August 2, 2025 • 13 mins
Episode 187: Gulf Shores & Orange BeachAlabama’s Gulf Coast: Family Fun, Fresh Seafood, and Festival VibesEpisode Description: In this episode of The Family Vacationer, Rob takes us back to two of Alabama’s most beloved beach towns—Gulf Shores and Orange Beach—for a fresh look at all they offer families. With 32 miles of white-sand beaches, exciting waterfront attractions, real fishing adventures, and a food scene worth the trip alone, this stretch of the Alabama coast proves you don’t need to go far for a perfect family vacation. Whether you're planning your next summer escape or looking for a fall festival getaway, this episode has the insider tips, hotel recommendations, and safety advice to make your trip unforgettable. What You’ll Learn:
- Family-friendly attractions at The Wharf (ferris wheel, VR arcade, zipline, laser light shows, and more)
- Where to stay: Beach Club Resort & Spa, Turquoise Place, Perdido Beach Resort, and other family faves
- Fishing in Gulf Shores: What you can catch inshore, nearshore, and deep sea
- Dining with kids: Lulu’s, The Gulf, Cobalt, Doc’s Seafood, and more
- Can’t-miss festivals like the National Shrimp Festival, Frank Brown Songwriters Festival, and Hangout Fest
- Beach safety tips, sea turtle awareness, and local delivery options
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Today I'm the Family Vacationer. We're bringing the spotlight back
to Golf Shores and Orange Beach, two of Alabama's best
love beach towns. We're looking into family friendly activities, waterfront dining,
real fishing trips, and camp miss festivals. Episode one eight
seven starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to The Family Vacationer with Robin.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Tracy, your go to podcast for families on the moon.
Welcome back, friends, I'm Rob and this is episode one
eight seven of The Family Vacationer. Now, if you've been
listening to the show for any length of time, you
know that we've got a soft spot for the Gulf
of Mexico. And today we're heading back to the Alabama
(00:49):
Golf Coast for a fresh look at Golf Shores and
Orange Beach, two towns that are packed with charm, coastal
adventure and some seriously family friendly energy. So Gulf Shores
and Orange Beach offer thirty two miles of some of
the softest, whitest sand in the country. The Gulf's gentle
surf and shallow entry make it ideal for families with
(01:12):
younger children. You're not just dipping your toes in, You're
creating memories with your kids that'll carry on for the
rest of their lives. And the beach is really just
the beginning. So let's get into all the good stuff.
Where to play, where to eat, and how to make
the most of your family vacation. Here. Let's start with
one of the biggest draws in the area. That's the
(01:34):
Wharf at Orange Beach. Now it's not just a mall
or a boardwalk. It's a full scale entertainment district built
with families in mind. Here's some of the things that
you'll find. The southeast tallest ferris wheel, which is lit
up at night, offering fantastic views of the coast. If
you're like my family, you haven't even gone to the
(01:54):
beach unless you've many golfs. There are two different eighteen
hole themed courses. You've got the Wharf Express Train, which
is a fun ride for younger kids takes them through
the heart of the wharf. The arena the next level.
It's a top notch arcade. It's a VR lounge where
kids and parents can compete, escape, or you know, just
(02:14):
cool off. There are a zipline course, four zips, and
a skybridge that overlook the inner Coastal Waterway. There's an
AMC movie theater. It's perfect for those rainy days or
some ac after a long day in the sun. You've
also got the Spectral Laser Light Experience, which is a
free nightly sound and light show that is a huge
(02:35):
hit with families. There's also waterfront dining, candy shops, bootique stores,
literally something for every age and interest. The wharf can
be an all day destination. Looking back at the sand,
there's plenty to do besides swimming and building sand castles,
which are both fun activities, but there are more to do.
You've got kayaking and paddleboarding. The calm waters and inlets
(02:59):
make it a safe and fun place for beginners. You've
got dolphin cruises like Zeke's Tiki Queen and other charters
that offer family friendly sightseeing trips. It's a great chance
to spot dolphins, pelicans, even manatees. The backcountry trails the
hus Branian Backcountry Trail, it's paved, it's stroller friendly. There
(03:22):
are routes through the maritime forests and the wetlands. Of course,
there's more mini golf go karts. They're always within a
short drive of the beach. Gets too hot for the kids. Now,
when we're looking at family friendly places to stay, as
you can imagine, there are all kinds of full service hotels.
There are vacation rentals, some of the some examples of
(03:48):
kind of an all inclusive type resort. You've got the
Beach Club Resort and Spa. It's a full service property
with on site dining shops, kids clubs. You've got poolools,
water slides, beachfront access. This is a favorite amongst families.
You've also got Turquoise Place, upscale condos featuring private hot
(04:10):
tubs or made kitchens. Now, these offer spacious layouts that
are up to four thousand square feet, so this is
perfect if you've got a multi gen trip on the books,
this is a perfect place to stay. There's also Perdido
Beach Resort, which is another beachfront another beachfront resort with
indoor outdoor pools, children's pools, hot tubs, on site dining,
(04:33):
free cribs, and connecting rooms. That's just a short list
of some of these large scale condos that you can
rent at golf Shores in Orange Beach. There are also
full service hotels, some examples of that. You've got the
Hilton Garden End at Orange Beach, which my family stayed at.
It's a very nice property. It is beachfront, it's got
(04:55):
a lazy river, indoor outdoor pool, gym, swim up, tiki bar.
This is a great hotel. There's also spring Hill Suites
by Marriotte Orange Beach. These offer more spacious suites, outdoor pool, gym,
free parking, and those are just a couple of hotels.
There are many vacation rentals you obviously know through Verbo
(05:16):
and Airbnb. Plenty of great options for your family. So
if you like to go deep sea fishing, if you
like to get on a charter boat, let's figure out
what you can catch in the area. If you're looking
at an inshore trip, you've got speckled trout, You've got redfish,
red drum, flounder, sheepshead, pompino. If you're doing near shore refishing,
(05:40):
you've got red snapper which is seasonal. You've got grouper,
spanish and king mackerel, kobea amberjack. And then if you're
looking at more of the deep sea charters, you can
catch yellowfin, tuna, mahi mahi, salefish, great fish, there wahoo
and marlin. So there are local marinas like Zeke's Land,
and then offer half day trips that are perfect for
(06:02):
families or let's say you know your family has never
done that before, you want to give it a try.
I'd highly recommend a half day trip. You'll find out
quickly who amongst you get seasick. That's always a fun
thing to figure out. But those are perfect for families
or people just trying to test it out. At many
of the restaurants in the area, like Zeke's Own, they
(06:23):
offer a hook and cook, which means exactly like it sounds.
You hook it, they cook it, which is a excellent
and excellent segue into family friendly dining. There are no
shortages of great places to eat, but here are just
a couple. You've got Lulu's, which is founded by Jimmy
Buffett's sister. It's got, you know, great music, good food,
(06:45):
got a ropes course, arcade, outdoor seating. You've got The Golf,
which is like a shipping container kind of restaurant with
rotating menus and picnic tables that are right on the sand.
You've got Cobalt, which is more of an upscale place.
It's got upscale seafood, big windows, live music, but they
(07:06):
do have kid friendly dishes. You've got places like Doc
Seafood Shack, which is unpretentious but very very good. You know,
if you want classic fried Gulf shrimp, and who doesn't,
this is the place to go for that. You've got
Taki Jacks, which is waterfront dining. They offer breakfast to dinner.
(07:26):
It's kind of like got a quirky vibe, colorful drinks,
southern grind. If you're a breakfast lover, this is a
good place to go. Or if you're looking for gelato.
This is a cafe that's actually in the wharf, so
that's a cool place to stop. Again, this is just
a small list. So many places to eat in Gulf
Shores and Orange Beach. A couple of family friendly events
(07:50):
and festivals that stand out. You've got the National Shrimp
Festival in October, which sounds excellent to me. It's free admission,
three hundred plus vendors. You've got live music, kid zones,
and a ten k five k run to run off
all that food that you've just eaten. Kind of Probably
the more maybe the most well known festival in this
(08:12):
area is the hang Out Music Festival. They took a
break this past year, but the rumors are that they're
coming back. Obviously more of an adult crowd, So if
you've got older kids that are music lovers, this would
be a cool place to go with them. You've got
an ooryster cookoff and craft beer festival in November offers
a tasty, low pressure atmosphere, cooking demos, live bands, and
(08:37):
this is a cool one. So if you do have
music lovers in your family, I love songwriters festivals. I
think it's so cool to get to hear kind of
the stories behind the hits. So for a lot of
you know, famous musicians, they don't write their own stuff,
and so there are songwriters that they use their songs
(08:58):
and so you don't you get their interpretation of it,
but you don't always get the story behind the actual song.
And so these songwriters festivals offer a chance for you
to really hear that. So the Frank Brown International Songwriters
Festival is also in November. Highly recommend that give that
a look and a listen. We mentioned this Spectra laser
(09:20):
light show that's nightly during the summer, the Independence Day
Fireworks on July fourth. Obviously that's hosted at the Wharf
in Gulf State Park music games and big firework shows.
As you can imagine a couple of insider tips and
safety tips, you know. Safety first, we always talk about
beach flags when we talk about the beaches. The green
(09:43):
flag means it is good for you to get in
the water, Yellow means caution, red means it's a rough surf.
That's especially something you want to look out for with
the younger kids because the rough surf can absolutely beat
them down pretty quickly. And if you see the double
reds that means no swimming, don't dip a toe in,
don't get in. You're not the exception, don't you know.
(10:07):
Don't make it so that somebody's got to come rescue you. Please, please,
please please. Every year there are people that believe that
they are the exception to that, and sadly it ends,
you know, in ways you can imagine that we don't
want for anybody, So please please, if there's double red,
do not go in the water. And then purple that
(10:27):
means there are jellyfish or some other kind of marine
life that is not going to be something fun for
you to deal with. So make sure and pay attention
to that one thing that we always try to say,
you know, leave only footprints, and in this area all
of the beach gear must be removed one hour after sunset.
(10:47):
You've also got sea turtle season from May to October,
which can be very cool to watch. You just want
to avoid bright lights at night, and you want to
make sure and pick up all your trash, which you
want to do all, you know, at all points year
in the year. So there's also curbside and delivery. Many
of the restaurants in the area offer golf to go
and waiter delivery, especially during the peak beach seasons. So
(11:11):
quick little episode here, but from personal experience, from our
family's experience, I can tell you that Gulf Shores and
Orange Beach some of the most complete family vacation destinations
on the Gulf. It's got a perfect mix of adventure, relaxation,
great food, and entertainment. Everything that you're looking for in
a beach vacation, at least as far as what my
(11:34):
family looks for and a lot of others. There is
just there's something magical about this stretch of the Alabama coast. Well,
So that'll do it for this episode. Another episode featuring
America's best beach towns. Remember folks to keep your passports
and your hearts open. As Tracy says, safe travels everyone.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I'm gouting on all the beach places and the hotel spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I'm using the park rids and water slides, mountain ranges
and seasonal changes. I'm here to serve.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I'm the family vacationers.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I've got to get full on other beach places and
hotel spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Amusement park riots and water slides, mountain ranges and seasonal changes.
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'm the family vacationers. Yell, family vacationer, your family vacation
now day. I've got to let me wanna see frae.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's this A means the tack
Today I'm the Family Vacationer. We're bringing the spotlight back
to Golf Shores and Orange Beach, two of Alabama's best
love beach towns. We're looking into family friendly activities, waterfront dining,
real fishing trips, and camp miss festivals. Episode one eight
seven starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to The Family Vacationer with Robin.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Tracy, your go to podcast for families on the moon.
Welcome back, friends, I'm Rob and this is episode one
eight seven of The Family Vacationer. Now, if you've been
listening to the show for any length of time, you
know that we've got a soft spot for the Gulf
of Mexico. And today we're heading back to the Alabama
(00:49):
Golf Coast for a fresh look at Golf Shores and
Orange Beach, two towns that are packed with charm, coastal
adventure and some seriously family friendly energy. So Gulf Shores
and Orange Beach offer thirty two miles of some of
the softest, whitest sand in the country. The Gulf's gentle
surf and shallow entry make it ideal for families with
(01:12):
younger children. You're not just dipping your toes in, You're
creating memories with your kids that'll carry on for the
rest of their lives. And the beach is really just
the beginning. So let's get into all the good stuff.
Where to play, where to eat, and how to make
the most of your family vacation. Here. Let's start with
one of the biggest draws in the area. That's the
(01:34):
Wharf at Orange Beach. Now it's not just a mall
or a boardwalk. It's a full scale entertainment district built
with families in mind. Here's some of the things that
you'll find. The southeast tallest ferris wheel, which is lit
up at night, offering fantastic views of the coast. If
you're like my family, you haven't even gone to the
(01:54):
beach unless you've many golfs. There are two different eighteen
hole themed courses. You've got the Wharf Express Train, which
is a fun ride for younger kids takes them through
the heart of the wharf. The arena the next level.
It's a top notch arcade. It's a VR lounge where
kids and parents can compete, escape, or you know, just
(02:14):
cool off. There are a zipline course, four zips, and
a skybridge that overlook the inner Coastal Waterway. There's an
AMC movie theater. It's perfect for those rainy days or
some ac after a long day in the sun. You've
also got the Spectral Laser Light Experience, which is a
free nightly sound and light show that is a huge
(02:35):
hit with families. There's also waterfront dining, candy shops, bootique stores,
literally something for every age and interest. The wharf can
be an all day destination. Looking back at the sand,
there's plenty to do besides swimming and building sand castles,
which are both fun activities, but there are more to do.
You've got kayaking and paddleboarding. The calm waters and inlets
(02:59):
make it a safe and fun place for beginners. You've
got dolphin cruises like Zeke's Tiki Queen and other charters
that offer family friendly sightseeing trips. It's a great chance
to spot dolphins, pelicans, even manatees. The backcountry trails the
hus Branian Backcountry Trail, it's paved, it's stroller friendly. There
(03:22):
are routes through the maritime forests and the wetlands. Of course,
there's more mini golf go karts. They're always within a
short drive of the beach. Gets too hot for the kids. Now,
when we're looking at family friendly places to stay, as
you can imagine, there are all kinds of full service hotels.
There are vacation rentals, some of the some examples of
(03:48):
kind of an all inclusive type resort. You've got the
Beach Club Resort and Spa. It's a full service property
with on site dining shops, kids clubs. You've got poolools,
water slides, beachfront access. This is a favorite amongst families.
You've also got Turquoise Place, upscale condos featuring private hot
(04:10):
tubs or made kitchens. Now, these offer spacious layouts that
are up to four thousand square feet, so this is
perfect if you've got a multi gen trip on the books,
this is a perfect place to stay. There's also Perdido
Beach Resort, which is another beachfront another beachfront resort with
indoor outdoor pools, children's pools, hot tubs, on site dining,
(04:33):
free cribs, and connecting rooms. That's just a short list
of some of these large scale condos that you can
rent at golf Shores in Orange Beach. There are also
full service hotels, some examples of that. You've got the
Hilton Garden End at Orange Beach, which my family stayed at.
It's a very nice property. It is beachfront, it's got
(04:55):
a lazy river, indoor outdoor pool, gym, swim up, tiki bar.
This is a great hotel. There's also spring Hill Suites
by Marriotte Orange Beach. These offer more spacious suites, outdoor pool, gym,
free parking, and those are just a couple of hotels.
There are many vacation rentals you obviously know through Verbo
(05:16):
and Airbnb. Plenty of great options for your family. So
if you like to go deep sea fishing, if you
like to get on a charter boat, let's figure out
what you can catch in the area. If you're looking
at an inshore trip, you've got speckled trout, You've got redfish,
red drum, flounder, sheepshead, pompino. If you're doing near shore refishing,
(05:40):
you've got red snapper which is seasonal. You've got grouper,
spanish and king mackerel, kobea amberjack. And then if you're
looking at more of the deep sea charters, you can
catch yellowfin, tuna, mahi mahi, salefish, great fish, there wahoo
and marlin. So there are local marinas like Zeke's Land,
and then offer half day trips that are perfect for
(06:02):
families or let's say you know your family has never
done that before, you want to give it a try.
I'd highly recommend a half day trip. You'll find out
quickly who amongst you get seasick. That's always a fun
thing to figure out. But those are perfect for families
or people just trying to test it out. At many
of the restaurants in the area, like Zeke's Own, they
(06:23):
offer a hook and cook, which means exactly like it sounds.
You hook it, they cook it, which is a excellent
and excellent segue into family friendly dining. There are no
shortages of great places to eat, but here are just
a couple. You've got Lulu's, which is founded by Jimmy
Buffett's sister. It's got, you know, great music, good food,
(06:45):
got a ropes course, arcade, outdoor seating. You've got The Golf,
which is like a shipping container kind of restaurant with
rotating menus and picnic tables that are right on the sand.
You've got Cobalt, which is more of an upscale place.
It's got upscale seafood, big windows, live music, but they
(07:06):
do have kid friendly dishes. You've got places like Doc
Seafood Shack, which is unpretentious but very very good. You know,
if you want classic fried Gulf shrimp, and who doesn't,
this is the place to go for that. You've got
Taki Jacks, which is waterfront dining. They offer breakfast to dinner.
(07:26):
It's kind of like got a quirky vibe, colorful drinks,
southern grind. If you're a breakfast lover, this is a
good place to go. Or if you're looking for gelato.
This is a cafe that's actually in the wharf, so
that's a cool place to stop. Again, this is just
a small list. So many places to eat in Gulf
Shores and Orange Beach. A couple of family friendly events
(07:50):
and festivals that stand out. You've got the National Shrimp
Festival in October, which sounds excellent to me. It's free admission,
three hundred plus vendors. You've got live music, kid zones,
and a ten k five k run to run off
all that food that you've just eaten. Kind of Probably
the more maybe the most well known festival in this
(08:12):
area is the hang Out Music Festival. They took a
break this past year, but the rumors are that they're
coming back. Obviously more of an adult crowd, So if
you've got older kids that are music lovers, this would
be a cool place to go with them. You've got
an ooryster cookoff and craft beer festival in November offers
a tasty, low pressure atmosphere, cooking demos, live bands, and
(08:37):
this is a cool one. So if you do have
music lovers in your family, I love songwriters festivals. I
think it's so cool to get to hear kind of
the stories behind the hits. So for a lot of
you know, famous musicians, they don't write their own stuff,
and so there are songwriters that they use their songs
(08:58):
and so you don't you get their interpretation of it,
but you don't always get the story behind the actual song.
And so these songwriters festivals offer a chance for you
to really hear that. So the Frank Brown International Songwriters
Festival is also in November. Highly recommend that give that
a look and a listen. We mentioned this Spectra laser
(09:20):
light show that's nightly during the summer, the Independence Day
Fireworks on July fourth. Obviously that's hosted at the Wharf
in Gulf State Park music games and big firework shows.
As you can imagine a couple of insider tips and
safety tips, you know. Safety first, we always talk about
beach flags when we talk about the beaches. The green
(09:43):
flag means it is good for you to get in
the water, Yellow means caution, red means it's a rough surf.
That's especially something you want to look out for with
the younger kids because the rough surf can absolutely beat
them down pretty quickly. And if you see the double
reds that means no swimming, don't dip a toe in,
don't get in. You're not the exception, don't you know.
(10:07):
Don't make it so that somebody's got to come rescue you. Please, please,
please please. Every year there are people that believe that
they are the exception to that, and sadly it ends,
you know, in ways you can imagine that we don't
want for anybody, So please please, if there's double red,
do not go in the water. And then purple that
(10:27):
means there are jellyfish or some other kind of marine
life that is not going to be something fun for
you to deal with. So make sure and pay attention
to that one thing that we always try to say,
you know, leave only footprints, and in this area all
of the beach gear must be removed one hour after sunset.
(10:47):
You've also got sea turtle season from May to October,
which can be very cool to watch. You just want
to avoid bright lights at night, and you want to
make sure and pick up all your trash, which you
want to do all, you know, at all points year
in the year. So there's also curbside and delivery. Many
of the restaurants in the area offer golf to go
and waiter delivery, especially during the peak beach seasons. So
(11:11):
quick little episode here, but from personal experience, from our
family's experience, I can tell you that Gulf Shores and
Orange Beach some of the most complete family vacation destinations
on the Gulf. It's got a perfect mix of adventure, relaxation,
great food, and entertainment. Everything that you're looking for in
a beach vacation, at least as far as what my
(11:34):
family looks for and a lot of others. There is
just there's something magical about this stretch of the Alabama coast. Well,
So that'll do it for this episode. Another episode featuring
America's best beach towns. Remember folks to keep your passports
and your hearts open. As Tracy says, safe travels everyone.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I'm gouting on all the beach places and the hotel spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I'm using the park rids and water slides, mountain ranges
and seasonal changes. I'm here to serve.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I'm the family vacationers.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I've got to get full on other beach places and
hotel spaces.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Amusement park riots and water slides, mountain ranges and seasonal changes.
I'm here to serve.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'm the family vacationers. Yell, family vacationer, your family vacation
now day. I've got to let me wanna see frae.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's this A means the tack
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