Sports & Music are full

FIRST General Forum
1

Posted by Michael Martus at 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST

Coach on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central H.S. and Delphi Automotives Systems.

I started to fax materials to Disney at 8:30 am on Monday 30 min. before the time we were told that they would open. The line was busy until 10:30 am.

I had a student redial as soon as he heard the busy from 8:30 on, each 5 seconds.

We were told today that ALL of Music, Sports and caribean are full. Only area open is Orleans. They would not even discuss the new Movie area.

This is strange as I pretended to be a nobody and called reservations and asked for rooms for my senior citizen group same time, same amount of rooms and they said they had them.

I think Disney is pushing teams to the more expensive resorts. It would cost our team $12,000 more to stay at the Orleans instead of the sports.

We are searching off site, forget disney, Universal Studio looks good for park passes, and they will sell 1 day passes, not like the New ‘Take 4 days or nothing’ attitude Disney has.

My opinion of the Disney venue gets lower each year.
Way to expensive.

Other comments?

2

Posted by David Kelly at 12/20/2000 8:27 PM EST

Student on team #234, Cyber Blue, from Perry Meridian High School [IUPUI] and NASA Kennedy Space Center/ Rolls-Royce.

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

Port Orleans may be very expensive but it is very nice. Our team stayed there last year and had a great time.

The only concern that you may have is the dragon over the swimming pool. Some of the members of our team dared another kid on our team to jump off the dragon and he did. We almost got kicked out of the resort!

David Kelly
Student Captain Team 234

: I started to fax materials to Disney at 8:30 am on Monday 30 min. before the time we were told that they would open. The line was busy until 10:30 am.

: I had a student redial as soon as he heard the busy from 8:30 on, each 5 seconds.

: We were told today that ALL of Music, Sports and caribean are full. Only area open is Orleans. They would not even discuss the new Movie area.

: This is strange as I pretended to be a nobody and called reservations and asked for rooms for my senior citizen group same time, same amount of rooms and they said they had them.

: I think Disney is pushing teams to the more expensive resorts. It would cost our team $12,000 more to stay at the Orleans instead of the sports.

: We are searching off site, forget disney, Universal Studio looks good for park passes, and they will sell 1 day passes, not like the New ‘Take 4 days or nothing’ attitude Disney has.

: My opinion of the Disney venue gets lower each year.
: Way to expensive.

: Other comments?

3

Posted by Nate Bulthuis at 12/20/2000 9:31 PM EST

Student on team #107, Team ROBOTICS, from Holland Christian High School and Metal Flow Corp…

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

They could be packing more expensive resorts, but I bet they gave only a set amount of rooms to FIRST for the packages. This is also spring break for many people, and Disney probably makes more with individual families or even larger groups than they do at the prices they give us. They are still a business (like any business) that is primarily concerned with making money.

4

Posted by nick237 at 12/20/2000 10:16 PM EST

Engineer on team #237, sie h2o bots, from Watertown high school ct and sieman co.

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

The solution is simple mike. Book the rooms under a senior citizens group name, then file a discrimination suit against them.
Disney thinks its the almighty know all but its just another $$$$ grabing company that is only interested in its bottom line.
Go for it Mike. nothing to loose $12.000 to gain.
nick237

: I started to fax materials to Disney at 8:30 am on Monday 30 min. before the time we were told that they would open. The line was busy until 10:30 am.

: I had a student redial as soon as he heard the busy from 8:30 on, each 5 seconds.

: We were told today that ALL of Music, Sports and caribean are full. Only area open is Orleans. They would not even discuss the new Movie area.

: This is strange as I pretended to be a nobody and called reservations and asked for rooms for my senior citizen group same time, same amount of rooms and they said they had them.

: I think Disney is pushing teams to the more expensive resorts. It would cost our team $12,000 more to stay at the Orleans instead of the sports.

: We are searching off site, forget disney, Universal Studio looks good for park passes, and they will sell 1 day passes, not like the New ‘Take 4 days or nothing’ attitude Disney has.

: My opinion of the Disney venue gets lower each year.
: Way to expensive.

: Other comments?

5

Posted by Jason Rudolph at 12/20/2000 10:31 PM EST

Other on team #459, Rampage, from University of Florida/Eastside High School and .

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

Well, first of all, I would definitely suggest going to Universal Studios instead of disney as far as going to the theme parks. Universal is much more fun for high school students, and it has a lot more rides, as opposed to disney which is more shows than rides (I mean like rollercoasters and such). As far as hotels go, one thing which is a GREAT benefit to having nationals in orlando is that there are literally hundreds of hotels in the orlando area. I would definitely suggest staying off of disney’s lot. There are PLENTY of hotels which are only a few more minutes away, are nicer (the actual rooms), and cheaper. They don’t have the disney atmosphere, but they give you a good place to stay, for a cheaper price, and with that extra money, treat your team to a party or something!
Speaking as someone who lives only a short few hours away from disney, and has been going there constantly since I was a baby, I know what I am talking about as well.
My two cents,

Jason

6

Posted by colleen at 12/20/2000 11:11 PM EST

Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science and WPI.

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

Mike–

On 246 we experienced that same problem last year. Because we were unsure on sponsorship, we waited until FIRST officially opened reservations for Disney (believe it was the day of kick-off last year) to make them. First thing in the morning we sent in everything, that afternoon we received a call saying they were totally full (from their FIRST space, because they do reserve rooms for FIRST and keep others for their regular guests) at the All-Stars. Port Orleans, their ‘mid-priced’ resort had plenty of room though. That’s where we ended up staying, but WITHOUT the FIRST package (saves a little cash)

I agree-- each year Disney becomes more of a hassle than enjoyment… from a student perspective all I saw was the fun stuff, but from my experiences last year… I’m VERY happy I am no longer responsible for that…

Definitely investigate off-site. We really wanted our kids to be able to go to the parks (and get their easily) so we stayed on site and paid the extra $$.

I love Disney-- and when I’m there I have great fun… but FIRST really needs to work out a more affordable and reliable process for the teams or move it elsewhere. People in FIRST spend just as much as regular visitors and, though I don’t think Disney has any trouble, you think they would appreciate the guarantee business each year and reserve more space…etc… i really do think they are trying to push us to more expensive places…

Either I think FIRST has to work it out more so there’s more space in cheaper hotels… or definitely start looking to new, more affordable site… i love disney… but…

7

Posted by S. Krussell at 12/21/2000 12:39 PM EST

Coach on team #349, Robahamas, from International Academy and Ford Motor Co…

In Reply to: Sports & Music are full
Posted by Michael Martus on 12/20/2000 8:17 PM EST:

Mike,

Because this happens to me EVERY year, I reserved rooms a couple months ago at the all star music. I have a group rate (Don’t be fooled into thinking that disney actually gives FIRST any kind of break!)but we don’t have the package. The package is not a great deal anyway, and we don;t like it. There is no way we could go for 4 days to parks, so we just buy the passes we want for our one day at the parks, and we buy our own food. I give the kids a set amount of cash just before we go to handle their expenses.