Staying there end of July for 4-5 days. I have two boys. Other than the obvious beach time, looking for some other recommendations on stuff to do and places to eat.

Cosmos in Orange Beach. Great food and atmosphere!

Thanks! Looking it up now.

I was there about two weeks ago. We went to a place called The Track to ride go-carts. The wooden track was a lot of fun. I can't say I ate at a many places I actually thought had good food, except a place called Villagio's Grille.

You guys are great. Thanks! We'll do the go carts for sure.

If you like history the short drive to Ft. Morgan is worth it!

One of our favorite places on earth
Been 3 summers in a row
Just got back in June

We have 2 boys & a girl
All under 12

EAT
The Gulf
LuLu's
The Shrimp Basket
Doc's Seafood
The Hangout (on the beach)

Naval Air Station Pensacola is 20 minutes away
They have the National Naval Aviation Museum.....it's Awesome

Waterville USA Waterpark, Go-Carts, Mini-Golf, Fat Daddy's Arcade, all the Ice Cream shops, The Gulf State Park & Pier, the beach.....you could stay 2 weeks and not do it all

Also recommend Wild Hearts for dinner dolphin cruising on a catamaran and parasailing

I also have a great fishing guide if you want one

Went to GS last year and took the kids here: https://gatoralleyfarm.com

It's about a half hour drive from GS and was pretty dang cool.

That is a pretty solid list. We went a couple years ago and hit most of those spots. Heading back on friday!

Been 4 times - rented a house on the beach every other year or so for the past 9-10 years. Love it there. With of our other vacations, I'm usually tired and cool with going home by the end. But this is always the one where I could stay forever.

In any case, the post above covers most the list, and I highly recommend gator alley.

There's a new amusement park (OWA) that opened last July. It opened the week after our visit last year so I cant give a firsthand review. But it looks pretty cool and seems to be getting good reviews.

If you get tired of seafood, etc, check out Hog Wild for BBQ

Other than what's been said above (and highly recommend the gator place), take the ferry to Dauphin Island. There's a pretty neat sea life center there, just a short walk from the ferry. My 5-year old son loved it, especially touching stingrays.

Agree with the ferry to aquarium visit. We did it a couple of times. It's a pretty rinky dink aquarium, but as mentioned, you can pet stingrays and it is pretty informational on the type of sea life around Gulf Shores. There's also a couple of small hammerheads in the tank you could pet. We've also seen hammerhead sharks from the ferry before.

You can just walk on the ferry and pay (I think it's about $10/person). Make sure to check the ferry schedule to see if they are running 1 or 2 boats, because that will impact when you need to catch it and when you need to be back from the aquarium. When it's 2 boats, they are leaving each spot every 45 minutes, but with one, it's only every 90. 90 minutes is plenty of time to do everything, so you can just plan to catch the same ferry back 90 minutes after it drops you.

There's also a little snack bar by where you catch the ferry for the trip back, which is a good spot to recharge and wait for a bit. The only catch is that it can be pretty dang hot on the ferry (no shade), so be prepared with agua.

Has anyone taken the Mobile Bay Ferry? Considering it as a route this time.

https://www.gulfshores.com/details/mobile-bay-ferry/253/#sm.0000ty2jbx8zaf8kstd241xheokv1

http://mobilebayferry.com/schedule/

Only to visit Dauphin Island as a walkon, but not as a car using it as a means to cut off the Mobile leg of the trip. Saturdays always seemed like too long of a wait to make it worthwhile.

Worth calling to make sure they really are running 2 ferries. Even though the schedule says they are Memorial to Labor Day, sometimes they aren't.

Headed to Orange Beach on Tuesday with the wife and a 6 year old and a 3.5 year old. Any other recommendations? We are at one of the Phoenixes. Don't remember which one, but it is the one with the splash pad thing. We are booked for a dolphin tour on the glass bottom boat. Anything else we should do, or can't miss place to eat? I have heard bad things about restaurants being too packed and huge wait times. We will try eating early. Any other tips? Is door dash an option? Stuff the kids with microwave nuggets and then order grown up food for me and the wife?

Can give you some recs, Perdido Key heavy, less crowded/commercialized:
Food with kids - Islander Food Shack, Deep Blue Seafood Truck, Jamie's Seafood Shack - all good food, outdoor seating, bring a windbreaker this week. Lose the kids, Perdido Key Breakfast Club for brunch.
Perdido Bay Seafood - fresh fish market with outstanding selection of take home items.
Gallon of ice cream, cut & bake cookies and can of whipped cream - dessert for the kids for a week
Activities - Teach kids letters and numbers playing Bingo @ Florabama 1-4 pm weekdays, adult humor over their heads, slug 2 bushwhackers and kids complaining won't bother you.
Sailaway Charters - ecotour in OBA, perfect for elementary age kids and even adults, take 2 hour cruise
Big Lagoon State Park and Johnson Beach to getaway from crowds
Naval Museum only allowing DOD cardholders
Orange Beach has public playground on Canal Road just down from Doc's
Perdido Key Kids Park - on the way to NAS, blue angel themed stuff
Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in GS
Tiki Golf, formerly Zooland - cheap for young kids and shady
Company that rents floating tiki huts with captain that cruises around back bay, don't know website, just seen them on occasion.
Blue Angels just buzzed the beach at 2:15 pm...back home for 2022!
Hope that helps, let me know if need more info outside the norm