Tightwad tips for Championship, Atlanta

[Scott Carpman]

Originally Posted by kawelch

Except for the part where there is a rule that states "no outside food or drink may be brought into the venue."

Of course, if you do not mind breaking the rules... use the coolers full of outside food to save seats for your team...

No need to break the rules when the grassy picnic area between the Dome and GWCC is around.

[vivek16]

its fine if yo ubreak the rules. one of our mentors walked in with about 5 bags of subway and they didnt say anything.

vivek

EDIT: wow that came out wrong. what i mean is the first officers do not seem to mind if you do because they know how ridiculously overpriced the stand food is.

[ManicMechanic]

As I've been starting to write this thing, I'm realizing that to be really useful, Atlanta-specific info is needed after all. Specifically, I'm looking for the following info:

1. Places to get groceries that are walking distance from the downtown area, or accessible by Marta. Mini-mart-type places that sell juice, soda, & snacks are also acceptable.

2. Lower-priced hotels that you've stayed in, and your commentary on the experience, especially caveats.

3. Lower-cost restaurants that are walkable from downtown or accessible by Marta.

4. Wacky-tacky ideas that push the envelope of common cost-cutting into the realm of high-level, black-belt frugality. See below for a sample.

The Perennial Plastic Cup
A plastic cup (brought from your hotel or home) is an invaluable tightwadding tool with many and varied uses. With it, you can obtain unlimited drinks of water from the bathroom at the Georgia Dome, mooch a bit of soda from your free-spending friends, or split a large Blizzard or drink with another tightwad – large is usually twice the volume or more of small for a small incremental increase in cost. A variation on the above theme is the empty plastic water bottle (disposable) for beverages. Plastic – don't leave home without it.

[whytheheckme]

Our team stayed at an Embassy Suites.... This allows for 3 beds per room. If your kids don't mind 2 to a bed, or one on the floor and one on the bed per bed, this means 6 kids to a room, at only a fraction of the cost more. You can reduce your costs by ~30% by staying in a place that allows for more people per room (physically. I mean, you could have 6 kids in a conventional hotel room, but this is pushing it.)

Jacob

[ManicMechanic]

Well, FTC season is done for us (no Atlanta this year ), which means more time to finish this project, posted here. Thanks for all the ideas.

[Deep Dark]

Our team did a test and found that taking the marta from near our hotel (well into the downtown area) to the stadium, and walking from the hotel to the stadium took just as much time. So if you're not carrying heavy totes or the like, don't pay for the marta pass, and dont get suckered into paying for a 5 day pass or whatever...i did in 2005 and used it twice because i was one of the advance crew and that was before we found out that walking down the marta steps, waiting for the train, and walking up the marta steps took just as much time as walking from our hotel to the arena. but if you DO plan on using the marta, and plan to use it a lot, buy the passes cuz they do save you.

There's a pizza place, papa murphies i think? I cant be sure anymore, down the street from the pit entrance to the GWCC (where the busses drop you off, not where you walk from the stands to the pits). We bought pizza's for our team and two people (me and another person) always went to go get them and walk them back. You can also have them delivered, but we found it takes FOREVER, even if you call 2 hours in advance saying you want them at a certain time. we'd call as we're walking there, wait about 5 minutes while there, then pick them up. It was about $2 a large slice per person, and drinks were often thrown in as i recall, because the pizza guy thought 5 mins of waiting in heat was too long....

one free entertainment event my team did was go to the fountains. Everyone wears swim suits and they jump in the fountains of sentenial park during the synchronized music thing. It can be fun i guess.

other than that, i have no clue.

[KathieK]

If you can manage to pack an extra suitcase (with the airlines starting to charge for baggage now, be careful how much extra you bring with you) with "toys" for the team, plan an outing at the park. It's nice and a great way to blow off energy after a long day indoors at the competition. One year we packed nerf footballs, a kite or two, hackey sacks, a board game or two... and they were used often.

[BigWhiteYeti]

If possible, partner up with another team going. This can be huge savings if you are going by bus. We go to Milwaukee with two other local teams, and it is not only fun but saves big.