marking the campsite is important....so many setups.....its so easy to get lost....I was lost the whole time last year....I have never been to a festival where the layout is so massive!!!
its beyond awesome...

get a refillable water bottle (CamelBak, etc..) this thing saved my life at bear creek this year, and it saved a few other people i imagine, they let me bring it in and i could get it refilled most anywhere that had running water. You could also get the camelbak backpack, i just dont have one of those.

several pair of cheap sunglasses. I am a sunglasses freak and if there is even the slightest ray of sun i will have them one, but seriously they are important. And bring a few pair in case you lose one, or two.

camelbaks are useful but can be cumbersome. great for sneaking mixed drinks though!

I think its useful to have a cheapo prepaid phone in case you lose your actual phone. I just use the cheap one during the fest so I don't worry about losing all my contacts etc

Bring a rubber mallet and extra tools that are useful for setting up camp.

Markers for your camping area are crucial.

Always have a miniflashlight on you

Brilliant! Great tip. Now, do you know which prepaid service has coverage at SOS? 'Cause I am totally down with this idea and will pass it along. I have a crappy phone but a lot of my friends coming have smartphones and this is a great suggestion if there is a provider that has coverage there.

i think i turn my phone off when i pull into the campgrounds and dont turn it back on until i leave or i need to call someone whos at the festival. HATE cellphones, but that is a good idea for the disposable phone.

where i camp there is no mistaking whats mine or not so i never need to mark anything, but i can imagine it would get weird floating from wrong-camp to wrong-camp at about 330am trying to find YOUR camp.

Extra batteries of every size that you may need. Bringing a light or radio and then running out of batteries on Friday would not be cool. Bring an extra chair as well.

I also sign the petition for MacGuyver.

Last year I helped a neighbor fill his camel pack with beer. He said it wasn't very nice because by the time he walked all the way to the Peach, it was mostly foam. Then he couldn't get rid of the taste/smell of beer, so all the water was beer flavored from then on.

We have tried to mark our campsite in the past, but it never seems to hold water. The first day that the masses arrive, we always use a distinguished vehicle on the main road to mark our turn off, then another marked camp site to get our bearings, then we're pretty close to home.
We used an electric company truck on the main road and a giant sign on a VW van that said "NEED CHOCOLATES" in tie-dye last year, worked great except for that one night...

Bail Money . These are all great suggestions . Did anybody mention bug repelant ?

the bugs were not bad last yr but with all the water and spanish moss around, it looks like you could get run out of there by misquotes and redbugs.

As long as you're not fighting (don't really know how you could at SOS), blatantly using illegal substances in the venue itself, or trying to climb on stage you shouldn't need bail money. It'd only be necessary for the drive to and from. Bug spray is a must bring, but not a definitely need. Both previous years I haven't had any problems with bugs, other than the occasional tick you find in the sleeping bag.