Hi there Robbie! Welcome to CFT 
Officially we usually open registration on the first day, August 4th for folks to start rolling in. Showing up earlier that day is fine too, at which point we usually suggest you setup your camp and hang out till we can get you signed in with registration when it opens.
If you do like helping out and showing up earlier however, we are always looking for extra hands to help out with setup the day before, August 3rd. We haven’t started recruiting volunteers for that yet, since its still quite a ways out still however. We usually start organizing all that somewhere close to late June or early July, as well as our other volunteer positions throughout the event.
As for things to bring, I suggest our about page a good reference - http://campfiretails.org/about/
Apart from that list, bring something you think you can connect with your fellow campers with along. Be it a guitar, a good drink, stories, or board games, we are a pretty self motivated group event wise.
If you have a fursuit and plan to bring it, I recommend checking out this thread for some pointers for suiting outside the normal hotel setting - Fursuiting at CFT
Otherwise, if you have any other questions, comments, or concerns just throw us another reply here or tweet at @campfiretails and we will get back to you soon!