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Unread 03-12-2001, 18:14
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Madison Madison is offline
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Re: Nationals accomodations, etc

Quote:
Originally posted by Caliostro
Can anyone brief me on the details of Florida accomodations? How many team members have to stay in the EPCOT hotel? Where is the best place to by cheap tickets, and how cheap is cheap (from the pacific NW)? What about renting cars? How many do people realistically need (per X members)? Anyone want to recommend cheap hotels/motels in the area, based on previous years' experiences? Where do people get the Disney World tickets, and if it's all through a FIRST package, how much was it last year? All advice is appreciated.
It sounds to me like you've never been to Walt Disney World

FIRST offers a number of different packages to teams that include both on-site and off-site accomodations.

On-site accomodations are Disney owned and operated hotels, and include the All-Star Resorts and Disney's Pop Century (if construction is finished) Resort, Port Orleans: Riverside, Caribbean Beach Resort, and one other. They are all on Disney property, and the teams have complete access to the Walt Disney World transportation system, which includes monorails, water taxis, and buses. It's free to use, and you can get from any one place on Disney property to any other place - usually very, very quickly.

Off-site hotels are privately owned hotels off of Walt Disney World property that are working with Disney and FIRST under contract to house teams for the competition. They're a bit further from the parks - usually requiring a 15-20 bus trip to get to the competition site. For FIRST, special bus service is provided that doesn't otherwise exist. Again, it's free. Once you're on Walt Disney World property, you may again use their transportation to get around.

Often, teams arrange transportation via coach bus from Orlando International Airport to their accomodations, eliminating the need for rentals cars at all. If you're only planning on visiting Walt Disney World, you rarely need a rental car.

The packages offered by FIRST run ~$425/student for the Value category, on-site hotels. That's the All-Star Resorts and Disney's Pop Century Resort. It's about ~$500 for the Moderate category, which have nicer ammenities, cooler pools, etc. That's the Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach Resort and the other who's name I can't recall.

The off-site hotels are similarly priced.

All FIRST packages include accomodations for 3 or 4 nights, corresponding park entrance media (4 or 5 day Park Hopper passes, which allow students unlimited access to Walt Disney World's 4 theme parks for either 4 or 5 days), as well as a number of meals (6, I think). You also get a commemorative T-shirt.

If you opt to circumvent FIRST's approved packages and book on your own, there are some things you should know.

It is possible to get lower rates than the package provides, especially since tourism has taken a big hit lately. Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World Orlando are currently offering a package with two-nights accomodations and two days worth of admittance to the parks for only $48.75, which is about the price for entrance to a single theme park. So, maybe that'll give you an idea of the deals that are out there.

FIRST, for the first time, is going to apply some sort of surcharge to teams who opt out of the packages, to cover the additional transportation that Disney provides FIRST teams - including those buses that travel to off-site properties. I'm not sure how much that'll cost, and if it'll make booking on your own ineffective.

In any case, teams are always on their own arranging for travel to Orlando. I'm not at all sure of airfare costs from the Northwest down to Florida. From New York City, our airfare is now approximately $150 round trip - down from $300+.

Finally - you really cannot, and should not, buy park admission media from anyone but Disney. Group rates are available, if you book on your own, and will save a good amount of regular retail prices. I think we saved about $60 on each 5 day ticket we purchased last year.

4 day park hopper passes currently go for - $203.52
5 day park hopper - $230.02
5 day park hopper PLUS (includes admission to water parks) - $261.84

Anyway - back to why you shouldn't get them anywhere but from Disney -

The admission tickets are really quite like credit cards (and can be used as such with proper authorization!) They are individualized, and carry all of your personal data and admission options in their magnetic strip. Looking at a ticket, there is absolutely no way to tell if it has been used. The only way to find out how many admissions remain on a ticket is to check at a Disney turnstile at the entrance to the parks. It's a very, very common practice for people to resell expired ticket media to people look for a good deal - and when you get to the parks you're out of luck.

Like I said, there's just no way to know.

That's all I can think of for now. If you've got more questions, fire away
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