Re: Re: Myth vs. Reality
 

FIRST All-Star?
All-Star FIRST?
Rookie All-Star
All-Star Robots <----- This would be 'Way Cool'

Any other ideas out there?

KA-108

new disney hotel...designed by FIRST students
 

So what would an "All-Star Robots" look like? How about some 3D Animations / conceptual renderings? Sounds like a cool summer project to me.... hey maybe it would win next year's Animation award? Oooooh! Sure hope the animators out there hear this.

KA-108 :cool:

Re: new disney hotel...designed by FIRST students
 

Discussion about 3d-modeling here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...1590#post31590

I don't think you can find another place as large as Disney that is willing to help out FIRST and give teams such good rates. It seems like it would be better if all teams that wanted to could compete at Nationals, but it would be very difficult to find a host that is large enough.

As far as extending the competition over additional days, it sounds great, but this would prevent teams on very tight budgets from going. I know of some small teams that have so little money the students (and mentors) that go to Nationals end up paying their own way (airfare, hotels, and food). $700 is already a LOT coming out of a student's (or his/her parents') pocket, and the longer the competition, the more the money.

After this party, I think Disney needs a slap in the face.

I thought Disney did a good job of pulling this event off. The fact that those two huge tents were air conditioned the entire time is amazing. I can't even imagine what was the total cost of putting on this event. The electrical bills alone must have been astronomical. I think Disney is a great venue, I just wish buying the Park hopper ticket was optional. Being a coach I was one of the last persons to leave the pit. By the time I got back to the room and showered it was too late to get to the park. Other than that I was totally satisfied with the Disney experience. :)
Now the overzealous refs and their DQs is another story. :mad:

Ken Delaney

As a reply to the last post, you may never see this but behind Magic Kingdom there are massive buildings. Some are for maintence on monarails, ride maintence, costume shops, and HUGE generators. DISNEY MAKES THEIR OWN ENERGY! They dont care how much energy FIRST uses, they make enough energy in one day to power their ENTIRE PARK.(All 25 million acres) And with the hotels, a hotel for robotics would be cool to us but what about the general public? What person would want to sleep at a robotics hotel? I also like the idea of moving it to the Wide World of Sports complex. Thanks Mrd_uhd for being a great partner in Philly.

Personally, I'm starting to warm to the idea of not going to the nationals at all. It may be that I'm simply getting bored after five consecutive years of Florida trips, but regionals have several distinct advantages. Instead of worrying about whether you're going to qualify for nationals, you could choose instead to go to a far-away regional and make that your big trip for the year. Besides, regionals have far better visibility to the field, you can get a couple more matches, the pits are closer to the field, and I think the smaller number of people makes for a nicer atmosphere. If a lot of teams adopted this strategy, a secondary benefit would be that regionals would become a little more diverse, with more teams from out of state, province, or country.

-Ian Mackenzie
Woburn Robotics
http://www.team188.com

I believe some things that are being overlooked...

As for extending NATS-
Judges- they have jobs & lives, they don't mind giving up a few days but a week?
Refs & volunteers- again with the jobs & lives thing + there are barely enough to run the number fields & tents now.
Cost- I know somebody discussed that extra days means extra $$$

As for moving NATS-
Stuff to do- no place can accommodate like Disney. Park hopper pass my not work for everyone but... You don't need to take the package or even use the passes.
Vegas???- NOT a place I would bring students... I can't see a school approving a trip to Las Vegas.
Transportation- nobody shuttles people like a company used to shuttling sugared-up little kids & grumpy parents.
Starting over- a new place means new "Bugs" that will need to be worked out over time. With our help, FIRST & Disney will learn from their mistakes.

As for Qualifications for NATS-
(revised from one of my other posts)
How about:

8 - The top 8 seeds from each regional qualify
+
4 - All finalists & winners of each regional (6 total -2 top seeds= 4)
+
1 - Chairmans award winners
+
1 - Higest Rookie Seed (possible top 8 or other)
+
2 - Rookie of the year (possible top 8 or other)
x
17 - regionals
=_________________________________________________
272 total from this year.
Add next year's winners & you get about 300
Remember, not all teams can afford to go & how many teams qualify more than once(ALOT).
All of this puts a little less focus on winning & a little more on doing well.

Re: Re: Re: Myth vs. Reality
 

that would be cool

but now to the question at hand...before nats i wanted a new home for nats because the cost was outrageous and i thought it might be good to just move it around....but now that i think about it and have actually experienced it....i changed my mind totally...the only place that could hold us is EPCOt and the only place that could provide enough entertainment for us...(ie the team party(10,000 people cant fit just anywhere))....so no it needs to stay in disney

oOo and some disney news....there wil be a new hotel complex like the soprts but its going to be celebrating decades instead..that project is back underway...and should be finished by next years nats. :D

I personally would like to see the Nationals in Hawaii. The air fare is not as expensive as everyone thinks. The hotels can be reasonable. The beaches are always open. If it is in Hawaii, the west coast schools can participate. We have a fairly new Convention Center that can accommodate the crowd.

Hawaii would be fun, but getting there would be kind of tough. Many teams save money by driving or busing themselves down to Florida. That, and more east coast and midwest teams would need to pay more for the longer flight to Hawaii. I'd still like to give it a shot though.

Enrique, you should've come with us to the nats! It was awesome! Ya, it'd be great to have the nats in Hawaii but I don't think we have a place nearly as big as they had at Epcot. Disney has done a great job so far in hosting the event. So, I think having the nats in Hawaii will certainly not be anytime soon.

However...what I am hoping for is a small regional (maybe 25-30 teams) in the Aloha Isles. Common Hawaii, we only need 4 more teams!!!

What do you guys think?! Would you sign up if there was a Hawaii regional?

yes!! let's move it to california, the weather is really nice here, and we can still have it at disney. besides, i think disneyland and ca adventure are better as far as rides go. maybe even hold it at great america. the rides there are DEFINITELY alot better

also, it would be really cool if there were a hawaii regional. i'm sure many of the californa teams would be eager to attend :)

ok all those people who want to move to california....but as for the REST of you.....HOW CAN YOU WANT TO LEAVE MICKEY MOUSE!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!? :D