Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach have two different messages for spring breakers

Miami Herald

10-03-2025

It's a tale of two cities — or really, two reality TV show-themed spring break marketing campaigns.
After last year's viral 'break up' with spring break video, Miami Beach doubled down with another toungue-in-cheek PSA — a 90-second 'Spring Break Reality Check' spoof where actors depict a friend group of spring breakers that fall apart from the drama of strict rules, curfews and $100 parking fees.
'I'd come back to Miami Beach... just not for spring break,' an actor says.
But a few miles north in Fort Lauderdale, there's love in the air. Kind of.
'Fort Lauderdale, you sound like so much fun,' says a woman in the City of Fort Lauderdale's 'Love Is Blind' dating show parody. 'Sun. Parties. The best spring break of my life. I know it's only been about 40 seconds, but I think I may be in love.'
She's talking to an anthropomorphic orange surfboard with a tuft of blonde hair who speaks in Gen Alpha internet slang. 'Everybody loves me. Beaches. Nightlife. I got that rizz,' the Fort Lauderdale surfboard says.
South Florida's two major spring break destinations are presenting markedly different messages to spring breakers this year. While Miami Beach is sticking to its big break up, Fort Lauderdale says spring breakers are welcome, so long as they act right.
'Come for the fun, but remember to play by the rules,' Fort Lauderdale Police Department Chief William Schultz says in the video. 'Love may be blind, but we'll be watching.'
While the two social media campaigns are thematically similar, a Fort Lauderdale spokesperson said the city's video was not inspired by Miami Beach's. But a light-hearted TikTok video posted by the Broward's Sheriff's Office does reference the messy break up, while offering some safety tips.
'Miami broke up with you, but we're here. Don't make us regret it,' says a deputy in the video.
Officials in Fort Lauderdale say it's not clear if spring breakers who would have gone to Miami Beach are heading to Fort Lauderdale instead. About 2,650,000 visitors are expected to come to Fort Lauderdale this March, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is about what the city received last year.
'Miami Beach still — I talked to my peers and cohorts down there — they still had a high spring break population. They're going to have it again this year,' Schultz said at a news conference last week. 'Whether we've received some individuals coming to Fort Lauderdale because of their campaign, I'm not quite sure.'
But the dueling marketing campaigns do underscore the differences between both cities' reputations as a spring break destination. Fort Lauderdale is generally seen as a relatively relaxed spring break destination compared to South Beach. Miami Beach's decision to shut down spring break came after several incidents of stampedes, fights and deadly shootings made headlines in the past few years.
In order to break up with spring break for good, Miami Beach implemented strict rules and limitations for revelers that rolled over into this year. The city will close some parking garages and surface lots, charge a $100 flat fee at other garages, double towing fees to $516 for non-residents and set up license plate readers and DUI checkpoints.
By comparison, Fort Lauderdale's rules are not as harsh.
Fort Lauderdale is implementing similar rules as last year, like a ban on coolers, tents, electric scooters, amplified music and alcohol on the beach, while offering spring breakers some transportation accommodations. The city encourages visitors to download the Ride Circuit App to request a Micro Mover to drive them to and from Las Olas and the beach for free. Parking on the barrier island is $4 an hour.
'This is a great time in which Fort Lauderdale shines,' Mayor Dean Trantalis said at the conference. 'Fort Lauderdale, of course, is known for its spring break season, but it also continues to represent itself as a safe and fun place for kids from all over to come and enjoy the break from studies and get away a little bit from their environment where maybe it's 20 degrees.'
Fort Lauderdale's break up with spring break
The competing spring break marketing campaigns also illustrate how the roles have reversed for South Florida's top two spring break destinations.
In the '70s-'80s, Fort Lauderdale had the reputation as the rowdy spring break destination that Miami Beach is trying to shed.
Fort Lauderdale's origins as a spring break destination date back to the 1960 movie 'Where the Boys Are,' in which Midwestern college girls head to Fort Lauderdale for spring break looking for romance. In the decades that followed, hordes of white college students flocked to The Strip, the stretch of A1A between Las Olas and Sunrise boulevards, and piled into motels. Chaos, bikini contests, public drunkenness, beach concerts, dance parties and street brawls ensued.
Spring breakers trashed motel rooms so badly business owners didn't bother renovating. Newspapers reported on college students showing up to court hearings in their bathing suits and climbing street poles. City officials had enough.
'In the '80s, we were overrun with kids,' said Ina Lee, the president of TravelHost Fort Lauderdale. She was part of a taskforce to solve the spring break problem.
That was when Fort Lauderdale had its own break up with spring break. It launched an aggressive PR campaign warning college students that police would strictly enforce laws and make arrests. The new rules ruined the fun: no open alcohol containers (thanks to a 1985 law), no packing 10 people into motel rooms, no serving people under 21 years old, no more street parties.
Word got out that Fort Lauderdale wasn't the free-for-all it once was, Lee said.
The area fell into disrepair and it took decades to revitalize Fort Lauderdale Beach into what it is today, a yearround tourist destination with luxury hotels. Eventually, spring break evolved into 'the spring break season,' Lee said, which starts in March and lasts into the summer.
So is Fort Lauderdale an indicator of Miami Beach's future? Lee isn't sure, especially since Fort Lauderdale's circumstances in the '80s were very different from Miami Beach's circumstances today.
Regardless shedding a rowdy reputation takes a lot of time, effort and investment, she said. That's how Fort Lauderdale did it, and it appears to have worked.
'The destination speaks for itself,' Lee said. 'It's become a thriving, yearround destination. We have a lot to offer. Spring break is just part of that.'