Will nationals ever be back in Disney?

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck

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)....

Due to recent Delta actions, Atlanta is the World's largest hub, so airline prices should be good. Atlanta has a nice setup with the convention center, the Georgia Dome, and Omni all in the same location. It has escalators which is much better than the endless series of ramps in Houston.

However, I still miss Disney. The down time (aka the time after they kick you out of the pits) was much more fun. The mentors could simply let the students roam free inside the parks without worrying about their safety. The same can't be said about our area of Atlanta, or for any major city that might host the Championship. The CNN center connected to the Omni is fun, but its not Disney. In Disney, our team rented villas (Disney didn't like that) so curfew was no big deal like it is in a hotel.

I think Disney didn't like the timing of Nationals, because it coincides with one of their busy seasons. They would value Nats more if it brought 16,000 people in when they weren’t already busy.

[Amanda Aldridge]

Originally Posted by Collin Fultz

Plus it was outside, and while there never was rain while I was there I'd hate to see what happened when it was.

Lucky you. We had monsoon-like rains one year (either 01 or 02) - it rained like heck all day, and the floating floor in the tents was, well, floating. Disney was great, and some of my best FIRST memories happened there, but I think I must concur with the others who say it will probably never come back, for the same reasons everyone else has already mentioned.

[mtaman02]

I went to Epcot in 2002 and it was not only a cool area to have the nationals, but it made a great trip for the seniors who were on the team that graduated that year. Sadly like many posts, Disney is too small for FIRST let alone the discount packages would not be that great. FIRST wants to have everyone participate in the nationals but since there are too many teams FIRST can only have (X) amount of teams to go including the Regional and Certain Award Winners.

Personally what FIRST shoud do is restructure the championship event into 2 smaller championships. A western and eastern championship - that way more teams can play or so I hope. The down fall is it will cost more.

After that the winning teams can go to a main championship with maybe a few more teams or whatever regional winners are left that haven't played, and they all battle it out for the National title.

Like I said key points are venues, funding, team approval, and after hours things to do.

The only way FIRST will go back to WDW is if either WDW grows or FIRST shrinks. =(

[KenWittlief]

The championship at WDW was one of the phases that FIRST went through as it grew.

Im sure people who attended the original competition in the 1st year of FIRST think it was something special

and the 1st time the championship was held at WDW, that had to be an awesome experience

FIRST is growing and evolving, we cant go back anymore than I can do to my HS prom again, or my freshman year of college again. Some things are a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Im certain FIRST will continue to present outstanding experiences for everyone involved. Remember the 1st regional you attended? does anything compair with that?

We dont need WDW or any other organization to make FIRST special. We ARE FIRST

we make it what it is.

Onward and Upward :^)

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

I went to championships at WDW twice, and it was great

but I think we have outgrown this aspect of FIRST and there is no going back.

To be honest, it was a bit of a sticking point, asking companies to sponsor teams, when a big part of the budget was sending 20 to 60 students and adults to Disney World for 5 days

when you pitched FIRST to a potential new sponsor, that part of it was a bit awkward.

The way the championship is now is, well... pure FIRST and nothing else

but to be honest, I miss those days - it was magic.

Although I've never seen a FIRST championship (and understand its growing pains), I think WDW can accomodate the championship in one way or another (as being a one-time honorary Disney castmember as a member of my school's marching band and orchestra). We could always advocate that Disney build a new stadium exclusively for FIRST there, perhaps in Downtown Disney (which recently opened) or Coronado Springs.

If we can't go to WDW, it's cool, but if we can, it will be an excellent plus.

[Wetzel]

If FIRST ever goes back to Disney, it will be to goto the Wide World of Sports. WWS is a beautiful facility that would be great to hold the Championship at. However, I think it will be a few years before it becomes possible for FIRST to go there.

There is a bidding process for the location of the championship venue, similar to how the Olympics are figured. Cities and venues are courting FIRST to come to their location, I think that is a good thing.


Wetzel

[dangerousdave]

While our team is happy to have the National's in our area we certainly understand others wanting them near their home. Here is some Georgia Dome news that just appeared in the Atlanta newspaper today.

"Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank plans to invest up to $150 million in the state-owned Georgia Dome. While a big reason is to help the city land the Super Bowl all who use the dome will benefit. Mr. Blank said "But the reality is that if we don't get the bid, this is the right thing to do for Atlanta and our community."

While these improvements will not be immediate they will help the GA Dome stay a state of the art facility to help keep up with the needs of First Robotics. At least 70% of the income for the GA Dome comes from the Falcons so it is very likely that Mr. Blank's needs will be addressed.

Also, late this year Atlanta's new aquarium will open. This should help address the concerns about things to do in downtown Atlanta.
Thanks to a generous gift from Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, the Georgia Aquarium will be one of the largest and most exciting aquariums in the world, featuring more than 55,000 animals from 500 different species in over 5 million gallons of water. The Georgia Aquarium is located in downtown Atlanta, next to the new World of Coca-Cola, and across the street from CNN Center, the Georgia World Congress Center, Centennial Olympic Park and Imagine It! Atlanta’s Children’s Museum.

Some facts from the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau

Atlanta is 1st in:

Fastest Growing Online City
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings 2003

Airport for non-stop service to United States Destinations
Source: Back Aviation Solutions and OSG, 2003

Airport in Number of Passengers
Source: The Atlanta Journal Constitution, February 16, 2005

America’s Hottest 50 Cities
Source: Expansion Magazine, January, 2004

Most Affordable Market
Source: Business Week, Jan. 3, 2005

Technology Accessible (2nd)
Source: Popular Science, 2005

Georgia Dome - the largest cable-supported domed stadium in North America

Convention information for 2004

3,041,387 Convention attendance
92,359 hotel rooms at 745 properties
more shopping center space per capita than any other U.S. city except Chicago

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
80 percent of the U.S. population is within a two-hour flight of Atlanta

See everyone at the GA Dome next month!

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by Tytus Gerrish

Epcot was horrible for nationals. the Field is outside. the turf got wet, the ac Couldn't handle the amount of people in the pits. not to mention Disney has complete control over that area It's not the kind of place made for high school students to hang out Houston was Kay except the air tasted like gasoline. ATL Is The Shiz!!! everything is there and its an awesome stadium and the pits are in the perfect place. for drivers and coaches its a nice underground walk to the Fields. and the omni is the most awesome place to hang. no shortness of things to do in ATL.

Epcot was not the best place for watching matches, but the atmosphere was fantastic. OK, it was sometimes hot at the outside stadium and too cold in the pit tents early in the morning. The fact remains, though, that if you stay at an on-site hotel, Disney is the best place in the world to turn 15,000 teenagers free to safely have fun and not get into trouble, and it wasn't THAT bad for the competition itself. I went to six Championships at Epcot, and, to use Disney terminology, it was magic, really.

For watching matches, Atlanta, and even Houston are better, unless you want to get from the pits to the playing field. In that case, Atlanta is not good. For the drive teams, it is an easy walk back and forth, but the drive teams make up fewer than 10% of the people at the event. Also, the "food nazi" situation where you can't take food bought at the pits into the arena is crazy. In most ways, though, Atlanta works well for the competition itself, and the "wrap party" was a lot of fun.

From what I've said, it is obvious that I liked Disney for the Championship, but as others have said, it is not likely to return there, at least with the very expensive and less-than-optimum temporary facilities. Still, to me at least, it was fun while it was there.

[IanT]

Originally Posted by DarMagi

I would like to see nats back at disney as the reason I live like 5 miles from disney! Lol, I'd be at nats every year whether we compete or not! Well Disney is big and I know funds alot of robotics teams, mine included. I don't see the problem with giving us a discount and a bigger facility, after all it's robotics!

I agree with this guy i live not so far from disiney. the same distance as code//pilot. i would go to nats if it was at disney but seeing how many teams are in one regional i can see why it was moved. someone in this post also mentioned the wide world of sports complex over at disney. this would be the ideal venue for nats.

[RoteAugen]

Ill just leave my two cents at this:

at atlanta, i had little to no contact with other teams. i made no new friends, and had a seriously hard time reaching out to other teams as people were caught up in the pits, and when they werent, they were elsewhere and not accessable (unless we broke the elevators again)

at disney i met and maintained friendships from at least 10 different teams, swapped tech support and ideas with 5 others, and physically helped 3 others fix problems/pack up/find parts.

[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!"

Actually 297. But who's counting?

[Dan9874123]

I dont think so, FIRST has definately outgrown Disney. Houston wasn't that great because of the air, and the sprawl of it all, the hotels were miles away from the venue and it required a huge number of buses to move everyone around.

Atlanta was a great venue last year. The place is big enough to hold everybody, the foods not terrible (krispy kremes....mmmmm.....). And aparently there's not gonna be a long walk for spectators this year because the pits are in concourse A instead of B. An added plus is that all the hotels are within walking distance of the georgia dome, and within walking distance of various malls and shops. And there's MARTA for getting people from the airport to the the georga dome and surrounding hotels. So transportation is definately easier.

[Macdaddy549]

I agree that housing my team on Disney property is much safer. There is also much more for the kids to do.

MY VOTE......DISNEY 2007

[wheeler]

Just to put this out there.
This year the pits will be in C hall which is the hall across the green space from the dome. The walk will be shorter and the access will be just as easy for drivers.
Also the bids for 2007-2009 have already been submitted. To my knowledge only a few of locations entered a bid.
It all comes down to location, availability, and access for participants.
I went to Disney in 2002 and enjoyed the experience but to meet people you have to get out and try. I met alot of people last year and even more this year already at Regionals. When you are talking about 20,000 people in one area it takes effort to get out and meet others.
I met a great group of people at the celebration last year and can't wait to see the new theme of the celebration this year.

[servo175]

I dont see Disney holding Nationals again. Its a nice idea but not really logical or realistic. I thought Houston was great, and Atlantas not bed either. I think wherever they have nationals its going to be great. All the venues have draw backs, whether it be the distance between the pits to the fields, or not having enough to do while you are down there. If teams are going down to Atlanta and are trying to find stuff to do i would just recomend booking stuff or getting reservations a head of time so that way your not competing with 300 other teams for restaurants or other things. Plus just getting out and meeting people from other teams is cool.