Soundsplash organisers are being praised for making this year's arrival of 8000 festival-goers seamless after eight-hour waits in previous years that have seen teens faint in the heat.
They've implemented several key changes, including the option to undergo an early security check before boarding one of 15 buses from Auckland's Trusts Stadium direct to the venue.
This alleviated congestion at Raglan Airfield where Soundsplash attendees are normally dropped off before being shuttled up to the venue.
"It's incredibly well organised compared to last year with all the shade, and the traffic management on the one-way bridge," one parent who chose to drop her teens off at the event told Newshub.
Soundsplash logistics and operations manager Lucy du Chateau said a large tangi for local kuia Marleina Te Kanawa coincided with this year's event but "essentially what we have done is work closely with iwi and whānau and have put in place additional traffic management to make it all run smoothly for them and for us".
She said extra, visible water stations are in place this year along with a large marquee to keep the large teenage crowd out of the elements as they wait for shuttle buses to take them from the dropoff point to the venue.
"Obviously off the back of the last couple of years we've really worked hard - we had a lot of positive and negative feedback after last year - so we have made some awesome changes like allotted bus slots, extra buses, lots of sunscreen, lots of water and creating good vibes," du Chateau said.
Festival-goers Newshub spoke to waited just an hour to go through security; in previous years there's been criticism that the whole process has taken up to eight hours.
"We got here at 9am and now it's 10am and last year it would've been 3pm when we got through to board the bus up to the venue," one 17-year-old said.
Leaving more time to set up camp, slap on sunscreen and narrow down the outfits they've spent months choosing before acts such as Sigma, Coterie and Flowidus take to the stage.
