In May 2025, my family and I headed to Daytona, Florida for the Welcome to Rockville 2025 music festival.
Here’s the view from our hotel room:
While the festival was four days, we were only there for the last day, Sunday, May 18. That’s the day when Chevelle was there, of course.
We also enjoyed several of the other bands, including the headliner, Korn.
(I think we’ve seen Korn about a bazillion times now, and they always sound fantastic live!)
We decided to spring for VIP tickets because General Admission for Sick New World 2023 left us a little flustered at the end of the night when the headliner bands came on. We got VIP tickets for Sick New World 2024, and it was a much better experience.
But did the VIP experience at Rockville compare to Sick New World?
Let’s discuss…
The Pros
First, let’s talk about the pros of the Welcome to Rockville 2025 VIP experience.
1. Cooling areas
There were plenty of places to cool down in VIP. There were big tented areas with comfy chairs and sofas and other shaded areas with plenty of fans and misters.
2. Water
There were water stations so you didn’t have to pay for water every time your thirst would overtake you. (Which happened often because it was hot!) There were three downsides though:
- The water wasn’t very cold and therefore not too refreshing.
- When you bought a water, they removed the lids, so you couldn’t easily fill it up from the water station and then carry it around.
- There weren’t enough water stations and they all seemed to be too far away from wherever we were.
I will give Rockville credit for lowering the price of water for the festival due to the heat. It went from $4 to $2 a bottle.
Security was also hosing people down during the shows to keep them cool.
3. Their App
They had an app which was very convenient! You could checkmark the bands you wanted to see and then it would show you just those bands in a schedule format. That way, you could easily plan where you needed to be and when.
4. Communication
Because it was so hot when we went (see the cons list), there was a lot of communication from Rockville about where to cool off, air conditioned busses and misters they were adding, and how to leave (to cool off) and reenter if you needed to.
5. Easy entrance
We didn’t have any issues entering the festival (once we figured out parking…see below) and we were in quickly. This was a major complaint with Sick New World. They didn’t open the gates until 10 am and the first band started at 11 am. They had to let in 85,000 people! Even with VIP entrance, it was almost impossible to get in before the first band started. I have no idea who thought this timing was a good idea…
6. The VIP crowds
The VIP areas never seemed overly crowded, which was nice. We were able to easily move throughout the different sections, and there was never a line to get food or drinks. There wasn’t an easy way to get from one stage to another though. It required lots of walking! But at least we got our steps in.
7. The bathrooms
We had those fancy port-a-potties in the VIP area. They’re the ones that are air conditioned with multiple stalls and had an attendant keeping things nice and neat.
However…
At the end of the night, the fancy restrooms didn’t have power so they told us to go to the regular gross port-a-potties. They also didn’t have power, so I don’t know why we were forced to go there.
And…
I didn’t lock mine fully so someone opened the door on me while I was squatting! Oops! I was grateful it was dark. 😅
The Cons
Now let’s discuss some of the cons of the Welcome to Rockville VIP experience.
1. The weather
This could be a pro or a con depending on the type of weather you like. It was hot, hot in Florida when we went. They were having record-high heat, and it was in the mid-90s on the day we went. However, there were some clouds going in and out, and that helped a lot.
As mentioned above, there were people spraying water with hoses during the shows, and there were plenty of water misters and shaded areas with fans, especially in the VIP section.
The four of us were sweaty and extremely dirty from the dust by the end of the night. (My son created one of those online wheels so we could spin for spots in the shower when we got back.)
2. The food
The food wasn’t terrible, but it was insanely overpriced. That’s not a surprise because food and drink prices are always overpriced at these events.
The good thing about Las Vegas was being able to leave and head across the street to Fontainebleau, where we got equally overpriced, but much better food! It was also nice to be able to take a break out of the sun and into some air conditioning.
At Rockville, we didn’t have that option. Instead, we got loaded tater tots for lunch and pizza for dinner.
Standard stuff.
3. Parking
Parking was expensive ($60, if I remember correctly), but that’s not a surprise. Parking is always expensive, even when we go to concerts here in the Philly area. Parking is such a racket!
I made my husband drive because I hate parking when there’s a lot of traffic, and I’m glad I did because it was a debacle! (He’s better at handling these debacles than I am…)
Our parking pass had a lot name, but it didn’t match up with the lot names at the Daytona Speedway, where the concert was held. It was confusing, but we eventually made it.
Welcome to Rockville Versus Sick New World VIP
Many of the amenities between Welcome to Rockville and Sick New World VIP were the same or similar. They both had the fancy bathrooms, and they both had their own food and merch areas.
While they both had cooling off areas, Welcome to Rockville’s were much better. They had comfortable places to sit and relax with plenty of fans and misters. And there were many more cooling off areas versus Sick New World.
Welcome to Rockville also did a better job of keeping the crowds in the VIP area lighter where Sick New World packed them in. You almost didn’t feel like a VIP sometimes.
But here’s my biggest disappointment with Welcome to Rockville VIP and why I wouldn’t spend money on it again…
The VIP viewing areas were way in the back!
We were watching Mudvayne all the way in the back and off to the side, and it was a terrible experience! We couldn’t see and the sound was awful because the speakers were all pointing straight to the middle.
And for Korn?
Forget it.
At Sick New World, even though VIP was crowded, we were able to get a fantastic spot for Slipknot. It’s a WORLD of difference when you can see and hear everything.
I don’t think the VIP ticket prices were worth it for Rockville because of that. With VIP, you expect to get a better viewing area, not worse!
That was frustrating!
At least we got close for Chevelle.
Except…
There were tons of body surfers who kept landing on us. We had to retreat to the side for the remainder of their show. At least the boys got a good laugh out of our plight:
You can check out the video here:
It’s pretty funny, but I was so annoyed at the time!
I hope Sick New World comes back (and has good bands) because I liked the VIP experience much better. (Although…their tickets were DOUBLE the price of Rockville.)
Welcome to Rockville was very well run, but the VIP spots being in the back was so disappointing. We go to see and hear the bands and we pay extra to see and hear them better, not worse!
Also, Las Vegas itself is a much (MUCH) better experience than Daytona, Florida. There’s always so much to see and do in Vegas, but Daytona was just beach and that’s it. As much as I love the beach, there’s only so much of that you can do.
Vegas has The Sphere, shopping, magic, comedy, great restaurants, and so much more. I can’t wait to go back!
Have you been to either Sick New World or Welcome to Rockville? Any other music festivals? What did you think?