The Ultimate TomorrowWorld 2015 Survival Guide: What You Need To Know And What You’ll Wish You HAD Known

Last year I was lucky enough to have gone to TomorrowWorld with a group of people that included several kids who had already been to a camping music festival. Granted, that festival was nothing, NOTHING compared to the massive scale of TomorrowWorld (think “hometown bar mitzvfah DJ” versus Calvin Harris), but at least it was something. And so when we all got there, rather than running around like chickens who’d been decapitated and then thrown into the Georgia wilderness we were prepared.

Just kidding, none of us had any clue what we were doing LOLOLOL.

I won’t lie to you: I’m not a pro when it comes to camping festivals. There are very few things I consider myself “good” at, and setting up a campsite in a way that doesn’t suck is not one of them – but this year we’re prepared. We know what we’re doing. We’ve got the car packed, our coolers filled and I’m at least 90% sure I remembered to pack a spare change of underwear this year. So without further ado, let’s crack this baby open!

 

Getting There

If you’re flying, you can either buy a TomorrowWorld shuttle pass, or if your flight is scheduled to arrive after the shuttles stop running you can just wing it at the airport and find an independent shuttle to take you there.

As for driving, you want to arrive Thursday morning 1-2 hours before the gates open. Let me repeat that, Thursday morning 1-2 hours before the gates open. This ensures that your campsite is placed in a desirable location, for example last year we were between the entrance to the actual festival grounds, the marketplace (where all the food vendors in Dreamville set up), and the bathrooms were only maybe ~100 feet from our tents. Off-site camping as well as on-site parking will be available, and while you can pay when you arrive I recommend buying a parking pass in advance here.

Driving directions can be found here.

 

Camping

This obviously does not apply to you if you’ve elected to stay in a hotel, which case all I’ve gotta say is…

Just kidding! Sort of. Camping at TomorrowWorld last year was DA BOMB and so if you’re one of those people who for some reason feels a burning need to not live in dirt for a few days, feel free to skip this section. If you love having an excuse to not shower for 72+ hours and consider body odor to just be human kind’s “natural perfume,” the following suggested camping list is for you:

  • Large canopy
  • Folding camp chairs
  • Folding plastic table
  • Cooler(s)
  • Bungee cables (just in case)
  • Zip ties (just in case)
  • Duck tape (just in case!)
  • Solar powered tea lights
  • Wagon / some sort of cart to carry all your gear from the parking lot to your campsite (it’s a looong walk…even longer when you’ve got 50+ pounds to carry in multiple trips)

Now I’m sure you’re looking at that list and thinking “Duh…duh…duh…du- what? A canopy? That sounds completely unnecessary.” Well I’m not gonna lie to you – it’s totally optional. I’m sure it’s 100% possible to make it through TomorrowWorld using only a tent and a single sleeping bag, but to be perfectly honest that sounds horribly uncomfortable. The canopy gives you a nice makeshift common area for you and the people you’re camping with that’s both out of the sun and will protect you from rain (weather is weather, you never know). Last year we had our campsite set up similar to this highly-accurate example I spent countless hours creating in Photoshop below:

 

Again, you could honestly get through the weekend without the folding camp chairs, but who wants to sit on the ground for 5 days straight? Plus the solar powered tea lights provide just enough light for you to see where you’re walking within your campsite when hung from the canopy, and they’re cheap – you won’t feel bad throwing them away at the end of the weekend.

As for the plastic folding table, there are several Walmarts on the outskirts of Chattahoochee Hills where you can stop and grab one rather than lugging it all the way down. It sounds dumb, but I swear by ‘em – it basically turns into your makeshift dry food pantry for the weekend, unless you’d prefer to keep food in your tent.

  • Rubber mallet (for pounding in camping stakes)
  • Plastic sandwich bags (in case it rains, so you can throw your cigarettes/money/whatever inside to keep dry)
  • Trash bags (they have trash bins there, but life is 500x easier when you don’t have to leave your campsite to throw away 2 empty bottles of water)
  • Sunscreen / bug spray (just in case)

That’s all the communal gear. As for packing yourself…:

  • Sleeping bag/blankets/pillows
  • Tent (duh)
  • Tarp to go under the tent to protect yourself from water & etc.
  • Toiletries (please wear deodorant, I was kidding earlier about “human kind’s perfume)
  • ID
  • Change of clothes
  • Multiple pairs of socks
  • Camelbak / Fanny pack
  • Air mattress (optional, but if you live a #fancy life then I recommend it)
  • Dry shampoo
  • Baby wipes
  • Toilet paper (sometimes the bathrooms run out, better safe than sorry!)
  • 2 pairs of shoes, or at least 1 pair of comfortable sneakers
  • Clothes for warm AND cold weather (it can get into the 50’s at night)
  • Ear plugs if you’re a light sleeper
  • Wrist watch (your phone WILL die unless you choose to purchase a charging locker)

If you want to take a shower at TomorrowWorld then be my guest – personally, I am a filthy creature who would prefer to drown in dry shampoo for 5 days and rub myself down with baby wipes than go out of my way to take a shower. To each their own.

Now when it comes to packing your cooler that’s mostly up to you – what do you like to eat that isn’t perishable? No, eggs are not perishable. Eggs are NOT perishable. STOP PACKING EGGS THEY’RE GOING TO GO BAD.

^^^That was me with one of my friends last year. In other words, please, do not pack eggs, milk, or raw chicken; it will be a waste of money and food. Instead, feel free to pack:

  • Water, LOTS and LOTS of water; you can even freeze them ahead of time to use as ice packs to save room in the cooler(s)
  • Chips
  • Trail mix
  • Sports drinks
  • Hot dogs (if you’re brave)
  • NOTHING MADE OF GLASS

While there will be grilling areas available, last year we saw very few people using them (or maybe that was because we were too lazy to go over and use them ourselves…) and it was just easier to binge-eat potato chips for 5 days with a cold hot dog or two thrown in for some protein. Of course, you also have the option of buying food from the various vendors at the festival. Ranging from sushi to chicken and waffles to orange chicken, if you’re hungry for something you’ll probably be able to find it. However, note that TomorrowWorld is a cashless festival, meaning that you have to register your credit card with your wristband online in order to put money on it. Sounds like a pain, but it’s honestly 100x better than carrying around crumpled $20’s that’ll probably get lost in the shuffle anyway.

 

The Actual Festival

TomorrowWorld is one of the best music festivals in the United States that I’ve been to, and while I’m sure you’re just as excited as I am you gotta pump your brakes, because what’s up there^^ will quickly become what’s down here…

…if you don’t pace yourself. Don’t buy 20 bottles of Bud Light on Friday at 1:00 in the afternoon, proceed to chug all of them and be blacked out and asleep in your tent by 5 p.m. You won’t have fun, your friends won’t have fun watching you stagger around and in the end, the whole point of TomorrowWorld is to make memories and meet people – neither of which will happen if you spend all weekend incoherent. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Take it easy until 5:00, then proceed to turn up with everyone and if you’re still going strong by 8:00, chances that you’ll make it to the very last set of the day are pretty high.

Speaking of your friends, TomorrowWorld is one of the largest festivals in the United States, which means that if you don’t have a totem and some of your group gets separated you may not be able to find them until you meet back up at the campsite later in the day. Not everyone you’re with is going to want to see the same acts 100% of the time, and that’s perfectly fine! But when your schedules do overlap, choose a meeting spot that’s easily found along with a time to be there in order to head to the next set together. Last year we always made sure to meet at the corner of where the main stage ended and where the vendor booths began.

However, one of the biggest reasons people didn’t make it to our designated meeting spot was that for the first two days we were all hell-bent on being in the VERY front of EVERY stage in the middle of EVERYONE. Personally, I hate being pushed and shoved by sweaty topless men whom I’ve never met before – but that’s just me. If that’s your thing and you love being in a mosh pit then go for it! But if not, make sure to take the time to sit up on the hill overlooking whatever stage you’re at. You don’t have to do it for every set, hell you don’t even have to do it at all – but like I said before, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. If you spend all day on your feet and don’t take the time to sit for even 5 minutes, you’re probably going to be wiped out and dysfunctional come the next morning.

Quick Tips:

  • Bring toilet paper with you into the festival. Maybe not an entire roll, but at least a few sheets. There’s going to be over 40,000 people there, and while the festival staff does a PHENOMENAL job of keeping the toilets stocked it’s better to be safe than sorry.
  • Wear a fanny pack. At some point you’re probably going to realize that you don’t want to wear your sunglasses/bracelets/whatever anymore, and assuming you don’t have pockets that’s where your fanny pack comes in.
  • Wear a wristwatch, preferably one with a backlight. Your phone WILL die unless you choose to purchase a charging locker, and having an old school watch bypasses that problem.
  • Don’t try to bring in unsealed lipstick or cigarettes – they’ll get thrown out by security on your way inside.

And now for what I like to consider the best part of every festival…

 

Building A Totem!

Now you OBVIOUSLY don’t have to make a totem if you don’t want to, but why not? Trust me, if you’re sitting at home like “Wow that looks like a pain,” once you get to TomorrowWorld you’re going to have a serious case of FOMO after you see everyone running around with ‘em. Here’s just a few examples:


https://www.instagram.com/p/6QtwdLTZEC/


Every festival has their own rules, but for TomorrowWorld all they require in regards to totems is that they don’t have any metal or wood pieces. In other words, you need to use PVC pipes (you could also use a pool noodle, however keep in mind that they’re generally very flimsy and do not stand up straight very well (if at all)).

In terms of height, aim for anywhere between 10 and 15 feet – that way the end of the totem that you’re holding can rest on the ground and yet won’t obstruct the view of anyone standing behind you. The easiest route to go is probably to use a telescoping pool cleaner with a net on the end; it’ll give you height and the square plastic netting frame is a great base to create your totem around:

If you choose to not use a pool cleaner with a net, that’s fine – you can literally use anything that comes to mind. Styrofoam and cardboard are both good lightweight materials you can use as the base to design your totem around, however feel free to even go as simple as just attaching a flag to the end of a pole. At past festivals I’ve seen everything from flags to blow-up dolls to giant stuffed animals, so really you just have to decide:

  • What your design is
  • What type of pole works best for that design (obviously a pool cleaner with a net isn’t going to look so hot with a flag attached, right?)

As for attaching the totem to your pole of choice, it really depends on what your design looks like – if you’ve chosen a large print-out of a face secured to a giant chunk of cardboard, duck tape might be the best option, or maybe zip ties, string or rope. It completely depends on your totem, get creative! There’s honestly no wrong way to make a totem, all it takes is a little imagination and a lot of tape and/or glue.

 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you forgot to pack more than 1 extra pair of socks or if you didn’t realize your tent had a giant hole in the side of it until you unpacked it at your campsite: TomorrowWorld will probably be one of, if not THE best festival experience of your life. While this was meant as a guide to help you get started with packing and navigating around, don’t treat this as the end-all-be-all of what you HAVE to do at TomorrowWorld – don’t be afraid to wing it. After all, that was what we did last year and it turned out to be the best festival I’ve ever gone to…even if I forgot to pack more than one pair of underwear for the week (I’m not saying that DID happen, but I’m not saying it DIDN’T either).