If you’ve never been to the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, I’m more than happy to provide my two cents to help your travel experience be a little optimal based on my past travels to the event. Admittedly, I’m negatively biased about the experience, as most of my trips were in the 90s or early 2000s when it wasn’t a lot of fun to go, so I admit early here this is parody but also my personal jaded slant. If I were younger and didn’t have four kids, I’d venture another attempt; alas, I’m home for the game attending the sixty third weekend birthday party of the year, which is what happens when you have four girls who have hordes of friends. But I digress…here’s my tips for the first-timers.
When to Arrive: Optimally, Tuesday the week of the game. Why? Well, you’ll likely be surrounded by fellow fans who came with one core purpose in mind: to drink a lethal amount of alcohol from the opening of the eyes in the morning until the light fades from them at 1:30 pm in the evening. A Tuesday arrival ensures you’ve built adequate tolerance to this by Saturday’s kickoff.
Where to Stay: If you have any sense and money, you’ll stay in the Golden Isles/St. Simons Island. I have neither, so I’ve never had the pleasure of doing the trip right, and have generally stayed in Jacksonville. Let me get right to that…
Where Not to Stay: Jacksonville. I’ve been to several southern cities in my life, of varying local culture and uniqueness, and the best I can describe Jacksonville would be Manchester by the sea. No, not Manchester, England…Manchester, Georgia. While you might wonder about the danger of tailgating and drinking and trying to drive back to Georgia, either Uber or ask a fellow Dawg fan for a ride back to St. Simons, it’s better than the alternative. And it’s only an hour away.
What to Do: I can’t honestly tell you about anything other than drinking heavily. If you’re in Jacksonville, you might want to double it.
What Not to Do: The Landing. When I was younger, this seemed like the absolute bomb. It could’ve been because of the underage drinking I did and having my first cigarette, a filterless Camel. Interesting how a cigarette can instantly sharpen the effects of a heavy buzz, especially as you’re hurling everything you’ve drank and eaten in the past three days into the St. John’s River. If you like crowds, overpriced warm beer, and vomit, this is your place. Also avoid it since it was demolished in 2019, which immediately resulted in 39 million dollars worth of improvements in its destruction alone.
Gameday Tailgating: If you’ve ventured around the south and tailgated at various college campuses, you may have gotten the sense that the opposing fans are generally good people, just rooting for the wrong team. You can even tailgate together and have a good time. This is not the case at the Georgia-Florida game. While “cocktail party” may sound like people are standing on ceremony and drinking from cups with a pinky extended outward, it’s anything but. When you arrive you’ve defaulted to choosing violence, as the opposing fan base is vulgar, insanely intoxicated, and physically aggressive. They will cuss, spit, and instigate fights. Assume all Florida fans, no matter how goofy and simple they may seem, are ruthless, vile pigs, the kind Dickey wrote about in Deliverance. Aaron Hernandez wasn’t a tight end, he was actually just a drunken Florida fan they picked up in the parking lot one day at the WLOCP. Avoid these people at all costs. Tailgating is not unlike the asphalt experience you’ll have at NFL stadiums, so forget about shade and scenery. If you have to tailgate, do so in an RV or just remain in your car with the door locked and your cooler in the back seat.
The Game: The stadium will be divided with Florida fans evenly on one side and Georgia fans on the other. See above about tailgating, this is done for public safety. If you buy your ticket from a third-party vendor and find yourself on the Florida side, either wear a Florida outfit and remain silent or just skip over to the Georgia side and sit anywhere, most Georgia fans will understand why with a simple explanation. Last time I was there they didn’t sell beer during the game. Again I assume this is for public safety, but if they’ve relaxed this I’d recommend that alcohol is not reason enough, for these few hours, to leave your seat and run the risk of being in a line with Florida people. Same goes for bathrooms, if you’re close to the Georgia-Florida seating border, just avoid bathrooms and hold it or piss in a cup. See earlier Dickey reference for why.
Leaving the Game: Travel in packs. Should you confront Florida fans, whether Georgia wins or loses, don’t fall back on the bear strategy of making a lot of noise and acting aggressive. Quite the opposite, move away from the Florida fan, even if it means going further away from your vehicle. Run in a zig-zag manner, and assume they have guns or glass bottles. Keep your arms tight by your body and your head down, making yourself small. Assume bad intentions from any Gator troglodyte you encounter who is still standing erect and if it comes to face to face interactions, try to confuse them by asking them simple math problems or if they can name the last decent Jacksonville Jaguars kicker. If all else fails scream “DUVALLLLL” at max volume and they may confuse you as a friendly just long enough for you to make an escape. Once in your car, haul ass and avoid all stop signs and speed limits heading north, until you’re back in Georgia again. Trust when I say no one will notice, as this is I-95 and likely a drug mule will be traveling faster and even more erratic than you. You can have that celebratory dinner in Kingsland, when your back on friendly ground.
As someone who has attended this game many times, both as a student and an alumnus, thank god this game will be leaving Jacksonville permanently in the not so far future. And yes, the game will move, once the money is right, and trust me that part is already being worked on and will happen soon enough.
At best (or worst), it will move to alternating between Atlanta and Jacksonville. The assurance that the game is staying in Jacksonville is one of the reasons the city agreed to help foot the bill on the stadium renovation to the tune of $2 billion.
I am guessing you will see Jacksonville join the group of cities who are going to bid on the CFP championship game after the renovation.
Having been many times, I could not disagree more. Hopefully it stay in Jax.
That’s funny I just now read that aside from the the two year stadium reno it has been renewed through 2031. As the saying goes: Money talks, Bullshit walks. You may eventually get your wish; I hope you are alive to enjoy it when it happens.
I haven’t been to Jacksonville for the game in over 20 years, but I have spent a lot of time in Jacksonville in my life, personally and professionally. The area around the stadium sucks because it’s where the port is, but the Jaguars owner has big plans for the area including a Four Seasons hotel and residences. If you’re coming into the city from the Golden Isles/Amelia or from Lake City, you see the worst of the city (that’s not disputable). You get on the south bank of the river or toward the south Jacksonville beaches, and the city gets nice. San Marco and other areas south of the downtown are every bit as nice as some of the older neighborhoods close to downtown Atlanta.
It’s all relative. The bottom line is the game is staying in Jacksonville because the city government is willing to pay for it (and is willing to pay more than Atlanta, Orlando or Tampa is).
As a native South Georgian who doesn’t live there anymore, I still think of it as “our game.” There will be a lot of DGDs who donate a hell of a lot of money to UGA who will be downright pissed if the game left Jacksonville for good.
Verily.
As one of the last remaining remnants of what college football is supposed to be, I say we hold onto to the WLOCP, aka the annual celebration of the repeal of the Volstead Act, as long as we can.
Same with that historic midseason SEC matchup known as the Red River Rivalry.
It’s interesting how I never heard of Georgia fans wanting to move the game until Spurrier and Meyer came along. I don’t read the Texas or Oklahoma boards, but I assume neither school wants to move the Red River Shootout.
Why is that? Inquiring minds want to know. Even Kirby has gone quiet about it … he knows (or has been told) what the financial impact of the game is on the UGA athletic budget. In a time of revenue sharing, a Terry finance graduate is going to get it.
CMR’s constant whining (he still does) about it didn’t help the attitudes of the fan base. Losing a lot didn’t help. Questionable town and really bad traffic doesn’t help. Florida people don’t help.
I don’t know what the student’s experiences are when they go down these days. We had a blast, without going into the game, 35-ish years ago every year. I wish I had caught one of the “thunderdome” games before 1984 when you could carry in a handle of Jack Daniel’s. Even without that bit of intrigue and absurdity, I have far more memories and stories about that game than any other as a student. I suppose it helps that its a long weekend and its every year, instead of a single afternoon every other year helps.
If it were up to me, I’d find a place on the water and go every year. Golf, fishing, seafood, cold beer, football… what’s not to like? I just can’t find enough people willing to make the commitment. Something about kids and tuition and expensive and work and far a bunch of other nonsense. I also didn’t marry a georgia grad so selling her on dropping a few grand every October is a difficult sale. So for me, I’ve pretty much given up on it. But for those who can and do make the commitment, I wouldn’t dare argue that it should be taken away. Done right, its a worthwhile annual pilgrimage.
Been coming to the game since the mid ’70s as a student and still attending. In fact, we stay at the same hotel/motel as I did then. The Jags owner bought this place and the rates are through the roof but the quality and what few amenities they had are gone. If he’s building a Four Seasons, he’s helping to finance it out of the Seahorse Inn. We love it only because you come and park and never have to move your car except to attend the game.
Checked in yesterday and room floor was sandy. The bottom sheet on the bed was/is a top sheet that is the wrong size. Only 2 coffee pods and no spoon to stir your coffee (that doesn’t bother me though). Took away the breakfast box but that doesn’t bother me either as we go out for breakfast.
Getting older is a blessing though,, Thanks be to to God.
#FTMF
“The area around the stadium sucks,” but so what? What do people want or expect? Is tailgating in a parking lot in Athens that much different??? (Of course, can’t speak to the tailgating scene in Gainesville….)
Having tailgated in the little neighborhoods to the north of the stadium, under the bridge, in the bus lots, over by the river and right in the middle, it is what you make of it – somehow, I have always managed to have a good time!!! There is always a great atmosphere and electricity, inside and outside the stadium, not to mention the incredible tradition, all of which makes ensure it is an EVENT every year! Can’t wait til tomorrow….
I live in Ponte Vedra and spend considerable time in Jacksonville. Though downtown still has a long way to go, it is improving. The shipyards closed years ago (the port is north between downtown and the mouth of the St. Johns River). Shad Khan’s $215M Four Seasons hotel on the river is under construction and is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026. Khan (i.e., the Jaguars) and the city will each pay for roughly half the new $1.4B stadium cost ($625M each plus the city has an additional $150M commitment). The Museum of Science and History will build its new state-of-the-art facility just west of the Four Seasons and is expected to open in 2028. More residential, restaurants and bars are opening between the area. Riverside and Avondale, southwest of downtown, are thriving, and not unlike Atlanta a few years ago, some of the industrial areas west of downtown are being redeveloped. The economic impact of the Cocktail Party is huge for the city, and the schools take in significantly more revenue than they would if they played hoe-and-home.
A tip of the cap to you for this good sir.
LOL! Good one. I went many years as we always beat the Gators. I did happen to move to Florida just as the Ol’ Ball Sack took over down there, which was bad timing. After I moved to Texas, I didn’t make it back much, but did go in 2007 (good timing) and again in 2021.
IOW, I’ve had lots of good times down there, both as a drunken student with low standards, and later as a drunken adult with higher standards. I’ve never been to the Red River Shootout, but it’s the only game that can rival this one as far as I’m concerned. Glad to see Jax ponying up to keep the game there. College football is hell-bent on becoming NFL-Lite, so it’s nice to keep these traditions as long as we can.
I have twice turned down moves to Florida, hate the heat and love the 4 seasons north of Atlanta. Agreed the Red River Shootout is the lone surviving game that can compare. Nothing like it, give the recruits tickets. I miss a beach weekend in late October. As a kid, we always stayed south of Jax on the beach. Last time I went we stayed in Jax, still a good time.
I took my 17 year old daughter in 2014 when were favored. Between the oblivious youngster in front standing and blocking the view, the leather lunged debutante close behind yelling “Hutson Mason is a piece of sh*t”, the Florida receivers holding blocks 20 yards downfield, and the gale force wind, I decided it’s not worth the outlay again.
Well done sir. Like you, I went a lot in the 90’s but now I refuse to attend games in the cesspool that is JAX. I have never witnessed a Bulldawg victory there, and I won’t tempt fate that my attendance might be the reason. When Terence Edwards double clutched and then dropped the ball on what would have been a winning drive, his mother passed out right in front of me. That’s bad ju-ju right there.
A bit of history: on May 3, 1901, most of Jacksonville was destroyed by a fire that started in a kitchen and ravaged 150 city blocks and over 2000 buildings. No one has provided a good reason why they decided to rebuild.
Last line made me laugh!
LMAO. The part about the Camel got me… BTDT, but no worries about me EVER smoking tobacco again.
This is pure brilliance. Love it!
“Assume all Florida fans, no matter how goofy and simple they may seem, are ruthless, vile pigs, the kind Dickey wrote about in Deliverance. Aaron Hernandez wasn’t a tight end, he was actually just a drunken Florida fan they picked up in the parking lot one day at the WLOCP. Avoid these people at all costs.”
Given one particular incident I endured down there, had he said “Erin” Hernandez I would have spit out my coffee.
Slightly disagree, yes when gators were winning, we had the cocky bravado gators trying to pick fights. Today we have mullet headed, jean shorted, Teabow jerseyed orange croc meth heads that slink out of their seats at halftime. No Florida fans are around at the end of the game, so hopefully we keep it that way this weekend.
When I was in redcoats, ‘88-92, we always went to the Landing after the game. We did not fail to have fun. We were young though, lol.
The band always stayed in St. Augustine and we would walk to a grocery store and buy as many of those little 8oz beers they had. Stuffed them into our uniforms and hats. If you can believe it, before ‘90 (I think) we even had kegs on the busses throughout the week, lol.
My aforementioned cigarette experience was when I was in the Redcoats. Fortunately, it happened after the game and not before, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to function the next day. Marched in ’93 and ’94, my first experience was the torrential rainfall game where SOS called a timeout right as Zeier hit a touchdown pass and we all thought we’d done the impossible. Soured me for life, I think.
JP, Excellent PSA. I would only add that if things are going according to plan there will be plenty of really good seats available on the Fla. side. Godspeed you all.
I see the Jacksonville wine and cheese crowd has made their way into the comments. The problem with pro-Jacksonville crowd is that they skew much, much older in age, meaning they’ll be dead soon and will lose their influence. Most of the younger fanbase (< 40) doesn’t care about Jacksonville and rightly so. Your money won’t be a bargaining chip after you’re dead, sorry to tell you. Give it another ten years once all the geezers are gone and this game will begin to alternate between NFL stadiums and home and home. This is a fact. Might as well get used to it.
Sounds like wishful thinking.
I am one of the younger ones here and disagree. Further the argument has been used for decades.
Pretty good. I hate Jacksonville and I-95 so much. A few years ago we went to the Okeefonokee and from there went to St Simons for vacation. The fact that we had to get on I-95 for a few miles really frosted my ass. When I made my final trip from Camp LeJeune home I said I would never get on I-95 ever again.
Also, it’s fun to portray all Florida fans as Jort wearing mullet heads but in my experience they’re all annoying Yankees. Seriously, are there any Southern people left in that state? The panhandle is even just about totally occupied.
Sebring had plenty of locals. A friend is a Miami native, he said his parents and sibling were running into old friends in Lake City after they moved north.
As much as I want to hate on the Crocs, Georgia is much the same. People from what Metro Atlanta has consumed have moved further out. The rural areas are getting more transplants but have natives.
Not where I am. That location will not be disclosed because we don’t want them. Yea they all want to live in Georgia and bitch Lundy about how it’s not like wherever they came from. If that place had been worth a shit they’d have stayed there. Georgia is just wonderful they say. If they can just change everything.
I attended this game for at least 25 years in a row. Got to park close to the stadium because a friend owned a business repairing bridges and he had a large parking lot. The worst thing about this game was losing and all of the FL fans would line up on the side of the road and yell and throw crap at you as you tried to get to your car. When GA won the FL fans would all be gone. I have never seen anything like that at any other stadium.
Those people would disappear. I never stayed in Jax. My brother and I own a house at Shellman Bluff, and I stayed in my own save house. During the Dooley years this game was something like a home coming game, go get drunk, yell, win then go home.
Stevie ruined that. Why, I don’t really know. Many times, they did not have better players they just got to the point they knew that they would win, and GA knew they would lose.
Not a good place to be mentally. Kirby is in the process of fixing all of that bad karma.
I don’t really care if this game is played on the medium of I-95, just win baby.
GO DAWGS
I read this yesterday and can find no fault in Reese Davis renaming the WLOCP
“I’ve been calling this game the ‘World’s Largest Outdoor Mocktail Party’ because Florida’s gonna have to play better before they merit somebody raising a glass to them.”
I’d raise a glass to that.
He said that on their podcast the other day and I spit out my drink.
I’ve done the Cocktail Party twice as a student (missed 2 years for the renovation) and a few times each decade since. I’ve done it cheap, pricey, with huge groups, one other guy, with ladies and without, and it’s always a fucking blast. I LOVE that game weekend. I love SSI, even though there are better islands and places to eat and drink in this country. Ever since I moved away from GA after school, the nostalgia and aggregation of Dawgs on vacation getting dialed up for Saturday, the tailgate scene (albeit more fractured now), yelling at Gator fans for 4 hours, and dinner/drinks at the King & Prince are always what the doctor orders for me. So sad to miss this year but I blew my travel budget wad on the UT game and I’m traveling out of the country on Sunday. But I’m 1000% back next year.
I like the game, hate the city. Too hard to get from the stadium to any good bar or restaurant. The 90’s really made it suck, but I’ve been back since CKS and it’s a lot better. Just wish they’d build some shit around the stadium!
The Florida people think they’re going to win this year. That Gator arrogance needs only the tiniest of sparks to rekindle. My buddy who here to deer hunt and is a gator is talking about them winning for the first time since Sideshow Dan and the greatest two minutes of football eva.
I thought I was the only one pregaming. Rock on Dawgs!