Beyond Wonderland SoCal

Beyond Wonderland SoCal is Insomniac's two-day spring dance music festival, held at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, the home of the National Orange Show. The stages lean on an Alice in Wonderland theme. The detail that's easy to miss is the train: a Metrolink station sits less than a mile from the venue, so you don't have to drive.

What's Worth Seeing

The stage names carry the theme. Insomniac's lists have included Mad Hatter's Castle, Queen's Domain, Caterpillar's Garden and Cheshire Woods. It bills the festival on its whimsical stage designs, and the photos here show what that can look like: a stage covered in giant butterflies by day, and trees hung with lit lanterns after dark.

The festival started at this venue, with a sold-out first edition on March 20, 2010. It spent part of the 2010s at the amphitheater at Glen Helen, then came back to San Bernardino in 2018.

The grounds have their own history. The National Orange Show went national in 1911 and built on this land south of Mill Street in the 1920s. The venue now covers more than 120 acres with about 150,000 square feet of indoor space, so there's a lot of ground between stages.

Nobody under 18 gets in, with or without a guardian, and there's no re-entry once you're inside. The festival's FAQ has the ID rules.

How to Get There

The venue is at 689 S. E St. For the train, Metrolink stops at San Bernardino-Downtown Station, next to the Green Lot, and you can walk in from there. Buy your ticket before you board. The festival's Metrolink page has the details.

If you're driving from the San Fernando Valley or Pasadena, the festival sends you along the 210 East to the 215 South and off at Exit 43 for 2nd Street, which also serves the Purple, Blue and Green lots. Skip Exit 41 at Orange Show Road unless you have accessible, premier or drop-off access. Rideshare and drop-offs go to the Big Lots lot off Orange Show Road and Arrowhead.

General parking is free, and the Tan and Purple lots have free park-and-ride shuttles. Don't park in the neighborhoods nearby, and take your car with you each night, because cars left in the lots get towed. Insomniac also sells shuttle passes from Downtown LA, the San Fernando Valley, Orange County, Riverside and Ontario, only through the festival's site. Check the parking page and our NOS Events Center venue page before you go.

Nearby

• The unofficial Original McDonald's museum is on the same street, at 1398 N E St. Roadside America suggests calling before you go.
• The California Theatre of the Performing Arts on W 4th St opened in 1928 and still hosts touring Broadway shows and the San Bernardino Symphony.
• Glen Helen Amphitheater is in the foothills past the north edge of San Bernardino, and it's where Insomniac holds Nocturnal Wonderland.