Centennial Park is good about letting private groups use it; for the past three summers it has let radio stations hold concert series' there (a concert every friday night for as long as it"s warm enough outside.) Even if FIRST doesn"t organize anything for Centennial Park, 1127 (Lotus Robotics) will be playing ultimate frisbee there during lunch and everyone will be welcome to join.

About hotels, there were several new ones built for the 1996 Olympic Games and the Omni Hotel which was mentioned is currently being renovated so it will be in great condition for when all of the rest of you come to see Atlanta.

The only thing I"m afraid of is having the pits on one of the lower floors of the Congress Center. Atlanta is hilly enough where the ground floor on of side of the GWCC is underground on the other side, but even if they don"t have it on the right level in 2004, by 2005 they"ll have had time to get all the issues worked out and know what to do differently.

*Runs off screaming in joy at how many people can go to the Championships next year.*

Shhhhh Paul. Don't spoil the suprises. j/k
This is a pointless post but I'm still high off the news.

Ah.. yes!
 

Well.. this was excellent news for me to wake up to (don't ask). I am subconsciously bracing myself for whatever negatives posts may come, but until then I must say that I am pleased with the decision FIRST has made! This event site is better, IMO, than any of the others mentioned as possible choices, and appears to be well suited for a FIRST Championship Event. Add the fact that I've always wanted to visit Georgia, and I'm 100% happy! Good job FIRST!

As long as we don't have to run a cart up 4 flights of ramps, I'll be happy. I'd rather not be forced to lose weight at robotics.

Atlanta Georgia huh?? Sounds good so far! My freshman year in FIRST was the last year Nats was at Florida, and last year was Texas obviously... and next year is Georgia. Its been interesting but I'm glad to know that it will be in the same place for the next few years, for better or worse. :)

Just because the event site may be able to hold a much larger quantity of people (teams) does not mean that there WILL be more teams at Champs. FIRST has already made it very clear that they will not have more than the approx. 300-350 teams at one single event because anything larger than that just becomes unmanageable.

As much as we'd all love for more teams to be able to take part in the excitement of Champs, the sad truth is that it will not happen.

Well I think they should figure a way to manage it, but none the less Georgia is good news for the florida teams.. We can all drive easily now :-)

We can lop off a few thousands for plain tickets

and atlanta is a ton of fun, Coke Museum, Underground Atlanta, and the like

gewd stuff

Dan

I just hope there are no ramps... I hated those things!!! I look forward to Nationals this year(I hope we can get in)...

To reiterate for those that are still wondering about the walking distance from the pits take a look at the attached pic. Its essentially a flat walk.

Can you say CNN? :D

NICE! I'm glad its a flat walk:) ...

Question though: is there any amusment parks in the area?

Does Centennial Park count? Check the announcement on the FIRST site.

No.

This map shows Greater Atlanta. The competition is located about where the star is found. Six Flags over Georgia, the area's largest amusement park, is located about 15 miles away in Austell, GA. It's on the left, at approximately exit 41 on I-20.

I <3 Atlanta, but maybe that might just be me. But I'm happy over this. THere are TONS of stuff to do there, if you know where to go and such.

*does a happy dance*

Six Flags of Georgia really isn't that far away and it is fun.