Its been about 5 days since I left Gulf Shores, Alabama and I’m still reflecting on what an awesome time Maggie and I had out there. If you have been considering going to this festival, I definitely recommend it. Of all the music festivals I’ve been to, this one definitely ranks highly due to the layout, the diversity of the musical acts, and what there is to do inside the gates. The majority of the festival is on the sand, and is directly next to the water, so if you’re at one of the main stages, you groove in your bare feet and your swimsuit.

Capacity: Although the festival is about 40k people, the amount of space inside the grounds makes the festival feel smaller. To put it into perspective, Maggie and I ran into a group of 5 people from Colorado 2-3 times on Sunday walking around that we had met on Saturday evening.

Crowd: Ages of this festival went from about 5 years old all the way up to 60+. This, of course, had to do with the music and acts that they had on the lineup this year.

Food: The food at this festival was awesome. Not only did they have a bunch of different food vendors throughout the entire festival (they had Asian food, vegetarian, pizza, sweets, smoothies & salads, etc.), but they also had actual local food trucks as well as a full blown restaurant called The Hangout, which is actually a restaurant that is on the beach year round. The food at the restaurant was delicious, had a full bar, was complete with tons of fans and even had live feeds on the screen of all the stages so you wouldn’t miss a beat.

Things to do: While music festivals such as Ultra focus soley on the music, this festival boasted an entire experience. Aside from checking out the great line-up, there was tons to do inside the gates, so that you could literally walk in at noon and “hangout” for the entire day. Below is a list of what was available this year at Hangout.

• Wedding Chapel – Ever find the love of your life at a music festival? Doesn’t seem to be terribly uncommon. At Hangout, you could go as far as ask that person to marry you and take them to the chapel. While there, you would go through your wedding vows which would include promising to love them through terrible sunburns and sand getting in places it shouldn’t. You would exchange ring pops, a smooch or hug, record a quick vine and get a 3-day festival marriage license. It was surprising at how many people took advantage of this! 
• Games – A large volleyball court, jenga, and some bags/cornhole games were set up in the sand right in the middle of the festival. The games were set up in the middle of the Surf and Hangout stages, so you could easily make your way to whatever music act was on your list. 
• Rides – There was a Ferris Wheel, a quick drop and one other carnival ride at the festival. All of which seemed to be getting a lot of use. Maggie and I rode the Ferris Wheel on Sunday and got an incredible birds eye view of the entire festival.
• Shop – There were a ton of vendors from all over at this festival. There were clothing vendors, accessory vendors, art vendors, etc. Maggie and I took advantage of a vendor who would make you festive for the day. They had thousands of flash tats available, face painting, and glitter bombing. We decided to be glittered from head to toe. It was $10, it only took a few minutes, and we were covered in glitter for the day (minus giving hugs to the people in the crowds that wanted the glitter too!). 
• Relax – All over the festival there were tons of places to just sit back and relax. There were hammocks everywhere, shade structures, and comfy beach chairs. Lots of people also made “sand couches” and dug into the sand so they would have a nice relaxing place to rest. 
• Make Friends – One of the best parts about this festival was how awesome and friendly everyone was here. Maybe it was the awesome weather, or the fact that we were on a gorgeous beach, but Maggie and I walked away having met some pretty awesome people that I still text with today. Of course, it definitely helps when you’re walking around the festival with Dora the Explorer. People love seeing her and finding her in the crowds.

What Makes This Festival Different?

1. The location – Being on a small island like Gulf Shores, Alabama was fun, easy to navigate through, and it made the entire island a music festival. Everyone there was there for the music!
2. Activities – I cannot tell you how awesome it was to have so much to do. If you had any downtime between acts, you could play some games, hop on a ride, or relax on one of the many hammocks around the beach.
3. The bathrooms – While there were porta-potties everywhere, they also had these awesome and incredibly nice porta-potties by the Surf Stage. These porta-potties had nice locks on them, nice white toilets that flushed, lights when you locked the doors, and tons of toilet paper. My one regret about this festival was not getting a picture of how great these bathrooms were.
4. Organization – GoldenVoice (the company who puts on Coachella) stepped in this year and partnered with Hangout. I am not sure if this contributed to the overall experience, but this festival was INCREDIBLY well organized. The shuttle system was essentially flawless, all acts were on time, the app had tons of great information (including menus from each of the food vendors), the spacing of the stages was impeccable, bathrooms were easily accessible, and the line to get in was always moving.

My overall rating of this festival: 10/10. There is not a whole lot I would have changed about this festival, and I definitely plan on returning next year. 

Let me know if you have any questions about this festival, I would love to hear from you!

<3 Steph