Big Play Family Fun Center Reopens in Biloxi, Mississippi
Mini golf back in Biloxi
By MARY PEREZ – meperez@sunherald.com
BILOXI — Miniature golf is back on the Coast, nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the popular attraction.
Two 18-hole courses are open at Big Play Family Fun Center ahead of the May 20 grand opening. Live oak trees provide some shade and three water features add to the beach theme, along with a bridge, a smattering of fish sculptures, a pirate’s treasure chest and other tropical accessories.
Brandon Wooldridge operates the course for RW Development, his family’s business. He believes it is the first miniature golf attraction on the Coast since Katrina.
MARY PEREZ/SUN HERALD One of the two 18-hole miniature golf courses spreads out beyond the dining deck at the new Big Play Family Fun Center in Biloxi. The far wall will be painted with a sea mural.
A new restaurant will open in June along U.S. 90 and adjacent to the golf course. Wooldridge said Biloxi Breeze Beach Club and Restaurant will be decorated in Caribbean colors and have 4,000 square feet of decks facing both the beach and the golf course.
The Biloxi Beach Snowball Company, whose design mimics the Coast Transit Authority trollies, also opened for the season Friday on the beach.
To the east, the punch list of work is being completed at RW Development’s South Beach Hotel and Suites.
“It will be opening this summer,” said Wooldridge.
The developers originally planned a casino and other entertainment in the area around Beach Boulevard and Veterans on the Biloxi Strip.
“We’d love to make it the center of Biloxi again,” said Wooldridge.
Wooldridge said the investment in the golf course was $750,000 and combined with the new restaurant will total $1.3 million.