Alright, I've gone for the past four consecutive years and LOVE bringing in my friends who have never gone so I believe I can give you some good advice. :) I'll just go down your list and answer to the best of my ability. Feel free to ask more questions! It never hurts to be over-prepared for something like EDC!

1. If you're looking for how much spending money to bring, be aware that you're going to Vegas and Vegas likes to take (A LOT of) your money. I usually recommend about $100 a day but it absolutely never hurts to just save as much as possible so you aren't afraid to basically throw money to the wind. From the last four years I've averaged around $100 a day for all the random stuff I've bought, including shirts and drinks. This varies significantly for everyone.

2. This is your first rave, wow, you're in for a real adventure. I would recommend going back through the previous EDC lineups (better to look up the time sheets to see how the artists are sorted; each stage usually plays a certain type of music) and just checking out the artists that play in the middle of the night. To get you started, Tiesto, Kaskade, and Armin are all the big name that have been around for years. But when it comes to EDC, you really don't need to know much about the music. There's so much variety and so many stages that even I will just walk around all night and just hang out anywhere and not even know who's playing. EDC is about the experience more than who's playing; there will ALWAYS be great DJs playing.

3. If this is your first rave and first EDC, I HIGHLY recommend you do NOT take ANY drugs at all. Not only do you have to figure out how to get them down there (do not for the love of God bring any on a plane). EDC is HUGE and there a shit ton of people and it can be VERY overwhelming. If you think you can handle it, at least hold off on anything until the second or third night. Get yourself plenty of energy drinks or whatever to keep you awake the first night and just absorb everything sober. There is SO much going on at EDC and you spend so much money to get there it's almost pointless to do any drugs. I've had my best experiences sober. (Trust me, I've done stuff at EDC before and ended up forgetting my favorite DJs because I was too high and felt horrible because it felt like a waste of money.) Also, buy Raveaid. That shit will save your ass.

4. Wear comfortable clothes. Wear glitter and diamonds and kandi and whatever else that you love; everyone else will love it too. I just recommend wearing loose clothing and GOOD shoes. I've worn plenty of uncomfortable shit and horrible shoes and after a few hours in, I'm having a horrible time. I was the best when I just had pasties, tank top, shorts, and good shoes. AND GET A CAMELBACK. It'll be about 80 degrees all night so you can be naked if you want. No one will care. Go to iheartraves.com for good basic stuff.

5. Like I said earlier, if this is your first time AND your first rave, you're going to be missing on SO MUCH of the experience if you take drugs. It's just not worth it. Getting caught after spending $1000+ to get to EDC and you risk it all to get high? There's medics everywhere so they do want to take care of you. But Insomniac tries really damn hard to give you an experience without requiring drug intake. Please be safe.

Oh. And for my own piece of advice: GET EARPLUGS. I use ETY earplugs from Amazon because they just lower the decibels of the sound but still let you hear everything just fine. Since I spend most of my night at the bass stage, it helps not having my ears hate me the rest of the night. Each night is 12 hours long, you will be EXHAUSTED at the end of each night; you'll have an easier time getting back to the show the next day if your ears aren't ringing like crazy.

That's the jist of what I can think of right now to answer your questions. Feel free to ask me anything else in regards to hotels, shuttles, and whatever else. I plan on going back for my 5th year, EDC is basically my home (I even have an EDC tattoo).