Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

One thing no one has mentioned so far: not only is it a fair walk from the pits to the field with the robot, but it is not flat. Make sure you have a decent cart with some real wheels on it, a furniture dolly, even with a handle, will not make you very happy. Also, make sure there is room on the cart for some basic tools, and a spare battery or two. Every year as I am walking back and forth, I see poor kids trying to run from the pits to the field with a battery. It's a long way to try and run with a 12 lb lead brick... Also, as there will be some matches on the schedule where you will not really have time to go back to the pit between matches, you may want a way to power/charge your Classmate.

See you there!!

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Our team tends to enforce a rule that you need to attend 60% of the meeting at least in order to be eligible to go to Atlanta. However, almost everyone on our team does, so we normally end up with around 30.

The unofficial FIRST parade, as I like to call it. You'll probably see at least half the teams walking with you every day to the Georgia Dome (much to the confusion of Atlanta residents). Depending on your hotel, it should take around 5-15 minutes.

Sadly, this is true. Depending on if you're a driver or not there's a shortcut tunnel, but most people still have the walk. And if you're on a field that's on the other side of the door, it can be even longer ><

No, I don't think so. There's so much food just around it's not really worth it.

No. However, there is a lot of places to eat around the pits, so you can dart outside if you need a bite. I always remember this one smoothie stand I must've went to at least five times.


Other notes:
Talk to teams on other fields if you can. Many teams have at least one contact per field for scouting in case they make it to Einstein. It's good to have that information.

The Wrap-Up party is amazing, you may need to prepare yourself for that level of awesome.

Don't forget that this is supposed to be one of the best experiences of the year. Just have fun, and good luck!

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Don't forget an Einstein performance and a lot of time at the wrap up party are mutually exclusive! Knowing 706's robot, this could be an issue.

Usually this is constrained by who CAN go rather than constrained by having too many people that can. At least 10.

I never like to tell anyone they can't go to the Championship if they otherwise could, unless they're a terrible student or bad team member or something (I know of neither occurring?)

I don't think a mile is right, but you should walk for about 10 minutes each way. I like leaving about 7 matches in advance (to give you extra time to gather person xyz who's NEVER in the pit, etc)

I never did, just grabbed some overpriced vendor food. That, or my team's parents brought sandwiches and stuff outside and made them for me and my teammates. Sometimes other team's teammates. :)

Nope, but outside's all good.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

This thread has been a great help to team 2345, as this is also our first year to Atlanta. I was thinking of starting a thread like this, but following the Chief Delphi rule, i searched FIRST. haha. Thanks again to all that posted.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but remember to get a really good night's sleep for the entirety of your stay in Atlanta. Having gone last year and having a complete blast, it's pretty easy to get carried away and want to stay up all night wandering around the hotel hallways, talking to friends and other teams, but you definitely pay for it the day afterward. Championships is probably the most tiring and sometimes nerve-racking event you can attend, but of course it's also the most fun! However, running back and forth between the field and the pits, as well as making last minute tweaks in between is no fun when you're running on 2 hours of sleep :p

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

For the subject of meals, my team has found it is just better to eat a breakfast at the hotel... assuming they have one... lunches in the commons (correct term for it?) for they have a few different snack and commercial vendors out there... and dinner at the Omni Complex.

Lunch is the tricky buisness as you pointed out. Being busy all of the days, we have found it best to go during one of the few, brief, points of convenience to go out to the commons, or run over to the Omni Food Court.


There is another question I would like to bring up. What is being done about the WiFi and other communication problems at Atlanta? Ignoring the abyssmal issues at the Israeli Reigonal... it still takes around seven to nine minutes on average to turn the field around! Despite having four feilds, I am afraid that Atlanta will have enormous delays.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

I think that is the reason that the beginning of qualification rounds have been moved up to Thursday evening.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

:) Thanks, we are very excited.

Mr. B, our hotel is four blocks away so we can walk.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

One caution about the CNN food court, it is very crowded. Wait for food takes a while, try 30 minutes for food on Thursday at multiple places. My team opted for a couple of moms to get some food at supermarkets and eat in the parking lot. It takes a bit more organization, but there was no wait and didn't cost a lot. Food at hotel is good and we had dinner at restaurants next to our hotel (we stayed 15 mins away from the Dome in a lower costing hotel).

Good luck guys!

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

If you're near MARTA's Peachtree station, there's a food court in there. Marriott Marquis has a direct bridge, if you can find it.

Typical food when I went: Breakfast: at the hotel, CNN Center, or the above-mentioned food court, depending where we stayed (airport-type hotels have breakfast; downtown-type ones typically don't). Lunch: grab something from one of the stands. Dinner: CNN Center.

Transit: if you're near the airport, take the hotel's airport shuttle and take MARTA from the airport. If you're downtown, just walk. Unless, of course, you're carrying a lot of stuff in heavy boxes--then you try taking MARTA.

Oh, and never trust the FRC schedule. It's an hour or more "optimistic" as to when the elims/awards end.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

This, however, does not mean you can't have awesome hallway parties at night with other teams. Those are encouraged.

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Only on Saturday...

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Unless you're comparing scouting data with them... :P

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Go to the Atriam Level, walk past the sports bar into the hallway with the glass dome halfway down, right before it, hang a left walk down that hallway and the elevators in the Marquis 1 building, turn right, go across the bridge and your at the Peachtree Center.

You can also get there from the Hilton and Haytt to the foodcourt without going outdoors.

hallway parties are fun!

Re: Never been to championship before got questions
 

Not quite. You need to walk from the outside of the Hilton lobby to the parking garage across the street to enter the skywalk that connects to the Peachtree Center.