Thursday, September 13th, 2007

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic all around; but especially with Team X3O. This new line-up was just formed and has been working everyday to get prepared for the WCG 2007 U.S. Finals. We are coming into the event fresh out of a week and a half boot-camp at X3O Gaming Center. The team practiced for over 8 hours a day going over new strats, set-ups and just general team work. I have to say from personally being there while they played, they are looking fresh and are going to have a strong performance this weekend.

Our plane was scheduled to leave last night at 6:15PM EST from Baltimore International airport (BWI). Surprisingly, and a first for the team – we had no trouble at all while flying. We were checked in and through security in twenty minutes. Through our travel agency (Village Travel of Potomac) we were able to get a great non-stop flying on Southwest for a much better price then if we booked online through orbitz.com. Msg me later if you want to contact the Agency – they can help you book your flights anywhere around the world.
For those of you who haven’t flown Southwest before – there are no assigned seats. Everyone gets either an A, B or C section – and you just sit wherever you want. The system actually worked very well and we arrived in Orlando at around 8:15.

After a short through the terminal we took a Taxi Van to the hotel, which is at the Royal Pacific Resort. When they say “resort”, they mean it. It is right on the Universal Studios property and has amazing rooms and customer service. After checking in to the hotel and dropping our bags off we went downstairs to Jack’s Bar and Grill to grab dinner. Later on the team just relaxed and hung out with some of the other players here.

Friday, September 14th, 2007

I personally woke up at 7:30AM to meet up with our sponsors Dust-Off and some reps from Web2Zone at breakfast. The team though was still sleeping, and in fact are probably just waking up now as I write this (12:27PM EST). After breakfast we headed over to the venue – traveling by Water Taxi. It was actually a little boat that took you about 3 minutes up a river right into Universal Studios. Unlike past U.S. finals that have been in Las Vegas, NYC, etc; this event is actually in the park. All the players get free passes to the park as well as cut-in-line passes to ride all the coasters during down times. Stage 33 is the home for the finals – with several Ferraris out front promoting Project Gotham Racing and the Circuit City Gaming Bus for some casual gaming. Inside the venue it is kind of cramped – and definitely NOT a BYOC style event. There are several sponsor booths including the Dust-Off Cleaning Station, and the rest of the floor is for tournament play and the main stage.

After mingling with a few people – I headed back to the hotel to update this site and to check in on the team, get them up and going for the day. Check back later tonight for blogs and galleries from myself and the players as they hang out at Universal Studios, watch Group A play, and just have a good time.

Special thanks to Dust-Off for supporting us through this event, as well as all of our fans that are cheering for us to win! We hope to bring home the gold for you.

Check in with you later,
Nick Fitz