Emerald City and Oz New Orleans (I assume Johnny Chisholm can’t put his name on the event anymore?) present one of the hottest weekends on US beaches. Memorial Day weekend 2011 just lined up their DJ’s consisting of Friday, May 27 with Roland Belmares. Saturday, May 28 DJ Eddie Baez and Sunday May 29th DJ Joe Gauthreaux with Lighting by Bryan Holcombe. Sometimes lights make all the difference at these parties!
All of the parties look to be held at Emerald City unless they throw up the Saturday night party on the beach again. The beach will be a few miles of gays and lesbians camping out and will be as popular as ever.
The BP and TransOcean Oil Spill last year did contaminate the beaches in Pensacola but most of that has since been cleaned up. This happened just a week after last years Memorial Day weekend so it did not interfere at all last year but the rain storms did. We hope the rain storms stay away this year and we can enjoy the hot, sunny beaches and get our tans on for Gay Days Orlando the following week.
If you are not sure where to stay in Pensacola there are many options.
1. Stay near the club- The Crowne Plaza is the best place to stay near the club and really not too
expensive at around $160 a night. Here is the link for Crowne Plaza next door to Emerald City so walking to the main parties and to the afterparties.
2. Stay on the Beach near the surfers and restaurants. The options here may be a bit more expensive than the Pensacola Grand but you have your chain hotels such as the Hampton Inn on the Beach at 2 via de Luna, the Hilton next door which offers 2 bedroom 2 bathroom suites, and the Days Inn Pensacola Beachfront which has the least expensive gulf side rooms. Spring Hill Suites by Marriott at 24 Via De Luna is one more option but not quite on the best beach side. Keep in mind all of these have 2 night minimum stays.
3. If you are not worried about staying a 4 night minimum then you could stay really close to the GLBT beach action where all the gays and lesbians are camped out. The Portofino is walking distance to the gay beach area for Memorial Day weekend. Portofino island resort is located at 10 Portofino Road at the end of Via de Luna. Contact Portofino at 850-916-5000.
4. Hotwire and Priceline but the Crowne Pensacola Grand Plaza did not come up on this and some of these other featured hotels on Hotwire. Priceline is my favorite because you can select your own hotel and then give them your price which is always worth a try.
5. Camp Out. You could bring an RV or pitch a tent on the beach.
Airfare to Pensacola we found is pretty reasonable using American Airlines. Make sure you sign up for one of the American Airlines card offers to earn the most miles with all your travel.
Once you have all of your travel booked then start shopping for the most scandalous swimwear you can find!
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