Needs improvement - 2011

[festivalfan]

Trouble sleeping? I usually have trouple not sleeping! i don't want to miss anything! try to be the first one up and the last one to bed! good times! next year i will have to party with the message board people a lot more!!!

uhhhh, ya...!!!

haha, its all good.

[AlwaysCountry]

Stayed in EDII this year. Great Time.....

AT THE GATES......

IF you are going to expect people to be in lines for male & female, you might want to give some notice. You can't expect people who are waiting to get in the gate to jump into the correct line after the gate is open. NOTICE would help. Last year, the "gate keepers" would make announcements 30 minutes before giving tips on how to help get in quicker.

WRIST BANDS
HAVE SEPERATE BANDS. What is the point of a camping band, if once you open the gates, people are given the exact same band to come and go as they wish. Lots of comments from people on that. Didn't make sense. So anyone could walk into camping area, no questions asked, they had a yellow band on.

Venue Band would be nice, not having to worry about losing your ticket would be nice. I heard a few people lost their tickets. Give a band for venue.
Drink bands, since you are checking ID's make sure you put them on tight enough not to come off. I saw a few underage kids trading with adults. Not trying to ruin someones fun, but those same kids were getting sick and passing out later. Three color bands....one for camping, one for venue and one for drinks.

SECURITY.
I know this is a tough job for them. Add heat and alcohol into the mix, and it's even harder. My suggestion....Get older people to work the grass area inside the venue. The teens, were not prepared for this. They were unable to actually move anyone, and it was sad and funny at the same time, watching them ask people to move, only to be ignored or flirted with. They would rush away. None of them were able to assist anyone with questions, the response was always I don't know or I'm not sure. The few older guys working the walkways seem to be able to keep the flow moving, but once they left the area, and the teens were back in charge it was blocked up again. They ended up closing areas, and you couldn't get b
ack to your spot if you walked away. I am curious, is there any training that they get before an event like that? If not there should be. I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for them to have to keep saying I don't know.

I will be back again next year......just hope it runs more smoothly.

[1countryfan4life]

Only a couple this year, they have it down pretty well now!

1. NEED wristbands or something for the venue. 3 people in my small group along lost their tickets inside the venue on the first day. And you could only get a duplicate if you had a c/c that it was charged on. Made it impossible for those who won tickets, or bought off of here or CL.

2. Tent camping morning curfews. I went out at 7am and came back with coffee and we were bounced around by security to go to different gates to enter. Then we were told it was locked until 9am. I was in pajamas with hands full of coffee and donuts. Entry should have been allowed...

3. The companion lot needing a ticket was a whole lotta confusing, especially the day there was an accident (Sunday) over on Madison and 50th. Then they were refusing people entry.

Overall I think it went pretty smooth this year though!

well my only complaint was about the parking situation at my off-site campsite......i'll try and do this in a nutshell.......

there was a total of 4 people in my group camping with me. Two of us (me and my friend Debbie) drove up there together on Friday because we had that day off work. My cousin Sabrina was joining us after she got off work (she lives in San Diego and works in Carlsbad), and then my friend Terry works 1/2 days on Saturdays, so she was driving up from her job in Escondido after she got off work. So it was impossible for the 4 of us to arrive together in the first place. So we were there Friday through Monday and the first night we knew parking wouldn't be an issue because we'd only have two cars and they have a two car limit, but our concern was Saturday and Sunday night when there'd be three cars.

So Saturday we spoke to the camp ranger at the entrance booth about it, and we were told, and i quote, "as long as you have the room at your campsite to fit a third car, your friend can park there for an extra $5 per night". So we were like "cool" and we gave the ranger $10, got a sticker for Terry's car, and a receipt to show we paid the $10. The plan was to give Terry the parking sticker when she found us @ Stagecoach, but i ended up leaving her sticker in MY car by accident, so i told her to call us when she got to the campsite later that night and one of us would come up to the gate with her parking ticket.

So anyway, at 1 am on Sunday morning, i get the call from Terry that she's up there at the gate, so i drive up to meet her with the parking sticker and receipt. This lady (<--different park ranger than the one we dealt with that morning) told us that it was in no way going to be possible for Terry to park at our site, even though i showed her the parking sticker and receipt that said we had already paid, and told her what the OTHER ranger had said. She stood her ground, saying that Terry would have to park in the companion parking lot and then walk to our campsite. Now, it's 1 am, PITCH BLACK outside, AND Terry is about 12 weeks pregnant (at least she was a week ago). I told Terry i'm not having her park so far away and walk back to our site cause it's PITCH BLACK out and she's pregnant. So i had her get in her car and follow me under the pretense that i was going to take her to the companion site, but we really went back to our campsite and she parked there with our cars anyway. We figured the worst they were going to ask us to do would be for Terry to move her car. No one EVER came by the rest of that weekend and had us move Terry's car (which, during the day, we wouldn't have had a problem doing, but just the fact that she was going to have to do it at 1 am when it was DARK outside........yeah, that wasn't going to happen).

that really was the only issue we had all weekend though.......

[Cooter]

i think this is more for issues that goldenvoice may have control over.

[snappyjoy]

I believe that also for those that had to park in companion parking, to possibly have some way to shuttle these people from the cars to the camp area, even if it was for a fee. We did hire a biker person (person that peddled the bikes ) for a friend, and when she got to the camp ground, we were charged 30.00! although we were told they work on tip, which i felt 20.00 would of been suffecient, considering it was 1 person with very little stuff. But when we went to give 20.00 we were told that was not enough. WTF!~ i do appreciate the poeple that are there to help and make money at the same time but i think golf cart shuttles or something for a even cost of $5.00 - 10.00 would be good.
it is a long walk ... or make the parking closer and more available.

[Raquellita]

I took one of those taxis also for a short ride as he passed us while walking back to camp. When I handed the guy the only cash I had ($12.00), he acted like I robbed him or something. Never again.

[Cooter]

shit, not like you will ever see them again. with that attitude i would have grabbed the money out of his hand and dropped a dollar on the ground, then when he bent down to pick it up fart in his face.

or i would have given him another tip, the tip of my boot to his shin.

[Raquellita]

Ooohhh good one Cooter. I'll keep that in mind for the next one. Just hope I can fart on command.

[festivalfan]

Ooohhh good one Cooter. I'll keep that in mind for the next one. Just hope I can fart on command.

hahahaha...
fart on command!!

[Boondock47]

Tent camping was beter this year except for the guard gates they were too stupid and on such a power trip people were taking stuff to the vehicles guys like the rapist were letting the girls back through but not the guys plus they kept a mother from her two sons and one needed a new inhaler and they kept her from getting in for more than an hour and a half Stagecoach needs to clean up their Security act or get alot of people with a class action lawsuit

[Cooter]

punctuation please.

[robertdv]

I don't have much to complain about, but here are a few things I'd like to change:

1. One ticket for the weekend was inconvenient. Does anyone know why they didn't do wristbands this year? In '08 and '09 I got a ticket for Saturday and another for Sunday. That would've been better too. Fortunately, I didn't lose mine, but I've heard the horror stories. FIX: TicketMaster could provide wristbands with 2D barcodes instead of tickets. If you print your tickets online, then you could trade those in at the gate/Will Call for your wristband. 2D is easier to read (some poor sap had to scan my ticket 4 times on Sunday) and can hold more info if needed (many possibilities I can think of).

2. I know folks want to set up "camp" in front of the Mane stage and watch the big names, but come on. This is a FESTIVAL after all. Let's mix things up and give the GA folks a little bonus while we're at it (they're not selling 60,000 VIP tickets, after all). Get the Mane stage acts over to the Palomino or Mustang stages for an acoustic set or to jam with some of the "up and comers." No need to put a schedule together (at least make it look random), just get a few big names to commit, announce that surprises await, and you'll get people excited about hopping from stage to stage to see what those surprises are.

3. Firehose Intermission: When I was a toddler, on a hot summer day, someone would "open" a fire hydrant and all the kids in the neighborhood would have a blast running around playing in the water (Brooklyn, NY early '70s). Let's do something similar. Get some folks with firehoses spraying the open area to the right of the Mane Stage (in front of Toyota tent) in the heat of the day. I envision a Firehouse bell ringing and a siren blaring to announce the 2-minute massive soakdown a few times each day.

I may have been born in the city, but as you can see, even then I was a little redneck.

[SPKemo]

3. Firehose Intermission:

Wet t-shirt contest??!!?? Might be a great idea.

Tickets might be the biggest issue I have, although I never got a wristband either day and they never scanned my tickets either day, I did hear a lot of problems with lost tickets.

New acts of course. (This is clearly easier said then done.)

We RV every year and never have had a problem. We have 3 RV's so we set it up like a U and have a huge court yard in the middle. This year we were in the ADA section right by the front gates as you walk out. Great for seeing the train wreaks as they walk out and perfect for going and pounding a few beers in between each act.

I liked and also dis-liked the portable shower situation this year. In years past, they would all be in the same area so the lines wouldn't be that long. This year they spread them out to have 1 unit in different sections. There was 1 unit almost next door to us. Loved how close it was to us but, the lines were so long most of the time, you really had to plan out when you were gonna shower.

Rollerskating ring next to the EDII club seemed pretty dead and a waste of good space. The club was so packed, they should do away with that so there will be more room for the club.

That is all I got!!

[Cooter]

Wet t-shirt contest??!!?? Might be a great idea.

Tickets might be the biggest issue I have, although I never got a wristband either day and they never scanned my tickets either day, I did hear a lot of problems with lost tickets.

isn't it mentioned everywhere to treat your tickets like cash? were people who lost their tickets also losing all their money? not sure why they are so hard to hold onto.

[claytucc3]

1) Traffic control entering the festival was pretty good. When it came to exit, it was a nightmare. I learned from the last few Stagecoach's to simply set up a tailgate after party relax, crank up music in the truck, have a drink (soda of course...lol) and wait an extra hour or two for the mass exodus.

2) More Restrooms is always a good call

3) Allow coolers, it is an all day festival and some of us can't afford to eat at the booths for 2 now 3 days.

4) Give "Hero" discounts to Military, Law Enforcement an Fire Fighters. After all, this is a country festival!

[Raquellita]

1) Traffic control entering the festival was pretty good. When it came to exit, it was a nightmare. I learned from the last few Stagecoach's to simply set up a tailgate after party relax, crank up music in the truck, have a drink (soda of course...lol) and wait an extra hour or two for the mass exodus.

2) More Restrooms is always a good call

3) Allow coolers, it is an all day festival and some of us can't afford to eat at the booths for 2 now 3 days.

4) Give "Hero" discounts to Military, Law Enforcement an Fire Fighters. After all, this is a country festival!

Good ideas!