Peoples Feelings on Atlanta's Nationals(like as many people to respond as possible)

[dan 322]

Originally Posted by Natchez

Sean, you are a teacher? Students, as Sean indicated, this is a great lesson learned, "When you are using the written word, you must be VERY careful because it's more dangerous than a loaded gun!"

Houston has no demilitarized zones and there are no tanks or GIs patrolling my neighborhood streets. If you are in Houston, please contact me and I'll be happy to show you around a great city!

I've had enough of the Houston bashing, it's time to start defending my demilitarized zone,
Lucien

P.S. Again, congratulations Atlanta for putting on a great Championship!

Food and party was much better than in Houston. I think the party was even better than Epcot party's at Disney in the past. Overall I give Atlanta a two thumbs up. Still room for improvement, but that's expected in anything and anywhere.

[Sean Schuff]

Originally Posted by Natchez

Sean, you are a teacher? Students, as Sean indicated, this is a great lesson learned, "When you are using the written word, you must be VERY careful because it's more dangerous than a loaded gun!"

Houston has no demilitarized zones and there are no tanks or GIs patrolling my neighborhood streets. If you are in Houston, please contact me and I'll be happy to show you around a great city!

I've had enough of the Houston bashing, it's time to start defending my demilitarized zone,
Lucien

Sorry, Lucien! I wasn't trying to bash Houston. I just didn't feel as safe around Reliant Park as I did on Disney property in Orlando. Of course, there aren't many places in our country, or the world for that matter, that are as safe as Disney.

The smart aleck side of me wants to point out that my reference to that portion of Houston around Reliant Park as a DMZ was a simile, and not a direct reference to any particular piece of real estate in Houston that was, in fact, demilitarized. The nice guy in me realizes that words can be harsh and I went a bit far in my analysis of Houston.

I'm sure Houston has a kinder, gentler side and I'd like to see it someday.

Sean

[Marc P.]

I have been to 4 national championships over the past 5 years, and as many have already said, there are ups and downs of any venue. I'll start like this:

Epcot-

Probably the best fundamental place to hold a robotics championship. Epcot is supposed to be a showcase of technology and potential future applications of technology to improve quality of life. As many have said, it's one of the safest places you can turn thousands of teenagers loose and not worry about very much trouble.

Logistically though, I feel FIRST has outgrown it's homeland. I remember in 2000, before divisions were created, we rotated fields every match. Seating wasn't too much of a problem, as teams had to shift from field to field to follow their team, so it seemed more people were up and walking than sitting, which made things very comfortable. I didn't get the opportunity to attend 2001, but in 2002 it seemed much more crowded. Teams would pick out sections of bleacher and sit, waiting for their team to come up, not moving much otherwise. It seemed very tight, and very difficult to find seating to watch matches. Maybe it was because there were 3 fields in the same relatively small tent, but there really wasn't much room to breathe. True, the tents were air conditioned, which was nice and freezing cold in the morning, but I remember at one point, the air conditioners broke down, and it instantly became an oven.

The parties in Epcot were always fun, with decent food, and of course, all the ammenities Epcot has to offer (exhibits and the like). Overall though, Disney was good times.

Houston-

I was a referee on Curie for Houston, so I didn't have a team to hang around, but as an individual I didn't think it was bad. It was my first time traveling by myself, and that made for a very interesting experience. I met a lot of great people, like Ken L, and the volunteer food wasn't bad at all. I can't speak for the facility's food, since I didn't get a chance to sample it. My main dislike were the same as many- the mile trek from the pits to the fields, which was probably about the same as it was in Atlanta, except there were ramps instead of escalators, and robots had to go the same way, up all those ramps. Given the proximity of hotels this year, the whole bus thing seemed a bit of a pain, although that wasn't much differant from Disney anyway. The team party I have mixed feelings about. I don't think a standard theme park makes for a good party place, especially when it's still open to the public. Of course, rides are fun, but it doesn't have the same atmosphere somewhere like Epcot or Centenial Park has, where you can meet with other teams and talk for a while.

Atlanta-

I was back with my team for the Georgia Dome. Overall, the venue was pretty good. Plenty of seating for each division (except for the finals, it seemed a little tight for everyone to be gathered around one field.) The walk from pits to stands was pretty long, but the escalators helped quite a bit. As someone else mentioned, plenty of room for random teenage activities- hacking, frisbee, etc. And I really can't complain about the food. Stadium food has a reputation for being particularly bad, but I really didn't find anything I couldn't stomach in the dome. Nice thing was, if you didn't like one thing, there were 4 or 5 other places you could try, not to mention the close by CNN center and easily accessible Starbucks.

Personally, I think this year's team party was one of the best I've ever been to. The food was excellent, considering the preportion of people they had to feed. The activities were great- laser tag, hypnotist, fireworks, the inflatable bounce-around things, hacking, frisbee, and of course, socializing. The park had a very friendly atmosphere, and I felt it really stimulated much team bonding. I saw many students actively taking on mentors in the obstacle course, the jousting thing, and the novelty boxing. To respond to someone who said FIRST should get one big name act- I'll respectfully disagree, and say I doubt you'll be able to find any one act everyone in FIRST will enjoy. The amount of people involved surely represent a very diverse interest, especially concerning music. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to have an artist or two come to perform, but I hope they'll have other options open for the people with differant tastes, like they did this year.

There's my shilling and a half, for what it's worth. Here's hoping that FIRST puts on a great event next year! And of course, thanks to FIRST for all they've done so far!!

[Aaron]

The venue was great and the pits were better organized than Houston. The team party was really great too, but ended way too early!

[Natchez]

Ahhhhh, I see defending Houston will be a 24-hour-a-day job

Originally Posted by JosephM

Overall, I liked it better than Houston

Joseph, that goes without saying after this quote last year.

Originally Posted by JosephM

I'm never going to believe a press release scenario until I see it with my eyes. I personal don't' like Houston and would rather go anywhere else. That's my opinion.

Also,

Originally Posted by JosephM

Disney's business was to entertain and handle people, Houston didn't have much experence in that ...

*The world's largest rodeo where 1.9 million people attended this year and over $100 million went to scholarships, graduate assistantships, endowments and grants.
*The Superbowl
*NFL, NBA, & MLB teams
*Brand new METRO Rail with tens of thousands of hotel rooms within a block of the rail
*Shell Houston Open PGA Tournament with over $5.2 million in charitable donations which ranks 2nd on the PGA tour behind our friends hosting the Byron Nelson in Dallas
*4th largest city in America

Yes, Joseph, we have proven that we can handle and entertain people; and yes, FIRST does listen to all of your comments made on CD; and yes, your comments do have a reflection on your team.

Again, congratulations Atlanta for putting on a great Championship,
Lucien

[misterfoo]

Originally Posted by UCGL_Guy

I probably shouldn't but here goes-
Basically atlanta was a really bad choice
Between the panhandlers and the drug deals to the charges for transportation to the crappy hotels to the less than good food, this was the worst experience I have ever had at a FIRST competition.
No parking or in and out parking - paid $48 to park 1 night -
Loooooooong walks
load in and out was a joke
not organization at all.
Atlanta sold FIRST a bill of goods
Can you tell I wasn't happy.

KY

I'll bet you stayed at the "Super 8 Hotel". This was the worse dump I have ever been in.

I also agree that the panhandlers were a constant bother..you could not get to the CNN center without being hit up several times..this is real bad..not a first issue, but the chamber of commerce or mayor of Atlanta needs a few letters..

Load in was horrendous. We had a first volunteer get militant with us on Wed night, telling us that we could not get info on the load-in because it would give us an unfair advantage...huh? I am sure that the freight elevator location and info was a major part in us coming in Second in Newton finals..
;-)

But I think my experience would have been better If we had been at the Omni hotel or the embassy suites..less walking and staying off the streets for panhandlers..

[ngreen]

Natchez,

The truth is I loved Houston and would love to go back. People on this forum will always use past events to compare current events and in that manner Houston will always have a black marks of sorts.

You've got to look at what the places we have been built for. Disney is built to handle thousands of kids who are tourists. It has that safe feeling. Disney spoiled FIRST for several years. But I gets the impression that some people hold Epcot as a perfect unattainable goal. They compare everything with epcot and say everything else doesn't live up to it. I've only been involved for two years now so I can really say but I've got my impression that epcot had it's share of problems.

The second place is Atlanta. Everything was built specifically for the Olympics. So they built it so it would be really nice, lot a hotel rooms adn restaurants in a walking distance, and have a lot of space in the GWCC and Georgia Dome. Being downtown had a intimate feeling for FIRST.

Last you've got Houston. I love the facility. I loved the pit set-up in Houston a lot more. I even enjoyed running up and down those ramps (I thought it was exciting to be coming up when someone who had just won their match (or at least was spirited) was coming down. I loved six flags and Heeeyyy. People just never gave Houston a chance. I thought it was a blast................Okay I lost what I was trying to point out. I've just realized how much I really loved being in Houston. Sure their were slight issues but Atlanta had issues, epcot had issues.


Issues: I guess my biggest issue with Houston was having to eat at the golden corral multiple times because our team can't make decisions about what to eat so they go buffet. Ordering a buffet when your not very hungry isn't worth it. I have yet to go on a robotics trip where a have a warm pool when I get there. I guess it hasn't stopped me from going in. The no longer Radisson Astrodome and the Embassy Suite both had ice cold pools.

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by Natchez

Ahhhhh, I see defending Houston will be a 24-hour-a-day job

Joseph, that goes without saying after this quote last year.

Also,

*The world's largest rodeo where 1.9 million people attended this year and over $100 million went to scholarships, graduate assistantships, endowments and grants.
*The Superbowl
*NFL, NBA, & MLB teams
*Brand new METRO Rail with tens of thousands of hotel rooms within a block of the rail
*Shell Houston Open PGA Tournament with over $5.2 million in charitable donations which ranks 2nd on the PGA tour behind our friends hosting the Byron Nelson in Dallas
*4th largest city in America

Yes, Joseph, we have proven that we can handle and entertain people; and yes, FIRST does listen to all of your comments made on CD; and yes, your comments do have a reflection on your team.

Again, congratulations Atlanta for putting on a great Championship,
Lucien

I understand your defending your city. I'll even defend my original home town of Kokomo, Indiana, but the fact remains that the Houston event had many more "issues" than Atlanta or Epcot. The one thing that we can all appreciate is that things were put together quickly enough that we were able to have a championship in 2003. Even having the event was probably in question for a while.

One thing that kind of bothered me is that the historic Astrodome was conspicuously ill-maintained and appeared to be waiting to be demolished. I consider it historic because, to my knowledge, it was the first indoor stadium of its type built for playing football. Having been to Europe several times, I've seen a lot of the "preserve and restore" mentality of, say, Italy and I like it in contrast to the "throw it all away" mentality of America. I guess that is off-topic, and to my knowledge, the Astrodome is still there. It just looked like it might not be for long.

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Natchez

Ahhhhh, I see defending Houston will be a 24-hour-a-day job

Joseph, that goes without saying after this quote last year.

Also,

*The world's largest rodeo where 1.9 million people attended this year and over $100 million went to scholarships, graduate assistantships, endowments and grants.
*The Superbowl
*NFL, NBA, & MLB teams
*Brand new METRO Rail with tens of thousands of hotel rooms within a block of the rail
*Shell Houston Open PGA Tournament with over $5.2 million in charitable donations which ranks 2nd on the PGA tour behind our friends hosting the Byron Nelson in Dallas
*4th largest city in America

Yes, Joseph, we have proven that we can handle and entertain people; and yes, FIRST does listen to all of your comments made on CD; and yes, your comments do have a reflection on your team.

Again, congratulations Atlanta for putting on a great Championship,
Lucien

Knew that was going to come up. But in order to be gracious and professional, maybe we should discuss this more in Emil and PM. Now, back to our regularly scheduled post...

The Superbowl, METRO, and the rodeo happened THIS year, not last. As someone who as grown up in a city, I can say that much can change over one year. I still stand by my stains that Houston has and is designed as a CITY, a place where people come to do work, eat lunch, and then go home, just like Atlanta. Disney moved people like crazy. Wanted to go back to the hotel to get something? There were busses and even more busses. At Houston, you had a small 3 hour window in the morning and evening to go back to the hotel. Not only to say that my comments were taken out of context, that I wanted to SEE Houston before I jump on the 'YAY! MY HOMETOWN IS HOSTING CHAMPS! IT WILL BE GREAT" bandwagon. Notice the date? Yeah, it was 4 months before Champs. I offered my opinions and you can take them or leave them.

I know my comments reflect my team, as do yours. I don't know why you have to 'defend' Houston, just as if Richmond held the Champs and it didn't do as well as the previous year that I would defend it. Separate hometown pride and FIRST. Sure, Disney wasn't the greatest, I'll be the first to say that, but for moving people and having them entertained, I'd take Disney over Houston or Atlanta, or even Richmond, ANY day due to the fact that it can handle and entertain people better and they don't have to reinvent the wheel every year.

PS, We have one person on our team from Houston, so we knew the in's and out's of the place.

If you want to continue this debate, send me a PM or Emil me at josephm1314@yahoo.com . I'd love to continue it, but I don't think that the people on CD want to continue to hear it.

Joe Matt

[Cory]

I liked Atlanta a lot. A lot of people are complaining about the homeless, but they really didnt bother me. Living near San Francisco my whole life, I'm used to much more aggressive homeless people doing a lot of drugs.

Our hotel was really great. Kudos to FIRST for getting deals with all these nice hotels, at good distances from the venue.

The venue was good. The setup of the venue wasnt the greatest. Pit aisles could stand to be widened a few feet. It was darn near impossible to get through some of them throughout the day. I thought pit size was pretty good, but maybe a tad smaller than the standard 10 feet.

The walk from the pits to the field with the robot was good. The security people there were a little overzealous in their quest to turn back people without badges, but you can't really blame them.

The walk from the pits to the dome was WAY too long. There has to be a more direct route. I know there were stairs, but the escalators delayed everything. you would have to leave the dome almost 30-40 minutes before your match started if you were a member of the drive team.

Food in the dome, while overpriced was not that bad. Had you gone to an Atlanta Falcons game, the food would have costed much more than what we paid. Quality of the food was not top notch, but at least there was a fair selection. I see all these people complaining about food prices, but then at the competition I saw all these people trying to get rid of their extra meal coupons on Saturday, so I'm not really sure where the complaint is.

Was I the only one that discovered "Food World" on the lower level of the GWCC? Good, cheap food

The Einstein sound system "leaked" into the Galileo and Curie fields during FLL. Not the end of the world, but a little annoying. Kind of unavoidable.

The upper decks above Einstein should have been opened during the finals. I know the second one was, but during the awards/finals, people were stretched all the way from Curie to Galileo.

The Team party was awesome. I didn't do any of the games and stuff, but it sure looked like there was a lot of cool stuff to do, and I had a bunch of fun.

Overall, not much to complain about beyond the walk from the pits to the stands. I will look forward to an even better competition next year

Cory