By Anissa Fierro (@nissabugggg on Twitter& @nissabuggg Instagram)
Here is how my experience went at my first Beyond Wonderland. So to start off I had been wanting to go to Beyond since last year. It was supposed to be in the works last year and we were supposed to go. Unfortunately, we had something come up. I was extremely sad but I just thought to myself, I’m 100% going next year without a doubt. Once they started making announcements back in October about it I was so beyond stoked and couldn’t contain my excitement!! We got our tickets in January right when they went on sale and started planning from that day forward. It all started to become so real when we started getting our outfits picked, where we were gonna stay, and people I had planned to meet! It was all so exciting.
The day came to leave for California. We took off Thursday night and drove out. It was me, my boyfriend Kyle and friend Krista all going on a road trip. We had been waiting so long for this trip to happen and couldn’t believe it was finally here. Friday morning waking up in our Airbnb well rested and ready for day 1. The venue was not very far at all, it was about a 20-minute Uber drive there and back. This was not only going to be my first Beyond, but also my first time at the NOS center. This venue had been on my bucket list for the longest time. I was so thrilled to experience Beyond Wonderland so it was already so special to me. I had seen so many posts on Instagram and it just made me even more excited for it!
We arrived at Beyond at about doors which were 5:00 PM. Coming from Arizona, Rawhide was normally home, but as soon as I walked through those gates for Beyond I was already so mesmerized by how big the venue was and how well decorated everything was. So much detail and time went into decorating the NOS center for Beyond Wonderland. The first thing I needed to see was the famous lake spot in the venue. It was SO beautiful with the lake and all the mushrooms they had along the side of it and a big “Beyond Wonderland” prop in the background. It was definitely even better seeing it in person! We started to adventure off and take a look at all the vendors they had there and of course food! One thing I had on my list was the rainbow grilled cheese, but come to find out on the second-day that food vendor wasn’t there this year so that I was a tad bit sad about it. All the other vendors they had attend were great though! Yummy food and cool vendors you could buy merchandise from.
It was time to start seeing sets and first on our list was Timmy Trumpet, oh my goodness did he put on one heck of a show! I was so excited to see him perform. He was someone I had been wanting to see for a while. He had performed at “Queens Domain” which was a bigger stage under a giant tent. The stage wasn’t as crowded but thought the night it started to get to if you weren’t already in there. We then went to check out the other stage “Mad Hatter’s Castle”. I have never seen production pull off a stage this cool, ever. I was so blown away by all the lights they had set up for the stage, the music was loud so you could hear and see from wherever you stood in the stage. They also had these awesome screens so you could watch the visuals that were pretty awesome as well! I really loved the set up of this stage and how well they pulled it off.
Walking around Beyond Wonderland was beautiful at night! The lake had mini lights floating and sometimes fire would come out of the water too. They had lights set up in the trees and really just everywhere around the venue. They really went into detail when decorating and I was so impressed. I was able to meet some really cool ravers for the first time and got to trade some special people as well. This was always my favorite thing to do is meeting new people in the rave community. It was nice knowing I created more friendships from attending Beyond Wonderland.
This next part goes for day 1 and day 2. Towards the end of the night when Beyond Wonderland ended, it was a bit chilly out but we had all brought clothes to throw over so walking to the Uber pick up wouldn’t be so bad. I was so glad I had taken leggings and purchased a long sleeve from the merch tent or I would have been really cold waiting for an Uber. I was a little disappointed in how they had the Uber pick up because there was no signal and Ubers would cancel so what we had to do was walk about a mile away from the venue so we could get an Uber and ended up getting picked up at a gas station, I wish it had been a little more organized, but it was not the end of the world. We just prepared better for day 2 and knew what to expect when getting picked up.
All in all, I would 100% and 10/10 attend Beyond Wonderland again. It was everything I had hoped and dreamt about. The venue was perfect, security was a breeze, the stages weren’t too far from each other, the weather was perfect. They had plenty of bathrooms and water stations. Those I really cannot complain about. The whole trip was so much fun and I cannot wait to do it again! It has become one of my favorite festivals that I will gladly do again. A couple of things I recommend, take good walking shoes, bring an extra layer to throw over for the night time, drink lots of water and definitely attend Beyond at least once!
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