Houston or EPCOT?

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally posted by Aaron Knight
Before I start, here's a disclaimer: a)this is my first year having gone to nationals, b)I am a native of Texas, and c) our team was NOT on the FIRST plan for stuff....

I hope you have the chance to experience a Championship at Epcot. If you you do, it is very likely that you will find, as most of us do, that there is no comparison in the overall experience between an event at Epcot and the one in Houston. The event at Epcot just has an atmosphere and color that would be hard to come up with anywhere else in the world.

I have been to seven Championships at Epcot, and while there was more of a thrill to the non-competition aspects of the first one than the seventh, it continued to be a place where students and adults alike could have good, worry-free fun. If you stay in the "All Star" hotels, there are swimming pools, arcades, snacks, and interteam comraderia available right there. Probably a majority of the teams stay at All Star Sports/Music/Movies which are within walking distance of each other. Having lots of teams together just adds to the FIRST experience, beyond the competition itself.

There is transportation between the parks and hotels any time the parks are open. The food which comes with the team packages, while not great, is certainly ok. You have a number of choices, and get a desert with each lunch. If you have the time, you can use the meal tickets at some of the eateries at Epcot and the other WDW parks.

I am not a Disney emplyee, nor do I own Disney stock. It has just been my experience that WDW is a great place for an event like the FIRST Championship, and it is unlikely that anything can be done with two sports stadiums, hotels scattered around a city, and a substandard amusement park that can provide an experience as good. I do not intend to fault FIRST for the job they did in organizing the recent Championship. They had to put the event together in a short period of time, and under the circumstances, did the best they could.