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I honestly wish the Champs moved back to EPCOT. The Spirit of FIRST and the spirit of EPCOT go hand in hand. To be in that place competing in Robotics would be really awesome.

(Plus I'm a Disney Freek so having my two favorite things together (FIRST and Disney World) would be awesome!)

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We were a different team back then but it was a great memory. The trouble was when most of the team would leave for site seeing and leave us under manned in the pits or in the evening a few mentors would go to pleasure island and party when they should be watching the students. We enjoyed the intimacy of the games and other teams you could hang with. It was great for the Friday party to go into Epcott after everyone else left and have food, music and some of the rides were only open for FIRST teams. I remember after not making it into the finals we would climb on our robot and race other teams up and down the tent isle. At one time we could go out side and watch a rocket from NASA launch. What great memories but I think it was good to move on to different venues.

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If you miss Florida you can always come to the Florida Regional!!!

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I find that this is a better solution.

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I remember the Florida days with many fond memories. If you stayed on property, the transportation was free, didn't like the meal choices, run into the park. If you had a long wait for the next match, go on a ride. More people came in "off the street" to see what was going on. What about stopping competition to go out and witness a Nasa launch. I also remember the Vice President of Disney/Epcot stating "as long as you want to come, we will make a place for you!"

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For the most part WDW is a fantastic place for the FRC. Where else can you host 15,000 high school students with very little concern for their safety? There is a huge selection of lodging and the Disney transportation is superb. There are many things to do and see, and many teams came a day or two early to enjoy them.

There are two major problems with WDW. The high cost to the teams and FIRST and the out-of-doors venue for the competition. I would think that both of these are solvable. The competition could be moved into a stadium in Orlando. The Disney transportation system would have no problem moving the 20,000 folks each day. The packages could have options that did not include the four day hopper pass which pushed the lodging costs even higher. Also teams could have the option of staying in off Disney lodging to reduce costs even further.

Here's hoping that the problems are solved and that the FRC will someday return to WDW.

Mr. Bill

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The issue is Disney won't bus us off property.

As it is they don't provide service to the Military Resort, and thats On Disney property (between the 2 golf courses). In terms off holding the even in EPCOt, yeah its a stretch. But with Wide World of Sports, and the many convention centers throughout the property, it could be done.

As both a Disney Fanatic, and a FIRST member, since I wansn't there, someone want to fill me in on how lodging (hotels Disney put you up in, my moneys on Carribbean beach ) park passes etc. This is more then anything the little DF in me wanting to know :p .

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If I am remembering correctly...You paid to be in one of the Walt Disney Resorts. I do not know which ones were specifically available, but I do know that I stayed in the rainforest/jungle themed version. Included in your cost was a park hopper pass for every day you stayed at the resort and I believe there was some meals included as well. I don't remember the exact cost of the trip, but I do remember it being well above $600 for me to attend (including airfare not including spending money). It was certainly an experience of a lifetime, but I imagine many teams may have an issue constantly meeting that price requirement.

-Brando

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Wow, I wish I could have went to the championships back then... I never saw a FIRST event with fireworks, lasers, and fog machines!

If you click on the image to go to the media page, then click again, it enlarges it a little bit.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img...61fae04f_l.jpg

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You did not have to stay on Disney property, I just think they were all that were offered through the offical packages (which also included the park hopper). We stayed at least one year at a motel next to a 24 hour Waffle House :yikes: , and had a coach bus shuttle us to the park.

Wetzel

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ahhh..... epcot... nice pic, this was my first year in FIRST as well....

Fun times. I miss EPCOT!!!

A lot of us do say we miss EPCOT, I am going to wonder a few years from now once Atlanta has become a distant past, how many will be willing to say the same.

I am not sure I will reach a point to say that, Atlanta was fun, but Disney...

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haha

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I've been avoiding a post because I've repeated myself in so many similar threads. I really think that there is no place on the planet better suited for FIRST than Disney.
The amazing atmosphere, the experience handling large crowds, the walk in traffic from the general public, and the access to media outlets.

FIRST and its members represent a very large collection of very smart people. Any problems could be solved if the right people were dedicated to do so.

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I personally would love to see it back in Disney.

Then again, I'm a Disney nut who plans to major in computer science or engineering so she can work as an imagineer and wants to do the Disney College program in college for at least two semesters and has known she wanted to be an imagineer since she was in the 6th grade

(side story, I never thought I'd be able to do it until I did FIRST, it was just a side dream).

So I might be a little biased :rolleyes:

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Kelsey,
Good luck with your plans. I am sure that anyone would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for you.

There is the unspoken problem with a return to Disney. Convincing them that they won't lose money and that there is some incentive for families of robot teams to attend as well. You will still have issues with teams west of the Mississippi and international folks. Don't forget that Disney had to build us a stadium and stages when we were less than five hundred FRC teams world wide. Now as we approach 2000 FRC teams we have added FLL and FTC world competitions as well. That's a lot of people to handle, house, transport and book. Don't forget that there will be other families just trying to vacation at the same time as you guys in funny T shirts with faces all painted up. You guys are just plain scary!