Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Well this year we are going to Atlanta for the first time, and I am going to try and get our team there in a safe manor.

(PS: I didn't really find any other post on CD about this) Has there been any?

Anyway, while packing the crate at Boiler Maker Regional, Andy Baker stopped by with the Baker Girls, and gave a few tips in some chit-chat. These tips are what I was looking for.

Here was some of his tips, I'd love to hear more if some of you that have been to Atlanta could post some more.

Andy Baker Tips:

1. This is your first time to Atlanta? Alot of teams won't know you, find a way to market yourself. (I can understand that, we only know the teams from the surrounding Indiana area.)

2. Scouting is very hard, be prepared and plan ahead.

3. Walking to the PITs is a long walk. (How long is the walk? Does someone have a playing field layout PDF from last year or something?)

4. Find something fun to do with your team on Friday night, like we took our team to a game. (Is there any planned events at Atlanta? The Team Social link is not active at usfirst website)

We are taking a bus, when and where will I get information about bus unloading and logistics? I guess I am kind of spoiled with Boiler Maker having a GREAT website and Amy Przybylinski from 45 sending out AWESOME e-maills weeks before BMR letting us all know exactly where we can park and not park, how to unload our teams, equipment and bus parking etc... Where is all the information like that? Does it come active here:

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...ts.aspx?id=430
or here:
http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...432&menu_id=80

when the time gets closer?

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I am interested in the response to this post. We are rookies, going to Atlanta, but by plane... We have many similar questions..

Jacob

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Rookie team going by train. Some other surronding teams are coming by next saturday and giving us some pointers. Ill post them if they aren't already by then.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I am very disappointed at the lack of info provided by FIRST about Atlanta. We didn’t even know until yesterday when we went to ship our crate that shipping to and from the championship is covered by FedEx for winning teams.

I got some good answers here..

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=55713

Don’t know what we would do without the Chief Delphi community.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

There was a thread last week about this, though I can understand not finding it.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...a+first+tim e

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Wow...I just saw the "walk video" from the PITs to the Field...agh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjKVDgnWwY

I have a question about the robot uncrate. At this time, there is no way we can make it on Wednesday night to uncrate out robot. Can we uncrate our robot on Thursday? Morning and setup our pits?

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

You think that was bad? You should've seen Houston....

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

oh that was horrible because of our cart. it had the crappy plastic wheel slike on office chairs, and was very low. ahh, those good ol days.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

If you are not in walking distance to the dome and you have to take the Marta, make sure to leave early. I rememeber when we took it in the morning it was rush hour and you were literally fighting for seats, and some of the Atlanta people werent very nice. Especially to a bunch of teenagers dressed in "wierd" clothing. Also be careful riding it after dark, bad experience.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

We uncrated and set up on Thursday morning last year with no problem. However, be aware that the unloading zone is pretty crazy on Thursday morning. Plan on sending in a couple of people to uncrate who don't have to carry anything through the mass of people.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

You are going to receive a lot of helpful information when folks wake up from naps after working this weekend at different regionals as volunteers, participants, & FIRSTers. (KathieK and Robomom:) come to mind)
The one thing I would highly recommend above all else is to pack your patience and your humor for the first day and the last day and everything in between.

To all the teams that are traveling to Atlanta for the first time, it is a time of wonder and celebration. A time of recognition and achievement. A global community comes together and celebrates FIRST. Take your camera.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Spent most of the afternoon in bed. Ugh. Hope I didn't catch the FIRST flu. will write more probably in the AM. 1 quick tip if you just won and find yourselves going and need to earn quick funding - write a press release NOW and get it out to every media contact in your area tonight or first thing in the morning. It will help.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I am considering options between flying or travelling by charter coach
(12 hour drive).
1.Advance team leaving on Wednesday and everyone else on Thursday by bus and returning Saturday night OR
2. Everyone traveling on Wednesday by bus and returning Saturday night OR
3. Flying the advance team on Wednesday and flying everyone else on Thursday OR
4. Everyone flying on Wednesday and returning Saturday night.

Any thoughts/comments from personal experiences would be appreciated.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

What's your budget? That may largely determine how you travel since it's late to purchase airline tickets now.
Can people get out of school/work to accomodate a bus trip (it's a two day trip for me so we're leaving here on Tuesday to drive down so I can volunteer down there - so it means two extra vacation days from work vs. flying down but I can't afford to fly).
Will you have to have a layover? It was a 12 hour trip from Hartford to Atlanta via Chicago if you consider layover time, plus time to travel to the airport and arrive early so the whole group can check in together, plus the transportation from the Atlanta airport to the hotel... and if you get stuck due to bad weather, it could take even longer.
Will you have to stay overnight in a hotel on the way down/back if traveling by bus? Could add more expense to the trip.
Will you be attending the wrap party on Sat night? It's got it's flaws but I still enjoy it.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Get a map of the subway system, also a big help in Atlanta. Team 836 flew down to Atlanta a few years ago we assigned 6 students to one mentor for the whole trip which helped out a lot especially in the airport. And if any student went anywhere the buddy system was in place which also helped a lot.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

For us, flying to ATL is almost the same price as getting a bus for 5 days with 22 people. Being that ATL and Fort Lauderdale are both international airports, this was quite reasonable and do-able. You should start getting quotes now to see what offers are available to you at this point, we booked all of our reservations in mid-February. Our whole team of students/teachers always comes in at the same time, Wednesday, and leaves on Sunday afternoon.

We use the Atlanta Link to get from the airport to the hotel on Wednesday and Sunday. We stayed at the Westin last year, and this year too, so we can walk to the Dome, and there are tons of restaurants within walking distance (Hooters, Hard Rock, and McDonalds directly across the street.)

At competition, most of our team was really spread out, SOAP on the floor, the Drivers with the bot walking back and forth, people in the stand cheering, and people around the pit, so make sure that you have a good method of communication (runners, cell phones, designated meeting spots/times) and a way to get everyone back together when its time to leave.

-No L

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

a few items-

1. food at the stadium is VERY expensive and not very high quality. The food court at the CNN Center in the Omni Complex next door has more variety at more affordable prices. But the lines will be very long and expect them to close down early in the evening.

2. bring a jacket. It seems that every year the wrap party is cool and rainy

3. there will be practice fields available in the pit area on a sign up baisi. Get on the list early but please be courteous and leave room for others.

4. everybody will be trying to scout your machine. If you post a team member at the entrance to your pit it will make your work area safer and make them psss through quicker

5. be prepared to walk and ride escalaters. Everything is on separate levels

6. the stadium people are fanatics about bringing food into the event and that you use their turnstyles. So if you are planning on supplying your own food you will have issues if you arent discreet

7. there will be vendors selling FIRSTwear of various types. Bring some spending money.

8. Have fun. Anything can happen at the Championships

WC :cool:

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

To expand upon the food issue. We found it much easier and cheaper to make a Sams run the first night. We got lots of lunch meat, bread, condiments, chips, fruit, water etc. We packed in a van that stayed in the parking lot. At lunch time we had a picnic in the courtyard. We didn't take any food into the venue but we didnt pay the high food court prices either. And we had healtier stuff. You just need to assign a few people to drag it to the courtyard...I suggest coolers with wheels.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

oh excellent...keep them coming!

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Here are some links to Championship activities open from April 12-14, 2007.

Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
Google Atlanta map
Atlanta Braves games Thursday night, Hank Aaron Statue night vs Wash & Fri night, Fireworks vs Florida
Atlanta Hawks basketball on Friday night vs Washington & located right there with all First events.
Worlds Largest Aquarium Located next to Centennial Olympic Park. You sometimes have to order tickets ahead of time.
MARTA subway All First events at stop W1.
Atlanta Airport
Georgia World Congress Center Map (Pit Location Usually building C)
Georgia Dome Home of the Championship events.
Centennial Olympic Park Home to the Championship wrap party on Saturday night.
RMS Titanic Artifacts Exhibition in downtown ATL.
The World Of Coca Cola will be closed during Championship's but in May it is moving next to the aquarium for next years Championship's.
MLK Center - A short ride away from the GA Dome.
CNN Center & Tour - Home to CNN and many different fast food and sit down restaurants and very close to the competition.
Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park - Open Saturday & Sunday but you have to have transportation to get there.

Some CD links from last years Championship event worth a look (the good and the bad as suggested by some people) :
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=47202
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46961
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46960
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46293
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46497
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=46765
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=45960

Dave

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

We've gone once, by plane, this is what I remember as good to know.

- Bring a deck of cards, maybe even two, for layovers.
- Bring comfy shoes, theres a lot of walking, especially between Stands and Pits. Also, I don't know if it's allowed but have a cellphone in each place so you can communicate, I sent runners, they hated me.
- Bring alot of scouting sheets, theres alot of teams
- Make flyers to hand out, make them memorable, also it is nice if they're hole punched as 973 keeps a binder
- If you go to the Peachtree and have a room overlooking the park, leave the celebration before the fireworks, that way you can watch them by looking down or across, not craning your neck up. (We did this, most beautiful thing I've ever seen)
- Get the stadium to do the wave, its worth it


Also, avoid the underground, I got sick while in Atlanta last year I think and I think it was there.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

One thing you are not going to be prepared for is the large amount of homeless people who are going to be hovering around. Some of them will be adamant and even rude but don't give them money. Many of them have substance abuse problems and you are only enabling their problems by giving them money. Buy them food if you must but don't just give them money. A stern no is mostly enough tot send them on their way (they're not going to mug a large group of people. I heavily recommend never traveling alone. I can't confirm it but I heard a couple of years ago a mentor was mugged in one of the parking garages. Remember: safety in numbers!) but if you really feel the need to have them got rid of you can either find Georgia DOme security or local police and have them deal with them. What I would ask is a little patience and understanding with them. Many of them are in circumstances beyond their control and are unable to help themselves. What we're doing here in this program is also aimed at helping them as well in the long run to make a better quality of life for all. Gracious Porfessionalism extends well beyond the field to more than just the people in FIRST. That is how you truly change the culture.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I remember teams modifying their carts with the extra drive train parts, just to get up that spiral ramp.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

If you live over 6-8 hours away and can afford flying, I'd go for flying. To me it just seems easier despite the price, to catch a flight and be where you need to in a few hours.

We hired a tour bus to take us to Atlanta one year and have not done it since. One of the big “+’s” to taking a bus is that you can drive though the night and get their in the morning. But remember, buses are sometimes hard to sleep on (read as "ALWAYS HARD TO SLEEP ON" for me) especially when crammed full of people. Even with the mandatory quiet hours on the way down, I ended up not being comfortable enough to be able to sleep, so I listened to music and watched my DVD player the whole way down. On the way back my feet were killing me from queuing and I was exhausted. I managed some sleep here and there, but really only succeeded in being cranky and tired.

Just one more reason why a it is a good idea to have a robust and sturdy cart.

Things Not To Forget

• Sturdy Shoes
• Daypack/Tote Bag (Even if you don't take anything to the event with you in the morning except a camera, chances are you will come back with something)
• Camera (w/good batteries)
• Something unique to trade (I'm planning to make my own little something to trade this year, seperate from the team.)
• Tokens for MARTA (Or Exact Change to purchase fare)
• Sharpie (For those times you meet someone whom you would like an autograph from. Like Dean or Woody.)
• Safe place to carry your money and keys. (Aside from your shoe or sock please!)

Ask Bob about what happened to his Van key when we were at EPCOT.
And I've seen too many loose the money they put in their shoes; and hey, Change is great! but not so much fun when you are walking on it. Along with the fact that having imprints of dead presidents in your feet and giving someone warm sweaty foot money is kind of nasty.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

1. Try to find a close hotel if you can. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot [[I think that's how it's said]] and it was about a 30+ minute walk. Also I once walked with the drivers to the playing field. WOW! I think it was an even longer walk! The good thing is, in the pit area they have a screen that shows the matches =]

2. I don't know if there are any events planned. But you guys can always find somehing to do for your team. Our team last year just walked around Atlanta to get to know it a bit. We went to the Underground [[like a little shopping area]]

Taking a bus? That's almost like 10 hours? Bonding time =] And sleeping time =] We took an airplane, which was good cause getting into our hotel rooms took awhile =/

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

MARTA no longer takes tokens. The vending machines now take plastic, and sell cards with RFID tags in them.

Also, the machines now sell multi-day passes. If you are going to ride more that 1 or 2 times a day, that's the way to go. For details on the new Breeze card fare system, check out http://www.breezecard.com/

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Doesn't MARTA stand for Making A Reasonable Trip Agonizing :ahh:

I miss Disney. No homeless, no muggings and close to arena :(

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

My Junior year of high school ('04 - FIRST Frenzy)..my former team planned on attending 3 regionals and that would be it for the year. We went to our classic NJ regional, and then for our 2nd went down to Chesepeake (4-5 hour drive). To keep costs down and attendance up we decided to drive to our 3rd regional, Palmetto (~15 hour drive). Our team did amazingly in Palmetto and managed to win the inaugural event. Our board of education, impressed by our efforts, sponsored us to attend nationals.......to keep the tradition alive we drove from NJ all the way to Atlanta (~18 hours). Let me tell you...those bus trips will do amazing things to people. There was a lot of bonding done on that 80+ hours on the bus that year, but the moral of the story is....FLY FLY FLY (if you can afford it)

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

mmm Team 2228 will have plenty of bonding time ahead of them with a 28+ hour train ride to the championship

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

the homeless people are like tourguides ... my group and I got a little lost and a homeless dude asked us for some change and we asked where the hotel was and he gave us exact directions! amazing

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Well there you go. That's what you call amking good use of an available resource!

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

ya and there its definatly available

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Haha. You should of saw the "walk" from the pits to the stands in 2004. That was ridiculous. Thankfully, the "walk" has been about the same for robot and the stands over the last couple years. You'll probably start the day running back and forth to the stands, but by the afternoon, that big screen in the pits is much more tempting to watch your match on. The production people do a decent job of covering the matches, so you might want to bring a "SOAP" box to hook into the feed.

You can uncrate your robot on Thursday morning (if no one else said this yet). The Wednesday night, is just something to ease the tension of the crazy morning on Thursday. Don't expect to work on your robot if you come on Wednesday. Thursday is crazy .. to say the least. Drayage lost our tool crate in 2005 and took several hours to find it. Kudos to the surrounding teams that let us use their stuff to unpack our robot crate (1398 .. go robo raiders!)

Avoid the "event staff" people in the yellow jackets when needing FIRST related information. I've been lead completely in the wrong direction many times by them. They will not search you going into the pits, but they will search you going into the dome. Expect to pay $10 for a "meal" there. Expect to pay $4~6 for a drink in the dome, but the people that do the food .. have a great sense of humor and if you give them buttons or something, they will usually wear them.

Ride the MARTA (like everyone else said), but plan ahead. Especially if you're going to ride it at rush hours. If you're flying in, stop by one of the MARTA counters in the airport and get a roll of tokens, much easier than camping out on the vending machines waiting for 30 students to get their tokens.

Watch out for the homeless people. They will sing and dance for you in hopes of money, and they will be glad to give you directions, but at night .. some will also be glad to pickpocket you. There is a Hard Rock Cafe in Downtown, about 5 blocks from the dome. If you plan on eating there, plan on waiting for up to 2 hours.

Practice fields - IMO are a joke. There's one for each division, and it's been a full size field in the past. In previous years, they actually ran simulated matches .. I don't think they did this last year (but I wasn't in the pits much, so I'm not sure)

Avoid the machine shop unless needed. This might be hard, since in the past there have been tons of teams with drill presses, bandsaws, lathes and mills in their pits. In 2005, it took our team 3 hours to get a hardened steel shaft cut (just cut; not even machined) .. I walked over to check on the part, and the lady was holding it in her hand wondering what it was, because they lost the paper with the request on it.

Tell everyone back home .. http://robotics.nasa.gov .. and let them know what field you're on. NASA does a lovely job on the webcast. It's also on the NASA channel, but that goes from field to field throughout the day, so you might not even see your team on there. No internet connection in the pits or dome, but almost every hotel will have wifi (or wired). There are a couple of coffee shops/gift shops in the GWCC that have internet access at a price.

Cell phone reception isn't the best depending on what part of the dome or pits you're in. Remember, cell phones don't like concrete. The dome and GWCC have plenty of both.

Most of all, have fun. Atlanta is a treat. You'll be running around crazy the whole time .. so be prepared :cool: Come find me and say hi .. not sure if my team will be there or not (that will be determined this weekend). Either way .. I will be. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I have a transportation question. We have a 25 person group. We were told that getting from the airport to the hotel (Holiday Inn Downtown) would cost $17 pp each way! We were also told that you could take public transportation for about $1.75 pp. I can see what the obvious choice is but how often does it run (we're getting in at about 10:30 Wed. night). And, is that a bus or MARTA, and how close would it bring us to the hotel? Any info would be helpful.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

I haven't read the entire thread so I don't know if people have said what I'm going to say but here we go

Things to keep in mind at Atlanta

The distance between the pits and the field is a big gap! They are actually in different buildings, the World Congress Center holds the pits and the Georgia Dome is the field. They are right next to each other.

If your team doesn't have a scouting group then make one immediately! Between going to check out teams in the pit to watching matches to learn about different teams, having a scouting team is going to be essential if you want to succeed at the Championships.

Be unique! Do something special that seperates you from the other teams. Have something memorable about your team that makes people remember you. You're looking to make a good impression and make a name for yourself seeing as how your new.

Put your teammates to work! If you've got people on your team doing nothing get them working. There are plenty of things that your teammates could be doing to help make the event a success, be productive.

Last but not least, have fun! The Championship Event is alot of fun and try your best to enjoy it. Its a chance for you to enjoy the culmination of all your hard work. I guarantee that all teams new to it will have a great time, it really is a special moment

Well that's all I've got, hope that this will help alot of teams that are new to the experience.:)

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

The $1.75 figure is MARTA. Holiday Inn's website says the hotel is 0.3 miles from the Peachtree Center station. The after 9:00 PM schedule is here. With a group of 25, you're probably not going to be hassled too much on the train, even late at night. However, if you have a lot of luggage and tools and things, you may want to seriously consider other transport.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

That's on a MARTA train. The Holiday Inn is ~4 blocks from the Peachtree MARTA station (that's a rough guess, if I remmeber correctly). If you call the hotel, they will have an exact distance. The CNN center station might be closer, but you would have to change trains at Five Points. If you got off at Peachtree, you wouldn't have to worry about that. The ride from the Airport to downtown is about 25 minutes or so. Kind of cool during the day, because you get to see a lot of the city (the MARTA is above ground for the most part).

You can see the MARTA map here:

http://www.itsmarta.com/getthere/schedules/index-rail.

Hours of operation are listed here:

http://www.itsmarta.com/howto/hours.htm - Looks like they run till 1:30am .. so you should be fine. It also has the times about how often the trains run.

Hope this helps :)

*edit* Darn .. Jeff beat me to it.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Those tips can help us big because this is 1856's second year in FRC but all the members of the team are rookies.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Here's a map I got from 2 years ago (PDF format). Back then I didn't have to go to the Pits; this year I probably will. I should invest in some good walking sneakers!

Regarding the (ahem) "local people." We had just flown in and dumped the luggage, and was walking around downtown to see how far we were from the dome. A nicely dressed man with a clipboard hooked up with us and asked us some questions and generally trying to be our "tour guide". It took a couple of minutes to realize he was just a homeless person trying to get some of our money. The clipboard was a good touch.

We wanted to go to the World of Coke. He did direct us there, but by way of Five Points, the center of the subway system and also of every homeless person in Atlanta.

I am not too sorry WOC is closed. $8 to watch bottles of coke pretending to be filled was $8 too much. Tasting the different flavors of coke was interesting, especially offering that vile bitter version to our unsuspecting kids. :confused: :eek: :ahh:

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

So, where did the PDF go?

Lets try again. Ahhh... the wonders of the 21st century!

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Here is a nice photo of the GA Dome during last years Championship's finals. Click on the picture several times to see an enlarged view. Nice job Ed Clark & Tim Arnold.
Dave

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

That reminds me: You see where the phot is taken high above? Don't go up to the 2nd or 3rd level. Security will bust you in a heartbeat.
At the regionals security is abit more relaxed but at the championship the guys in the yellow coats seem to be stressed by all the loud hyper kids running around and don't have much patience for anything outwardly foolish (if these are the same guys they use for the NFL games I would highly recommend to avoid annoying them if they're like the yellow coats at Bills games. They must be encouraged to mangle the unruly).
Just stay out of the areas that are blocked off. They'll open the 2nd level for the finals but til them stay out.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

How do the awards work? Does your whole team go an accept the award like a normal regional? Seems like a major traffic jam to run from the stands to the floor if it was your whole team.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

In the past, each team designates two people to go down and accept the award. I think they had a special area for those people to sit in, but I'm not real sure on that. If your team is going to sit up on the second level make sure the two people are sitting down on the first level somewhere.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

The main exception to the 2 rep setup is for the Chairman's award, because the whole team comes down to get that.

It is very nice that they've gone to combining the awards and finals. While a little weird going back and forth, it does get rid of the "wait time" between matches and awards that exists at the regional level. It also provides robot cool-down time.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Question. Do they still have an area set up near the arena so the teams that are playing can watch their robots compete?
In years past you could sit near the play area and watch your robots, but you would have to leave after they were done.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

No... you just sit in the stands like everyone else. Since the field is below where the seats are, there is no need for this like there was in the parking lot of Epcot. All seats have a good view of the field.

AB

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

No. Your team will have to sit in the stands. The last 2 years they gave each team a "Team Media Pass" which enables a single team member to enter the play area with the team and stand in front of the field (where the judges would sit, on the opposite side of the scoring/field table) with a camera to record the match.

They have been doing the "Team Viewing Area" at a lot of regionals this year, so they might do something in Atlanta, but I would doubt it; there isn't much open space on the dome floor.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

what is the finale and why is it 45.00 dollars?

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Mentioned in previous post but:
"This just in" from "Budget Travel" magazine-
World of Coca-Cola will close April 7 and reopen May 24 in a new building next to the Aquarium.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

The "Finale" (aka Team Party) is held on Satuday evening after the competition ends.

Since the move to Atlanta, the $45 fee gets you an entrance bracelet to the party at Centenial Olympic Park, food, & drink. The bracelet also allows you to take part in various activites like carnival games, a batting cage, inflatable obstacle course, and other "picnic" style inflatable activities. They also have a stage, where they usually have 3 or 4 acts perform. My favorites are the hypnotist and of course the finale fireworks display.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

It's a huge team Social held in Centennial Park (where they had the Olympics)

Theres catered food, games (in the past, theres been laser tag, sumo wrestling, rock walls, etc) and other things for FIRST teams to do. Theres also a HUGE fireworks show at the end.

As for if it's worth the money, no comment from me :rolleyes: - the odds are, you'll be too tired to really enjoy it.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

thanks for answers.here is another one. are the pits closed to general visitors? what i mean is can the whole team, parents ,grandparents, sponsors, come and go as they please. with eye protection of course.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

In the past they have reserved good seats for teams that make it to the finals on Einstein, since those teams have to move from their divisional field to the center for Einstein.

The pits are open to the general public (eye protection required). The Pits at Championship are one of the great spectacles in FIRST. All visitors should take time to walk the pits and talk to teams.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

wow i just watched that video.. *whistles* looks like fun lol

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Good things to know:
Atlanta weather is crazy all over the place, pack accordingly.
When traveling around Atlanta, especially walking, it is easy to get lost and there are weirdo's around so travel in groups and let people know where you're going.
Prepare for a lot or walking.
Source of food = CNN Center.
The days are very long and you will be very tired at the end of all of them.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Agreed, we have had 70° + (F) weather for weeks but this weekend (Apr 7/8) it will be freezing at night. Please pack a light jacket or sweater. We all hope you don't need it.
Dave

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

Accepting awards (from the Championship Essential Event Information .pdf distributed to all teams yesterday): Each FRC team should designate representatives to potentially receive an award. Find the 2 wristbands in a labeled envelope in your Registration Packet. The team representatives should wear them and sit in the appropriate section in the Dome during the Saturday Closing Ceremony.

Finalist teams (from the same source): When the Division Winners are announced, each [Division winner] team will receive 50 wristbands to designate special seating at the Saturday Awards Ceremony.

If your team wins your Division and you do not need all 50 wristbands, please offer the remaining wristbands to one of the other three Divisional Winner teams that may need more than 50 wristbands. They will be most appreciative. (Our team, for example, will have 82 people -- 32 students, plus mentors, parents, alumni, and a few siblings)

The special seating area is directly in front of the Newton field on the main seating level. Only people wearing the correct wristbands will be allowed in that area during the finals and awards ceremony.

Re: Any Atlanta First Time Traveler Tips you want to Share?
 

BOO. Coke is gonna be shutdown :(