I previously went ADA accessible camping to Imagine Music Festival in 2019.  It was my first and only time ever camping and I had an incredible and amazing experience.  After Imagine was canceled on 2020 due to the pandemic and canceled in 2021 due to bad weather, I was really excited to go accessible camping again in 2022 at their new location.  It has moved to Kingston Downs which is about a 90 minute drive from downtown Atlanta. 

This blog post will focus only on the camping part of this music festival and will write about my festival experience and all the music stages on the next post.

Ten Fifty Entertainment

Ten Fifty Entertainment is the leading provider of Accessibility and Guest Services programs throughout the nation.  It was founded by Austin who had been in a wheelchair since 2007 who wanted to create spectacular live event experiences for people with any ability.  I already had an excellent experience with this group in 2019 and they are what made me have one of the best experiences ever.

Coming back for 2022, I was getting everything set up by Clancy and his team.  I already knew they would provide top notch service and will try to make this camping trip just as awesome as last time.  I was to have an accessible tent ready for myself and my friend in the ADA accessible camping area.  We were pretty excited to check out everything when we arrive the Friday afternoon.

What To Bring

One of the options that Imagine Music Festival does offer is Qube camping which is a tent that is already set up with all the linen on two single air mattresses.  We went with this option because we were flying in from Canada and it would be very difficult to bring camping gear with us.  We made sure to bring extra clothes for night time sleeping and clothing for hot and rainy weather.  It is always best to come prepared.

Other important items that we must bring includes a lantern/light, power bank to charge small electronics, food, snacks, water bottle, prescription medications, sunscreen, soap, shampoo, and towels.  For anything we may have missed, there will be a few general stores located throughout the camp areas that sells some necessities.  We didn’t bring too much food as we only wanted to pack the main things and will buy food at the festival.

Kingston Downs

Kingston Downs has an address of 0 Gore Springs Road SE, Rome, GA 30161.  It is over 5000 acres large and is a family owned and operated property located in Rome, Georgia.  It is filled with rolling hills, woodlands, river trails, and open fields.  This is a massive change from the 2019 Speedway venue and is now over 5 times that size.  It does sound overwhelming, but I was confident with Ten Fifty Entertainment in making this giant venue an accessible experience.

Getting There

It is about an 90 minute drive north from our hotel in downtown Atlanta.  At first I was planning on taking an official Imagine shuttle bus from one of the designated hotel shuttle stops, but no one from the shuttle got back to me about booking a wheelchair accessible bus.  The best way now to get to the festival was to either take an Uber or a taxi, which is more expensive than the shuttle.

We decided on getting an Uber since it will give us a fixed price and should be cheaper than a taxi.  Our Uber was large enough to fit all our luggage and my manual wheelchair since I had to transfer to a seat.  Lucky my commode shower chair was lost at the airport since it would have been tough to try to cram that into the Uber with us.

The 90 minute drive actually end up taking us 2 hours to get to the campground area.  It was a bit confusing as to where we were actually supposed to find the box office area, but after asking a few employees along the way, we found it.  After exchanging our tickets for wristbands, it was time for us to be dropped off at the ADA wheelchair accessible camping area.

After a few turns and asking around, we finally found our ADA camp area.  Surprisingly no one searched our vehicle or our luggage when entering.  Back in 2019, we were thoroughly searched.  Since our Uber driver was with us an extra hour, we gave him a big tip and headed towards our tent.  It was great to see a friend had her van/tent right beside ours.

The Tent

As we got closer to the tent, I immediately noticed that the tent was way different and smaller than the one we had in 2019.  My friend looked inside the Qube tent and yup it was very small inside and even had a slit side opening that my wheelchair could not even get through.  My friend thought he would inflate the two air mattresses just to see how it would look for us.  With everything set up and our luggage, I wouldn’t be able to park inside the tent even if I could get inside.

We called Clancy to let him know about the tent and he assured us by the time we are done with the music festival, our accessible tent will be ready.  When ADA shuttle driver Shaun picked us up from the festival, he brought us to a different camp area where our new tent would be.  A few people were already inside our tent relaxing thinking it was an abandoned tent and had to be kicked out.

This yurt tent was still smaller than the tent I had in 2019, but was actually wheelchair accessible.  The entrance did swing open as my wheelchair could be easily rolled in.  With the two air mattresses set up and our luggage at one end, there was still enough room for my friend to transfer me to the bed.  The yurt was quite comfortable but at night it was 55 F (13 C) and quite cold to sleep in and by afternoon it was 115 F (47 C) inside the tent.

The Campgrounds

The campgrounds at Kingston Downs is so much bigger than the speedway, that if we wanted to visit my friends back at the ADA camping area, we would need to take the shuttle van there.  Our tent is on top of a small hill and if we wanted to get food, use the trailer washrooms, or shop, we would have to go up and down on the thick grass.  I guess all camp areas have their own little section like this to make it more convenient for campers. 

 At times it was tough for my friend to push my wheelchair around the camp area, but he was strong and did it anyways.  Our tent was also just steps from the Renegade Sound music stage.  This after hours spot opens at 1 AM and basically blasts music right up until 7 AM or 8 AM, so it was a bit tough to sleep through the noise.  Any time we needed to get any music stage or any other location, we needed to take the accessible shuttle van to take us there.

Bathroom and Showers

Our initial tent location was really close to the ADA accessible bathroom and showers, but our new yurt tent required us to have Shaun drive us from our tent right to the ADA shower area.  We made sure to bring our clothes, towels, soap and shampoos and whatever else we needed as it won’t be easy to just go back to the tent to get what we forgot.  My commode was finally delivered to the camp and was left in the accessible bathroom for our 12.30 PM timeslot to use the facilities.

The accessible bathroom and shower was in its own mini trailer that has a ramp to get inside.  We noticed right away that there was A/C inside and that it was cool inside.  My commode was already in there and fit perfectly over the toilet for me to use the bathroom.  The sink had enough room underneath to allow a wheelchair to come closer.  The roll in shower was quite large with a fold up shower bench and a removable hand held shower head.  It was a great accessible bathroom and shower.

I couldn’t get dressed in the accessible bathroom because there was no transfer bed.  I need to lay down in order to have my pants put on since I can not stand or weight bear on any leg.  So my friend just dressed my upper half and put a big towel to cover my lower half and waited for Shaun to drive us back to our tent to finish dressing on the bed.

Final Thoughts

First off, I would like to thank every staff member at Ten Fifty Entertainment for always trying their hardest to make everything accessible and accommodating at this new and very huge venue full of fields, small hills and grass.  The accessible camping experience was still great but I enjoyed my 2019 experience more since it was my first time ever trying accessible camping.

We didn’t really venture out in our camping area too much or any others since everything was spread so far apart.  Our tent was quite close to one of the after hours stage so it is best to bring ear plugs to block out some of the sound while sleeping. 

With proper research and planning and great support from Ten Fifty Entertainment, your ADA accessible needs will truly be their priority to help you enjoy your experience at Imagine Music Festival.  I am excited for the next festival they are attached with and can’t wait to see the staff again.

Check out my next post to read about my music festival experience at Kingston Downs.  Here are the links for my 2019 experiences:

2019 Camping and 2019 Imagine Festival.