Forest fam, it’s that time of the year!!!!!!
Loyalty status has been mailed out, codes are coming soon, Forest starts a day earlier, and you’re probably trying to figure out what camping to do this year.
The real question most forest-goers have right now: What camping are we doing? From GA, to Maplewoods, to back 40, to Good Life, I can tell you that I don’t stand with the people who say, “once you do Good Life, you can never go back to GA.” To reassure everyone, Good Life was AMAZING, but not entirely what I expected. But I’d be perfectly happy back in group camping, NEVER regular GA.
Now to break it down.
Good Life VIP PRO’S: The thing that won me over was free unlimited showers. It felt SO NICE to be able to rinse off whenever I felt like, and the longest I had to wait was maybe 10 minutes. AC bathrooms will always win my heart over, although the ones near Ranch Arena got pretty nasty. Men and women were walking into whatever was open.
The free pool party and BBQ on Wednesday was excellent too. They have free beer but we didn’t really make it in time for that. On Sunday they have a Bloody Mary bar set up till about 4pm. On Friday and Saturday they had the free drinks during happy hour, but that line was not worth it at all. When you arrive you receive 2 drink tickets. After spending over an hour waiting I was told you can only do 1 double drink or 2 regular drinks/beers. But hey free alcohol is free alcohol.
Another great thing about Good Life, you have multiple entrances throughout the forest that give you quick easy access into the camp ground and the festival ground, which I LOVED. Not to mention, the longest I waited in line to get in was about 10 minutes. That sure beats the hour line in GA. That alone really makes it hard for me to not do Good Life again. Things were exceptionally organized in Good Life and everyone was super helpful and nice too.
Good Life VIP CON’S: Refer back to the free happy hour. Kind of annoying. In addition to that, Good Life only had about 5 vendors and maybe 6 food vendors, and 2 of those just being coffee/smoothie trucks. Alternatively, in GA, I loved walking down Main Street and having music blasting, everyone’s hanging out, checking out what’s going on at The Brainery, walking around the vendor’s tents and seeing all this creative, handmade art.
Also, maybe it was just me, but some of the artists they had playing on the stage in Good Life were disappointing. I took the shuttle to RV camping a few times throughout the weekend because there were better artists playing there. While the camping spaces were a bit bigger, we were still on top of neighbors, literally. So after being told that you have more space in Good Life and we really didn’t was upsetting. Even walking around the other VIP camping areas, the preset tents were pretty close to each other too.
I did not do the brunch that Good Life offers, but some of my friends I camped with did it. It is to be noted, however, that while it does not say anywhere online, they limit each person to 1 hot plate only. So that leaves you with eating yogurt, ice cream, cereal, and muffins in order to fill up. Even the people serving the food didn’t tell you it’s one hot plate only.
A big disappointment of Good Life was the viewing sections. Tripolee isn’t that bad, but it was a bit smaller than I thought. Ranch Arena was the worst. The only good thing about it was the big tent they had set up with the bar, shade, multiple comfy seats, and bathrooms. The viewing area isn’t centered with the stage so it’s a little off to the right side which sucked, and there was a speaker blocking most of the stage. And if you didn’t get lucky enough for a closer spot, have fun with all the trees and branches in your way. Sherwood Court wasn’t terrible, but their viewing area was pretty small too. They had a mini bar in there which was nice.
I’m not trying to bash Good Life, I just feel like for the money I paid, my viewing area shouldn’t be off to the side with a giant speaker in the way.
Needless to say, Good Life has its perks. Was it worth the money I spent? Only if I had a 4 or 6-in-the-forest discount. Would I do it again? Absolutely!
However, I would be 100% happy with going back to group camping in GA. While the walk is closer to the gates, I just don’t want to stand in that line EVER again.
If you have your 4 or 6-in-the-forest pin, there’s a special side entrance in GA for us near the main entrance which was pretty convenient. If you’re looking for something similar to Good Life but want to save some money, and be closer to all the fun of GA, I’d recommend Maplewoods. Not only are you camping in the trees so you’re campsite is mostly out of the sun, but you have your own entrances separate from GA, and you have unlimited showers and AC bathrooms.
More information about Electric Forest 2020:
To those who are new to the loyalty program, last year Electric Forest changed who they did their ticketing through, and there was dozens of people who did not receive a code, receive the correct loyalty code, or even get a ticket last year. Electric Forest’s team was getting hundreds of emails by the day trying to figure out what was going on. They finally sent out a loyalty recognition form to help those get their codes. Even then, some people never heard back or received a code.
I was one of the people who did not receive a code, and when I did it wasn’t for 4-In-The-Forest. I had my heart set on doing Good Life VIP and was relying on my big discount as well. I was able to get a response back from someone, and after taking screenshots of my past receipts, I was able to get my 4-In-the-Forest loyalty code.
This upcoming forest, it seems like things will be A LOT more organized. EF sent out an email the other day with your loyalty status and if you did not receive it, or have the right status, it explained in the email on what to do and how to fix it. Per usual, (I think) we will still get our loyalty codes emailed to us a few days before tickets go on sale. Tickets for EF usually go on sale that 2nd or 3rd week of December, and loyalty codes are emailed out about a week to a few days prior.
Also in addition to this upcoming forest, and in honor of the 10 year anniversary, EARLY ARRIVAL ON TUESDAY!!!!! What?!? I know, that seems super extreme and exciting at the same time. But don’t worry, Wednesday will still be available for early arrival as well. The festival and music itself remains Thursday-Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that some secret sets won’t pop up Tuesday and Wednesday.
Stay tuned for more and that mind-blowing, killer anniversary line up.
Happy Forest!
