With high energy, high spirits, and even higher temperatures, Splash House Weekend One turned up the heat in Palm Springs. The Margaritaville, Saguaro, and Renaissance Palm Springs resort pool parties delivered a unique experience as people played and danced the hot days away. The Friday night pre-party and Saturday afterparty at the Palm Springs Air Museum also delivered an exciting component to the experience. As a more localized festival, we enjoyed a fun and approachable atmosphere that felt like a playground for dance music lovers, new and old.
Despite the intense heat (we’re talking temperatures just shy of 115 degrees), people carried on with upbeat energy throughout the weekend. We could feel that people truly embraced the experience and came together to let loose and have fun. Keep reading for our full Splash House Weekend One 2024 Festival Report Card.
Vibes: A-
Overall, we had a positive crowd experience at Splash House. The environment felt playful and welcoming. People brought fun outfits, floaties, and trinkets to trade, friends greeted, and strangers hyped each other up. Despite the pools becoming rather crowded during parts of the day, aggressive and rude behavior never felt like a significant problem. Each of the three resorts offered a unique atmosphere and energy, and having the opportunity to switch things up and explore different locations made the festival experience feel like a fun adventure.
One of the best highlights of the Splash House experience is that the attendees bring the atmosphere to life. We loved seeing how on-site guests transformed their hotel rooms into a spectacle by decorating their balconies and even throwing themed afterparties in their rooms. Fellow attendees we mingled with while wandering the resorts were incredibly helpful, friendly, and generous, and we felt very included and welcome. The staff was generally friendly and helpful, although we encountered some disorganization and miscommunication issues as some staff members didn’t know essential information like directions for navigating the resorts.
It was clear that the heat took its toll on some attendees, and many had to step away from the party into the hotel lobbies to escape the high temperatures. Nonetheless, we were glad to see people caring for their needs and staying safe.
Production: B
While production at Splash House leaned more on the simple side, we were overall happy with the experience. The set-up directed people’s attention to the music and surroundings, creating an interactive collective atmosphere. Each resort featured a stage design that reflected the character of the setting in some way, and we enjoyed seeing the creative expression behind each design. Margaritaville featured a jungle oasis, The Renaissance delivered a lounge-like atmosphere, and the Saguaro brought things to life with many bright, cheerful colors–the lobby even featured a mini Barbie hotel to go with the theme!
Across the various locations, the audio systems delivered a good quality experience with crisp and rich sound. The music felt powerful enough to get everyone bouncing and moving without being too loud. The After Hours Party at the Palm Springs Air Museum encountered technical difficulties that caused interruptions during Duke Dumont’s set on Saturday night. Still, we enjoyed the lasers and the production team’s creative use of the air museum exhibits.
Music: B
For house and techno lovers, Splash House Weekend One was the place to be. We enjoyed energy-packed sets from Shipwrek, Solardo, Biianco, and Gorgon City b2b Green Velvet at the pools, and AC Slater and Chris Lorenzo’s “Fly With US” set kicked things off straight into high gear at the Friday Night pre-party. We also enjoyed a change of pace with Nitti, and Odd Mob & Omnom’s bass-heavy “Hyperbeam” set on Saturday. We thought the lineup could feature more diversity regarding genre representation, and sometimes, some artists’ sets sounded indistinguishable from others. Nonetheless, the music provided great energy for a pool party atmosphere, and we hardly stopped dancing all weekend long.
Venue: B –
Splash House events take place in several different locations, and navigating them is different from the typical festival experience. Getting from one party to another required lots of commuting, which was facilitated by free shuttles. We generally found that commuting on the shuttles felt pretty easy, and wait times only usually lasted about 15 minutes. This provided a convenient way to get around, although the heat sometimes made the process uncomfortable.
Attendees who stayed on-site at the resorts had a great advantage as they could quickly join the party directly from their rooms and had full access to hotel amenities. Those who stayed off-site had to drive or rely on rideshares to arrive on-site, which sometimes caused roadway congestion, particularly at night’s end. We thought there was room for improvement regarding the wristband-pickup process, which required all attendees to pick up their wristbands in person at will-call. This created long lines and confused some attendees. We also thought food options could use improvement as there were only a couple of food vendors on-site, and they were only available for a limited time during the day. The following options were to order food from the hotel restaurants, which required exiting the designated festival area or ordering food from off-site.
On a positive note, the resort settings were beautiful, and we loved the aesthetic of each venue. The grounds were also generally easy to navigate and offered good accessibility.
Overall: B
Splash House Weekend provided a fun and lighthearted experience in a beautiful setting that genuinely felt like a big rave-family get-together. We saw people enjoying themselves, playing, and sharing space peacefully, and the event overall attracted good energy. Despite logistical and organizational bumps, this was a wonderfully accessible and approachable festival.
The main challenge to note was the extreme heat. The conditions sometimes made it difficult to relax and enjoy aspects of the experience entirely, and it was occasionally necessary to take extra steps to stay safe in the heat. We understand that no one can control the weather, and the festival team did what they could to mitigate the conditions–this is simply a reality to consider when preparing for the event.
Despite the heat, the fun prevailed, and we enjoyed a solid weekend of good music and great energy. Splash House is a beautiful festival for anyone who wants to shake things up and kick back at the same time while enjoying a unique festival experience.
Images courtesy of Splash House, Cover image by Zoe Politis
