Will nationals ever be back in Disney?

[Stephen Kowski]

man im tired of driving.....bring it to tampa....we got the ice palace (oops, now the st. Pete times forum)....beaches are less than an hour away....ybor city for all the adult mentors....come on do the right thing here and save me some gas $$

mainly im just tired of driving all over the southeast.....which includes orlando ($%#* I-4 what a terrible road)

[Ryan Albright]

Originally Posted by Stephen Kowski

man im tired of driving.....bring it to tampa....we got the ice palace (oops, now the st. Pete times forum)....beaches are less than an hour away....ybor city for all the adult mentors....come on do the right thing here and save me some gas $$

mainly im just tired of driving all over the southeast.....which includes orlando ($%#* I-4 what a terrible road)

No one likes a cry baby, plus the only thing good in tampa is the hard rock casino......wait on second thought BRING IT TO TAMPA

[Justin]

I think that Nationals at Disney were pretty cool. Maybe because I don't know anything else since I haven't been to any of the other nationals but most of the stories I've heard seem to indicate that logistically Nationals @ Disney worked out better. Frankly I'm not sure that we've ever heard the full story as to why FIRST and Disney parted ways and likely never will. All I know is I have some great memories from some of the Disney Nationals. I think I speak to everyone who ever attended nationals there when I say...say it with me...

"Please stand clear of the doors. Por Favor Metengan se alijados de las puertas." (sorry if I botched the Spanish spelling.)

Justin

[Donut]

I wasn't at Nationals in Disney, but it seems like Disney would be too big a distraction, especially for some of the kids on our team.

The Nationals in Atlanat was great, lots of close hotels and a pit area that wasn't really that crowded. My only question is why does it need to be there 3 times in a row (that's the current plan)? FIRST should try to work out a deal between two places for Nationals a good distance apart and alternate between them every year.

[KenWittlief]

Arnt we getting a little national-ecentric here? what about a championship in Toronto?

Tokyo?

London?

Singapore?

BTW, one great thing about the field being outdoors at WDW - The Xcats handed out buttons to people in the parks, inviting them to come see the FIRST matches

the buttons said

"There are 298 robots outside

and they want to SEE YOU!"

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

Arnt we getting a little national-ecentric here? what about a championship in Toronto?

Tokyo?

London?

Singapore?

BTW, one great thing about the field being outdoors at WDW - The Xcats handed out buttons to people in the parks, inviting them to come see the FIRST matches

the buttons said

"There are 298 robots outside

and they want to SEE YOU!"

We still have some of those buttons.

[Rombus]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

"There are 298 robots outside

and they want to SEE YOU!"

I think we need some serious national exposure! Think about having first televised on a major network? Heck, the current biggest craze on tv is watching people PLAY CARDS, Personally robots are much more intresting!

Im partial to Disney as a location since my parents are DVC memebers

[Kris Verdeyen]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

..."There are 298 robots outside

and they want to SEE YOU!"

Awesome.

So, the wrap party in olympic park was a lot of fun - better than Houston, I have to admit.

I would still like to see the Championship back here in the HOU one more time, baby. I think that these Texans would put on a great show given the time to do it. Reliant was every bit of the arena that the GA dome is, and (even though I liked the Astrodome), the pits could be put into the Reliant Center, a more modern, less cavernous, and better lit facility that has its floor at ground level, and is just as close.

Disney was great, too, of course. I went there for two years, and had a great time on and off the field.

In fact, I can't remember a FIRST competition I've gone to that I haven't had a great time. Hmmm - maybe it doesn't matter where it is.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Rombus

I think we need some serious national exposure! Think about having first televised on a major network?

Kinda like when CNN was doing their reports to footage of nats in the dome last year?

[sven]

My only complante for Atlanta was that the funnest thing my team could come up with was going to the underground(I will die happy NEVER having to go back there) and see how many wanabe bum rappers you could get to follow you at one time.

The end party was very cool though

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Not2B

Been to EPCOT parking lot.
Been to the ATL, baby!

Atlanta was really nice. And the town, as far as I could tell, really went out of their way to be robot-friendly. The arena was great. Weather was nice.

The weather WAS nice last year--during the Championship. I returned to Atlanta with my family 2 weeks later, and on Saturday night the weather was WILD. Lightning, thunder, and rain blowing sideways in sheets! I was forewarned by a team member who had lived in Atlanta, but it was still amazing to see such a storm. I can only imagine what a team party in Centennial Park would be like under those conditions.

[Dan Richardson]

I remember disney and I miss it :-( Mainly because it was practically in my back yard, second because of the social. I mean sure AstroWorld is fun and atlanta was cool too, but really All of Epcot was ours. That was awesome!

Nationals hasn't grown too much since the last of the Disney nationals FIRST has grown but the number of attendees isn't that much more if I remember correctly. Rumor has it disney wants it back and it seems like it would be fun.

As far as Wild World of Sports, Rumor also has it that there may be off season competitions scheduled there sometime in the future if things work out. ( But you sure as heck didn't hear that from me :-) )

Dan

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Rombus

I think we need some serious national exposure! Think about having first televised on a major network? Heck, the current biggest craze on tv is watching people PLAY CARDS, Personally robots are much more intresting!

Im partial to Disney as a location since my parents are DVC memebers

We have videos of ESPN coverage of the championship back in the mid 90's. It would be nice if FIRST got national coverage but it obviously would not get the full 8 hour coverage people crave so perhaps it's best we get the webcasts.

FIRST outgrew Disney....Disney really didn't want us there unless you wanted to pay some ridiculous costs (As we joked, "Disney Inflation")..it was time to move on.

The #1 reason (my opinion) that Atlanta was the choice is because Atlanta's primary airport is one of the busiest in the nation...ive seen flights through Orbitz to fly round trip from Indianapolis to Atlanta for $155. Flights are cheaper, hotels are cheaper (well depending on where you stay of course)....


Anyway, FIRST is under contract with the GA Dome 1 more year after this year...and who knows about an extension

[Meredith343MiM]

The nationals are in Atlanta untill my senior year and quite frankly i'm immensely happy about it. It's only about an hour and a half away from where our team is located (far enough to stay in a hotel but not some crazy long drive home) (This isn't true for most teams though unfortunately) The venue in Atlanta is really great... and I honestly don't believe it's short of things to do. There's plenty of places to go and things to see!
Disney was great though, despite the nasty hot stickiness. The only time you could ever "cool-off" was in the pits. And even there... it was rather stuffy. Houston was... a long 20 hour bus drive and a crazy long walk to and from the pits to the playing field... besides that... it was fun. All in all, FIRST is robotics and no matter the venue I'll still participate. I'll still love it. I'll still get that wonderful feeling inside when my teams robot is on the field and i hear the lovely sounds of hundreds of people clapping and cheering.