Most festival goers buy general admission or GA tickets. Every event that I have ever gone to, I have always had a general admission ticket. Only the lucky few have the resources to shell out hundreds more for a VIP ticket. I mean general admission is already expensive as it is. Add in travel expenses, outfits, drinks, and so on – it definitely adds up quickly! I never thought twice about getting a VIP ticket, but this year for EDC Las Vegas, some of my friends waited until the last moment to buy tickets and all that was left were VIP tickets. They decided to purchase anyway and when they did that, I thought “why not, you only live once!” and upgraded my GA pass to VIP. Was it worth it? Here’s my VIP EDC experience.

The first thing I loved about VIP was the speedy entrance! It’s always such a bummer to be so excited and then have to wait in the long lines to get inside, so being able to get the separate entrance was awesome – especially since GA ticket holders got held up by security at the gate for a while on Sunday night. As soon as we walked in, we headed to the cosmicMEADOW VIP viewing area and I was impressed! There little light up tables and a bartender who served me this sour vodka watermelon drink which was AMAZING! This area was really close to the stage so we had a stellar view of the stage.

Later on in the night we headed to the kineticFIELD VIP area which is up on the elevated deck. The best part of this VIP area was the clear view of the stage over the entire crowd. One of my friends especially loved this area because they had a special IPA beer that he loves and this was the only place at the festival you could get it.

Another plus? The bathrooms! They were such a lifesaver. They were nicer and cleaner than your usual porta potties. Aside from nicer bathrooms, there were fun little areas around as well. When I saw this pit filled with colorful plastic balls, like the ones you can find at Chuck-E-Cheese, I couldn’t help but jump in! There were also nice, big areas with couches you could chill at which worked wonders for my tired feet. And another favorite of mine: the photo areas where there was a huge picture frame set up with “EDC” written across the top. Kinetic’s VIP area was a ton of fun and I definitely had a ball there.

Even though VIP was great to experience, I have to be honest and tell you that I spent the majority of my time out in the crowd with all the other GA ticket holders! I love the whole atmosphere of general admission a little better. Yes, VIP has all kinds of cool perks, but there’s something about being in a crowd full of happy people, jumping, and singing at the top of our lungs. I simply love it, I love being a part of the huge crowd and feeding off the good vibes. Sure, I can’t see the stage as well as I would in VIP, but when I’m having a good time and feeling the good vibes, that doesn’t matter to me! I actually talked to more people and made more friends in general admission than I did in VIP.

So was it worth it to get VIP? I can’t really answer that with a solid yes or no. On the one hand, there were so many cool things that I got to experience with VIP that made EDC even more memorable, but on the other hand, I spent approximately 90% of my time in the general admission anyway. Next year, if I have the extra money to afford it, I would buy VIP just for all the little perks that I liked, but if I can’t afford it, I have absolutely no problem doing general admission as I usually would. One thing I can say though is that everybody should have the VIP experience at least once in their life. If there is anything that this has taught me, it’s that whether you buy general admission or VIP, as long as you have plenty of good vibes and happiness, you are going to have the time of your life!