Best time to arrive?

[angryeunuch]

Is traffic lighter if you arrive before the gates open or is arriving early a waste of time?

[gaminwench]

If you arrive before the gates open, you get parked in 'D' (detention?) lot; then you get to watch all of the 'on time' folks get in before you.

Not recommended, unless you want to spend an extra 3/4 hours parked prior to entry.

[angryeunuch]

Good to know! Thanks. So there is no line until gates open?

[Sham]

Yes, there is a line, and they are herded like sheep into a pen. You are best to arrive on time. Part of the pre-fun is hanging out in the lines and partying with all sorts of new friends.

[gaminwench]

If they allowed a line pre-opening, it would stretch all the way to Empire (guessing), which would clog up the one lane for hours and hours and hours. So eager beavers (burgins) get parked in 'D' lot and penalized with a looooong wait. (I hear that it turns into a party, but LEO keeps a sharp eye out for drinking drivers, so that's something else to worry about).

Best arrival is probably around/after 3 AM, much less wait ... the disadvantage is that you're not going to have a clue where to set up in the dark.

[TT120]

Last year, I hit the line of cars a couple miles past the I80 smokeshop at about 4:00pm Sunday (2 hours before the gate opened) and made it to greeters at about 5:00am the next morning. (monday)

We would stop for hours at a time then go a couple hundred yards, then stop for an hour or 2. It was brutal but worth it.

[Sham]

I never hit traffic like that on the way in, but on the way out there was a phenomenon we called "sleepers". Drivers would stop and put the car in park, and then doze off during the wait. You had to get out and wake them to keep the lines moving. Did that happen on the way in too?

[angryeunuch]

We went in 2008 but arrived mid-week (thus the arrival question). We ended up with a leftover case of energy drinks and amused ourselves during exodus by giving them to sleepy drivers.

[Elliot]

Gaminwench and Sham have the concept perfectly right. In addition, if you arrive very early, you will be sent back to Reno.
If you arrive just a little early, you will be corralled in the Staging area, which operates on the first-in-last-out principle.

There is indeed a D Lot, which it is for solving matters that take too long to handle in the Gate line, such as missing tickets, vehicles that are difficult to search properly, or Mutant Vehicles without Invitation.

In total, there are three parking lots at Gate:
The plain regular parking lot for the Will Call office, which is before you get to the actual Gate,
the D Lot for problem-solving right at the Gate, and
the temporary "for-those-who-jumped-the-gun" Staging Lot, somewhere in the vicinity.

[Eric]

Good to know! Thanks. So there is no line until gates open?

There will absolutely be a line if you're arriving Sunday/Monday. Pretty much all day, both days, from what I understand - someone from Gate can clarify that. There will be less painful lines at times, but they are completely random & there is no way to plan for them. Your best bet is to leave Reno maybe 2-3 hours before the Gate is announced to open, and to drive safely there, and get yourself in a zen frame-of-mind for the line. This of course, you'll also be putting yourself in the longest part of the line by doing this, and it can take 6-8 hours to get through it...

[theCryptofishist]

I don't know how I got through it last year. The traffic stopped at Empire. No wonder they want fewer cars.

[Elliot]

Incidentally, there are portapotties along Gate Road, starting as soon as you get off the pavement. But not quite enough of them at peak hours -- I saw a dozen or more people in line sometimes. So try not to get yourself in a hurry to go.

[VultureChow]

Dude, there's lines during early entry. First year I came through the line at midnight and with no potties in sight. I peed in a Starbucks cup. What a perfect introduction to Black Rock City.

[Elliot]

Yeah, I arrived mid-day Wednesday before, and it took something like an hour to get thru the Gate. But there were only maybe two lanes working (out of eight total).
GP&E was shorthanded last year. Close to the event, mgmt asked us to recruit competent friends. It's like the Marines -- we can always use one more good fucko, and sometimes several. And not everyone can "handle the truth". It's a commitment, but very worthwhile for the right sort of people.

[FossaFerox]

The line is inescapable if you plan on arriving on time (which you should), but it doesn't have to suck. Just think of the line as part of your burn. It's exactly as fun or as boring as you make it.

Once we hit the dust Sunday night I was out of the car with my EL wired backpack and full-face Soviet Issue, Cold War era gas mask. I wandered the rows of cars making friends and joking about the dust. The mask was a big hit. Sadly I tore the bottom edge of it while dancing outside an RV. I'm not surprised, really; the respirator would flop about pretty violently (apparently they weren't made for dancing?) and the thing was OLD. So now it's useless in the event of a real gas attack, but it's still pretty awesome.

[BBadger]

The line really is part of the experience. You'll see funny people, lots of laughing, costumes, peoples' mutant vehicles, lasers, music, all kinds of stuff. I tend to enjoy entering the line more at night than during the day because it's cool enough to be outside.

[Bless]

FYI the D-lot line is LIFO. The closer you arrive to 6 pm on Sunday, the sooner you leave D-lot.

[Canoe]

FYI the D-lot line is LIFO. The closer you arrive to 6 pm on Sunday, the sooner you leave D-lot.

Or, the earlier you arrive before the permitted time, the later you get out.
Rumor #1: some people have been stuck in there for 12 hours or more.
Rumor #2: and once Gate opens, it doesn't mean they get around to letting people out of D lot right away. Everyone who followed the instructions and didn't arrive early gets in first.

And that's assuming that in arriving before the permitted time you haven't pissed someone off and gotten arrested for being within an exclusion zone without permission. Which, technically, they can do.

[Aurelia]

so do you get the truth now

you will find out when you get there

[ygmir]

FYI the D-lot line is LIFO. The closer you arrive to 6 pm on Sunday, the sooner you leave D-lot.

what does LIFO mean?

[Canoe]

It's a stack.

Last In, Fist Out

Last In, First Out

The Last one In is the First one Out. Which also means: the first one in is the last one out...

A queue is First In, First Out.

So if you're early, instead of being FIFO, you're now FILO, or to put it simply, F.U.C.K.E.D.

[Elliot]

For once I'm offended. Half the stuff that's been asked in the last few posts was answered just a few posts earlier. That means I either waste time reading "old news", or I Unsubscribe the thread and then I cannot contribute further. I really wish people would not just shoot from the hip with their questions, but read the thread first. Mother of fake pearls! (That's cursing.)

Gaminwench and Sham have the concept perfectly right. In addition, if you arrive very early, you will be sent back to Reno.
If you arrive just a little early, you will be corralled in the Staging area, which operates on the first-in-last-out principle.

There is indeed a D Lot, which it is for solving matters that take too long to handle in the Gate line, such as missing tickets, vehicles that are difficult to search properly, or Mutant Vehicles without Invitation.

In total, there are three parking lots at Gate:
The plain regular parking lot for the Will Call office, which is before you get to the actual Gate,
the D Lot for problem-solving right at the Gate, and
the temporary "for-those-who-jumped-the-gun" Staging Lot, somewhere in the vicinity.

[FIGJAM]

Cactus BOY wants to know when Elliot arrives and can he follow him in!!!

[Bless]

For once I'm offended. Half the stuff that's been asked in the last few posts was answered just a few posts earlier. That means I either waste time reading "old news", or I Unsubscribe the thread and then I cannot contribute further. I really wish people would not just shoot from the hip with their questions, but read the thread first. Mother of fake pearls! (That's cursing.)

My apologies, Elliot

[BBadger]

It's a stack.

Last In, Fist Out

Last In, First Out

The Last one In is the First one Out. Which also means: the first one in is the last one out...

A queue is First In, First Out.

So if you're early, instead of being FIFO, you're now FILO, or to put it simply, F.U.C.K.E.D.

++ to your CS terminology.

[9ah]

Were the LIFO & FIFO terms from CS? I recalled learning them over a decade ago, but couldn't recall the course. Thanks!

[BBadger]

I was actually referring to the use of "stack" and "queue", but FIFO and LIFO are also often used to describe the process. I think I encountered FIFO first in a course about circuits and memory, and LIFO first in the Magic: The Gathering instruction booklet.

[BigInSeattle]

I don't mean to sound dumb or beat a dead horse but what does "on time" even mean when the lines are that long? I mean, if you leave Alturas,CA 5 hours before opening does that get you "on time" to the gate? I'm assuming you won't be the 1st in line and just sail right through.

I guess my question is how to time your arrival to coincide with getting there "on time", or, should you make 2-3 hours before opening "on time" for you to anticipate a line that has already formed?

I'm think about this way too much.

[FossaFerox]

If you park your car before noon on Monday you're "on time" in my book. If you have your camp built before then doubly so. Obviously I prefer (and recommend) arriving before then, but I realize that's difficult for some people by no fault of their own. We finished our rough build Sunday around midnight and put finishing touches on it Monday morning after touring the inner playa at night and getting our last real night's sleep for the week.

Coming through the gate Sunday afternoon around sunset was a blast. We left Reno at about 2 PM to make that happen. YMMV.

[Elliot]

I don't mean to sound dumb or beat a dead horse but what does "on time" even mean when the lines are that long? I mean, if you leave Alturas,CA 5 hours before opening does that get you "on time" to the gate? I'm assuming you won't be the 1st in line and just sail right through.

I guess my question is how to time your arrival to coincide with getting there "on time", or, should you make 2-3 hours before opening "on time" for you to anticipate a line that has already formed?

I'm think about this way too much.

Probably. So just think of it this way (one last time): It is simply impossible to get 60,000 folks thru the gate at an exact time, and there are problems with arriving early. So get there no earlier than opening time, and you will get in a bit later. You will still be set up and operational on Monday. Embrace it.