To Disney or not to Disney... that is the question

[archiver]

Posted by Sam Lindhorst.

Engineer on team #240, Mach Vee, from Jefferson High School and Visteon.

Posted on 4/22/2000 2:38 AM MST


In Reply to: Nationals at Disney - Negatives posted by Andy Baker on 4/18/2000 11:30 PM MST:



Andy, this is a great topic! I especially enjoyed talking to you this week. )

: 1. Transportation costs... Florida is not centrally located (airline costs vs. long bus rides).

Out to lunch. Airfare to Orlando is one of the advantages here. Every airline runs specials.

: 2. High hotel costs, due to the nice facilites of Disney, and the heightened demand of April.

Agree, but the costs are due to Disney being in the booking process. Packages can be had for much less.

: 3. Off-Disney property transportation difficulties... limited bus times, options, and simply too far away.

Agree. The solution as I see it is to not to book through Disney, and rent your own transportation. I have a post about this in the 'alternatives' thread.

: 4. Partially used park hopper passes... using a day for simply going to dinner in Epcot is wasteful.

Agree. I think a lot of passes are just getting sold to scalpers, or given away.

: 5. Food tickets... no good if staying off Disney property... OK for on property.

If you want to eat Disney food for 4 days... I'm happier with the selection off-park.

I think $10 for a wiener is... they should wear masks to take your money.

: 6. Disney parks... a distraction to students?

Agree

: 7. Disney parks... a reason for school administrators and corporate middle management to think that all we do is 'play'.

Way agree. In fact I wonder if the Disney trip is the reason a lot of schools aren't in FIRST. If I was a school administrator, I doubt I would want to bring a plan to my board that included a trip to WDW for high school kids.... It's just easier to forget about it.

: 8. The temporary stadium and pit facilites are not as good as alternatives (rentable arena or dome).

Lukewarm agree. But boy did they improve things this year...

: 9. The playing fields are inferior to most Regional events... due to the temporary setup.

I don't think so...

: 10. That 'small world' song.

YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH! WHY did you have to mention that... I took me two weeks to get rid of it last time!

: ...others?

: Do you agree, or am I out to lunch?

: Andy B.

I have this picture in my head of a FIRST field in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy, with a shuttle hanging from a crane overhead.....

NAH, too ambitous. NASA could never close that building that long. But still cool to think about...

As a couple of people mentioned here, the publicity thing with Disney is pretty much NOT happening. Why, I don't know, because if they wanted to, I'm sure they could a magnificent job of it.

I wonder what more NASA could do for us? They do have their own TV network...