Need some help/recommendations...

We take a group trip to Gulf Shores every year with friends from back home who have a condo in Gulf Shores. To make a long story short, some things came up last minute and the trip got cancelled. My gf and I have decided its not worth paying the $150 each to cancel our tickets and rescheduling so we are going to go ahead and make the trip solo next weekend. We are flying into Pensacola and were planning on renting a car and driving to Gulf Shores, but since we can't stay at my buddies condo anymore we are trying to decide what to do and where to stay....

We want to be somewhat close to the beach, but don't necessarily have to stay at a beach front hotel. We also want to make sure were not in the "Family" area and more in the "Fun" area. I'm 29, but when I'm on vacation I'll always be 18 at heart 😁😎

Any help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!