How early can we line up outside the gate?

[Cyclic]

Morning all!

I do not see an obvious place for this question, so I'm going to try here. We'll be staging our RV in Reno until we head north to Black Rock. We have normal tickets and car passes.

Questions:
What is the earliest we can/should get to the gate? We'd like to be near the front of the line.
When do the gates open?
Any other suggestions?


Thanks!
Cyclic

[gaminwench]

If you arrive before opening, you are sent to Dlot and put at the back of the line.

[art walsh]

Play it safe. Plan to arrive 25 mins after gate opens. So, if the traffic is good, you may arrive 10 mins earlier than planned. That puts you in line 15 mins after gate opens.

[ygmir]

Play it safe. Plan to arrive 25 mins after gate opens. So, if the traffic is good, you may arrive 10 mins earlier than planned. That puts you in line 15 mins after gate opens.

great plan if it works.
Also, with this plan, be prepared to wait in line for 6 hours. Give or take.
It's a tough balance, getting there early enough to be near the front, but not so early, as Gaminwench says, to get put in D lot.
Planning (especially if it has to do with time, or timing) at Burning Man, is usually folly.
No expectations, no schedules, will help you relax, IMHO.

[The Rod]

What the viking said.

Best is to plan on spending hours in line either way, during entry and exodus (unless you can stay till monday or tuesday). Keep same snacks and cold beverages handy.

If things get bad enough, it could be a loooong time in that line. I can't remember if it was the amber alert or rainstorm that had people waiting for some 16 hours. Either way, plan on waiting. If you get lucky with a short wait, then great! And if you don't, the last thing you want to start your burn off with is unmet expectations.

[gaminwench]

The rainstorm was entry day, the Amber alert was Exodus.
At least, with an RV/trailer, one can deal with 16 hour
delays.

(Take care of your neighbors stuck
in line, yo)

[Captain Goddammit]

It’s impossible to plan to be near the front of the line.
That’s because there will always be a ton of people piling up too early, and you’ll be behind them anyway. You still end up waiting. And 30,000 others have the same idea.
If there wasn’t such a thing as being sent to the D lot, you’d still have to wait because you’d have to show up days in advance.
The good news is you’re in an RV.

[Latornada]

Technically, you’d be sent to staging lot, not D Lot, if you arrive before your ticket says you’re allowed to enter so for people without staff credentials that is automatically 08/28. I worked staging lot on opening night midnight-6 am in 2019. People who arrived at 11:56 pm did not get out of staging lot until 4 am or so. Whereas the people who did it right by playing by the rules, showing up at midnight or later got through gate in one hour. That’s because staging lot was treated as a single lane. We would send one car to gate, will call, or D Lot, after Apex (your first point of contact on playa) would send in one car from each lane of theirs (I think there were 6 lanes there, but don’t quote me on that).

Gate rewards those who follows the rules. Those that don’t will be faced with significantly longer wait times because people who don’t follow the rules will never be given priority over those that do. If everyone showed up early, there would be massive problems with traffic flow on the highway. Please do yourself, gate, the local community, and everyone else a favor by not showing up early.

Also be sure to not have styrofoam, plants living or dead, moopy things, or anything else on the not allowed lists. If you do you’ll be sent to the exit lane to go dispose of it back in gerlach. Your time to entry would become much longer. It should go without saying but it’s a relatively frequent occurrence.