We went on a spontaneous week-long getaway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in mid-September. It was the perfect time to [almost completely] unplug, and soak in as much peace and quiet as possible before we went home to the busiest time in our life as a family–moving across states.
I’d like to share a breakdown of everything we did in case you are planning a visit to Myrtle Beach soon!
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Lodging
First, let’s talk lodging. As with any travel, this is probably the first thing you should be booking, unless you’re flying of course. We drove, but we’ll talk briefly about that later on.
We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott at 1351 21st Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. We got the 1 bedroom suite with a king bed and a sofa bed in the living area, with a kitchen countertop and round dining table for four.
I kinda wished that for a suite it had a full kitchenette, but it only had a fridge, a sink, a microwave, a coffee machine, and a huge countertop with lots of cupboard space. If we really wanted, we probably could have brought like a hot plate or something, stocked up on a week’s worth of groceries, and cooked our own food to save money from eating out.
But for a family of four with two under five, it was a good, cozy space. We were within a mile and a half to two miles from everything – the beach, the attractions, and the grocery stores.
This hotel also had a Starbucks in the lobby, and even though I try to avoid buying Starbucks anymore, it was nice to be able to get coffee I’m familiar with. The hotel also had a pool [wasn’t very big but if you have it all to yourselves it was fine].
It was also really cool that even though our hotel wasn’t necessarily “oceanfront”, we could see the water from our hotel suite windows from the fourth floor, including a nice view of a ferris wheel that lit up every night. The kids sure loved watching it!
For the rate of $156/night, it was a steal [though our credit card points was able to cover for most of the whole week’s stay]. I’d recommend looking into some rewards points program if you are a part of one. Honestly the main reason we went ahead with this trip was because we were pretty much going to get lodging for “free” just using our points.
Transportation
Like I mentioned above, we drove there from our home in Grovetown, GA, which was under a four hour drive. We only filled up right before we left, and then once more on the day we headed home a week later! It really helped that everything was so close to our hotel so we didn’t have to use up gas too much.
One of the things I noticed was that traffic wasn’t crazy at all. Though that may be because we went during the week, but even in the evenings, you never had to fight for parking anywhere. There were enough paid parking lots and street parking.
Attractions
Now, on to everything we did for a 5-day visit! We arrived on Monday afternoon, and checked out Friday morning for reference. Our sight-seeing started on Tuesday.
Of course, when the kids saw the ferris wheel from our window on our first night, they wanted to go there. But that particular park had pretty bad reviews, most of it was that the admission price being too high, not to mention the tickets to go on any rides, and apparently the staff were super “rude” and unaccommodating. Yikes!
Given that our kids were probably not going to make most of the height requirements there anyway, we decided to look elsewhere.
1. Family Kingdom
We found Family Kingdom and it had great reviews. Their price wasn’t atrocious and seemed like a decent family amusement park. We were so excited to go! BUT when we got there, we realized that no one was there, except for some maintenance crew working a few rides.
We sat around, thinking it would open at 1700 like it said on Google, and…it never opened.
We looked at the big sign at the front, and unfortunately we had just missed its last weekend for the season, which was Labor Day weekend!
It was a big disappointment for everybody, because we were all excited to go on the Ferris wheel, haha.
2. The Beach
Since we’d pre-paid for parking for 2 hours thinking we’d be playing at the amusement park, we decided to walk across the street to check out the beach.
None of us were dressed for the beach haha, but the most fun is often found in spontaneity!
Thankfully the kids’ beach toys and our picnic blanket were just in the trunk of our car, so we were able to sit down, soak in the beauty of the ocean, and of course the kids had so much fun playing in the sand even though they didn’t get to go play by the water.
I also took some of my favorite photos from this trip. The sky was overcast and perfect, making my photos come out super soft and dreamy!
3. Captain Hook’s Adventure Golf
One thing you probably already know is that Myrtle Beach is home to some of the best themed mini golf courses! Four of them are actually named in the Top 10 in the US, with Captain Hook named 2017’s Reader’s Choice Award winner.
This was our next-day adventure on a Wednesday, and was a hit for everybody! It wasn’t too busy; there were other groups ahead of us but it was never so people were waiting for their turn. There was always enough space between groups, and sometimes we didn’t even see anyone.
The pirates and ships and mermaids were definitely enough to keep the kids entertained. We were able to finish our game in time for an ice cream after, head home for a nap, and come back for the second course after!
After mini golf, we went back to the beach, but this time we were dressed and ready! We made sandcastles, collected seashells, got chased by waves, and made sand mermaid tails. It was an awesome beach day.
4. Hollywood Wax Museum
We drove past the Hollywood Wax Museum on our drive in the first day, so we definitely added it to our must-visit list for the week.
We went the next day, Thursday, right around lunch time. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but unfortunately this was probably our least favorite attraction this week.
We got the all-access pass, which gives you access to the two floors of the wax museum, the Hannah’s Maze of Mirrors, and the Outbreak — Dread the Undead attractions.
The wax museum was okay for us, though if you are a huge Hollywood buff you’d probably find it super cool! It wasn’t enjoyable for us mainly because the kids didn’t really know who the celebrities were.
My husband and I thought Keanu Reeves and Jason Statham were cool though, since we’re huge John Wick and Statham fans haha.
We enjoyed the mirror maze, but it was too easy haha! We all definitely enjoyed rescuing a princess though!
My husband and I were mostly disappointed we didn’t get to go through the zombie attraction. We considered going one at a time, while the other stayed outside with the kids, but there was not any fun in that.
I took my son to the “preview” room, but that was definitely too much [too loud, scary, and even violent] for a 3 year old. Our daughter was just not going to even try at all.
They took our family picture with Kong at the lobby when we first came in, and on the way out they definitely try to get you to purchase the photo packages. We left empty-handed.
Overall we felt that this attraction was way too overpriced for what you get 🙁
5. Skywheel
The next day, Thursday, was probably our favorite day out of the whole trip.
First, we hit up the Skywheel! Even though we were disappointed by Family Kingdom being closed, this was a fantastic replacement.
We got the VIP Flight package, which was $99 per group of 4 people. We thought it was a great deal, because you get a free printed photo, skip the line, get on the “luxury” gondolas which apparently have Ferrari leather bucket seats [fancy!], and glass-bottom floors [took me a while to get used to- im not great with heights!].
But the part that sold us the most was the 30-minute ride, which is twice the length of a normal flight. The kids sure loved it.
I got awesome golden hour photos from up there and we got to see the sun setting, which was so beautiful!
6. Pier 14
After Skywheel, we walked over to the boardwalk toward the pier. I was worried about mosquitoes but surprisingly, we didn’t become snack haha!
The pier has a restaurant, lounge, and gift shop, but we didn’t sit down to eat since it was getting quite late for the kids. We found that walking down the pier was more than enough to cap this day.
Ah, this was such a perfect moment. There were quite a lot of people, but it didn’t feel overly crowded. After all, it was a Wednesday evening.
We loved watching the sun go down, and just watch and listen to the calming waves. This felt like an awesome preview of what our life was about to become once we moved to Florida in mere weeks!
7. Mad Myrtle’s Old Fashioned Ice Creamery
It was quite late, but after the Pier we were craving for ice cream. A short walk to Mad Myrtle’s Ice Cream was all we needed. It was really cute and of course, the ice cream was delicious!
8. Jurassic Golf
To wrap up our trip, we checked out of the hotel and went for one more round of mini golf!
Jurassic Golf was enjoyable! Hardly anyone there, but it was also a Friday morning. The course wasn’t too long at all, and with the dinosaurs everywhere, it was a hit for everybody!
As I mentioned before, this trip was almost spontaneous and a much needed getaway. It didn’t feel too touristy at all, parking was never an issue, prices are reasonable, and there are plenty to do even for just a 5-day trip!
To summarize, we visited the Family Kingdom, the beach, Captain Hook’s Adventure Golf, Hollywood Wax Museum,. Skywheel, Pier 14, Mad Myrtle’s Ice Creamery, and Jurassic Golf.
Let me know if you’ve been before or if you plan to travel there, and if any of this helped you at all!
