The Staging Lot is your friend

[homo ardentum]

We’ve got a new wrinkle this year!

You will not be penalized for arriving early (you also don’t get in any earlier). When Gate officially opens, people in Staging Lot will have their tickets scanned and vehicles searched, and then be directed back onto Gate Road past the Gate line in lanes dedicated to clearing the lot.

Any thoughts on this? Will earliest arrivals leave last? It wouldn’t be bad to cruise in early and chill with no penalty on entrance.

[BBadger]

They might just have come to the realization that D-lot-punishing people arriving early doesn't actually improve the gate situation, and may in fact just create more work, require too much space, or even create a safety hazard. Also, in the end, those D-lot folk are going to be appended to the same long line of people anyway.

I always thought it was kind of odd what happens with people in the D-lot. They're supposed to enter after everyone else in line as punishment. However, what happens if the line to the gate never really ends? Do those D-lot people never get to enter, or enter a few days in, because they wait until everyone else has entered?

Maybe the old system was more relevant when there were fewer people, but in this brave new world of huge populations limited by the number of vehicles, it may not be tenable and not really a feature to hold onto anymore.

[lucky420]

I was sent to staging in 2013. We were merged in with the regular gate lines when it opened

[Token]

Oh no, never get there early, not for a minute or second, cuz those gate villains are nothing but vindictive spit n venom types that just want to punish and antagonize people! Punish, punish, punish!

I love the lore of the gate road and how long the Playa chicken has persisted.

You got there, be happy.

Besides, staging lot dynamics are dictated by NHP n Sheriff and how many cars are clogging the main road in Gerlach and Empire ...

[Tel]

Did anyone end up in the 'staging lot' this year? If so, how did it go for you?

We aimed to get there at 11ish and test this, but with the usual litany of errors, we ended up hitting the line around 1am.

[dpsrch]

I arrived at 11:30 this year by accident. Setting google maps to BRC tracks you all the way to the man so it adds another 30 min. to your travel time. I don't think we ended up in a lot, but we were in a cluster of four lines that didn't start moving until 1:30 am. The other lines all started up right around midnight.