New Home for Nationals

[Mark Hamilton]

Originally posted by Judy
Not to mention... Florida's HOT and being from Canada well, we arent too used to that.. the humidity and night heat is just not fun.

An amazing number of canadians seem to willingly come here though. During the winter one sees almost as many cars with canadian tags as Florida tags...maybe your just weird ;p

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally posted by Mark Hamilton
As a resident of Florida I may be biased, but I hope to see FIRST stay at Disney as long as possible. True it is costlier then many other places, but on the other hand it provides a safe enviroment ideal for handling the thousands of students involved with FIRST.

You're not biased, at least as far as I'm concerned. I am seriously considering moving from Indiana to Florida in the near future since I like warm better than cold, and I like beaches and the sea, and I recently accepted an early retirement offer from Delphi in Kokomo.

Regarding FIRST, there are a lot of places that could handle the competition, including former Olympic villages and cities with dome stadiums. Is there really a place as good as Disney, though, to keep 15,000 teenagers entertained and out of trouble in their free time. I doubt it. Also, it is a fun place, even for "old people" like myself.

If you stay on site at Disney, like at the not-terribly-expensive All Star Sports/Music/Movies, you have continuous easy to use transportation to anywhere you need to go. That is not likely to be the case in Lake Placid New York. Also, the early spring weather in Orlando is a refreshing change for most northerners.

I agree that Disney is not the cheapest place in the world, but I suspect that it is among the cheapest places in the US to get to by air. Even Indianapolis has, I think, three airlines running non-stop flights to Orlando. Our tickets were $180 round trip, and that was after the prices went up to near-normal after being cheaper for a time after 9-11.

All things considered, I think Disney is the ideal location for something like the FIRST National, as long as it doesn't get too much bigger than it is now.

[Ben Mitchell]

Hmmm....


But, sooner or later, the choice will have to be made, if FIRST continous to grow, they'll either need:

A. A bigger host place

B. Multiple Nationals

C. a new method of cycling teams into the nats, (powers of 3 ) which is a yucky idea

The question will need an answer, eventually. Just something to think about on the long flight down. (which, sniff, i can't make, sniff)

Good luck to everyone down there, hope y'all have fun!

--Ben Mitchell

[Carolyn Duncan]

Originally posted by Maikettei
I would have to disagree with just going to a place that can hold all of us. I know that the point of Nationals is FIRST driven, but what happens after the competitions with kids who aren't allowed to leave their hotels without an adult? How easy would it be for adults to keep up with us if we are scattered all over certain parts of town? The trip would be miserable for those of us who would have to sit around our hotel rooms all night. Having nationals at a theme park can keep us busy as there are lots of things to do within a contained area. For the most part, Disney is safe. Allowing a huge mass of students to roam parts of a city is kind of a bad idea, IMO.

Have you ever seen the way an athlete's village is layed out? It's great! All of the teams would be staying near each other and would all get to hang out together, much like what already happens in hotels with more than one team occupying and roaming the halls. It wouldn't be like a bunch of kids roaming a city in the way that you are most likeyly thinking; it would be more like a bunch of kids hanging out somewhere like a small isolated village with ways of getting out into the outside world. I hope that makes sense.

[Maikettei]

Originally posted by Carolyn Duncan

Have you ever seen the way an athlete's village is layed out? It's great! All of the teams would be staying near each other and would all get to hang out together, much like what already happens in hotels with more than one team occupying and roaming the halls. It wouldn't be like a bunch of kids roaming a city in the way that you are most likeyly thinking; it would be more like a bunch of kids hanging out somewhere like a small isolated village with ways of getting out into the outside world. I hope that makes sense.

Heh, we've got the same name.

But anyway, what exactly is in an athelete's village? I think it would be more adult oriented and kinda boring. It just doesn't seem like it would be as much fun, or as safe as a theme park. Because there is still really no way to keep everyone inside the village.

[Ben Mitchell]

Whenever they have an Olympics, they need to construct what is called an Atheletes' Village to house and entertain all those atheletes!

It is, in effect, a semi-isolated town within a town or city. Perfect for FIRST, and once they're built, someone needs to use em! (like us)


--Ben Mitchell

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally posted by Ben Mitchell
Whenever they have an Olympics, they need to construct what is called an Atheletes' Village to house and entertain all those atheletes!

What do these Olympic villages have for recreation and entertainment, after the Olympics are over? Is there ongoing stuff at the villages, or would FIRST have to create or "bring in" after hours entertainment if Nationals were held at such a venue?

[Ben Mitchell]

Good question. I'm not sure, but something could probably be rigged up, and also the local city would have at least some attractions

Anyone know for sure?

[rees2001]

I like Nat's in 1 spot for many reasons but... if you wanted to go out west, there's a small town called Las Vegas that has TONS of hotels, convention centers & attractions. Maybe somebody who live here or has actually visited there could tell me. All I know from what I've been told is LV has cheap flights, cheap hotels, & a ton of cool stuff to do.
Biggest concern, a few thousand kids in a city like that.

[Tom Fairchild]

Olympic villages are pretty much dead after the olympics, I'm almost sure. They're dorms at Georgia Tech now and also at Georgia State University. There are parks and statues etc. around the area, but nothing of an entertainment aspect from the villages themselves. The rest of Atlanta is fun though.

~Tom Fairchild~

[Maikettei]

Originally posted by rees2001
there's a small town called Las Vegas that has TONS of hotels, convention centers & attractions.

Biggest concern, a few thousand kids in a city like that.

Now THAT is a good idea... though like you said there is still a major question of safety...

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally posted by rees2001
I like Nat's in 1 spot for many reasons but... if you wanted to go out west, there's a small town called Las Vegas that has TONS of hotels, convention centers & attractions. Maybe somebody who live here or has actually visited there could tell me. All I know from what I've been told is LV has cheap flights, cheap hotels, & a ton of cool stuff to do.
Biggest concern, a few thousand kids in a city like that.

I've been to LV three times, most recently about five years ago. There are a lot of hotels and are cheap flights from almost everywhere. There is also a lot to do, but some of it might not be considered appropriate for a school trip.

I am not into gambling, but enjoy walking up and down the strip people watching and going into the hotel/casinos to see what they look like. Many of the places are really cool, with almost Disney-like themes and decor.

[Team238-aholic]

I think we can all agree that too many teams (and ones that prefrom very poorly, dragging other teams down) is a BAD thing.

That has to be one of the meanest things I have ever heard....being on one of the "performing poorly" teams for some of the years I was in high school, that hurts....Its all about gracious professionalism and helping eachother out.....

As for nationals being held at 2 places...one for each side of the country...i don't like that idea either....its all about making friends and having a good time...I mean my team is from NH and some of my best friends I have made in FIRST are from Arizona (Team 60, Shane, Casey, Joe....hehehe etc) sooooooo keep it in Florida...ITS FUN!

[Jason_384]

Well from what I've seen most of the people have been reccomending places because they are a place near there home. I think that there should be ONE national and that place should change or at least try and go away from disney for one year. We may find that Disney is a great place that we sorta take for granted. I agree with what C said by goin to the olympic vilages! Thats a GREAT Idea.

The only problem I see with that is How are we going to rent out the places for first? These are just things we should think about and that we should really consider!

Well...Just my 2 centz! cya


Jason-=- Team 384

[Joe Matt]

Jason, Jason, Jason.

We can't leave Disney. That would be imposible. Dean and Disney are all of one. The Segway was introduced on ABC, a company of Disnney. It is now at Innoventions at Epcot. No matter what we say, we will be at Disney. Don't even try to leave there. Plus, were probably under contract.