Nice hymer

Early Monday morning is a good shout, around 1.00am onwards 😉

That makes perfect sense to me...

Personally, I can easily spend an hour listening to an album on a high-end, studio quality sound system. I've no idea if that's what they're planning for the Woodsies area? Catering for the audiophiles perhaps?

To answer a few of your questions. There will be a steady queue of camping cars all day Tuesday, it's likely that the gates will be open before midday. We arrive mid-afternoon and it usually takes around an hour to get parked up. If your friends park in 'east' they'll be able to walk into the camper fields on Tuesday evening, it's far more difficult to reach you if they park 'west' side. People will start queuing at the entrance from the early hours of Wednesday onwards. At 8.00am the queue will be huge and will stretch well into the CV fields. We usually wake up around 10.00am, have breakfast and a few drinks before heading down around 2.00pm, when the queue has got a lot smaller (still likely 15-30min entry time). Tuesday afternoon/evening it all depends. Some people are happy to socialise, other are very private and happy with their own company. Personally, we'll be talking sh*t, drunk and up until the early hours, although lots of others seem to want an early night...

I don't recall it ever being any different, I get my Reggae fill elsewhere - this year it will be at Rototom. I find it a bit odd that they've pushed Afrobeat/Afrofusion from virtually no where to some pretty big slots but at the same time have mostly ignored Reggae/dancehall/reggaeton. As you say, a marquee and sound system isn't a lot to ask...

I agree, one of this year's potential highlight sets for me. I fear it will be ludicrously busy, although it does remove the risk of clashes later in the weekend...

The festival has done this in previous years (2019). Lots of people were gaming the system to obtain local tickets (to the point where genuine locals were missing out). GFL sent out emails to request recent proof of address (drivers license, council tax bill, polling card), anyone who couldn't provide their details were correct had their tickets cancelled after 14 days. So it's at least possible...

Spot on, I was just about to post the same recommendations. The party atmosphere is so good at Shambala that the line up is almost secondary. Having said that, the organisers & performers have a passion for it and I think that really shines through - loads of family fun. Camp Bestival is just so relaxing. No big hills, never far to walk, can easily find people in a crowd, loads for kids to do, open late enough for the parents. I've seen some brilliant live performances and Sunday fireworks are about as good as it gets. I'd say top of the list if you want a stress-free festival weekend with kids.

Is demand still increasing? From what I've seen, registration numbers appear to have topped out at around 2.4-2.5m. With the festival increasing capacity, you could argue that there's falling demand per ticket. I haven't knocked up spreadsheets or anything but from the figures I've seen in the press, demand per ticket appears to be pretty consistent over the last decade (registrations increasing, capacity increasing).

It feels like bot farms (or big groups paid or otherwise) are beginning to make a noticeable impact. There certainly seems to be a growing number of large groups in attendance. I was reading somewhere (might even have been here) that Liverpool has some large scale operations going on, which is why they are so well represented at the festival (kind of makes sense?). Our experience seems to be changing. Our group of 20-30 has been consistent for a number of years. This year we've fallen well short, only eight tickets, two of which were coach tickets that we've never bothered with before. For the most part, we didn't get close, perhaps outgunned by the bigger groups?

We secured 2 x CV East tickets by 11.02am, so very relieved! B&W still available for the latecomers...

Robert Fripp at Avalon and Albert Lee at Acoustic, not Indy but for those seeking a great guitarist....

We've never stayed on Wicket but have often visited friends there, always space, clean and pretty chilled. For all the families taking little ones - there's no shame in bringing a potty. Slightly older ones will giggle at using the baby loo but honestly, it's been a godsend on the odd occasion.... As for looking after other people's kids, absolutely not! Far too much risk of a parent returning completely unfit for parenting and you in some way being guilty by association if it all goes pear shaped (or by being the bad guy if you call the parents out). There's the potential for it to dampen your festival, through worry/concern if nothing else. 99% of people with kids at the festival are great, but those odd few....

I'm hoping to get my Gladiator DVD signed. Paid £30 for it back in the day - crazy times

I think that's possibly the best Acoustic line up I've ever seen - absolutely solid 👍