How Was Traffic Last Year?

I would leave bright and early Wed and get there Wed afternoon. I drove straight in last year.

We got to Nashville about 12midnight on Wednesday night from Ohio and stayed at a hotel. We got up early and got to Manchester and in line right at 8am. We were at our campsite at 10am on Thursday. It wasn't bad at all. We went a bit past the first exit that was all backed up and came in the back way. Since we didn't wait long we also had a full tank of gas when we parked so we were able to run our truck a lot while there to escape the heat a bit and didn't have to worry about running out of gas.

We did end up in BFE but it was a blessing in disguise. We didn't have to deal with all the crazy dust. We just paid the $ every time to take the "taxi's" back and forth. It was nice and quiet where we were at too. We were also not far from a road with houses and the people there had portable showers and such for us to use. We just snuck out the gate and went over and used them.

If we go this year we are definitely going to do try the same thing. I can't imagine sitting and waiting to get in for 6+ hours.

2003 traffic was 12hrs

ur fscked

Last year was my first year, we left St. Louis on Wednesday at noon and planned on getting there around 8, which we did. I'd say we waited in line for maybe two hours which was nothing compared to what I heard other people waited that year and previous years.

got there last year on thurs morn between 8-9. waited in line for like 15-20 mins at the exit off of 65.

was all set up and ready to ROO by 1030am.

decent camp spot too. pod 5 or 6.

i'd say stay away when the gates 'officially open'.

it's a mad house.

Shhh don't let the secret out!

Seriously though I started going to Roo in 2010 and both years we took that route and waited no longer than 20 minutes. Early afternoon Thursday both days. Heard Wed night last year was awful...everyone had the same idea.

2010 was the worst for me and my crew, we got in line thursday morning around 3am and didn't get on the farm till around 12. But 2011 was actually pretty good seeing as they opened up the gates wednesday night which really helped out a lot.

I came Tuesday and waited like 24 hrs.

Last year I worked part of Wednesday left the DFW area around 11 am. Once you start coming in to Manchester you see everyone waiting in line to get in the highway patrol has the exits closed and directs you. So unless you are local and know some back roads you will be at their mercy. You will find your self driving miles away from the entrance to join the back of the line. Now I happily went speeding by lots of signs telling you where to go and knowing the line would soon be there. Finally at the end of line I waited, so I was actually in line by midnight got through the line, entrance gates to my camp site by 5 am. What helped was knowing to expect this and that once in I would not have to do this again and that I'd be here for 4 days. Now maybe if I'd come in earlier I'd not waited in line so long but I was not so far from Centeroo maybe a 10 min walk, that was worth the wait. But the bigger key is I set up camp at 5am finished by 6am went to sleep and was up by 10 am. I started the weekend very worn out and tired. Most important figure out away that you start the weekend rested and sleeping in line is not gonna get it. I'd have been better off checking in to a hotel at 11pm sleeping until
6am getting in line at 7am waiting 8 hours to get in that would be 3pm Thursday. Really I'd not have missed much and felt much better the whole weekend. And who knows maybe if I'd got in line at 7am maybe waiting 4 or 5 hours I'd been in at a great time and if you get in later you wont be in BFE. If you do go in early and are in BFE bring a cart and set up in tent city right away.

Last year was not NEARLY as bad as the two before!

We came in around 11-noon on Thursday - off Bushy Branch I believe. Past Pod11 was where our site was (stewie griffin), but, it only took about 40 minutes to get to our site once we got in line.

2010: waited in line in my car for 4-5 hours
2011: no traffic whatsoever at all. It was like parking at the mall, took about 5 minuts... granted (and we didn't realize this until we set up camp) we were camped about 20 yards from a "public road" that we had to walk over to get to centeroo that was occupied 24/7 with boys in blue, they didn't hassle anyone though, so it was no bigge. Just honestly the strangest entering/parking/camping I've ever experienced at a festival.

Last year was my first year at Roo. I read these threads for months prior to getting to the farm and was pumped about trying to get a decent camping spot. We got on the road and hit all these random detour signs that made us go 10 or so miles down the highway in the wrong direction. I felt like all my months of planning were out the window at that point. I had read numerous posts about being out in BFE. We couldn't have ended up any further away than Pod11. Looking back, it was the best spot for us. The hike to Centeroo was hella long (about 40 minutes) but we slept great, our neighbors were awesome and it really forced us to meander through the camp sites and talk to people It's totally a crapshoot as everyone mentions, but that's really the best part of Bonnaroo, you just go with it and enjoy the experience.

That's exactly what happened to us - detour screwed everything up but it worked out great!
Hopefully you didn't fall victim to the thefts in Pod 11 - a few of our neighbors lost just about everything