It was overcrowded at the dance floors cuz for some reason they decided to shut down 2 of the dance floors. So everyone was basically compacted onto 1 dance floor and thus the lack of music variety and diversity. But the concert was a definite surprise but it was way too unorganized and made the team party confusing. Great fireworks though!

Well...

I didn't find the food all that great, but then again none of the Disney food was. For feeding that amount of people, though, it was definately acceptable. I still think Silicon Valley had the best team party food (both in quality and selection).

It would have been nice if there was some kind of map or direction as to what was where and when during the party. I don't know about everyone else, but those little lighted wands didn't help too much!

The "HEEEEY" (or whatever it was) was very fun! I loved how you could yell it anywhere and people would respond. I found that quite novel! I didn't know there were people taking offence at it, though, until I read about all the complaining on here...

Mandy Moore? Uhm, okay... I thought it was *really* cool that FIRST was able to set somthing like that up, but I do have to agree that both the timing of the concert and the artist selection for the concert needed some more work.

*THREE HOUR* closing ceremony? I really liked hearing all the major players talk, but three hours *is* rather excessive. Especially when you've got 10,000 excited people all wanting to go to a party that is being made increasingly shorter.

Transportation from the event seemed to be really orginized. I have no complaints here! However, there were a number of other times durning my stay that Disney transportation was rather crappy.

As for the dances, I didn't really get to go to those, becasue the party was over by the time I had finally got food (and matching utensils!) and went on "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience!". I missed out on the fireworks becasue I had no idea what time they were at... (see above point on when/where things are)

So that's my take on the party. Overall, I had a great time at the Championship Event, and would go without a doubt in future years!

IMHO....

This years party left much to be desired. While it was nice that we got fireworks this year. The negatives out weighted the positives.

First there was not enough food available at the time we all arrived. When they did finally refill things we where not around. (Cost savings trick by Disney).

They hearded us like cattle and the staff did not do the Disney thing "Make Magic Happen" on one occassion the staff even pushed a few people to get the them to move. Professionalism was missing this year.

With respects to Dean: I agree he [Dean] talked a bit to long. Someone needs to remind him our attention span is only as long as we can sit for. This means no long winded comments espically after being in the Florida heat.

If you are going to get a star to perform then get someone we all could respect maybe??? Not someone we all just ran out on.

Finally I could not wait to get home this year.

With Respects:

I think Phillys Party was pretty good if ya ask me. It was in the Franklin Institute and had pretty good food.. lotsa Tastykakes (its a Philly thang), hotdogs, pretzels, cheese steaks... all the things we're known for. O well... I hope i get to go back to natl's next year as an Alumni.. We'll see....

hhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

I thought the party inhaled audibly. I didn't think the food was too bad but everything being closed really was a downer. Why can't they mix up the music instead of playing just one genre? I would love to hear come good KISS or Chicago or Boston once in awhile.
Another pet peeve of mine is litter. There were trash cans everywhere and allot of people didn't use them. I even saw trash in the ponds. That is just plain asinine.
Second pet peeve. As the crowds were leaving a group of kids started walking thought the flowers along the walk instead of staying on the paved walkway. It takes allot to keep the park nice but some kids see it as their own yard and walk anywhere they please. I shudder to think what the park looked like the next morning. They probably had to replant allot of the flowers. I wouldn't be surprised if the party was canceled next year.

*throws $.02 into kitty*

Wayne Doenges

This is my first year on the team and all I have heard from my team is that The Epcot Party was pretty bad compared to last year! Not only was the food bad, but most of the rides were not open and by the time the public was out, it was time for us to leave too! The party needed to be longer and I wish the rides were open longer. I thought the Philli party was better but the Epcot party wasnt as bad as VCU though (If u were at VCU u know what Im takin bout)
Cya
Go MOE

Considering we only went to two competitions, it might seem easy to pick the better party. But I think that the Cleveland one was great just because, like Disney, it was in a public place with exhibits and such, but all of it was kept open for us to walk around in. They had everything going and people around that were helpful. I think they handled the situation a lot better than the Disney people.

Cleveland rocked!
 

Cleveland's party was awesome! The rock and roll hall of fame was an awesome choice for it.. the band was good at their cover songs and one of the guys on our team did the drums up there with the band ^o^ I felt sorry for that guy who tried to crowd surf... and.. well.. fell on his head... hope that guy is okay... well besides that, Cleveland's party was really cool, not saying the Disney's was bad...but I would rank Cleveland's party higher than Disney's party.

pronlems with closing this year
 

I must say that I was disappointed with FIRST team's behavior this year. We should not have been throwing balls around in the first place. IT was a time to recognize people's achivements, not to fight over a giant beach ball. That made me so angry, and almost embarrased to be there. A few of the people on my team were catching the balls and deflating them, just so people could pay better attention. I mean, the giant beach ball even blocked the camera view, which is very rude to the speaker then. I hope the teams responsible will remember this for future events.

The Mandy Moore concert may not have been up to FIRST/Disney necessarily. Will Smith did that because he was very interested and excited about the program. Maybe Mandy Moore did felt the same and donated her time. Like Dean said, we are one in a million, and we should have taken the time to watch at least some of the concert to thank all the work involved in making it happen. (To be honest, I really like Mandy Moore, but was also didappointed to not have the awesome laser show this year. THe short firewoeks at the party just didn't do it justice.)

I will agree that the awards ceremony was WAY too long. What was wrong with two people representing the team? Many teams were just huge, and parents and siblings were going up with them. That's just silly. FIRST should remember that most of us don't have much of an attention span, especially after such a long couple of days.

The party was really bad, especially for $75. It was so short and not really worth it. I would have loved to stay at the concert, but my team all wanted to go, myself included, because we were so hungry. Then, half of us went thewrong way into the park. I felt really bad for the families who were at Epcot and suddenly crowded with thousands of students running around looking for food.

I hope things work out better next year...too bad it's my last year.

Jenni

oh yeah...
 

I totally missed the aaaaaaaaahhh...thing. I didn't even know it happened. was it in a certain division or something? Oh well, I'm so confused, as usual.

Jenni

The party cost $30, not $75. The $75 fee was for team members (Pit crew and competition team) on teams that did not stay on Disney property. It covered the use of the competition facilities in addition to the team party. Other "members" of teams (parents, alumni, mentors and team members not on the pit crew or competition team) paid only $30 to attend the team party.

As for the quality of the party, I wholeheartedly agree that it "INHALED AUDIBLY." Last year's party was much better. Here's my $.02 for how to improve on it next year:

* Close off the EAST side of EPCOT (Test Track, Space, etc.) on FRIDAY night from 7 to 10 for the exclusive use of FIRST attendees with wrist bands. Have one or two deejays, but no free food. People can go back to their hotel after Friday's competition, change clothes into something dry, grab a bite to eat (or pay $$$ to eat at EPCOT) and then come back to EPCOT for a fun evening.

* Have the FREE FOOD, FIREWORKS, and LASER SHOW on SATURDAY at the STADIUM after the awards ceremony, with one or two live BANDS IN CONCERT.

* Limit teams accepting awards to two student and two adult representatives who would sit close to the stage, making awards presentations go SO much faster.

As I said before, open the big two rides, let everyone in, and party! The area around there is so much bigger because they don't have water everywhere and they could put some things on the grass. Another is to turn Innoventions Plaza into the main dance area and open TT & MS for riding. The Innoventions Plaza would be for dancing/food.

My $.02
 

My $.02:

I thought the party was total crap. The only reason I stayed around was to hang out with the friends that I get to see once, twice and possibly 3 times a year. Other than that I would have made an exit a long time before

*Picks up $.02*

The only reason why i stayed around was that i saw nobody i knew, and talked to a few people. I also look for my friends then did the best Honey, I Shrunk the Audience of my life. That was it....:(

This was my first year in FIRST and I was very dissipointed with the party. I thought there would be more. I could not get in until 8:15 and by the time I was able to get food and finish eating it was 8:40. A few people on my team and I went to "Honey, I Shunrk the Audience." After that there was nothing else to do and my mom wanted to go back to our hotel so we left alittle after 9:00. Didn't get to see the fireworks show.

Whoever does this needs to plan this out better next year. Maybe find out what the teams think is good and jugde it from what would work from there.

Also, why was one side of most of the walk ways roped off? It made the paths so crowed. Who was that part for?