MANDY MOORE WAS THERE????????

yea.. she sang @ the closing ceremonies. It wasn't that good... i don't think theres many teenie boppers that partake in robotics.. well.. atleast not enough to justify having her... but shes still hot... a better blonde

I think the concert at the end was a bad choice.. Everyone was tired and hungry or just tired.. I know that I was.. the heat just took my energy away.. The Party this year was horrible.. the only good thing was the "A" chant at Honey, I shrunk the Audience.. that was funny.. it kept everyone amused or annoyed... hehe.. anyways.. I just hope that next year, they keep the ceremony shorter and the party longer... so if you missed the party this year, don't worry, you didn't really miss much.. just food and people walking around, and was told that everything was closed.. :mad:. and that's just my $.02.

Well....I must say, My team went around saying "Hey"and it was mostly due to the fact that...there wasn't very much of anything...and I mean anything to do!

Some of you's might have thought it was annoying but we were doing something that raised many spirits at the party. We had a lot of fun and from the sounds of it some of you people didn't and I'm sorry to hear that.

By the way "HEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!!"

From what I hear from somebody in the front, they were throwing, in true FIRST tradition, buttons and other team memorabelia to wear!:D

Here is what they need to do next year....
-Make awards shorter
-No concert
You then go to:
-Enstine open for dancing
-Epcot, ushered to Mexico-Germany to see parade, then fireworks, then back to....
-Epcot Test Track side open to only bands
-Can buy food or eat the stuff provided.

I really think FIRST was decieved about what was open. The handout they were giving out seemed like they thought that Imagination, The Land, and The Living Seas was open. Only Honey was open, The Land closed at regular time, and The Living Seas was given to the stuck up VIPs.

But Honey was the best ever with all teams.

Just an FYI...that handout was something that Disney put together and dropped on the team tables after the pits were closed on Friday night...

Heh, Mandy Moore? (sp?) I don't think that's what this crowd REALLY listens to, but nice try, Disney... we watched for a few and then headed to Epcot. The party was OK, not good, not bad. Kinda retarded that there was only one entrance to the food area, and a little bigger selection of food and I would have been happy.

Amy's right, it started as "AAAAA!" our teams official cheer which sounds much like "Heeeeeey" which most people thought we were screaming.

As for the party, I think the mandy moore thing, though not very thought out in regards to their target audience, was a start in the right direction. I, along with what seems to be the majority of robotics members, would like see a punk or ska band. Hey the chemical brothers were in florida the night before, i think many more people would have stayed for them than for mandy. Anything live is much better than something spun.

As for Disney, I am somewhat angry with them because they took away my glow staff along with my other staff before epcot. They also completely eliminated the techno party that was held last year in the living seas and replaced it with a rap party outside the living seas. All the raver kids were then directed to future world by the dj of the rap party for the "techno party". From reports of kids that went there (I myself was unable to leave because i was waiting for someone(who i never found(i love parenthesis inside parenthesis(they remind me of programming)))) the dj played two techno songs and then started playing rap. After i ate one plate of sub-par pasta, danced a little, and watched a fireworks display the party was over. I then went on a goose chase to get my staffs back after which I waited in line for 30 minutes (No complaints there) to get on the bus and go back to my hotel. Disney (or FIRST, i dont know who organized everything), in my opinion, did handle the buses to the hotels well. In my opinon, the best part of the entire debacle was the bus ride home in which we got down to 30 bottles of beer (the song, not actual beer).

just my perturbed $.02

You really have to give FIRST credit for trying.
 

Most people do not fully realize the huge amount of work that goes into planning a FIRST event. The same people planning the parties have to run the whole event for 3 days and not just do tha party. The purpose of the event is to compete. The party is just icing on the cake so to speak. The party can be whatever you make it. If you are there with a person you like (like i was) it does not matter what is open or not, you can find ways to have fun. As for Mandy Moore, i am not her biggest fan by any means, but i still think it was nice for FIRST to make an effort to get us someone that they felt was good/famous to give us a concert. As part of crew for the nat's i attended the crew meting the night before. Be assured that FIRST had your best interests in mind for the party and really did want to make it a fun experience. It just did not work out for some people and teams. But you have to give them credit for trying and some people like myself did have fun.

being a rookie, and therefore, my first year at nats, i thought the competition was awesome. step forward t othe party, well, it didn't hold up as well. way too much rap (as i say, you can't spell crap without rap), and there was way too many people in an area that was too small. for the food, well, it was better than McDonald's (not saying much) but compared to the disney food, it kinda sucked. plus, the fact that everything seemed to close early, well, it made the crowds even bigger. the fireworks at the end were pretty cool, but that seemed to be the only cool part. i didn't see the concert, and i could care less because i dispise all pop music. i like the fact that FIRST tried, but next year, try harder. i think there's many more FIRSTers who are into punk/ska/rock/etc. maybe next year...

Well, I thought the "heeey" or "aaaa" thing was funny. I don't know why so many people had an issue with it, but those are probably the people that were on my bus back to the hotel that were screaming "SHUT UP!!!!!!" while everyone else was singing.

Guess they never stopped to think that "Shut up" is a lot more annoying in a Linkin Park sort of way.

So I ran to the party because I wanted my free food. The breadsticks tasted like glue, yuck. But it wasn't all that bad. I ate in the Living Seas and the found one of my friends from combbat (the team that I was "stuck" next to in the pits AGAIN!) and hung out with him for a while. Then my friends and I went back to our hotel and changed clothes. We went back to the party (our bus driver didn't really speak english and we probably could have asked him to take us to upstate NY and it wouldn't have phased him) to say good bye to some other teams.... and then we went back to the hotel. We didn't do much of the whole team party thing because it just seemed pretty lame from the onset. No big deal, my friends and I can have fun anywhere. :D

I am not cool with Mandy Moore but I like the idea that they tried to do something "cool" like that. Throwing stuff at a pop icon... call me rude, but I think it's sort of funny. I'm used to going to shows where throwing things is pretty much a staple event. Maybe the popstar is going counterculture?

Last year the party seemed so much longer, too.

As for getting stuff taken away... I walked into the party with our team flag on it's fancy weapon-like metal pole and the guy who supposedly checked stuff said "oh, an umbrella, ok." as I walked on by. Too bad it didn't look like an umbrella at all. Best security ever. I could have been hiding a rifle wrapped in cloth and it would have looked the same way.

The party wasn't that great, but... well... HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY.

I like mandy moore....I'm probably the only FIRST person that enjoys pop music....if i was there...i would of been totally psyched....but people threw stuff at her??? thats completely rude and un-necessary.....if you don't like her, leave...don't throw stuff at the girl...

The party was very bad. it was such a let down. i am only a freshman and i had heard many good things about the prevoius year's parties and i was so pumped up but when i got there all i did was eat and go on honey i shrunk the audience before i had to go back to the hotel. the awards ceremony was too long and i agree that the mandy moore concert shouldve come in the beginniung when we were all not tired and hungry. more areas of the park shouldve been open as well. the food was subpar. and all there was to drink was lemonade. it was pretty lame. i had more fun in the 10 minutes riding back to the hotel with my teammates than i had the hour and a half at the party.

Dissapointed
 

The party this year was dissapointing to me personally. Last year the Land and the Saes were open for dancing as well as outside dance floors. This year the only places that stayed open to dance were the floors outside, and they were much smaller than the ones last year. I think first has to do a better job at making the party like it was last year.



-andy-

I think that part of the problem with the length of the ceremony was that last year they only had the two reps. from each team sit in the middle and go up and accept the given award. I think that was a better idea than having the entire team trek up to the stage. And some of the speakers were a little long winded. Don't get me wrong; it was great stuff, but talking to 10,000 tired and hungry teenagers for 3 hours is a little fruitless. I know my attention span was worn out by the end of it!