3 Exciting Things to Do In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with Kids

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is such a great place to visit with family. Our family visited Myrtle Beach during Thanksgiving one year and had so much fun.

Myrtle Beach is about a 7.5-hour drive from Central Florida which makes it so easy to pack your family and head north. You can enjoy the scenic drive from Florida all the way towards the beach views of Myrtle Beach.

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Because we visited Myrtle Beach during Thanksgiving, the weather was cool and nice. I don’t like the cold, so because we didn’t have to bring ear muffs, that was a plus for me. Unfortunately, since the weather was cool, it was too cold to swim at the beach.

During our vacation at Myrtle Beach, we stayed at Westgate Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort*. This resort sits right on the ocean with fantastic ocean views. We were delighted to have the beautiful beach views every day of our trip.

We stayed in a double oceanfront room with an outside patio leading to the beautiful beach. The resort also offers on-site dining and many activities for guests.

The resort sat right in the middle of many attractions in Myrtle Beach. You could walk or take a quick drive to many of the attractions, restaurants or shopping areas. Just about every night our family ventured out and found the nearest ice cream shop to indulge our cravings at.

When you’re ready to plan your Myrtle Beach family vacation on the beach, make sure to stay at Westgate Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort.

Make your reservations at this oceanfront resort here.*

We did so much during our stay but our top things to do with the kids in Myrtle Beach were:

1. Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach

Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach is one of the major attractions at Broadway at the Beach. Here you can take a stroll on the boardwalk and enjoy all the different venues during the daytime or at night. There are many different types of shops and boutiques to discover such as Toy Island, Sports Fanatics, Fric N’ Frac and even Man Cave Store.

You can also find tasty restaurants like Key West Grill and King Kong Sushi. For more of an entertaining atmosphere visit Senor Frogs or Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.

Broadway at the Beach also has nightlife for the adults and fun attractions for the kids. Check out Broadway Grand Prix, Helicopter Adventures or WonderWorks. However, our favorite attraction was Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach.

Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach is an awesome aquarium experience for the entire family. Upon arrival, we were able to purchase our tickets at the ticket booth quickly and easily.

That day at the aquarium we participated in a holiday scavenger hunt where we needed to find Christmas holiday trees labeled with different states using given clues. The trees were strategically located all throughout the aquarium from top to bottom. The kids had so much fun trying to find the correct tree with the associated clue. We were shocked to find a tree labeled Virgin Islands!

As we were locating the Christmas holiday trees, we also got to see many ocean creatures and learned so much about them. We saw sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, rainforest critters and so much more!

There were interactive stations where the kids were able to touch and hold some of the ocean creatures such as the horseshoe crabs. The aquarium also schedules dive and mermaid shows for the guests to enjoy.

2. Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium, Myrtle Beach

Our family always enjoy Ripley’s attractions at different locations throughout the United States. When we took our vacation to Myrtle Beach, it was no different. We decided to continue our trip enjoying other Ripley’s adventures.

We decided on Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium. It is just what the name implies. You will be amazed at all the different exhibits and odd facts you’ll learn during your experience. The kids will not get bored during these bizarre activities and lessons.

The tour takes you through different kinds of galleries with all sorts of weird and wacky things on display for you to learn about. You will find yourself trying to solve puzzles and compete in mind games with your kids.

We were amazed to find some of the family’s favorite characters from the movie Transformers. The kids and adults enjoyed taking snapshot pictures of them.

3. Shopping

Because we weren’t able to lay out in the sun at the beach during our stay in Myrtle Beach, we did some shopping. Black Friday was right around the corner, so why not.

We went shopping at Boardwalk at the Beach and found lots of great deals there. We also went shopping at the Tanger Outlets. If you are on a budget, the outlet malls are a great choice for you. I love to shop at outlets!

Tanger Outlets in Myrtle Beach had so many great stores to find fantastic products at great prices. It is an outlet and is considered an outdoor shopping mall so be sure to bring your comfortable walking shoes and portable chairs.

Our kids were able to find their favorite stores and buy their favorite things like clothes, shoes, and games. Numerous places to eat are available at Tanger Outlets too.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina also has lots of outdoor activities to enjoy such as kayak tours, river adventures, beach safaris, and ATV tours. When you are not getting wet, take a break and enjoy some of the dinner shows like the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament show, or Polynesian Fire Luau and Dinner Show. You can even take the kids to the magic shows or spend the night out at the musical concerts.

Sure Myrtle Beach has tons of water activities to offer, but as you just learned they also have many other fun things for you and the family to enjoy.

If you don’t like being around the heavy crowds I suggest visiting Myrtle Beach during the off-season in fall, in November like we did. There are less tourists, but still so much for the entire family to do.

Don’t forget to plan your vacation with a stay at Westgate’s oceanfront resort.*

If you prefer a quieter vacation surrounded with more history and fewer attractions how about taking a trip with your family heading south of South Carolina over to Golden Isles Georgia.

 Read more about Golden Isles Georgia here.

Have you visited Myrtle Beach, South Carolina yet? What was your family’s favorite thing to do? Did you visit the attractions, shows or dined at unique restaurants? Share your experience with us.

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