CHATTAHOOCHEE HILLS, Georgia -- Thousands of exhausted TomorrowWorld music festival guests, who tried to leave the venue Saturday night after Hardwell's closing set, were stranded overnight along the side of muddy roads near the woods.
Unable to get away from the soggy 8,000-acre farmland 30 miles southwest of Atlanta because organizers stopped allowing cabs, Ubers and shuttles to get near pick-up spots, people stood in the cold rain for hours. Some eventually slept on wet grass or mud, while others walked five to 10 miles to find shelter or faraway transportation options.
The disastrous situation -- caused by rain and organizers' poor planning -- left non-campers without shelter, food and water. Many angry media members also waited hours (this journalist reached his Atlanta hotel at 4 a.m. after waiting for a ride since 12:45 a.m.).
Shuttles, buses and cars that were already onsite routinely got stuck in the mud upon exiting, and frustrated riders hopped out and joined forces to push the vehicles out.
Mounting concerns about a repeat scenario for Sunday influenced organizers to cancel day three of the electronic music event for commuters, meaning only 40,000 campers still on the festival grounds get to watch the final day's shows. Estimated attendance was 190,000.
"Mother nature has decided otherwise: TomorrowWorld will only be accessible to visitors currently camping at DreamVille. Continuous rainfall over the last three days has severely limited capacity of the parking lots, entrance roads and drop off locations in and around the festival site," organizers announced early Sunday. "The experience of the TomorrowWorld visitors is always number one priority, so TomorrowWorld was forced to close all daily parking lots and drop off locations. TomorrowWorld regrets that festivalgoers with day tickets, guest list tickets, and anyone not already camping at DreamVille will unfortunately not be able to access the festival. The last day of the festival will go on for the 40,000 visitors already situated in DreamVille, with David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, and Martin Garrix all on deck. More information and refund policy will be available soon."
UPDATE: A refund policy released Sunday evening states that guests will automatically receive refunds for some tickets; they must submit a form for shuttle refunds.
Valeria, 30, who took the above photograph of her younger sister and friend said organizers and transportation companies are to blame. After leaving the festival at 12:30 a.m., they waited in a shuttle line for two hours before bing told to walk several miles to the next checkpoint for more buses. "It was unfair for them to tell us to 'keep walking, there are shuttles a few miles down the road' when they already knew all of them had been canceled," she told Mashable, adding that no buses or Ubers were at the checkpoint. Her husband, who didn't attend the festival, ended up picking them up at 7 a.m.
One Reddit user reported people still being stranded at 5 a.m. and not being allowed to exit the premises by security: "Ppl were walking through the woods just to exit. Im sure what they did was highly illegal. A riot was about to break out. I was only able to get out by the woods then paid a shuttle money to let us on. Once in the parking lot, we waited two hours to get out. Fuck this festival. I wouldn't be surprised if they got sued by a bunch of ppl."
Other guests used Facebook and Twitter to describe their nightmarish experiences.
@TomorrowWorld you have drugged/drunk people walking 5+ hours to their car with no cell reception sleeping on the road with no food/water— ❁ Jess ❁ (@JessicaMarais_) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld last night when you wouldn't let shuttles take us fucking home pic.twitter.com/OE6gUKWmk2— pocahontas (@EDMPocahontas) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld Nice going charging VIP price and offering the homeless experience. Thousands of people sleeping on the road. #NotMagical— The Old Grumpy Nerd (@OldGrumpyNerd) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld go to TW they said.. It'll be fun they said... pic.twitter.com/Il4PomtEEO— pocahontas (@EDMPocahontas) September 27, 2015
@MajorRager_Max yup!! Same here! Waited in this shit to finally pay an automatic $75 for a cab. pic.twitter.com/Wj92NVB4xa— pocahontas (@EDMPocahontas) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld all the people like these girls that literally slept in the cold mud pic.twitter.com/SPiu8uWGoH— pocahontas (@EDMPocahontas) September 27, 2015
is this real life! Chicks sleepin in pizza boxes at TW. I want to marry this girl This bout to b the new 2cups 1 girl pic.twitter.com/rRY1Yi9XLm— ROSES & CHEEEL (@TheChainsmokers) September 27, 2015
Big shout out to @TomorrowWorld for leaving 10 thousand people stranded for hours. I really felt like the VIP I paid for.— 808 Emcee (@808_Emcee) September 27, 2015
glad I didn't goto #TomorrowWorld, woke up to messages from friends begging me to pick them up walking the streets #stranded @TomorrowWorld— Gary Brown (@gbro76) September 27, 2015
Lesson to @TomorrowWorld The ultimate experience doesn't end at the last song. Leaving 10k people #stranded will be all I remember.— Brad Jansen (@Brad_J_Jansen) September 27, 2015
Part 4: The #irony is @uber and @tmobile were partners of @TomorrowWorld No cars and no mobile service at the uber pick up point— Brad Jansen (@Brad_J_Jansen) September 27, 2015
still can't believe @TomorrowWorld left 1000s of us w/ shuttle passes stranded in the middle of Chattahoochee Hills will no ability to @Uber— rodney lιeғ ✦‿✦ (@rodneylief) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld left thousands of people stranded without shuttles. #tomorrowworld #stranded #raverhike pic.twitter.com/Qu96oFVzde— Leonardo Trimarchi (@Domt301) September 27, 2015
People of @TomorrowWorld stranded sitting for hours waiting for shuttles/uber some even sleeping in the mud. pic.twitter.com/VDj84Y9jlU— Media Marin (@MarinCPhoto) September 27, 2015
Who all stuck on the side of the highway with no way home say yeaaaaaaah. #TomorrowWorld #TomorrowWorld2015— Mil (@akmilly) September 27, 2015
Well I walked five miles uphill in the dark only to sit in the mud until 7am waiting for uber service. Thanks #TomorrowWorld, but no thanks.— LC (@Lbeeofall) September 27, 2015