The Wonderland Theme Shone Bright at Beyond Wonderland SoCal 2025

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Beyond Wonderland SoCal set the bar not just in theme, but overall execution for the start of the 2025 festival season.

Last weekend, Insomniac hosted the party of the year so far. The international promoter turned the NOS Event Center in San Bernardino into an immersive world full of beautiful music and extraordinary experiences for the 2025 edition of Beyond Wonderland SoCal on March 28-29. Many returning and new ravers alike came together for a weekend full of magic and unforgettable memories.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of Alice in Wonderland. I’ve only seen the original 1951 movie once or twice in my life, and I’ve never even seen the live-action Tim Burton movies.

For some reason, something about this festival always piqued my interest nonetheless. The theme seemed like a match made in heaven with an EDM festival, so it was time for me to experience it for the first time after so many years of it being on my bucket list.

Going into the weekend, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this staple SoCal event. After all the praise that I’d heard about this festival, my expectations were sky high, but what I was about to experience was something beyond my wildest imagination. I learned that there is so much more to this festival than just a stacked lineup and a unique theme. This past weekend, I learned what it truly meant to go down the rabbit hole — and beyond wonderland.

Just like all NOS events on a Friday, make sure to leave early, especially if you are coming from the Los Angeles area!

Beyond Wonderland was my second time at the NOS Event Center, with my first time being at Escape Halloween last fall. For Escape, I took the official shuttles that left from a hotel next to the Ontario Airport, and on the Friday, the shuttle ride took close to two hours because of rush hour traffic heading East.

This year, I stayed at my friend’s place in Huntington Beach — and sure enough, the traffic was horrible on the way to the venue on Friday. If you’ve never been to NOS and you’re planning on attending any festivals there in the near future, I’d highly recommend leaving almost two hours earlier than your original plan to get there at a good time.

I’ve heard horror stories about arriving at NOS later in the night, and as a result, the parking situation can get dicey. Only farther parking often ends up being available, resulting in long walks to the venue.

Fortunately, that wouldn’t be a problem this year for my group. My friend who drove knows someone who works at an auto garage less than five minutes from the NOS entrance (shoutout to Uncle Jimmy), so we were able to park there!

Following a long battle with LA rush hour traffic, we were finally graced by the gates of Wonderland.

After a short walk from the parking spot, we arrived at the entrance of NOS at around 8pm. The lines for ID and wristband checks weren’t long at all, and we moved quickly and efficiently through the security line. After what seemed like endless anticipation, we were finally on the festival grounds.

Before exploring Beyond Wonderland’s offerings, I wanted to check out the basic amenities on site. There were plenty of restrooms, and while they could get crowded, I found that the ones near the back of the venue were the least. There was also only one main water refill station, but there was plenty set up, and the ones at the end usually had short wait times.

When I checked out the food options, there were the usual festival fixings like chicken tenders, fries, and pizza, but there were also more options like express hibachi and Island Noodles. There was also an abundance of bars all around the venue, with most having little to no wait times from my experience. The festival also had a special themed mocktail bar with two drink options called The Madhatter’s Garden and Drink Me Potion.

It was nice to see the festival offer non-alcoholic drink options like this, but my favorite drink that powered me through the weekend was the special Beyond Wonderland-themed GHOST Energy drink called Beyond Berry. The can featured an aesthetically pleasing design, and the fact that this festival had its own special flavored energy drink was my first sign of how beloved it is to Insomniac.

With the basics out of the way, it was time to dig deep and explore all of Beyond Wonderland’s secrets.

I approached Beyond Wonderland differently than I do most festivals. When I go to others, I’m usually on a tight schedule when it comes to seeing sets, and this barely leaves any time to explore. I wanted to get the full experience of this magical festival, so I spent most of the first day looking around.

I’m extremely happy I did this. It was time to literally and figuratively go down the rabbit hole.

There were about a dozen areas around the venue where attendees could get the full Wonderland experience. These areas included unique photo opportunities, immersive art installations, a VIP hookah lounge, and secret DJ sets in areas where people could relax and chill.

There were also two carnival rides at the venue which attendees could ride through the electric night sky. The Wonderland decorations were out in full force, including radiantly colored flowers in trees, dragon-shaped pillars, giant mushrooms, and neon-lit lily pads that shot out fire in the big pond.

One of my favorite areas at the festival was The Doorway, a structure that consisted of dozens of doors, any one of which led to a magical land full of wonder. Inside The Doorway was a large area with mushroom tables where you could sit, and secrets to explore at every turn.

There was also a DJ throwing down tech house bangers inside, and after a little while, some clockmen showed up and started dancing around the DJ. Perhaps my favorite part of The Doorway was the mini golf that attendees could play, and the golf clubs were in the shape of flamingos.

Another awesome place was The Rabbit Hole, an area that sat past a mushroom forest and led into the Mad Bazaar. Inside, there were a bunch of little shops and stands that made you feel like you were in another time period. There was a bartering stand where ravers could trade and barter things for items like kandi, rings, pins, sports cards, and other small trinkets. A variety of games were set up for all to play, like ring toss and “animal racing” with small, motorized stuffed animals. My favorite part of this area was the vibes, with attendees inside all in good spirits and getting fully invested in the activities.

After some fulfilling exploration, it was time to check out all the stages and catch some sets.

Beyond Wonderland has six stages: Queen’s Domain, Mad Hatter’s Castle, Caterpillar’s Garden, Cheshire Woods, The Looking Glass, and Sea Of Wonder — seven if you include the BeatBox Art Car. Each stage had fantastic production and designs, and each had its own unique theme. The fact that each stage also had genre-specific takeovers each day meant that there was something for everyone to enjoy at all times.

Some stage standouts for me were Caterpillar’s Garden, Sea Of Wonder, and Mad Hatter’s Castle. Caterpillar’s Garden was a large covered stage, and the visuals included bright flowers and a large caterpillar. The Sea Of Wonder stage was the only indoor one beside the BeatBox Art Car, and it had the best lasers in my opinion. My absolute favorite stage of the entire event was Mad Hatter’s Castle. It might be one of my favorite festival stages ever.

Mad Hatter’s Castle was a large, open-air stage, with a stage design that resembled a deck of cards. The stage went over a redesign from the pictures I saw last year, and while I think last year’s design looked more like a deck of cards, I loved that this one resembled a circuitGROUNDS variant mixed with the bleachers section of cosmicMEADOW from EDC Las Vegas.

I caught Dr. Fresch at Mad Hatter’s Castle, followed by Wooli. While the spacing was great at this stage, during the Wooli set there was some bad bottlenecking at the stage entrances — but this was the only instance of this that I encountered all weekend.

Near the end of the night, I went to Cheshire Woods, which was hosted by Basscon on Friday. I caught some of Ben Nicky b2b Darren Styles, which was a much-welcomed change of pace as I usually don’t check out the hard dance stages at festivals. I concluded the night at The Looking Glass and caught the end of Deborah De Luca, who put on a techno masterclass to wrap up a wonderful day one.

Even with the sky-high expectations set by day one, day two delivered in every single way.

While there was still a little traffic on the way to day two, the commute was significantly quicker. After the short walk from our parking spot, and a security line that I walked right through, it was time to finish out the festival strong.

I posted up at Mad Hatter’s Castle from 8pm to the end of the festival. The stacked lineup featuring Dimension, INFEKT, BARELY ALIVE b2b Kompany, Kai Wachi, SVDDEN DEATH, and Zeds Dead was way too good to pass up.

The vibes at this stage were immaculate, and I had a great experience with the crowd. Within a few hours, I was already sprouted and had a few “Hot” and “Spicy” stickers on my face. The cherry on top to end the night was an absolutely beautiful set from Zeds Dead, who played their new album, Return to the Spectrum of Intergalactic Happiness, and marked an unforgettable end to the festival.

I learned that what makes Beyond Wonderland so special is the excellent execution of its theme.

After a thrilling weekend, I learned the true meaning of this incredible festival. Beyond Wonderland is so much more than a stacked lineup and kick-ass theme: It’s the execution of the theme as a whole.

A great theme is nothing without proper execution, and Insomniac has truly captured the essence of wonderland by curating an immersive event with magic that you can feel. You can just see how much Insomniac loves and cares for this festival, and that is even more evident with the recent additions of Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge and Beyond Wonderland Chicago. They want this festival to expand and grow, and it’s easy to see why. I can confirm they have something special on their hands.

When I got the opportunity to speak to Whipped Cream on day two, she even took notice of how special and unique the Beyond Wonderland theme is.

Compared to other festivals around the country and the world, not many have a whimsical and imaginative theme like this. If you just look around, the play on the Alice in Wonderland theme with all the cards, art installations, stages, lights, and coloring, they really do an excellent job.

Whipped Cream

My first Beyond Wonderland SoCal was truly one of my favorite festivals that I’ve ever attended. Maybe it was because I made the trip with some friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time, or maybe it was the fact that I got to experience a special event like this with them.

Regardless, there was magic in the air at the NOS Event Center last weekend, and now I want to check out the two other Beyond Wonderlands around the country to see how they compare. If you’ve never been, this is a festival that I can’t recommend enough. I know that this won’t be my only Beyond Wonderland SoCal, but I know for sure that this first time attending will always have a special place in my heart.

If you missed this year’s magical weekend or just can’t wait to go back, Beyond Wonderland 2026 presale passes are available now at the lowest tier until tonight at 11:59pm PT on the official website. Secure yours now and join us down the rabbit hole next year!