Concert lineup and overall the reason to go, the music, was fantastic. The experience, an unorganized mess.
Perspective from VIP ticket. Nearly all of the ‘vip’ perks are irrelevant or worthless.
Fast track into the show. Nope. Only two lanes for vip. So the two lanes get bottlenecked with bag searches while the normal GA has way more lanes and people are able to pass right on through.
Preferred viewing area? NONEXISTENT! None of the stages have a vip area remotely close to the stage. The festival map even showed the vip going almost 1/2 across a main stage and they graphically changed it after the first day of the show. Really want to see a band and not just hang back, vip is not the place.
Don’t feel like bringing cash or credit cards? That’s ok you can add your card to your wrist band. Super cool actually…. Except most of the vendors don’t accept it. So… actually pointless.
Separate food and drink vendors? All of the good food vendors are in the main area with no vip fast lanes and their are so many drink vendors it makes no difference. And theirs so few vip food vendors that the lines are just as long as the GA food lines. Oh and food vendors also run out of items in the middle of the day too! Also to note, Octane stage… no vip food area.
Merchandise? Only the main concert Rockville merch available in the vip section. Want individual band merch? Get ready to stand in a line that stretches across the field. Oh and even if you do want something, better buy it on the first half of the first day. Theirs no excuse for merch to be sold out on the first day of a 4 day festival. Rather just buy merch on the app? Don’t expect everything will be their. Many items for sale not even listed to buy from the app. And that’s just main festival merch. Band merch on the app? Nope. Side note: wish they had commemorative enamel pins or patches.
Don’t get separated from your friends! Theirs basically no cell phone service and no festival wi-fi is available.
Staying in a hotel? Don’t expect any ride if you stay till the end of the show. No Uber, Lyft, taxi, limo, bus, or shuttle services. I can understand theirs no control over ride share companies, but to not make any arrangements with the city for bus shuttles to at least main destinations around Daytona is a huge oversight. Fist night of the show it took over 3 hours to get back to hotel room vs. what is a 10min car ride. Paid for vip and had to leave the show early for the rest of the weekend so I don’t get stranded on the side of the road.
All that said it was a great show. It’s just annoying that all that I mentioned is super easily fixed and I hope in the future it is.