This was the 3rd year I've gone to this event and this time decided to get a hotel on Fremont. If you can handle the noise from the street itself (not even the festival) which rages on til 2am usually, then I'd say stay in one of the hotels nearby and book early as prices go up quickly.
If not, grab a taxi or shuttle down over to Fremont St where you will probably be dropped off for the shuttles anyways and walk on down to the festival entrances.
This one is definitely growing bigger with more things to do and photo op spots than before. I actually got to get on the ferris wheel at night and take some awesome photos and videos. I hate that they changed the in-n-out rule; i mean you minus well just use tickets then, don't use and charge me for RFID chips.
Unfortunately, for me I wasn't really drawn in by any of the acts this year, some seem to be festival regulars now and its probably because it was the same weekend and competed for artists and patrons of another bigger music festival.
The art installations like the lighted trees, the monkey bar photo op, new art throughout the areas made it fun. But I do hope that they make a few more changes to keep this festival fresh and different from the others.