All-Star Positives And Negatives Of 2011 Worlds (the Event, Not Teams)

[cndesaus]

Positives - New back drop in the HP Field House and screen.

Positives - Josten Center getting a better back drop even if it was the old one.

Negatives - No enough seating in the Josten Center or the Field House

Negatives or Positive - Announcing scores. To me it's not exciting when you already know who has made finals (thats if your keeping track). It kind of reminds me of Dallas.

Negatives - where the heck were the water jugs after you get off the practice floor? I must have just missed it.

Negatives - Not staying on time. they were suppose to announce the finalists in one division at 11:30 but it took them 2 hours.

 

[redsmom]

The event is just a good bit larger than the Milkhouse. Jostens has a lot more space and flow for crowd control, but does not offer any of the pomp and circumstance of the Milkhouse.

I talked to a couple of the crowd control people and they said it was the worst event they had ever worked. It was over crowded and no one wanted to move because they all wanted to see. Everyone ignored their the crowd control people as they asked fans to move. Just would blatantly not move, and I can't say I blame the fans. Can't have a 10,000 person seating event and 15,000 people come and not expect problems. The TV's outside were to help, but no one watched those. They asked in the name of sportsmanship for all the families to move that had already had their kids compete to go outside, but the issue is there is a TON of people there JUST to watch cheer with no families. I think they underestimate the fanbase there that has no familial connection to people competing. There are legitimate fans there.

Exactly, I paid ~$800 (airfare, hotel, rental car etc...) for me and my daughter to be there, arrived well over an hour before large senior finals to make sure we had a seat, no way are we leaving to allow someone else to come in. Sorry! And besides F5 is family !

 

[cheerKT]

Negative- Not crazy about the screen backdrop in the Milkhouse. It will take some warming up to.

Positive- Jostens finally looking like a Worlds Arena with a legit backdrop!

 

[specialtpass]

Positives
The stage and lighting at Jostens looked and felt like a Worlds experience for the first time. Long overdue.

The trading of Gym Pins added another layer of fun. My cp was on the hunt all weekend and had a blast. I hope more gyms join in next year.

 

[spirited1]

In past years I don't recall the announcer asking for 2 representatives from each team to come forward for a group huddle before awards were announced...(it is also quite possible I am just a little cheer brain dead at this point) I assume it had something to do with encouraging good sportsmanship? Does anyone know what was said to them, just curious. I thought the announcer/authorities were much more proactive with sportsmanship issues this year...not a bad thing to do! - so that is one of my positives this year....

 

[Mom Jeans]

I don't think it really gets any bigger than WDW. I mean, where else are there facilities of that size and meant to acomodate that amount of people. Unless you move it to an arena where you only have one floor, which might make things take even longer. I've always wondered why they try to cram it all unto one weekend. How about 4 or 5 days?

I'm sure there are plenty of places, Anahiem has a huge convention center and an arena on the same property, Los Angeles has the convention center, Staples Center and the Nokia theater on the same proprty. I'm sure other large states have something similar, with the schedules the way they were we didn't get to go to the parks at all, so I know for some people it wouldn't matter. If USASF has a contract with Disney, then move it to Anaheim. What's in this contract anyway, it's not like the rooms are cheaper if you book on the travel package. Who really uses 3 days of the the 3 day packg anyway, I bet its mainly people outside the U.S>

 

[Ashley]

The event is just a good bit larger than the Milkhouse. Jostens has a lot more space and flow for crowd control, but does not offer any of the pomp and circumstance of the Milkhouse.

I talked to a couple of the crowd control people and they said it was the worst event they had ever worked. It was over crowded and no one wanted to move because they all wanted to see. Everyone ignored their the crowd control people as they asked fans to move. Just would blatantly not move, and I can't say I blame the fans. Can't have a 10,000 person seating event and 15,000 people come and not expect problems. The TV's outside were to help, but no one watched those. They asked in the name of sportsmanship for all the families to move that had already had their kids compete to go outside, but the issue is there is a TON of people there JUST to watch cheer with no families. I think they underestimate the fanbase there that has no familial connection to people competing. There are legitimate fans there.

Did the athletes actually go the baseball fields? I heard this announcement as half of WCSS was sitting right in front of me.

 

[Ashley]

I respectfully disagree. Think of the Olympics, but on a smaller scale. Maybe USASF should consider mixing it up and have it in a new major city every year - they can coordinate hotels, shuttles to the venue(s) from each hotel, and so forth. How many really cares about going to Disney World considering they are Seniors? I am not saying it isn't fun, but if they didn't have Disney, they would find fun in any other city. Does USASF/Varsity have a deal with Disney that keeps the Worlds there? After all, what great "secured" revenue it is for Disney to have Worlds every year, and the cheer families are forced in to it because the decision is made for that location year after year.

You can't really compare it to the Olympics because countries build entire Olympics resorts when they host. USASF isn't going to build a venue/hotels/entertainment complexes anytime soon.

Disney works because it's a resort, so it's much more safe than a strip of hotels on a street in a city. There's food, accommodations, and entertainment all in one place. There are buses to all of the parks and entertainment - you don't have to take a cab anywhere. The shuttles to the event venue could be done anywhere, but then you'd have to have a block of nearby hotels to basically sell most of their inventory to Worlds for the weekend.

College Nationals in Daytona works because it's 3 or so hotels in a strip and the venue and bandshell are all within walking distance. But those are college students, do you really want groups of kids walking down the street on their own?

 

[SlapFire]

Pros.... I love the venues! I don't think we need more teams that at Worlds! There were alot of teams I don't think belong there. They didn't see like true Level 5's.

Cons.... SOUND SOUND SOUND! The sound in the Milkhouse was okay, but it wasn't bangin'. They need to spread some speakers at the top to handle crowds in back and judges. The sound in Josten's... forget about it. It needs to be louder and clearer. They were only using 2 Stacks at the top and the bass was MIA! It's the hardest thing for Cheerleading companies to actually have the proper sound for a Cheerleading competition. Most event Sound companies are used to concerts where most people are quiet while they listen or sing a long but not CHEER as loud as we do! They can't handle what we got with what they got. NCA, VARSITY, JAM, USASF..... either Quit listening to those managers or it's time to come off some cash and step the sound up! Please... and YES I am bias to the sound....It pays my bills...and makes alot of people around us very happy!...... http://fierceboard.com/threads/free-voiceovers-from-slapfire.15217/

 

[cheermomfootball]

You can't really compare it to the Olympics because countries build entire Olympics resorts when they host. USASF isn't going to build a venue/hotels/entertainment complexes anytime soon.

Disney works because it's a resort, so it's much more safe than a strip of hotels on a street in a city. There's food, accommodations, and entertainment all in one place. There are buses to all of the parks and entertainment - you don't have to take a cab anywhere. The shuttles to the event venue could be done anywhere, but then you'd have to have a block of nearby hotels to basically sell most of their inventory to Worlds for the weekend.

College Nationals in Daytona works because it's 3 or so hotels in a strip and the venue and bandshell are all within walking distance. But those are college students, do you really want groups of kids walking down the street on their own?

Do I want a group of kids walking down the street on their own? I see that no more dangerous than walking around Disney by themselves, unsupervised at 1 am in the morning. Yes, I have been to Worlds and I have seen what goes on. They are all Senior teams, but many "kids" are not supervised, and they roam around at will. The level of "safety" is often perception versus reality, just like other things in cheerleading. There are plenty of locations in the US where there are great full service hotels, with large venues that can hold the amount of people being discussed in this thread, and USASF would just have to provide shuttles or include it in the travel packages that they are already used to putting together for the athletes and families. I don't see why it would be such a big deal to change the venues over the years to mix it up.

 

[King]

Pros.... I love the venues! I don't think we need more teams that at Worlds! There were alot of teams I don't think belong there. They didn't see like true Level 5's.

Cons.... SOUND SOUND SOUND! The sound in the Milkhouse was okay, but it wasn't bangin'. They need to spread some speakers at the top to handle crowds in back and judges. The sound in Josten's... forget about it. It needs to be louder and clearer. They were only using 2 Stacks at the top and the bass was MIA! It's the hardest thing for Cheerleading companies to actually have the proper sound for a Cheerleading competition. Most event Sound companies are used to concerts where most people are quiet while they listen or sing a long but not CHEER as loud as we do! They can't handle what we got with what they got. NCA, VARSITY, JAM, USASF..... either Quit listening to those managers or it's time to come off some cash and step the sound up! Please... and YES I am bias to the sound....It pays my bills...and makes alot of people around us very happy!...... http://fierceboard.com/threads/free-voiceovers-from-slapfire.15217/

I will say in general all sound systems at these competitions kinda suck and I never really can hear peoples music. CEA may have the big advantage here because they release it so early and gives people all year to learn it. It is not like people 'spontaneously' learn the music from the first performance.

 

[Weezy]

Positives;

Even though it was crowded, I still love the Milk House.
Tank!
The Concessions seemed to run better this year.
Announcement of scores
Jostens getting a better back drop
Jostens have a flat screen in the back corner I could watch the Milk House on

Negatives;
TOO MANY TEAMS - some of the teams (I'm only talking U.S. teams right now) just should not have been at Worlds. I know it's all about the almighty $$$$, but some of them were painful to watch.

I have to use my ticket to get in, so annoying the senior citizens working the door at the Milk House asked for it again. I just started blowing right past them.

The random family in the Fierceboard section. Awkward.

 

[RSbrittany]

I will argue against having Worlds anywhere but a large theme park like Disney. It is a family enviroment where people can ultimately feel pretty damn safe. You got to see the uproar over the dancing at the block party the past few years, can you imagine what would happen if worlds was in NYC or Vegas? Granted the Milkhouse isn't big enough for everyone, but they do have 2 decent size places to compete. I think if they rethink the scheduling a little bit then maybe things would work out better. I was actually thinking that maybe if they did the Prelims and Worlds Trials back at Indiana Jones and spaced the schedule out at the Milkhouse and Jostens then it may flow better at least one day. I know the problem with that is you had to pay to get into Indiana Jones so I'm not sure how to work that out, but if there is a way then that could be a semi good solution. Maybe if you purchase a ticket for worlds then you get admission to the Holloywood Studios, but then again people may sneak into the park that way. I don't know just a thought. But I am against changing the venue to somewhere that isn't a safe family enviroment like Disney or a large theme park like Disney.

What about moving the actual competition to the orlando convention center (A relatively large venue) but keeping all the amenities of having disney hotels disney tickets bus transport.... same amenities different venue??

 

[SlapFire]

I will say in general all sound systems at these competitions kinda suck and I never really can hear peoples music. CEA may have the big advantage here because they release it so early and gives people all year to learn it. It is not like people 'spontaneously' learn the music from the first performance.

HAHA!!! Yeah... They have a huge advantage when the ENITIRE crowd sings there music! I loved it! I was amazed with Cheer Extreme. I don't particularly like their music, but everybody was singing it. Kinda like "YMCA". Everybody will sing it. Good or bad. LOL.

 

[specialtpass]

Pros.... I love the venues! I don't think we need more teams that at Worlds! There were alot of teams I don't think belong there. They didn't see like true Level 5's.

Cons.... SOUND SOUND SOUND! The sound in the Milkhouse was okay, but it wasn't bangin'. They need to spread some speakers at the top to handle crowds in back and judges. The sound in Josten's... forget about it. It needs to be louder and clearer. They were only using 2 Stacks at the top and the bass was MIA! It's the hardest thing for Cheerleading companies to actually have the proper sound for a Cheerleading competition. Most event Sound companies are used to concerts where most people are quiet while they listen or sing a long but not CHEER as loud as we do! They can't handle what we got with what they got. NCA, VARSITY, JAM, USASF..... either Quit listening to those managers or it's time to come off some cash and step the sound up! Please... and YES I am bias to the sound....It pays my bills...and makes alot of people around us very happy!...... http://fierceboard.com/threads/free-voiceovers-from-slapfire.15217/

I agree that the sound system in both arenas was a big con. In past years the sound quality was better. This year I could not make out any music or clever voice overs, even the teams and music I am familiar with. All I heard was the bass, it was too heavy. It was just a big blob of sound for me. I can't think you music guys were happy at all. That's your calling card.