much as there was at Epcot.

Houston vs Orlando
 

this is my third year with first. I've been to nationals all 3 years. I think that there are both positives and negatives about each location.
starting with orlando:
now the whole orlando scene I may not have much crediblity in becuase the 2 years I was there my team didn't buy the whole package we always did our own thing, which by the way worked out great. there was so much stuff in the area to keep you busy(Fun Spot and Wonderworks are highly recommended)... I also really liked the Einstien field. I read that some of you didn't. I like being able to relax outside and still be able to watch the competition, I mean come on thats the reason we're there in the first place. really the only negative I have about orlando is the prices... which you're going to find at any venue we might end up at.
now Texas being fresh in my mind has a little more likes and dislikes... probably more dislikes.
number one dislike being of course the hike between field and pit...
then the amount of space at the stadium... talk about wasted space... I heard comments from a couple people suggesting that if it is in houston again, then maybe have 3 fields (einstein being one of them) and pits for those fields in the stadium.. and then 2 fields and their pits in the astrodome... only problem with that being (are you ready for this) having to walk the hike just to get goodies from the other pits... might make it seem like 2 separate events...
I didn't like that I had to stay inside to see robots... exspecially with the air conditioning forcing me to keep my sweatshirt on...
I didn't like that the screens weren't at the fields... but then again I did like that I could just look up and watch other matches while my field was resetting...
I didn't like that there was only 2 pay phones in the stadium... as opposed to orlando where they have the 2 carts that have like 8 phones each... (sorry I don't have a cell phone)
I did like that in the pits there was room to test new changes... I also liked that you could go up in the stands and look out over all the pits... that was just an amazing thing to look out and see all those teams working all at the same time...
the list goes on... those are just the small ones

I had a blast at both Nationals but I liked Epcot way better... There was too much walking in Houston between pit and comp... In Epcot you had your bag checked once to get in but in Houston they stop you everywhere you are going... I mean I was in a hurry to run to the pit but I had to stop so they could look at the top of my bag and tap the bottom... They should have fenced the place in and checked the bag once... With Epcot all they would have to do is make it bigger so the teams had more places to sit instead of being tight... I did like Houston competition for the space it had...

Although I have been in FIRST for 3 years, this was my first year attending Nationals. In 2002, my sophomore year, I was recovering from major back surgery and was not able to attend with my team, my team (247) did not qualify for nationals, but this year, nationals proved themselves to be a dissapointment, I had loads of fun, and my team did great, but the venue for the event was just plain bad.

My team was a part of the Newton division, and it just so happened that Newton was at the front of the astrodome, but the exit to the playing fields was at the back of the stadium, and the Newton field itself was the furthest field from the enterance to Reliant stadium. This walk was even longer for the people without operator badges, such as myself. With a fractured shin, the ramps were a killer. What would a person in a wheelchair do about these ramps? They were quite steep, and a big pain to push or pull a robot and cart up and down.

The prices for food at sports venues are almost always expensive, but 6.50 for Nachos? That can simply be defined as extortion, once I used my prepaid "meal" tab for the day, I didn't have anything to drink, so I was forced to buy myself a 3.75 soda, which is simply outrageous. The bathrooms at reliant were just fine, but the facilities at the astrodome were poor enough to make me hold it for the walk to reliant.

On the first day ( thursday ) the individual fields had no label to designate which field was which, that left people confused, and walking unecessary laps around the field, com'on FIRST, that's just downright forgetful.

There was a lot of space in the pits though, and the floors didn't give me a problem, because our sponsor took a PICO rug out of one of it's offices and brought it for us.

I was dissapointed that there was no real place for teams to come down to field level to cheer their team on, at Newton, there was a little area, but that could accomidate 15 people, max.

For next year, if the Nationals are held in Houston, I would advise that the Astrodome's frieght elevator to take the robots and their accompanying drive teams to the ground level, and to cut down the walk to Reliant, open up those front doors to the stadium itself, and do security there.

not trying to be negative but.........
 

This was my first nationals and I thought it was pretty cool (I would like to go to Epcot next year after all I've heard about it) but was I the only one who realized how easy it would have been to do a terrorist thing in the Astrodome. It would have been harder at Reliant, but at the Astrodome, I don't even remember being checked and it would have been easy to smuggle in a big crate of "robot stuff." Just wondering if anybody else noticed this. If this upsets anybody, I can edit it immediately.

On a brighter note, when I got back, my parents were wondering if I lost weight so I checked and I lost five pounds. Guess walking up and down those ramps all day is good for something. But having two divisions in Reliant and two divisions in the Astrodome would have been a much better idea.

Were the food prices any better at Epcot?

Re: not trying to be negative but.........
 

A. -- Well, while it seems to everyone like it's a good idea to split the pits, I don't know if it's something that would really work out too well. Foremost, you're halving students' opportunities to interact with new people. This year, I had enough trouble finding my way out of Curie, but if two of the divisions were in a building entirely separate from where I was competing all day, it'd be as if they didn't even exist.
Further, splitting the pits into two different locations means that FIRST has to double-up on everything, nearly. That could be just another unnecessary strain on FIRST. ...and, think about how announcements would have to be made? Yuck.

2. -- I think food prices at Epcot were comparable, but I didn't eat at the Epcot arena much. The park itself provided more variety and larger portions for a similar price to most students.

Well, at Disney World you EXPECT to pay outrageous prices for food - it's just part of the package. In Houston, on the other hand, I was appalled by the cost of a decent meal since there was little else to make up for it.

Well... what I'm about to say allready has been said more-or-less, but this is going to be another 20 page thread, so oh well...

This is my second year in FIRST, so i've been to disney once and now houston once.

I'm leaveing aside all calls made by refs (who have a really hard job and do the best they can, just as in any other sport) and the game, because they are two different topics.

I'd say that the actual buildings were much better in TX than FL, and FIRST is just too big to hold in tents any more. As said 100 times, the distence between pits & stands was crazy, but hey... they might be able to work something better out next year.

Having AC'ed buildings was very nice, and from a scouting standpoint, not haveing to move from stand-to-stand was a plus.

As for food, nothing is great or cheep at events like these, so i have to stand here.

The security was a total joke. At all three events 201 attended, this happened. (each event searched people) I would have a backpack on my back, and then carry another cloth bag full of stuff in my hands. Every time, I'd open the cloth bag, they'd take a peek inside and let me go. Never took the time to look at my backpack. So, yeah... very useless. Personally, I think they should totally drop it. There is no way you can screen that many people in a timly manner. (Not sure if they can do that though because of legal reasons.) BUT... they shouldn't go to a six flags approch which was totally crazy; makeing everyone go through metal detectors.

However, I would agree with people, it seems to lack something that last year had. It might just be my memory, but I seemed to remember nats as sooo much cooler last year. It may have been the fact that everything was put up on a parking lot, places for teams to come down to watch your team during competiton, the packedness of the fields, or the hugeness of the einstin field... don't really know.

Lastly, face it... houston is not disney. Disney is totally designed for toursits and has endless things to do. While there are cool things in houston, it just doesn't have the "disney magic" to it.

As for next year, well, we'll see what next year brings. I think that from a "fun" standpoint, Disney is better hands-down. But, from an infostructure standpoint, tents won't cut it any more. Unless Epcot is willing to make bigger changes, which is hard for them to do, nats will be some where else.

Jack

Those "small sweltering" bathrooms at EPCOT had Air Conditioning in them!! I found it quite relieving to be able to go in there for a quick cool down.:D

This being my rookie year, can't really compare the two much (although I've been to EPCOT before) I do agree with Jack though because our hotel was in the middle of well...nowhere and there was virtually nothing to do for the longest time. Everywhere around us, there were just small business and such. Not much to do. Disney is designed for tourists and has much more to do...although the space center was kind of cool.

I agree on that.
Last year on my way back to my hotel from one of the parks i met an older guy (probably in his 50's) from South America who had been all over the united states with his wife. He said that all of his life he had dreamed of visiting the united states and he was finally doing it. It was soo sweet. Thats the kind of thing that would probably only happen at. . . . .
THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!:p

As a note of official Walt Disney Company nomenclature, "The Happiest Place on Earth" is used only in referring to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Walt Disney World is sometimes referred to as the Vacation Kingdom, but is never known as The Happiest Place on Earth.

:)

Wow! I never knew that...thanx for clearing that up. :p

I really hope its true
 

I just got back from lunch with one of the parents from another team I know. She attended Nationals, as did I. She complained to FIRST about the event (Houston) at the event because she was so let down by it. The person she talked to told her that FIRST and DISNEY already have a 5 year contract signed for nationals.

If i had heard from somebody else from somebody else etce etc, I wouldn't have believed it. But she was the person who complained and was told BY first personell. Next year I shall be (hopefully) adopted by two teams! one for the first two weeks of january in which I have winter break, and another one during the following 4 weeks of the build period, so hopefully I shall be attending the redeemed nationals next year!!