2011's Gate D Hell

[Eternal_Return]

We're driving down for the first time since 2011. In that year we arrived in the Gate D queue around 5.30am and didn't get into the festival until around midday. Eurgh. Got the coach in the next 2 years which was painless by comparison (queued for less than an hour, arriving just before gates opened). My question is, are the car park queues always that awful, or was that just a particularly bad year/have things improved since then?

[Alex278]

I remember that year. The mud on the hill was horrendous. What made it worse was that I lost my group (who had never been before) and they had my ticket so I didn't get into the site until 3/4pm. Have taken the coach since.

[LetsGoToMars]

We left glastonbury town at about 7am, parked up at about 8.30am, got through gate D at about 11am. In the pouring rain, not a good experience.

The two years since then we've left glastonbury town on Tuesday night and queued overnight right at the very front of gate D.

[Spindles]

It was just a bad year and you really can't predict it. 2010 at the same gate was a problem too but the weather was better. 2013 gate D was a breeze, we were onsite by 7.15am

It all depends on so many factors there's no guessing what it will be like this year.

[math125]

2014 Arrived at gate D around noon on Wednesday and there was no queue.

[hjglasto]

I think Gate A is always the safest bet it seems, especially if you get the coach. The wait there if you've walked from the car parks seems to be longer as they give priority to coach users.

[jamesrfisher]

In 2011 we arrived about 11am and had to queue for a while, as we got close to wristbands there were actually 2 queues converging which caused a lot of the problem.

In 2013 we arrived midnight, had a kip and joined queue just after 6pm, we were in and 2 large tents set up (by myself as had friends coming later) before 9am. They had moved the entrance and were marshalling it well.

[glasto-worker]

It was just a bad year and you really can't predict it. 2010 at the same gate was a problem too but the weather was better. 2013 gate D was a breeze, we were onsite by 7.15am

It all depends on so many factors there's no guessing what it will be like this year.

fully agree as there is so many variables that its impossible to predict anything as after all just because Year X was fine does not make Year Y fine.

As my Crew camp is next to Gate D I am always on the inside waiting for the gates to swing open although I have seen images of the queues the other side.

What I have noticed is the flow though the gate does vary from year to year and I reckon this is all down to management of the stewards

while you may think the stewards have been on duty hours this is not true of them all because just before the gates open a few minibuses drive up and a whole team of new stewards get out and on occasions they will pick up stewards as well.

They hold a quick briefing session and then they move onto their station and sometimes I see a supervisor rearranging things - this all happens seconds before the Public gate opens { they have a staff side gate so there is always a few people who get though just before the main gate is swung open }

I have noticed something very curious - just as that gate is swung open I have noticed some people who can only have entered though Gate A will appear walking up Bushy Ground - now where they are going I don't have a clue all I know is they had to have come from Gate A

the shot below was taken five minutes after Gate D was open and as you can see there is many people walking up - Now there is no way even on a motorised buggie can I get from Gate A to where that shot was taken { well not without breaking the onsite speed limit }

in fact I took that shot because of the mud as that is how the ground looked even before any ticket holder was able to walk on it

At the end of the day its all down to luck - some years you can win and some years you will lose.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

Gate A was bad on Wednesday from 8am last year but at least it was dry

[frostypaw]

Gate D in 2011 was a special mess up - there was a hole in a hedge that folk were using to queue jump so there were effectively two queues feeding into one with folk who arrived far later getting in ahead of those who'd been waiting since before gate opening

painfully remembered as we were in that queue for Quite Some Time barely moving. ended up shifting to A which was having muddy slope problems of it's own and even with the walk up to there then their queue then back down still got in ahead of those who stayed at Gate D. lots of complaints, apparently been dealt with and no such drama since

[MissC]

I think it just depends on how many people decide to queue overnight and which gate they try to use.

[willowby]

Gate D in 2011 was a special mess up - there was a hole in a hedge that folk were using to queue jump so there were effectively two queues feeding into one with folk who arrived far later getting in ahead of those who'd been waiting since before gate opening

painfully remembered as we were in that queue for Quite Some Time barely moving. ended up shifting to A which was having muddy slope problems of it's own and even with the walk up to there then their queue then back down still got in ahead of those who stayed at Gate D. lots of complaints, apparently been dealt with and no such drama since

Exactly this, but we stayed in the queue for gate D which was just miserable. Much better organised now with the area people were cutting through being fenced off.

[Crazyfool01]

Exactly this, but we stayed in the queue for gate D which was just miserable. Much better organised now with the area people were cutting through being fenced off.

last year was the first in through gate d , will be trying gate A again this year , where the 2 queues from the car parks met , by the big flashing gate d sign , if you were queing from the field rather than the track the queue became too wide and was just unmanagable with people just walking down the side of the at least 20m wide queue . and if you were stuck in the middle it didnt seem to be moving . maybe some more stewards needed in this area ?I know the stewards will be limited and the the festival is great at learning from previous years so will probably be different this year .

[frostypaw]

They try and improve it every year tbh, and are open to suggestions but at the mercy of the general public with it's impatient folk and chancers

If you'll forgive the harking for times gone I miss turning up weds 8am to the same few hundred cars every year and an empty sleeping festival, was so much easier

[Crazyfool01]

They try and improve it every year tbh, and are open to suggestions but at the mercy of the general public with it's impatient folk and chancers

If you'll forgive the harking for times gone I miss turning up weds 8am to the same few hundred cars every year and an empty sleeping festival, was so much easier

Its just a minor gripe and doesnt have any impact on the festival , dont actually mind the queue too much ( if I did we would just turn up later , the queing to get in is often a happy queue unlike the one to get out the car parks at the end . Its also on farm land so im sure if one person finds a hole in a hedge that means lots of people will follow .

[swede]

Done gate d the last two years and had no problems with it , absolute breeze compared to the hell that is getting in at gate c then being told that the only camping available is up at gate d or a.

Getting to gate c with all the car parks, then camper an sites and then that fucking hill is by fat the worst

Edited May 4, 2015 by swede

[phillyfaddle]

Gate D was bloody awful in 2011. The queue for Gate A was snaking down almost to the same point in the car parks too. You had to cling to the fence on the way up to stop sliding back down, the mud was so bad. Survived that, then fell over just by JP. Several people gave me a spontaneous round of applause. Luckily I had a spare waterproof with me for the w/end as the one I was wearing was unusable!! I queued at Gate B for 2.5 hours in the blazing sun in 2010 too. I think it's just random, as hadn't queued like that before. Didn't get a ticket in 2013, but stayed at Worthy View last year....and am doing so again this year. No queues

[incident]

Gate D was bloody awful in 2011. The queue for Gate A was snaking down almost to the same point in the car parks too.

What time was that roughly?

I parked up about 7am and joined the Gate A queue shortly after (no shortcuts or whatever) and we were pitched up in Park Home shortly after 9am. Don't remember Gate A being too bad that year.

[frostypaw]

What time was that roughly?

I parked up about 7am and joined the Gate A queue shortly after (no shortcuts or whatever) and we were pitched up in Park Home shortly after 9am. Don't remember Gate A being too bad that year.

Would I be right in saying you didn't get funneled through an about 40yard stretch of high fence on each side then a sudden right turn at the end?

because at that right turn the rest of gate A's queue that wasn't the D overflow joined

[shoptildrop]

Would I be right in saying you didn't get funneled through an about 40yard stretch of high fence on each side then a sudden right turn at the end?

because at that right turn the rest of gate A's queue that wasn't the D overflow joined

That sounds like gate D, gate A you queue along the hedges and turn left into an alton towers type set up until you get to the actual gate.

I did gate D in 2010 never again as people coming from all directions, last 2 times done gate A much more organised and less pushing in (although some did try the bastards!!)

[Untz]

Despite claiming I am a Gate A junkie, I'm sure I came through Gate D in 2010. True, it wasn't raining/muddy, but moving about 1 metre per hour in the blistering sun with no shade or access to water was terrible. There were various queues in various fields and there clearly had been some bad organisation as by the time the queue in my field was flowing properly there was a pretty pissed off supervisor at the exit to the field.

[incident]

Would I be right in saying you didn't get funneled through an about 40yard stretch of high fence on each side then a sudden right turn at the end?

because at that right turn the rest of gate A's queue that wasn't the D overflow joined

Nope, I went through that bit.. Which arrived pretty much at the Gate itself. The only queue that merges at that point was the one from the Coach Station - which given how early it was wasn't an issue as the vast majority of coaches were still yet to arrive.

I did notice that Coach passengers were getting priority at the gate though, and that affected my decision in 2013 to hotel overnight in Bristol, get the first bus to the site which meant I could pretty much walk straight up to and through the gate, meaning 2013 was the easiest entry ever (and freshest, given I'd only been up about 90 minutes after a full nights sleep).

[Spindles]

Despite claiming I am a Gate A junkie, I'm sure I came through Gate D in 2010. True, it wasn't raining/muddy, but moving about 1 metre per hour in the blistering sun with no shade or access to water was terrible. There were various queues in various fields and there clearly had been some bad organisation as by the time the queue in my field was flowing properly there was a pretty pissed off supervisor at the exit to the field.

Yeah, we rocked up about 6.30 that year and the queue in the car park we were in descended into chaos shortly after, just becoming a mass of people in a sort of triangle towards a gate onto the track to Gate D with security on it. Once the gates opened they were letting people from other queues through and they only let a handful through at a time. We got through about 10.30, 11ish, being about 50 feet back from the gate. Someone posted a picture on here and I spotted myself about 30 feet in front of the person taking the pic, who I seem to recall got in about 3ish.

It was hot, but we had sun hats, bottled water and cold beer, made friends with people around us in the queue and just rolled with it. All part of the fun and if you let yourself get aggravated by falling foul of the logistics of a large event you are on the way to a bad time, so best just forget it and make the best of it, I say.

[frostypaw]

Nope, I went through that bit.. Which arrived pretty much at the Gate itself. The only queue that merges at that point was the one from the Coach Station - which given how early it was wasn't an issue as the vast majority of coaches were still yet to arrive.

Wonder if you were before they redirected part of the queue then who knows, was years ago. Was questioning my memory for quite a while there, it's hazy for some reason

I've decided against quoting the rest of your message for No Reason At All. No sireee.

[Untz]

It was hot, but we had sun hats, bottled water and cold beer, made friends with people around us in the queue and just rolled with it. All part of the fun and if you let yourself get aggravated by falling foul of the logistics of a large event you are on the way to a bad time, so best just forget it and make the best of it, I say.

Yeah you have to try to make the best of it. I imagine most people weren't prepared, my group certainly wasn't, but we had a reasonable time making light of a generally horrible situation.

Queuing nightmares are always forgotten once the tent is up. Until you get home and you complain to anyone who will listen, obviously.