Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Yes, I am aware that a thread already exists for this topic. And yes, I am aware of the wrath of the Juggernaut. However, I feel like the previous thread is not getting enough activity, and after reading through it find that not nearly enough of my questions are answered there.
I am hoping to do TO with my friends because we are literally meeting up from all over the continent (NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, Chicago, Grenada, etc...). Some of us are flying in, others are driving, and some (including myself) hope to return as volunteers. Since we are all arriving at different times and via different methods of transportation, TO seems like our only option (since gROOp camping sold out).
My queries:
1) I read that I can secure as much land as I can "protect." What does that mean? I am hoping to do pre-fest with my friend and figure that I can bring all of my friends' camping gear to set up in advance. If I bring a wagon it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to carry it all to TO, but if I set up like 4-5 tents and some canopies, will that suffice even though there will only be 2 people at the camp until later on in Thursday?
2) How quickly are y'all expecting TO to fill up? I read that TO will be opened up on Wednesday night this year, but I don't understand how a camp can be set up in the dark... If I wait until Thursday morning will I be stuck with a bad spot or struggle to secure enough space (given that there will only be me and my friend trying to secure space for 10 among the early morning rush)?
3) What are some difficulties with TO that I am not anticipating? I understand that the biggest hassles are actually setting up the camp site and potentially not being able to find our way back to the site since TO doesn't have streets. I assume a giant flag would resolve the second issue (is there a thread on how to make a good flag?). Any advice on small things that I am not likely to anticipate as a first time TOer would be greatly appreciated.
I'm sure i'll come up with more questions later. And to all the veterans out there, I can't wait to do TO and get the real Bonnaroo experience. Maybe I'll stop by for the brunch and bring something to contribute.
You can set up as many tents as you see fit. As long as they get used I guess. Tent only never really "fills up". It is an act of god getting back to my tent every night because the route back is constantly changing. After Thursday though they are mainly just little 1 man tents. One possible problem is POD 1(which you will be at if volunteering) being locked down until 8 AM Thursday. Did they change this now that the gates officially open on Wednesday? I remember 2 years ago we had to wait outside the gate at POD 1 chanting "let us in". The biggest difficulty is not with tent only. It is with your car. Half of the stuff you bring will stay in your car all weekend because it is not worth hauling it there and then back on Sunday. We usually just buy a whole taxi on Sunday to get our stuff back. One person rides with and tips the driver really well. All of the other seats are loaded with your gear. Those drivers will bend over backwards for you if you tip them good enough.
You can set up as many tents as you see fit. As long as they get used I guess. Tent only never really "fills up". It is an act of god getting back to my tent every night because the route back is constantly changing. After Thursday though they are mainly just little 1 man tents. One possible problem is POD 1(which you will be at if volunteering) being locked down until 8 AM Thursday. Did they change this now that the gates officially open on Wednesday? I remember 2 years ago we had to wait outside the gate at POD 1 chanting "let us in". The biggest difficulty is not with tent only. It is with your car. Half of the stuff you bring will stay in your car all weekend because it is not worth hauling it there and then back on Sunday. We usually just buy a whole taxi on Sunday to get our stuff back. One person rides with and tips the driver really well. All of the other seats are loaded with your gear. Those drivers will bend over backwards for you if you tip them good enough.
If/when I get into pre-fest I'll inquire about the logistics with getting outside of POD 1. Would I be OK if I leave there at 8am to set up camp at TO anyway?
My tents will definitely be filled up by my friends. There are about 10 of us, so depending on the final number I see us bringing about 4-5 tents.
Also, how much money is a "good tip" for the Taxi drivers? I'm trying to plan and budget this whole thing out in advance since we will have very limited time to coordinate all this once the summer rolls around.
Final question: what are some things that I should definitely leave in the car and what should I definitely make sure to bring with me to TO?
If you are in Pod1 you should be able to get up to TO without a problem on Thursday morning I would be ready to go at 8 though. I would not count on the taxi drivers myself just get a decent lawn cart it will make your life ten times easier.
If you are in Pod1 you should be able to get up to TO without a problem on Thursday morning I would be ready to go at 8 though. I would not count on the taxi drivers myself just get a decent lawn cart it will make your life ten times easier.
. You need some sort of Cart or dolly. You need it. Trust me. I thought I was going to die last year because I had neither.
We tipped him a lot of money. Mainly because we were just drained and it was the easy way out. Like they said though just get a yard wagon at Lowe's or Home Depot. Don't know why I said anything about the taxi, should have told you about the wagon. Got one last year and it is a lifesaver. Plus, the taxi only works on the way out and not on the way in. One thing we did when we set up tents for other people was when we first got there we laid our tarps out on the ground first to claim our area. Then as we set the tents up we would just pull the tarp out and stake the tent. It saves the awkward hey this is my space conversation if someone decides to set up next to you before you get them all set up. Or you can just train in your back yard with all of them and become a tent setting up ninja prior to your arrival.
If you are in Pod1 you should be able to get up to TO without a problem on Thursday morning I would be ready to go at 8 though. I would not count on the taxi drivers myself just get a decent lawn cart it will make your life ten times easier.
. You need some sort of Cart or dolly. You need it. Trust me. I thought I was going to die last year because I had neither.
do it! you will not reget it....
we didnt get one last year and lets just say i like to plan and get involved so i had waaay tooo much stuff i was determinded to get to TO ...
..my BF hated me by the end of bringing everything to TO and i threw away a lot of stuff leaving sunday
Post by popsicle sarah on Mar 21, 2012 21:58:54 GMT -5
You so don't have to carry all of your stuff back to your car. I've done tent only 3 years and we always just go get our car on Sunday morning/afternoon and pull it up on the edge of tent only. Never had a problem *shrug*
Post by Whoreshack on Mar 21, 2012 22:03:32 GMT -5
And you don't have to haul everything down at once. Take the essentials, relax, make friends, borrow a cart for a second/third load on Thursday and/or Friday.
you can drive up to TO when leaving!!!! what ....i am so sad right now!
Haha yeah... We were about to kill ourselves carrying all our stuff back to BFE, and noticed cars around us, so we just went and got ours, and when the traffic people tried directing us, we just told them we had to get our stuff and they let us drive to our site.
what time did tent only open last year? one of my friends went separate from the rest of us with some other people, and they got in wednesday night and hauled all their stuff to wait in line for when TO opened, which was supposed to be 8:00am like previous years. pretty sure they were in the lower right corner of the map. me and the rest of my friends were in the car line, and we got a call saying TO was basically almost full when our friend who went separately made it over there, which was probably 8:30-9:00am.
we parked our car probably around 10:00-11:00am. luckily we were able to squeeze into a little spot on the side of the path in TO, but it was really frustrating since we got in around the same time in 2010 and still had plenty of time to get our stuff spread out and set up.
i never found out what exactly happened last year. were there just some volunteers who didn't care and let people in? seems like that might've been the case since my buddy was stuck in the TO line in BFE until 8:00. or are they letting people into TO on wednesday night now?
Post by Dave Maynar on Mar 29, 2012 17:03:48 GMT -5
I would ask in that thread. The Bonnaroo email will give you the official answer. The official answer is not always the correct answer. As noted in another thread, the official answer on parking is that the first people in get the best spots. That is not the correct answer as anyone who has been will tell you.
"Hiya...yes it worked out! We actually walked around early Wednesday (neat being in centeroo while its empty and theyre still setting up!) and ended up moving our camp to tent only around noon, which was so grand. there were maybe 2 other people camped there and that is it. workers and security were still walking around and had no problem at all with us setting up camp. go for it early!"
Providing an outlet and a voice for music lovers to unite under the common theme of music for all. Join The Pondo Army to show your allegiance to musical freedom! Fighting for no censorship of the arts & music education in schools, The Pondo Army will triumph! The Pondo Army Movement
Follow me on twitter@Pondoknowsbest
The iPhone app doesn't have a like feature. So I'll just say "I like that"
You don't have to get in super early. A significant amount of people don't realize the awesomeness of TO or they just don't know about it. Last year when we got there at about 5am thursday morning there was still plenty of spots. Enough that we somewhat easily found room for two large tents and a canopy and still had extra room.
Providing an outlet and a voice for music lovers to unite under the common theme of music for all. Join The Pondo Army to show your allegiance to musical freedom! Fighting for no censorship of the arts & music education in schools, The Pondo Army will triumph! The Pondo Army Movement
Follow me on twitter@Pondoknowsbest
The iPhone app doesn't have a like feature. So I'll just say "I like that"
You don't have to get in super early. A significant amount of people don't realize the awesomeness of TO or they just don't know about it. Last year when we got there at about 5am thursday morning there was still plenty of spots. Enough that we somewhat easily found room for two large tents and a canopy and still had extra room.
well, as i said, by noon that day there was almost no room left, so a lot of people filed in during that 7 hour time span. i'm planning on getting in super early to be sure this year
It looks like it depends on what entrance you got sent to. I guess they didn't let BFE intothe grounds until 8am. We got put all the way in the back by the back tollbooths... LIKE at the tollbooths. We just loaded up our cart and arrived in TO at about 2am Thursday.
