Once again, the monster EDM festival known as TomorrowWorld, graced us with its presence in Chattahoochee Hills, Ga. It was the second installment from the inaugural launch back in 2013. TomorrowWorld had such a massive response from all over, and it helped bring in millions to the city of Atlanta. The festival attracted tens of thousands of people each day, with many remaining on the festival grounds in Dreamville for the weekend. Whether TomorrowWorld 2014 was your first festival or not, there are still many trials and tribulations you will face when attending. Here is a list of ten of my observations and discoveries that we should all take note of from attending TomorrowWorld in its entirety. These can be beneficial for you to help make your next TomorrowWorld experience that much better.
1) The dreaded walk to Dreamville
First and foremost, we were all aware of this dreaded walk we had to make from the parking lots. Yes, even the first timers of TomorrowWorld were warned. If you went to TomorrowWorld 2013, you knew all about that awful walk with all of your belongings you had to bring for the weekend. To save yourself from taking multiple trips to your car, having a wagon is a must. Obtaining some sort of cart with wheels will save your life. There is nothing worse than being too exhausted for the fun in Dreamville because you walked 10 miles and made 4 trips to your car. If you do not have something with wheels, you should make damn sure that you do in the future.
2) Nutrition is vital (Can’t stress this enough)
I know, seems obvious right? Well contrary to your beliefs, not many people attending TomorrowWorld prepared themselves with VITAMINS AND NUTRITION! Georgia is known for its bipolar weather. It can be humid and hot in the morning, then cold and wet at night. Many people who attended TomorrowWorld this year ended up being sick for days, and some were sick up to a week or two after the festival was over. With the weather changing from hot to cold within a few hours span can be detrimental to a person’s immune system. A simple fix to prevent that is to bring plenty of vitamin-C, a few good over the counter meds, and healthy food to snack on. Personally, I made sure to take vitamin-C as soon as I woke up along with eating two good meals throughout the day and snacks. For the people that followed this regiment, they were able to keep from catching the infamous “T-Bola” virus. Your body and your mind will thank you if you eat well and take vitamins throughout the weekend. Not only will this prevent you from getting sick, it will also give you the energy you need for all the partying you will be partaking in as well.
3) Festival Port-A-Potties: Prepare for smells and bring your own TP!
We all know that festival restrooms, AKA Port-A-Potties, are just pure evil. If you have never attended a festival before, may God have mercy on you when you step into that plastic capsule of death to take care of your morning glory. There is no way to prepare yourself for this one. For TomorrowWorld this year, I have never seen such monstrosity in those Dreamville Port-A-Potties before. The festival did not have enough to handle the amount of people in the festival grounds. There was a constant flow, pun intended, of people using these restrooms. Along with the nasty potties, you should know that toilet paper is like gold at a festival and you should bring plenty of your own for yourself. You should be smart in recognizing this. A veteran move would be to hold on until the venue opens for the day and go use the Port-A-Potties in there. That is a little secret that I learned from attending festivals in the past. The ones out in the camping area are emptied each night, but you have people using them all throughout the night. The potties inside the venue are not used over night, therefore, less mess inside them. Take this advice and use it, you will thank me for it later.
4) Don’t forget to shower!
As many of you probably figured out during your stay at TomorrowWorld, the lines for the showers were crazy if you did not go at the crack of dawn. Most of us were not able to do that due to the partying the night before. One good way to keep from paying for a shower and standing in a line forever would be to bring a large reusable container for water, or a camping shower. Just throw on a swimsuit and dump the water on you with a little soap and get yourself all clean for the day of raging ahead. If you do not have the water container, at least bring plenty of baby wipes and clean yourself that way. The baby wipes might not be as effective as the showering method, but at least you won’t be too stinky after a day full of dancing. Remember, no one likes to be next to that one person who doesn’t shower all weekend. Clean yourself any way you can!
5) Good shoes are a must have
Your feet will thank you for this one. If you have sensitive feet, you are really going to need some comfy but durable shoes. Some people claimed to have walked up to 18 miles throughout the weekend at TomorrowWorld. Do yourself a favor and get yourself something that will not kill your feet like some good running shoes. Any name brand will work well for running shoes. Nike Free Run shoes were one of the top choices to use from most of the people I talked to. I did, however, see too many people wearing shoes that are not meant for this type of environment, and they were all complaining about having bad blisters on their feet. If running shoes are not your style and you like the shoes that you have, at least invest in some Dr. Scholls inserts. Those little slabs of squishy goodness are heaven on the feet. If you don’t want to have trouble walking after day 1 because of bad shoes, then take heed to my advice and get durable shoes.
6) Be prepared for thieves
I know right? Who would have thought there would be thieves at a music festival? You really need to consider what valuables you want to bring in. Hundreds of accounts of theft were happening in Dreamville and in the venue. People were being pick pocketed left and right while inside the venue. If you must have your valuables like your phone, wallet, etc., bring a fanny pack. I know what you’re thinking, a fanny pack makes you look like a mom from the mid 90’s. To be honest, having a fanny pack with your important belongings is very beneficial to you. The reason is, the fanny pack is in front of you and not on your back. Thieves have easy access to your valuables if they are on your backside. If you don’t want to have to carry too many valuables, make sure to only bring what is really important and leave the rest at home. One great addition that TomorrowWorld included is the lockers. If you are not a fan the fanny pack idea, the lockers are a great alternative to keeping your valuables safe. The downside with the lockers is, for example, if you lock your phone up and you need it, you will have to walk to the lockers to retrieve it. That feeling of having your valuables stolen is not fun, and if you prepare yourself accordingly, you will survive the weekend without anything being taken from you.
7) Take care of your skin
You will be in the sun for hours on end, so it is crucial that you take care of your skin. If you don’t want to look like a lobster and be uncomfortable all weekend, bring plenty of skin care products. The main items you truly need are sunscreen and bug spray. Along with being in the sun, you are surrounded by woods. Where there are woods, there are lots of little creatures that come with the territory. No one wants pesky insects bothering them all weekend. Make sure to prevent that by bringing plenty of bug spray for yourself.
8) Bring your own shade, because it’s going to be hot!
One of the essentials that you will be thankful for is a canopy tent, that is if you didn’t already know about these. Just a simple 10’x10′ canopy tent can provide some shade and a cool spot for when you are hanging out in Dreamville during the day. Many people brought these shady havens with them, but there were plenty of people without them. The downside to canopy tents is that they are bulky and heavy, so getting them into Dreamville can be a little difficult. It is so worth the hassle in my experience with camping at music festivals. I can’t even tell you how many times people stopped by my campsite to cool off and get some shade underneath my canopy tent when it got hot over that weekend. If you can’t get yourself a canopy tent, find a friend who has one because you will not regret that decision.
9) Take care of your beloved TomorrowWorld, bring trash bags!
After TomorrowWorld 2014 ended, I have never seen so much trash in one area like I did there. The place looked like a third world country with piles of garbage everywhere. This is one thing that we could all easily prevent. Since the festival did not do a great job at providing plenty of trash bins throughout Dreamville, we could at least bring our own garbage bags to help just a little. Even if the trash cans were overflowing, you can still gather up the trash at your site, put it in a garbage bag, and sit it in the area that the garbage cans are. Each day I made sure to pick up the trash around my tent and my friend’s tents. It was a simple task that took no more than ten minutes to complete. If everyone at least brought just a few trash bags per person, we would have more than enough to make sure that when we leave TomorrowWorld in 2015, it will look no where near like it did this year.
10) Prepare yourself for the madness and see you next year!
Last but not least, get ready for the madness! TomorrowWorld is an incredible experience. The environment that TomorrowWorld brings is like no other festival on earth. You will meet so many new friends from all over the world, and make some memories that will last forever. If you prepare yourself for everything you need, you can ensure that you will make your TomorrowWorld experience much more enjoyable. I feel that by pointing out some of these observations from this year’s festival can help both rookies and vets become better at preparing themselves a better TomorrowWorld experience. You can go from being a festival rookie to a veteran in no time by learning from your past mistakes. If next year will be your first TomorrowWorld, you can turn yourself into a pro by taking the correct precautions and eliminating the possibility of making rookie mistakes. I hope that you learned from these observations, and you will take them with you for TomorrowWorld 2015!
