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Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 10/18/2000 6:03 PM MST


In Reply to: Here Is A Far Out Idea posted by Bill Beatty on 10/18/2000 8:58 AM MST:



This post is much longer than I had originally planned when starting to write it, but please bear with me...

As people have probably noticed in the past, I'm all in favor of keeping the competition on site at Disney, for various reasons. And while the first two years I was at nationals, I did enjoy the time spent out in the park, last year I worked so closely on the scouting system all weekend that the only time I was able to venture into the park outside of the wrap party was for a short time on Friday night, then Sunday, when my team hit Typhoon Lagoon. Even so, I think that it is in the best interest of all involved(us, FIRST, Disney, and all those who don't yet know about FIRST) to keep the competition where it is...now for the comments on Bill's post to explain why I think this...

: How about moving the competition to a nearby indoor stadium. I would rather have a comfortable, good viewing arrangement at the expense of convenience for accessibility to the park. A pit tent and some auxiliary tents would be required, but all the viewing could be in the stadium or in air-conditioned tents with the semis and finals and awards in the stadium.

The question is, how many places would allow the type of setup that Disney sets up out in their parking lot? If you consider all that is involved(some of which is not necessarily needed, such as the carpeting), from the tents themselves, to the audio/visual equipment, to the electrical supply and air conditioning equipment, as well as the security necessary to protect all this equipment at night as well as the weeks before the event while it is being set up, what other location would allow us(or in this case, Disney & FIRST) to take up such a large portion of their parking lot to set up this equipment weeks in advance?

: Disney could apply their resources to the people moving problem instead of building a million dollar outdoor arena.

Even with the massive number of busses that Disney operates on a daily basis, I see transporting us from Disney to an off site arena being a problem. One of the nice things about being on Disney property for both the lodging and the competition is the fact that if something was left behind in a hotel room, just hop on the next bus from EPCOT back to your hotel, get what you need, then hop on a bus back. If we were to move off site for the competition, the transportation schedule is almost guaranteed to not be nearly as convenient as it is now.

: The competition should take precedence over the park.

While I think that for just about all of us, even through the complaints we have about the setup of the competition at Disney, deep down enjoy it, the question still remains: is the fact that we are at Disney solely for us? Putting aside all the facts about what Disney provides for us directly in our hotel package and the setup at the arena, what about the publicity FIRST is getting thanks to its location? I became aware of this my very first year with the competition, when I decided to be our team's mascot(if anybody that was around in '98 remembers the tall guy wandering around in the long black robe & hood, that was me.) I was in full costume and headed over to the Liberty Inn @ EPCOT for lunch one day, and took the boat across the 'lake.' On the way, I got to talking with a few people sitting on the boat who asked me about the various buttons that i was wearing(somehow, they overlooked the fact that I was dressed like it was Halloween =) Anyway, they seemed genuinely interested in the competition, and said they might stop by on their way out of EPCOT for the day. Now, whether they did or not I can't tell you, but the exposure that FIRST gets by having the competition where they do is most likely greater than any of us imagine. Yes, we are the largest event Disney hosts, but how do our numbers compare to the thousands of other guests they have during the 3 days of the competition? Out of those thousands, how many actually take the initiative to stop in and see what is going on in the massive tents outside EPCOT? Of those that don't stop, how many see it in the event calendars that Disney hands out and make an effort to find out more information later? Or, how many are watching the news when they get back home and see footage of the competition and think, 'hey, so that's what that was...maybe I should see if there are any schools around here involved with that?'

With all that said, yes, I realize the heat can be a problem at times(I definitely know I realized that when I was in costume back in '98.) However, I don't feel that a move is the way to solve the problem, for many more reasons than just the convenient access to the park at the end of the day...

Nate