Awesome Campers We Met on Day 2 of Nocturnal Wonderland 2016

If you think Nocturnal Wonderland is lit, you gotta check out the campground, where all the after-hours and sunrise shenanigans go down. We spent day two of Nocturnal Wonderland 2016 roaming the campsites and met some very awesome people.

Name: Karina, Raul
Age: 23 (Karina), 25 (Raul)
Hometown: Stockton, CA
Occupation: Sales manager at Pepsi Co (Karina), Walgreens (Raul)
Number of Nocturnals: First
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? Forks (Karina), towel (Raul)
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Karina: There’s a camp a few rows down from us that built a Zen garden. It’s super neat; you should go check it out. I’ve never seen anything like that before.
Raul: The Silent Disco is way cool. And I love all the trees all lit up.

Name: Matthew, Kasey
Age: 24 (Matthew), 23 (Kasey)
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
Occupation: Students
Number of Nocturnals: 2
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? Bacon (Matthew), more decorations (Kasey)
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Matthew: The water park is too much fun—we’re debating whether or not to go back right now.
Kasey: How much energy everyone has all the time. It’s hard to keep up with everyone, but I’m trying.

Name: Andy, Ray, Rissa, Brian (clockwise from top left)
Age: 27 (Andy), no answer (Ray), 25 (Rissa), 30 (Brian)
Hometown: Orange County, CA (Andy) Costa Mesa, CA (Ray), Pasadena, CA (Rissa), Arcadia, CA (Brian)
Occupation: Assisted living home (Andy), auto finance (Ray), nurse (Rissa), body shop estimator (Brian)
Number of Nocturnals: 3 (Andy), 1 (Ray), 3 (Rissa), 4 (Brian)
What’s one thing you forgot to pack?
Andy: Maybe a bigger tent
Ray: More booze
Rissa: Spatula
Brian: Baby wipes and toilet paper
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Andy: There was a crazy water balloon fight a few minutes ago.
Ray: Probably hearing all our neighbors having sex all the time.
Rissa: Love the water park, and the showers are key.
Brian: How everyone is so vibey—it’s so PLUR here.

Name: James
Age: 43
Hometown: North Hollywood, CA
Occupation: I own a silkscreen business.
Number of Nocturnals: Pretty much almost all of them. Well, not all—I missed a few from ’97 to 2000.
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? More bassbins!
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far? The love. Also, it’s great seeing some of these people come up here that we haven’t seen in 20 years. Oh, and the dancing rabbit—we have a dancing rabbit here.

Name: Ken
Age: 46
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Motion graphics
Number of Nocturnals: I went to the first one and took a little rest around 2002 and came back last year, and now it’s Nocturnal for life, baby.
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? I forgot a working generator, but we’re working on getting that fixed right now.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far? I’ve only been here for a few hours, so I’m not really sure yet.

Name: Jeremy
Age: 42
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: I build audio cabinets—I do Frequency Soundsystem.
Number of Nocturnals: I went to the first one and can’t really remember exactly how many I’ve been to over the years.
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? I would have brought a giant canopy, I think.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far? I’m really impressed with how friendly everyone is. People are so much more open and talkative. The vibes. The friendliest party back in the ’90s wasn’t anything compared to this. The people seem super sincere nowadays.

Name: Tyler, Cody
Age: 22 (Tyler), 24 (Cody)
Hometown: Wisconsin (Tyler), Los Angeles (Cody)
Occupation: Biology student, waiter, and works with kids with disabilities (Tyler); heating and air technician (Cody)
Number of Nocturnals: First (Tyler), 2 (Cody)
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? Beer pong balls (Tyler)
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Tyler: I like the guys on the stilts.
Cody: I really like all these trees. They kind of tripped me out for a while, because I didn’t know if they were fake or real. [laughs]

Name: Orlando, Colby, Landen
Age: 20 (Orlando)
Hometown: Cuba (Orlando)
Occupation: Merchant
Number of Nocturnals: First
What’s one thing you forgot to pack? I forgot my freakin’ blanket and pillow. I mean, I was okay, obviously, but it would have been nice to have my pillow.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far? Those costumes y’all got are insane. Just looking at the artwork on those pieces is like, whoa.

Name: Ashlyn and Connor
Age: 22 (Ashlyn), 20 (Connor)
Hometown: Seattle, WA (Ashlyn), Yorba Linda, CA (Connor)
Occupation: Stripper (Ashlyn), student (Connor)
Number of Nocturnals: First (Ashlyn), 3 (Connor)
What’s one thing you forgot to pack?
Ashlyn: I didn’t come with a tent. I flew here, so I was only able to bring so many things.
Connor: My brother and I came last-minute; we just jumped in the car. So we have a total of six cans of soup, and a jacket for each of us, and a pair of pants, and what I’m wearing right now. That’s it. I actually didn’t pack anything [laughs]. I have lots of friends here who are super cool, so they’re helping me out.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Connor: Camping is at least half the experience. Obviously, the show is freaking awesome, but hanging out and having an intimate relationship with your neighbors—it’s really a huge part of the experience.

Name: David Jose, Russell
Age: 23 (both)
Hometown: San Pedro, CA (David), Santa Clarita, CA (Russell)
Occupation: Massage therapist (David), tour guide at Universal Studios (Russell)
Number of Nocturnals: First
What’s one thing you forgot to pack?
Russell: Enough food!
David Jose: Condoms.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Russell: I was wearing a Marshmello T-shirt last night, and some girl thought I was actually him. She ran over to me and yelled, “I love you, Marshmello!”

Name: Ruben Mingo, Soli
Age: 34 (Ruben), 23 (Soli)
Hometown: San Diego, CA (Ruben Mingo), Orange County, CA (Soli)
Number of Nocturnals: 4 (Ruben), 2 (Soli)
What’s one thing you forgot to pack?
Ruben Mingo: A speaker charger. I should have really remembered that.
Soli: A pump for my air mattress… Sleeping on my blanket on the ground has been a bit uncomfortable.
What’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen at the campground so far?
Soli: The cops with the water balloons! It was the funniest thing. Some cops drove by while we were messing around with some water balloons and wanted us to throw ‘em and try and hit them. We spent the next hour throwing balloons at the cop vehicle that would drive by our campsite.