Mr Miami
Well-Known Member
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- #1
I must say, had a wonderful time there in Daytona Beach last week (arrived Thurday and left Sunday 26 Apr 2026). I just wish we had gone a day or two earlier.
It's an absolutely great time and the obstacle course was fun. There was an off-site obstacle course (Cracker Ranch) that everyone raved about but this was our first time there and didn't realize that it was only open on Wednesday and Thursday. Otherwise, we would have taken a day off work earlier.
Anyway, a lot of fun, parities, parades, etc. Even though I am on the Gladiator blog here, I actually took my Willys Wrangler instead of my JTR. But there were a lot of Gladiators there also. They had three obstacle courses set up, side-by-side (Beginner, Intermediate and Expert). I decided to take the intermediate and that was definitely a challenge. I did everything except the "jersey barrier" thing where you have to drive over those concrete things that stick up a foot or so. I went over the first one and bang! I bottomed out and fortunately hit the skid plate. Since I hadn't driven far, I backed up and got out without any problems and went around it to the beginners side for a minute and just went though some deep sand and then moved back to the intermediate area.
If I had been in my JTR it may have made it OK. But then a lot of the Gladiators got hung up on the "hills" when you drive up, go over the top, and then drive (or slide) down the other side. Some Gladiators, with the longer wheelbases, got hung up in the middle, mostly ones that aren't lifted or have the smaller tires. But they have a Bobcat type of thing with the tractor skids to assist drivers. If you get hung up, the thing crawls up the hill and literally lifts your rear up and pushes you a little bit to get you over the obstacle.
The next day (Saturday) we went back and watched the people drive over the obstacles from the sidelines. l must admit, it is scary in what people put their Jeeps through on the expert trail. When you see someone driving over rocks, concrete barriers and other stuff and constantly hearing banging sounds that you could hear a mile away, well, I guess more power to them.
The only downside, if you want to call it that, is now my wife wants to get our Willys lifted more and bigger tires after seeing all the stuff for sale in the vendor booths that take the better part of day to walk through. There are hundreds of Jeep goodies to buy. It is incredible.
If you have never been, go there next year. If you are anywhere close to Daytona Beach FL, it is worth it. We are about 6 hours away in Key Largo FL but it was well worth the trip, in any Jeep you have. We saw license tags from all over the East Coast and Central US. Note: (To be allowed inside the Daytona Speedway where this happens, only Jeeps are allowed in.)
It's an absolutely great time and the obstacle course was fun. There was an off-site obstacle course (Cracker Ranch) that everyone raved about but this was our first time there and didn't realize that it was only open on Wednesday and Thursday. Otherwise, we would have taken a day off work earlier.
Anyway, a lot of fun, parities, parades, etc. Even though I am on the Gladiator blog here, I actually took my Willys Wrangler instead of my JTR. But there were a lot of Gladiators there also. They had three obstacle courses set up, side-by-side (Beginner, Intermediate and Expert). I decided to take the intermediate and that was definitely a challenge. I did everything except the "jersey barrier" thing where you have to drive over those concrete things that stick up a foot or so. I went over the first one and bang! I bottomed out and fortunately hit the skid plate. Since I hadn't driven far, I backed up and got out without any problems and went around it to the beginners side for a minute and just went though some deep sand and then moved back to the intermediate area.
If I had been in my JTR it may have made it OK. But then a lot of the Gladiators got hung up on the "hills" when you drive up, go over the top, and then drive (or slide) down the other side. Some Gladiators, with the longer wheelbases, got hung up in the middle, mostly ones that aren't lifted or have the smaller tires. But they have a Bobcat type of thing with the tractor skids to assist drivers. If you get hung up, the thing crawls up the hill and literally lifts your rear up and pushes you a little bit to get you over the obstacle.
The next day (Saturday) we went back and watched the people drive over the obstacles from the sidelines. l must admit, it is scary in what people put their Jeeps through on the expert trail. When you see someone driving over rocks, concrete barriers and other stuff and constantly hearing banging sounds that you could hear a mile away, well, I guess more power to them.
The only downside, if you want to call it that, is now my wife wants to get our Willys lifted more and bigger tires after seeing all the stuff for sale in the vendor booths that take the better part of day to walk through. There are hundreds of Jeep goodies to buy. It is incredible.
If you have never been, go there next year. If you are anywhere close to Daytona Beach FL, it is worth it. We are about 6 hours away in Key Largo FL but it was well worth the trip, in any Jeep you have. We saw license tags from all over the East Coast and Central US. Note: (To be allowed inside the Daytona Speedway where this happens, only Jeeps are allowed in.)
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