Margaritaville Resort Biloxi Gambles on ‘Flying Bar’ That Dangles Drinkers 120 Feet in Air

Fancy knocking back booze served by an “aero-barman” from inside a lounge bar that hovers at 120 feet as you stare down at your shoes which appear to be dangling in the sky? What could possibly go wrong?

We’ll leave that to your imagination, but let’s just say we’d rather not be standing 120 feet below the “Aerobar” when it makes its US debut at the Margaritaville Resort’s new theme park in Biloxi, Mississippi next year.

This form of extreme cocktail-sipping will be just one of the attractions at the planned theme park which were outlined by developers at a meeting of the Biloxi Development Association this week and reported by the Biloxi Sun Herald.

Hold onto Your Peanuts

Drinkers will be securely strapped in around the Aerobar – a metallic, circular structure with a barman in the middle, which will then spiral into the air.

Reassuringly for those who might be passing underneath, it moves slowly and doesn’t last long enough for anyone on board to get roaring drunk. The ride takes two minutes to reach its zenith where it will remain for five minutes as customers sip their chosen tipple and take in the Gulf Coast panorama.

“It’s not a thrill ride. It’s more of a view ride,” businessman and developer Cono Caranna told the meeting, as reported by WJCT Public Media.

There’s a bartender on board with you, so you get a little cocktail when you go for a little spin and you get to look out at everything. Two big things to go high up and look at the Coast and be something we can all look at and be proud of.”

Post-Katrina

The French company that manufactures the Aerobar claims the product is “easy to use” and “multipurpose,” although it does not elaborate on its other possible uses beyond propelling people into the air and serving them drinks.

It also claims that there are “practically no weather constraints” and that it can operate in high winds, which suggests it is unacquainted with the hurricane season in this part of the world.

The park will complete the reinvention of a resort that began life as a casino barge known as Casino Magic Biloxi Casino & Hotel, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Following failed attempts by singer Jimmy Buffet and Harrahs to build a Margaritaville casino first on the site and then elsewhere in Biloxi, the Margaritaville Resort opened in the summer of 2016, and this – phase two of its development – will transform it into a full-fledged family resort.

Also in the cards is a 200-foot Ferris wheel, plus a host of retro rides like bumper cars and a swinging galleon pirate ship.

The theme park is expected to be completed next spring.