Gulf Coast Park Help & More

In about 2 weeks, Im flying into Jacksonville FLA to do a four-day sight-seeing & coaster trip.

Our trip, starting with Wild Adventures is going to be renting a car and going from Jacksonville to New Orleans hitting several parks along the way. If any of you locals can help me out, I would appreciate it.

We have all our rooms booked. but what we are in need now of is discount information, and some other stuff.

Heres where I need info:

Wild Adventures- Any Discounted Ticket information and where to get coupons, if at all

Miracle Strip- Any Discounted Ticket information
and where to get coupons, if at all (Other than the $1 discount on the website)

Magic Golf, Mississippi - -->IMPORTANT<-- They have a Shiff Kiddie coaster. I called and asked if adults could ride it. The phone rep said "no, it was only for kids". Is that an enforced rule, or did the phone rep not know for sure? Has anyone here been on it in their adult life?

Dixie Landing - Any Discounted Ticket information
and where to get coupons, if at all, Also, is there a After 5pm or starlight plan? I have contacted them, but they have not responded yet.

Sight-Seeing, Restaurants - Any place in New Orleans you recommend? I don't like Seafood or really spicy stuff since that gives me gas.

Speaking of Gas - Its $1.70 right now in Ohio, what is it down there?

Thanks in advance, and I love you,
John P

AUTHORS EDIT

I know Moosh Has a thread up about travel tips, etc.
And there are places to find discounts, but half my questions are more geared towards locals & their preferences, plus many places don't list discounts online.

Some of my park stops are also not confirmed to this day, so its a matter of who's discounting what that will make my decision final.

You have to stop by Waterville in Gulf Shores. They have a great little CCI that you should not miss.

Sorry, this was my planned park list itinerary in order, if all goes as planned:

FRI: Wild Adventures
SAT: Miracle Strip
SUN: Waterville USA, Gulf Shores Amusement Park,
Magic Golf, Carousel Gardens,
MON: SFNO and Dixie Landing.

Not sure about the kiddie coaster in MS. I've heard that adults have ridden it, but that might only be on certain times and if you tip the operator! ;) Gas in central MS is about $1.90 for the cheap stuff. It might be a few cents more along the coast since that's were the tourist hang out the most will all the casino's and such.

*** Edited 6/16/2004 8:01:29 PM UTC by Rampage***

Too bad you're missing the Six Flags bus arrival at SFNO by one day ;) It arrives Tuesday at 11 AM. Maybe you've already seen it though or don't care to see it. The Riverwalk, which is located near the convention center and cruise ship port, is a nice place to eat. It's sort of a tourist/mall place. Around there is the scenic garden district on St Charles Avenue, The French Quarter, and Jackson Square. You have to pay for parking around there though.

Miracle Strip has (well, had, last year) a TOTALLY bizarre "pricing scheme" whereby you could purchase a token of some sort or another and THEN get discounted admissions for the remainder of the year.....otherwise, the POP price was pretty much the standard.

Wild Adventures, haven't seen much....but there IS a "discount parking lot", and that no more than 50 feet from the regular lot, LOL...

Don't know much at all about the other places....

Oh, one last thing....leave PLENTY of drive time from I-10 to MSAP...back country roads, little/no passing lanes, and the occasional "old timer" doing 15-20 mph slower than the posted speed limit...;)

I rode the coaster at Magic Golf a number of years ago with no problems. This may have been because I was 12 at the time though.. As I recall, the rides were all based on tickets, I don't know about cash. *** Edited 6/16/2004 8:56:58 PM UTC by Ben Nelson***

gas in NO is like 1.77... I think in the Biloxi/Gulfport area, they have six dollars off coupons to Dixie Landing on the coke cans. I don't know if the coupons are on the cokes here in NO. The only ones I have seen have been for SFNO. But I don't know. *** Edited 6/16/2004 11:30:49 PM UTC by TTDragster14*** *** Edited 6/16/2004 11:31:39 PM UTC by TTDragster14***

Thanks for everyones help so far.

Im just curious about that coaster at Magic Golf right now!

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Bosshawk said:
You have to stop by Waterville in Gulf Shores. They have a great little CCI that you should not miss.

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Wow, could this be the only white CCI other than Sky Princess? Anyone? *** Edited 6/17/2004 7:44:53 PM UTC by janfrederick***

Unless you count the painted steel structure of Hoosier Hurricane...

Funny you should say that. I was just thumbing through the Moosh calendar to see what was coming up in July.

Doh!

Rollergator: whats the best route after leaving I-10 and heading towards Miracle Strip? I mean, your personal preference.

I've only come from the east, so I take I-10 to 231 to 98....we were there during Spring Break (oddly the park wasn't busy while the strip was PACKED, so I guess I have to *understand* the decision...not that it makes me happy...

Anyhow, that leaves the least amount of road travel ON the beach, which means less driving at 10-15 mph....but also less *ogling*, LOL...;)

Back in my "pre-enthusiast life" I took 98 once from Fort Walton eastbound, and if I was in a hurry to get somewhere, a bike might've been more useful...scenic, but SLOW...;)

Wild Adventures offers a AAA discount of a couple of dollars. You can get a slightly discounted ticket (I think a dollar) to Miracle Stip if you order and print your tickets ahead of time. We really enjoyed our drive from Waterville to Miracle Strip along US-98 east last month. My wife used to live in Ft. Walton beach when she was a kid and enjoyed seeing the towns again as we drove by. Like Gator said, it is slow but scenic and it was neat always having the Gulf to our right as we drove.

Another question: Is it smart to take 98 east to gulf shores from panama city or should we go up to 10 and down 59 to gulf shores?

Well when I mapped it out on mapquest, 98 was the way it had me come, and that was mapped supposedly using the quickest route. I think that it was supposed to take around 3 hours but took us around 4, as we stopped several times on the way there. It was definitley scenic though. BTW, please keep us updated on if you ever hear back from Dixie Landin' concerning any discounts available. We're going to be there next month and I would prefer to not have to pay close to $30 for what they have to offer.

I got a hold of Dixie. With a Coke can (any coke can, it need not be marked) you can get $5 off. There is also an "after 6:00 admission plan Sun-Thurs only for the Amusement park only for $12.95.

Four hours? That seems like a long time to go that distance, but then again, you did say you stopped a bit.

Thanks for the update John. I think that we can handle $12.95 ;) If you make that drive straight through on 98 it should take about 3 hours. I figure that we did about an hours worth of stopping and diverting off course.