You bought tickets to Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Miami! AWESOME! You’ll be joining 150,000 people on a pilgrimage to the greatest music festival in the world and now you just need some tips on getting there and what to expect. I’ve written a few previous guides to Ultra. You can read those if you want:
- Tips for Surviving Ultra Music Festival in Miami
- Why You Should Attend Ultra Music Festival 2011 in Miami
- My Thoughts on Ultra Music Festival 13 in Miami
What I wrote in the past is still very relevant for ravers making their first pilgrimage to Miami for UMF 14. The event takes place March 23rd – 25th at Downtown Miami’s Bayfront Park. Dozens of stages, hundreds of acts and some very expensive beer. Here’s the low-down on Ultra written by someone who has been to the festival 7 times. Talking about Ultra just isn’t as fun until you’ve watched a video. Just when I decide I’ve attended Ultra for the last time, I watch this and realize not going would be INSANITY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkg3f02dFek&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr6pllT2TVU&feature=related
That’s just the 2nd to largest tent. This festival is MASSIVE and, at this point, the size of it is really just Miami’s zoning, noise ordinances and lack of gigantic public spaces that can hold the tens of thousands of people that storm the gates every day. There have been discussions that UMF would one day leave Miami but, each year, the festival returns home to shake the buildings and we’re all very happy about that. Miami is the best place in the US to have a festival like this. How about some tips?
Getting to Miami:
- This seems pretty easy but I’ll share with you my experiences on getting to Miami on the cheap and efficiently.
- Fly into Ft. Lauderdale. More flights, cheaper flights and the only problem is the ride from FTL to Miami takes about 40 minutes in a shared shuttle bus that costs about $15 each way. You’ll save about $100 on your flight or more and only add about 25 minutes of travel time to your hotel each way.
- Stay in downtown hotels. If you’re in Miami for a full week, spend the first part of the week in South Beach, then move to downtown on Friday. This is huge because each year, I see thousands of people waiting on taxis to take them from downtown back to South Beach. The walk is 5.5 miles on a highway with no sidewalks. It’s a mess and, after dancing for 12 hours, you do NOT want to take that walk. If you do want to party after Ultra after night, SoBe is an option but just know you won’t be able to find a taxi easily.
- Don’t worry about arriving on Thursday. Once again, for those just doing Ultra, the festival starts around 4-5 PM on Friday and the headliners don’t go on until 10PM. You’re fine to hop on an early AM flight and get to Miami around 2PM. Save the night in a hotel and just travel the day of.
- Don’t get a Sunday night flight back home. Use that day you saved by working a full day on Thursday to take Monday OFF. UMF ends at Midnight and even if you can find a 2 AM flight out of Miami, you won’t make it. Get an easy 9AM flight out of Miami and take your time getting home.
Preparing for Miami:
- If you’re like me, March is still considered “Winter” That’s New England for you. Miami can hit highs of 75-80 degrees in March. The low at 7AM might be 50 but it’s usually about 60 and extremely humid. I’m from Florida and love humidity. You’re probably not so here’s what to expect and how to pack.
- Your clothes will stick to you. No, you’re not sweating but the humidity causes clothes to stick and, if your’e a girl, styling your hair will be impossible. Just get a scrunchy and deal with it.
- It’s going to be very hot. Your Ultra uniform should be light and comfortable. Carry only what you need (ID, Insurance card, cash, Ultra ticket). Flip flops seem like a good idea but I’ve had my toenail torn off and my pinky toe broken by people stepping on my feet. Wear comfortable sneakers, shorts and a tank top. If you can pull off a hat, do it. The extra sun protection is great.
- Sunglasses as well as sunscreen are good as well. The problem is, once night-time happens, those sunglasses become useless and you have no lockers to store them while at UMF and there’s no re-entry. So, bring cheap ones. You will probably lose your glasses.
- Prepare to carry nothing with you but, if you must, get an easy to wear purse with a single strap.
- This is Florida. Just bring 3 pairs of “club clothes” if you plan on doing that, then 3 pairs of beach clothes (can also be used at Ultra) and something to sleep in. You’re done.
- It wouldn’t hurt either if you hit the tanning bed before coming down. If you’re not already tan, you stand out pretty bad among the locals. It’s scary.
The Basics to Ultra Music Festival and General Survival tips:
- Ultra does a terrible job at communicating the rules to attendees before the event. If they post rules, follow them but you’re hard-pressed to find them.
- No outside food or drinks
- No nudity but going shirtless once you’re inside is fine (men only)
- No professional cameras which really boils down to no camera lens that is 2-3 inches long. I see plenty of SLRs and DSLRs at Ultra but they won’t let you bring in a long zoom lens unless you’re pre-approved media.
- Camelbacks are fine and they may ask the contents and you just say water. No one has ever tested the Camel-back to make sure it’s not Vodka & red bull
- Purses are fine and so are very small back packs / totes. Expect to be checked if you have a bag and if you have cargo shorts with big pockets
- Rarely do the screeners go far unless you look / act like a total ass. Comply with a request to take off you that and empty your pockets if they ask.
- In all of my years, no screener has asked me to remove my shoes. I’ve heard from friends that keeping drugs in your shoes is your best bet. I don’t do drugs so this is a risk you can take.
- Side-Note: Plain clothes and Uniform Miami Police Department is at Ultra Music Festival. If you are drinking underage or popping pills, you can and will be arrested.
Surviving Ultra Once you get past security:
- You made it past the guys in all yellow and your ticket scanned successfully. Awesome! First stop is to get a wrist-band so you can buy beer. do this first to get it out of the way.
- Buy a bottle of water and drink it down. Trust me on this and you should have been drinking water all morning.
- Grab a schedule and just look at the current time slot and the next. Looking at who’s playing at 11PM won’t help you and you’ll just look at the program 50 times in a day anyway. Look at right now (noon) and 1PM and make sure you know when to move to another tent / stage.
- Take breaks. Every 2 hours, just stop and sit under a tree with some water.
- Don’t be an evil ass and push your way to the stage. You may be a 95 pound girl with cute pink pom pom shoes but EVERYONE you pass hates you with a passion and the fact that you’re pulling 5 girls behind you.
- What’s worse is you getting stuck half-way to the stage and stop in front of me awkwardly because you can’t push forward anymore and prevent like you didn’t just piss off 5,000 people to get here and stop.
- Be responsible. Water is required if your’e going to do drugs. Stop to pee way before it’s an emergency so you can make sure to get to the toilets in time.
- Most importantly, understand you can’t see every artist. You can only see half of the ones you want to see. It’s okay. The same people will be at Ultra next year.
Surviving the Multi-Day Ultra Music Festival Experience:
- You’re in Miami as a tourist or as a local but it’s Miami Music Week so you want to do everything! You want to party till 2 AM at Mansion and then go to another party that goes until 10AM and then get to Ultra at 2PM and party until midnight. The festival is 3 days long. Pace yourself. Here are some tips.
- Attend Ultra and ONLY Ultra. It’s an awesome event. From noon to midnight, you have something to dance to. Chill out at the pool until 11 and then walk over.
- Drink ONLY water. Don’t drink alcohol or red bull. Drink water and you can have some Gatorade as well. When I leave Ultra every night, I walk to a corner store and get a gallon of water, fruits, a protein bar and a gatorade. I inhale it all then go to bed. When I first wake up, I drink 2 glasses of water and get a big breakfast. Failure to do this leads to soreness, nausea and you not wanting to do day 2 or 3 of Ultra
- Take regular breaks. You can’t leave the park and re-enter but you can find a tree to rest under.
Camera Tips (applies to all festivals including Ultra):
- Any camera is fine. Any camera will take photos so don’t go out and buy something expensive your’e just going to drop and cry about
- Don’t use a flash. Under no circumstances do you need to use your camera’s flash at events. Disable it. You’ll waste your battery and have loads of photos of some guy’s head
- Use your iPhone if you want but taking photos / videos while jumping up an down screaming is not how you capture a moment. Doing this just makes it impossible for hundreds of people behind you to see and the result is you get a blurry video if you jumping up and down for 45 minutes
- When it’s time to shoot video or take a photo, stop and separate your self from the crowd and the rhythm. Focus on your subject, zoom and ensure the shot is framed correctly and disable flash and then click the shutter button. Not doing this is just you wasting your time.
Buying Ultra Music Festival 2012 Tickets Online:
- I paid $99 for my tickets. Some people paid $150 and some others paid $300 for their tickets. I believe the highest ticketed rate is $300. Paying more than this is scalping which is illegal in Florida. If someone who is a Florida resident is asking for over $300, setup a time to meet them and then call the police and have them meet that person instead.
- Talk people down on the price. UMF sold out in January so some people will ask for $1000 for a single ticket. Don’t pay this and instead just buy during pre-sale next year which happens in September / October.
- Tickets scanned cannot be rescanned until the next day. If someone says you can meet them and take the ticket for $100 and use it for the 2nd half of the day after they went in, they’re stealing your money. The ticket is useless at that point.
- Don’t post photos of your ticket online. The barcode can be copied and used by someone else and when you show up at the gate, the ticket won’t work.
The price of Food and Drinks at Ultra Music Festival:
Food and drinks are very expensive at Ultra. It’s expensive but you have no choice. Suck it up. The variety is pretty good. Burgers cost $12 and pizza slices cost $10. You can get a turkey leg for $15 and a red bull costs $5-$10 I think. Water was $5 I think but I can’t be sure. Just deal with it because, once you’re in, you can’t leave to eat and come back. Go to subway before going to Ultra and get a huge sandwich. Inhale it and that’ll hold you over until later in the afternoon.
How to do / get / sneak in drugs at Ultra Music Festival:
This is THE #1 question I get asked the much. I’ve never done drugs before and frankly, I spend a majority of my time getting little kids to the paramedics because the kids overdosed or took ecstasy and didn’t drink anything and passed out. It’s a HUGE problem. My advice is go and enjoy the festival. Don’t do drugs and have a great time. However, people do ask me so I’ll tell you that most people sneak in drugs in their shoes. Having drugs is a good way to trade for food, water and other commodities. I’ve seen drug exchanges ranging from, “I’ll kiss you for x” to “I’ll pay you for X” to “Dude, you got any x I can have?” It’s up to you if you want to do this stuff. Please do it responsibly and don’t turn to me to make sure you don’t die.
That’s it!
See you all in Miami for UMF. I hope this helped.