Beach Accessability 2022

Hi everybody,

I'm not sure this has been covered yet, but the parking by the beach boardwalk entrance by the park entrance has been replaced by "Premier parking." If you want to get to the beach you have to drive around the park and put your car by the entrance to the Hotel Breakers. Kind of a pain and a longer hike with a beach chair etc. than being able to park by the front gate, but it is what it is.

Thanks for the update!

Can you still walk the blue mile through premier parking to get there?

Yes, you can walk from the main lot to the beach. However, the boardwalk is closed where the former Wicked Twister site construction fence is installed so you'll have to walk through the sand to get back by Breakers.

So how does one get Premier parking? Do you pay for it at the gate? I can't find any info on how it works.

Yes, you buy the preferred parking pass at the toll gate. If you have a season pass, it is a $10.00 upcharge.

I almost always get the preferred parking. It is the best $10.00 I spend during the day. The short walk at the end of a long day is welcome.

Bozman said:

Yes, you buy the preferred parking pass at the toll gate. If you have a season pass, it is a $10.00 upcharge.

I almost always get the preferred parking. It is the best $10.00 I spend during the day. The short walk at the end of a long day is welcome.

I imagine! Maybe I'll go for it the next time I head over that way. The walk from the lot on the Hotel Breakers side to the beach is a pretty long hike! That or I'm going to have to get a little wagon or something so I'm not carrying my cooler and beach chair so far. It's much shorter on the park entrance side.Thanks for the information!

Keep in mind you would have to drag the wagon through the sand since the boardwalk is closed, its not that far of a trek but more difficult to drag it through the sand than rolling on concrete.

...but you CAN walk the beach there? I can remember before they built the boardwalk, the beach was inaccessible between the main parking lot and the Parasail booth. Which is interesting, as even further back (1870-1987) that was the location of the public bathing beach (although the Hotel Breakers had its own beach in the current bathing beach location). The beach location changed in 1988 when the new bathhouse opened just outside (!) Soak City and the old bathhouse was essentially abandoned.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The beach is physically clear to walk most of the time, although the construction wall does bump out towards the water to the point that on windier days the water almost pushes up against the wall.

That said, there has been signage and a temporary queue rail at the boardwalk arch at the main lot implying that guests aren't technically supposed to be entering the beach at that point.

I can only speak for Friday night but there was no sign or any type of barricade saying not to walk onto the boardwalk/ beach from the main lot. After coaster mania the gate by Windseeker was closed so my son and I walked through the main gate and onto the beach to get back to Breakers.

That's good to know. We only had checked during opening weekend so we haven't been through there in a few weeks.

You can park in the main lot and walk across to the beach. I hope it's open from the lot by gatekeeper even with construction though. I hope whatever structure is built there utilizes the beach. I like the idea of a pavilion like the one from the early 1900s that lets people get better beach access with changing rooms/bathrooms, maybe concession stands.