What improvements did you notice this year?

[bellboy]

Sanitizer bottles were re-filled and lasted beyond the Thursday night.

More litter pickers during the day time around food areas (we even had one checking our toilets - or at least I thought he was a litter picker!).

Charge facility at the lock ups - great service.

Loo rolls available at lock ups beyond Wednesday night!

Wood chippings around John Peel and other stage (thankfully not really needed but good preparation).

 

Any others?

[Starchild771]

Food. Portion size, taste and prices.

Drinks prices not so bad.

Toilets generally cleaner and less queues.

Litter better than past two years.

Less peeing on the land.

No negative issues with security.

Most vendors/staff were really friendly.

Things that really need attention:

Sound levels

Crowd control in some areas

[siblin]

Rarely queued at toilets.  Still some problems around the west holts stage

 

I could say traffic and getting in and out of car parks, but that was my personal experience and I know others didn't have so much joy.

 

.. and yes the wood chippings were fantastic

[The Nal]

Leaving the camper fields at 5pm on Monday, I was very happy to see hardly any rubbish. Think they had more bins up there this year?

[kidpresentable]

The compostos are probably better than the blue turdis boxes.

 

A few less silver pellets lying around so maybe someone had acknowledged the ban. I did see a pile on the floor after Burt Bacharach though. Odd timing.

 

Less obscured view of the Pyramid.

[Space Shanty]

The wood chip was a great idea and the sanitizers were regularly refilled.
Also the charging service at the lockups was a great addition.

The lockups in general are such a great service.

Bit fiddly with the carbon copy paperwork but aside from that they deserve big thanks

[Vacant0]

- Queues for the toilets seemed less this year. Did generally avoid the busiest ones, but the few times I did get stuck waiting at some, longest wait I had was less than 10 minutes. Were also generally cleaner. Also the hand sanitiser dispensers seemed pretty well stocked throughout the whole weekend.
- Less litter. Noticed the afternoon litter pickers a lot more than previous years. Also seemed to be more bins.
- Security seemed good this year (seemed to be quite a few aggressive ones last year I thought).

Those are the main ones I noticed.

[Starchild771]

The wood chip was a great idea and the sanitizers were regularly refilled.

Also the charging service at the lockups was a great addition.

The lockups in general are such a great service.

Bit fiddly with the carbon copy paperwork but aside from that they deserve big thanks

They do a charging service at the lock ups?

[The Placid Casual]

I'll just echo the wood chippings, the hand sanitiser refills and the availability of loo roll at the lock ups as big improvements.

[Space Shanty]

They do a charging service at the lock ups?

 

Yeah it cost £3 at the one near the Tipi Field and you could leave it in as long as you liked

[bellboy]

Not sure if this was at all the lock ups but was also at the one just above John peel tent. As space shanty says the best thing was you could leave it there and walk away - no wasting time in charge tent. 

[evilduck]

I noticed that quite a few stalls were doing a 'Fed for a Fiver' thing where you could get a half-decent meal for £5. Was that a new thing this year? It was a good idea anyway.

[cartonio]

- the wood chips are a great improvement

- less garbage around and so less stench around the site (I remember years when passing by oxylers was an horrible task)

On the other hand, there are still improvements that could be made:

- the big guide (the one given at the gate) could be send in pdf days before the festival, it would really serve its purpose

- the beers: I really can't understand why we still have shit beers like tuborg at the main bars. A part from the avalon, the cockmill (and even them could offer much better ales) and something else, glastonbury should really offer somethin much much more genuine in terms of ales

- the sound levels: I found a lot od stages really quieter this year, especially felt this during caribou at west holts

[Bisque]

Never had to queue for the bog.

 

I think I met Professor Tony Shales from Fresh Meat.

[The Nal]

I noticed that quite a few stalls were doing a 'Fed for a Fiver' thing where you could get a half-decent meal for £5. Was that a new thing this year? It was a good idea anyway.

 

Seems so. I thought it was great. The traders have to specify their prices on their applications so maybe Glasto HQ either rejected the pricey ones or got back to them with a "lower your prices and re apply" rejection?

 

Big difference this year. 

[alibear]

Echoing others really:

 

-loo queues seemed fine in the main - barely queued at all. I've never understood why people wait at the first block of long drops when you can go to the other end and not queue at all - I never spend longer in that vicinity than I need too! There were toilet attendants too - never seen them before?

-Security were sound throughout the festival, helpful, friendly - had some great conversations with quite a few of them!

-wood chip is a godsend, I think it could be laid down in a few more places but understand it can't be everywhere. 

-the craft cider bars were great - don't recall them being around in previous years? Nice local pints, and a great alternative to Thatchers!

 

One minor gripe - I got caught in the choke point out of Pyramid by the Mandela bar on Saturday during Pharrel which was pretty nasty. Probably wasn't the only time it happened either. I know these things happen but people could have got hurt - moving that ice cream van would probably help.

Edited July 1, 2015 by alibear

[The Placid Casual]

Never had to queue for the bog.

 

I think I met Professor Tony Shales from Fresh Meat.

He's in a Wolf Alice vid, might have got a freebie with them.

 

It sounds like DFA1979 are singing Tony Shales when in fact they're singing 'I don't need you' in Romantic Rights.

[EighteenSixty7]

Didn't see or hear much of those gas cannister/balloon thingys.

[The Placid Casual]

Didn't see or hear much of those gas cannister/balloon thingys.

Where I was standing, they were louder than Kanye.

[Untz]

Toilets were generally cleaner and I saw them being cleaned more often, although I wish I hadn't seen how they cleaned them.

Some toilets had no/smaller queues than usual, others had massive ones.

I do prefer these plastic seats than the wooden ones. Easier to wipe and to sit on.

 

The gel may have been topped more, but I prefer to use good old soap and water and the soap did tend to run out in a lot of places.

 

I saw no wellies being washed this year, but I did see walking boots that weren't particularly muddy being washed. At peak times too. And it was middle aged men.

[rottencrotch]

They do a charging service at the lock ups?

 

Some do (GM&D CND ones such as Pennards and John Peel) and some declined to offer the service. It worked well this year, better than last and it makes a MASSIVE difference to the charity. It's a ballache when it's busy but a good service on the whole. 

[Spindles]

They were almost military organisation level with dealing with the mud, wood chippings down fast and in all the right places on every occasion, worked a treat.

 

Toilets were spot on, best ever.

 

Bins were emptiest I've ever seen them, again great organisation kept the place much cleaner, west holts was a great place to be this year, rather than the landfill site it has been in the past.  

 

They hammered home the message on: Lockups, Peeing, Leave no trace.

 

The stewards and security seemed aware and attentive, rather than bored and disinterested.  They actively involved themselves in making sure things went smoothly for people, it seemed, giving a toss about doing a good job while they were there rather than just killing time til they could get back to partying.

 

Less NOS, WAAAAY less NOS.  It was still there, of course, but it must have been less than 10% of it's previous almost ubiquitous level.

 

But mostly: A crowd who didn't seem to care what others were doing, just letting everyone get on with having their own glastonbury in their own way.  

[St.A.to.Z]

- Toilets - Without wanting to get into grimy details, they had this new moulded one piece white seat for the long drops, rather than a seat that gets broken off leaving essentially a hole in a piece of green steel. These were then kept really clean... there were probably only two times I went into a toilet in the whole festival and then left immediately to use another one.

 

- Entering and leaving the festival. Rocked up at about 7am on Wednesday and had a few hour queue which is understandable. Then left after Ryan Adams on Sunday night and did not hit a single piece of traffic. Think I got a bit lucky with the car park I was allocated into.

 

- Alcohol selection. I can't drink many types of alcohol without suffering, and the drink selection on offer was great. Some of the ales were fantastic.

 

- The EE powerbar system. I didn't use it myself but this seemed like a great system with no queues. I queued for an hour to recharge my iPhone 6+ to only 16% battery (yes I did use airplane mode whilst charging) and it's not something I'd be keen to do anytime soon.

[HurrahBrother]

Most bars had an Otter, the Avalon Inn had more than just one ale, I understand that was also true of a few others. 

[Quark]

Generally seemed a lot tidier.  Still loads of crap lying around, but slightly less carnage than previously and the bins were definitely getting emptied more.

 

Loos much cleaner and only had to queue once for a urinal I think, and that was in the gap between Jamie T and Chemical Brothers at the back of Other so kind of understandable.

 

Definitely echo Spindles - massive reduction in NOS.  Don't know if that's the message or if it's just going out of fashion, but was a bloody relief either way.

 

Seemed a lot less peeing on the land as well, but some people are just idiots.

 

Didn't know about the lockup charging service, will look for that next year.

 

In terms of improvements the only immediate one for me (if possible) would be a urinal next to JP.  It's the only stage where I've consistently seen people rush out between sets to have a piss against the wall on the right hand side as you look at the stage.  May be a logistical reason why not.