Festies

Ep. 34 Austin City Limits 2025: What We Learned Researching ACL Survival Tips

• Sunny Balopole, Vanessa Gutierrez, Clark Lawson • Episode 34

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Austin City Limits hits different—the skyline, the dust, the heat, and all the little choices that make or break your day. We haven’t been (yet), but we did the homework so you don’t have to: smarter ways to get around, how to stay connected when service drops, and the packing list that keeps you cool instead of cooked.

We’re talking shuttles, chair check, snacks, vibes, outfits, and the mindset that makes ACL actually fun when things go sideways. Plus—we’ve got bracelets and stickers, so come say hi.

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Vanessa:

Hey, Sunny.

Sunny:

Yeah, Vanessa.

Vanessa:

What do you call the two best friends that love music festivals?

Sunny:

Hmm, I guess you would call them Festies. Hello, Festies. Welcome back to Festies. This will be our third Austin City Limits episode. Austin City Limits. What's the date, Vanessa?

Vanessa:

October third through the fifth is weekend one. And we're going weekend two.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

October 10th through 12th.

Sunny:

So we've talked about our set times. And now we've talked about what to pack. And this episode, we are going to give some advice for surviving Austin City Limits. I know we've never been to Austin City Limits before, but we've scoured the internet, we've looked at blog posts, TikToks, and pulled together the survival tips that everyone else swears by. Should we start with logistics?

Vanessa:

What do you mean by logistics?

Sunny:

I mean like logistics. We saw to not Uber. Don't Uber. Yeah. There's crazy surge pricing, traffic. People recommend to walk or bike or scooter. Um and I think there's shuttles too.

Vanessa:

Yeah. So one of the tips that I saw was that they have free shuttles from downtown Austin to the festival.

Sunny:

Oh, that's where we're staying.

Vanessa:

Yeah. So I was thinking we we probably, I think we're only like a two-mile walk. Because we like to get there early, we could probably just Uber there.

Sunny:

Okay.

Vanessa:

There was a there was a um a tip that said like go and get dropped off at the high school that's across the bridge from the park, and then just walk over the bridge and you're there.

Sunny:

Okay.

Vanessa:

So we'll see what that looks like. But

Sunny:

sounds like Dora the Explorer. Like, go to the high school.

Vanessa:

Yeah. Where's the high school? Can you see the high school?

Sunny:

Go over the bridge. Okay. Um okay, cool. Nice. Um, you know me, I'm all about the shuttle.

Vanessa:

I think I heard that they run from the time the gates open until like way after the headliners are done.

Sunny:

Perfect. Okay. Sounds good to me. We also heard that the west entrance is supposedly quicker/slash smoother. Again, we've have not experienced this ourselves. This is just what we found on the internet. So um, we will try that and report back.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Cell phone service drops. Veterans swear by screenshots of the schedule and a meetup spot.

Vanessa:

Yeah, we're usually pretty good at that. Make sure we timestamp our texts too.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

Like we always say.

Sunny:

That's a great one. We also saw some packing must-haves. We went over this the last episode, but there's some other things in here. Um comfy shoes, you'll be walking a lot. Camelback, make sure it's empty when you bring it. Portable charger. I think I know these are things we list for every single festival we prepare for, but it's important. Um, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, cooling towel, handheld fan.

Vanessa:

Everything you just listed are very important because according to my research, there is not a whole lot of shade. Like it's just like open field.

Sunny:

Oof.

Vanessa:

Allegedly. So a hat. I don't normally wear hats, but I'll definitely be bringing hats.

Sunny:

Our Festies hats.

Vanessa:

Cooling towels, festie hats, cowgirl hats, all the hats.

Sunny:

Also make sure your sunscreen is not aerosol. They'll take it.

Vanessa:

And it has to be small, like less than four ounces or whatever.

Sunny:

Uh yeah, less than or equal to 3.4 ounces.

Vanessa:

All right. We'll have to go get some travel-sized ones.

Sunny:

Bandana face mask. Apparently, Zilker is dusty.

Vanessa:

Especially weekend two.

Sunny:

That's what we're rolling into.

Vanessa:

That's what we're gonna have to endure.

Sunny:

And Vanessa's favorite packing must have butt wipes.

Vanessa:

Butt wipes. Don't forget your butt wipes. Not only can you use it for the bathroom, but uh another point that a girl vibe with aid on YouTube, was it her? Maybe it wasn't her. I don't know. TikTok maybe.

Sunny:

I feel like we should have a work sighted in our show notes.

Vanessa:

I know. Um, somebody said on TikTok, I think, was that you're really sweaty, and then when the dust picks up, then you get like dirt all over your body because it just sticks to you. So on top of butt wipes, I guess you could use butt wipes too, but just regular wipes to like wipe down your skin if you get dirty and sweaty and dusty and gross. I've dealt with the most horrendous heat, which is at Bonneroo, but I feel like it's definitely gonna be a different kind of heat in Texas.

Sunny:

Yeah,

Vanessa:

like I don't even know what to expect. So I'm just gonna prepare for the worst.

Sunny:

Prepare for the worst, yeah. Other things for festival comfort and vibe. Apparently, Austin City Limits, there's no like look. You can wear whatever you want. Be comfy, be fun or not. Just do you boo.

Vanessa:

Yeah, people said dress like the headliner if that's who you want to see. Oh like if it's like a country headliner, you can dress like country western or whatever. But I did see someone else say it was like country boho chic. It's like all those three things. It's like kind of how people dress. But someone else said there's no vibe at all. Like wear whatever you want to wear, wear something according to your favorite artists you want to see or whatever. So like you said, do you, boo

Sunny:

We've got some outfits planned, but we'll keep those to ourselves until the big reveal.

Vanessa:

I just bought something today for for that.

Sunny:

Oh, nice. Okay. Gotta show me after.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I saw something else actually to deal with the heat. Um, someone said to eat light during the day and save heavier meals for at night. What do you think about that, Nurse Vanessa? Does that make sense?

Vanessa:

I have heard people say that you sweat way more if you eat bigger meals.

Sunny:

Yeah. Okay.

Vanessa:

So yeah, that that makes sense to me, I guess. I mean, I would eat like a big breakfast though, because you're probably not going in for a while, but then while you're there, eat kind of light and then yeah, maybe have a heavier meal when it's dark.

Sunny:

Save your cheat meal for nighttime.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I also saw somewhere the golden hour set. You should catch at least one sunset facing downtown. Did you see that anywhere?

Vanessa:

No, I didn't. That's interesting.

Sunny:

I saw that somewhere. So let's keep that in mind.

Vanessa:

Okay.

Sunny:

When we go back to our schedule. What else? You got anything?

Vanessa:

Somebody kept saying, like, bring snacks. I like commented, I was like, you're allowed to bring outside food. And they're like, no, just sneak it in. Like we all do. I was like, okay, be sneaking in some nuts and protein bars. But oh, yes, I did have one. It sounds like they've added way more brand activation stuff. Lots of cool photo ops and like lots of cool stuff that we should definitely check out one day if we go super early.

Sunny:

Yeah, that sounds fun to me.

Vanessa:

Yeah. And they give away free goodies. People said they've gotten bandanas, electrolytes, koozies, sunglasses, stuff like that.

Sunny:

Nice. All the classics.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Oh, I also just wanted to quote Vanessa from the Bonnaroo episode to embrace the suck.

Vanessa:

Oh, yeah.

Sunny:

I know you were kind of using that in the camping context. Um, but I think that goes for all festivals.

Vanessa:

Oh, yeah.

Sunny:

Usually something is gonna pop up that was not planned, and you're gonna have to be flexible and work around it.

Vanessa:

For sure.

Sunny:

Be prepared for that, be flexible. You know, it's all part of the experience.

Vanessa:

I watched a really good YouTube channel called Random Recess. These two guys that have been so many times, and they did a really good job of like show that this is what made me want to go to all the brand activations. Like everything that they did was so cool, and they like showed it all.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

So I definitely want to do that. They showed the merch tents, and apparently there's like a big merch tent for like just Austin City Limits merch. And then they have like a booth outside that's like artist merch.

Sunny:

Nice.

Vanessa:

Definitely gonna have to check that out. Um, there are places for shade that I saw in their video. Like it looks very open, like the whole park, but then there are like little pockets of shade throughout the festival. And you can bring chairs. Do you think that we would bring chairs or just some like a blanket to sit on? I feel like we're not really chair people for festivals.

Sunny:

But only because we haven't been allowed to bring them.

Vanessa:

But they do have a chair, like a coat check, but for chairs.

Sunny:

Oh, that's pretty cool.

Vanessa:

A chair check.

Sunny:

Oh,

Vanessa:

I saw that they had they had that in the that YouTube video I was talking about.

Sunny:

Separate from lockers? Oh yeah, do you have lockers?

Vanessa:

Y eah, they have lockers too.

Sunny:

And a chair check?

Vanessa:

And a chair check.

Sunny:

That is sweet. I almost want to bring a chair just to check it.

Vanessa:

But that that video I was watching also said that they just like get there early and set up their chairs and then they leave them and nobody messes with them. Like everyone's so nice there.

Sunny:

It's one of those.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

I love those kind of festivals. Yeah, let's do it.

Vanessa:

Okay. Thanks, internet, TikTok, and YouTube for giving us all these hot tips.

Sunny:

We'll definitely report back when we do our uh ACL recap. If you've been to Austin City Limits, please DM us your number one survival tip.

Vanessa:

Please. We are vets, but we've never been to this one. So

Sunny:

I know are you nervous?

Vanessa:

I'm like kind of nervous. Mostly for the heat. Like, I'm not really nervous for like festival logistics or whatever, but like the heat for I just hate the heat. I hate the heat. I hate being uncomfortable in the heat. You know, we're not like the smallest girls. We sweat so much. At least I sweat so much.

Sunny:

The neck fan saved me at Coachella.

Vanessa:

Oh, I need to buy one of those. I need to get a neck fan.

Sunny:

I used to not really have an issue with the heat, but this last Coachella when I got sick and had to leave Ed Sheeran.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Sunny:

Check out our Coachella recap episode if you want to hear about that. Um, ever since I got sick like that, in my daily life, I have that neck fan with me just in case.

Vanessa:

I gotta make some bracelets to share with people.

Sunny:

Oh, my mom is making bracelets.

Vanessa:

Oh, nice.

Sunny:

She's making so many bracelets.

Vanessa:

Okay.

Sunny:

You should see her apartment. It's like a factory in there.

Vanessa:

I'm gonna hit her up next week and come over and help her make bracelets then.

Sunny:

Oh yeah, please do it. Oh yeah, we ordered like 500 F's, 500 S's, 500. Smart so many and Ts. Yeah, I ordered a bunch of owls too. Okay.

Vanessa:

Okay, we're ready. If you're going to Austin City Limits, come find us and get a festies bracelet from us and some stickers.

Sunny:

Yeah. want to close us out?

Vanessa:

Peace.

Sunny:

What about telling the people to like us and stuff?

Vanessa:

T o like us?

Sunny:

Yeah. Like to the normal thing you close out. Did you say that yet?

Vanessa:

No, no, I didn't. It was a joke. I'm going and getting there.

Sunny:

Are you high?

Vanessa:

No, I feel high though. I told you I'm in a good mood since I don't have anxiety anymore.

Sunny:

Love it.

Vanessa:

Okay, festies, we love you so much.

Sunny:

Coming on a little strong there.

Vanessa:

Sorry. Okay, festies, thanks for listening to us blabber on about Austin City Limits. We're just really excited. Make sure you follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube at Festies Podcast and leave us a five-star rating and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. And we'll catch you on the next one. Bye.

Sunny:

Bye.