Ripleys Aquarium Myrtle Beach

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 29, 2010

Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC is located at Broadway at the Beach in an 85,000 square foot complex featuring restaurants, shopping, rides, and numerous aquariums and exhibits. This Myrtle Beach aquarium has quickly grown into one of the best things to do in Myrtle Beach as it easily appeals to people of all ages. Children can explore and learn while having fun at the same time!

Some of the most popular exhibits are:

  • Rio Amazon – see piranhas, stingrays, armored catfish and lots of other exotic freshwater species.
  • Dangerous Reef – discover snappers, tarpons, grunts, squirrelfish, a green sea turtle, giant stingrays, sawfish and…very large SHARKS!
  • Living Gallery - Pacific Giant Octopus, sea anemones, living corals, jellies and weedy sea dragons.
  • Touch a Ray Bay - get up close and personal with rays!
  • Rainbow Rock – View thousands of intricately colored fishes from the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean as they swim around and through the delicate reef structure.
  • and more!

Ripley’s Myrtle Beach Aquarium is open year-round from 9am-9pm except on Friday and Saturday when they stay open an extra hour until 10pm. The base rate for an adult ticket is $18.99, but they have a combo option as well as group discounts for groups of 15 or more. If you’re looking for discounts or coupons for Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC then you can find out how to get an exclusive Myrtle Beach aquarium discount at the end of this article.

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Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 18, 2010

Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC is proudly acclaimed as the most popular attraction in Myrtle Beach. If you’re picturing a Broadway play on the beach, stop and think again. This 350-acre development is filled with a vast array of enticing shopping and dining, fun attractions for all ages, classy accommodations and even a tantalizing nightlife. This is “where Myrtle Beach comes to life!” For many visitors, Broadway at the Beach is the highlight of their trip.

Over 100 fantastic specialty stores provide both the avid and casual shopper with hours and hours of shopping enjoyment. They have everything from Tango Bay and M.R. Ducks to Loose Lucy’s and Crazy Shirts. Shoppers will find unique locally made items, as well as in-demand apparel. Young kids are absolutely thrilled as they customize their favorite plush toys and dolls at Build-A-Bear Workshop, Friends 2B Made and Build-A-Dino.

Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina features more than twenty great places to satisfy culinary desires of all tastes. Grab something light at Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels or Pepper Palace. If frozen treats are in store, choose from Cold Stone Creamery, Ben & Jerry’s or Goodberry’s. Starbucks, Kiss Coffeehouse (as in the rock band) and Kaldi’s are all great places for that pick-me-up hot or frozen coffee. And to satisfy the intense sweet tooth, there’s Wee R Sweetz or It’Sugar, a candy department store!

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Carolina Safari Jeep Tours in Myrtle Beach

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 17, 2010

Carolina Safari Jeep Tours is among the top things to do in Myrtle Beach, SC as it is one of the best ways to discover first hand all that this splendid beach area has to offer. During the tour that lasts about three and a half hours, guests will feel that they have become experts as they gain a wonderful overview of the extensive history, wildlife and beautiful nature of Myrtle Beach. Don’t worry that you might get bored spending more than three hours on this tour. The time flies by!

Carolina Safari Jeep Tours was begun by two naturalists with the wish to help locals and visitors experience the wonderful history and fascinating wildlife of the low country of Myrtle Beach. A Harvard University writer and a historian magazine photographer together have created a very appealing method of sharing that adventure in a way that is enjoyed and remembered by visitors of all ages and interests. The tour has been featured in numerous magazines around the country including Southern Living and Family Circle. Discovery’s Travel Chanel also did a focus on Carolina Safari Jeep Tours.

Carolina Safari begins your trip with hospitality as they offer to come to your Myrtle Beach hotel to pick up your group. The tours are conducted in 14-passenger stretch jeeps that have open sides and canvas tops in the summer. To provide more warmth in the winter, sides and a hard top are added. They are open seven days a week in order to accommodate the schedules of their guests.

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Alligator Adventure in Myrtle Beach, SC

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 15, 2010

Alligator Adventure in North Myrtle Beach, SC is one of the most highly acclaimed reptile parks in the world. This 15-acre park located in the Barefoot Landing resort complex, is owned and operated by Sam and Jake Puglia, a father-son team. It opened in 1995 providing one of the world’s finest crocodile assemblages, along with a distinguished accumulation of mammals and birds.

Placed in a very attractive natural setting of swamps and marshes, the park provides an intriguing indulgence for all reptile enthusiasts. Quite a variety of reptiles are featured, including alligators, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, tortoises and turtles. Alligator Adventure also showcases large and small cats, lemurs, zebras, beavers and otters.

Alligator Adventure proclaims over 800 alligators. Guests will see numerous gators ranging in size from only eight inches to the mature 15-foot specimens that weigh in from 500-1000 pounds, and all sizes in between. The main alligator exhibit pool can have up to 300 large adults. They even have rare albino gators.

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Huntington Beach State Park

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 14, 2010

Huntington Beach State Park can be found at the southern end of the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet. Within the park, visitors will find Atalaya, a Spanish style former home of the American sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband and philanthropist, Archer Huntington. The Huntingtons also established the gorgeous Brookgreen Gardens that are located nearby.

The park is a nature lover’s paradise with its fresh water lagoon, maritime forest, salt marsh and beach. Upon entering the park from the causeway, the right side reveals Mullet Pond, a managed freshwater marsh. On the left side lies the salt marsh. Each of these features provide excellent samples of the natural coastal environment of South Carolina.

Both the zealous and amateur bird watcher will eagerly seek out the numerous fowl of this area that claims to be one of the finest bird watching sites on the East Coast. The birds show up throughout the year and many of the best sightings have been reported during the winter months.

The freshwater side of the causeway often rewards bird watchers with a view of a bald eagle. There is reportedly an eagle pair nesting in Brookgreen Gardens that utilize the park’s wetlands as their feeding grounds. One of their favorite methods of garnering food is to steal from other birds, which can be quite entertaining to observe. A variety of ducks inhabit this beach area during the winter. The jetty at the northern end of the park attracts species such as razorbills and black guillemots, horned grebes and purple sandpipers. Other shorebirds such as the endangered piping plover are sometimes seen along the beach area.

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Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 12, 2010

Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, SC is a National Historic Landmark that is part of an over 9000 acre property that features a spectacular sculpture garden and a history and wildlife preserve that was founded by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1931. The parcel of land that these gardens now inhabit originally consisted of four rice plantations that the Huntingtons purchased to display Anna’s sculptures.

As her endeavor grew, this undertaking turned into the first public sculpture garden in American. Since that time, it has expanded into the largest outdoor collection of American figurative sculptures in the world, with over 1200 pieces created by 350 sculptors. These works of art range in dates from the early nineteenth century to present day. It’s a great idea to take the time at the beginning of your visit to view the video that will give an overall summary of the history and layout of the Gardens. The information in the video prepares guests to best enjoy Brookgreen.

The magnificent sculptures are not the only wonders that visitors marvel over at Brookgreen Gardens. The gorgeous grounds that are designed around walkways laid out by Anna Huntington, are considered among our country’s most celebrated botanical showings. The land throughout the Gardens consists of a diverse mix of salt marsh, forested swamps, fresh tidal swamps and sandy ridges. The Live Oak Allee garden is an absolute favorite of many guests. The ancient oak trees that line this extraordinarily beautiful garden path were planted in the 1700′s and are nearly 300 years old. It is quite a marvelous sight to see.

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TIGERS Preservation Station

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 11, 2010

Barefoot Landing is a popular location for shopping, dining and various attractions. It is also the home of a free wildlife and living tiger museum in the T.I.G.E.R.S Preservation Station. Not only are visitors encouraged to enjoy the museum at no cost, but they also get to see some of the world’s most rare tigers. The Bengal tiger, Siberian tiger and Royal White Bengal tiger can all be viewed in their outdoor environment. They also have a Golden Tabby tiger which is the most rare tiger in the world.

Tiger trainers are available to answer questions and provide fascinating information about these beautiful feline creatures. Apes are also among those animals at the Preservation Station. As an opportunity to allow visitors to help support their efforts of conserving and breeding tigers, a photographer is always on hand to take pictures of visitors and their families or friends snuggling up face to face with a baby tiger or an ape. The cost of $59 is pretty pricey for one 8 x 10 shot, but when you consider that you actually get up close and hold one of these wondrous creatures, it’s hard to put a price on it. Guests are happy to know that the proceeds go to help the preservation of the tigers. Be sure to check for coupons as you’re visiting the Grand Strand for discounts. They can be found in the Monster and Sunny Day coupon books.

There is another option available that will greatly enhance your experience at T.I.G.E.R.S. In addition to the Preservation Station at Barefoot Landing, they also have a 50-acre preserve in Myrtle Beach that offers the Wild Encounters Tour. Those people who take part in this preserve are almost speechless as they describe their time spent getting to know the tigers, leopards, orangutan, wolves and chimpanzees.

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The Best Myrtle Beach Miniature Golf Courses

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 10, 2010

So we know that golf is hugely popular in Myrtle Beach, with well over 100 golf courses in a 25 mile strip of the Grand Strand. But most people are not aware that Myrtle Beach is also very serious about its miniature golf, as they claim to be the miniature golf capital of the world. It is home to the United States Pro MiniGolf Association that is affiliated with the World MiniGolf Sport Federation.

Who knew that miniature golf was a competitive sport. There are many professionals that take the sport very seriously while make a living from playing this fun game. They even have two major U.S. Tournaments, the Masters and the U.S. Open. Seriously, I’m not joking!

There are at least 50 miniature golf courses in the Myrtle Beach, SC area making it a tough choice deciding which ones to try. They all have their own special themes from dinosaurs, erupting volcanoes, tropical scenery and probably the most common, pirate ships. There’s not enough time or space to mention all of Myrtle Beach miniature golf courses here, so we’ll just mention a few of the favorites.

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Family Kingdom Amusement Park & Water Park

By Myrtle Beach Insider on March 8, 2010

Many visitors to Myrtle Beach, SC make sure they include a stop at the Family Kingdom Amusement Park and Water Park every time they come. These parks are actually two separate attractions. One look at the Amusement Park will instantly bring back fond memories of time spent at the local annual county fair. And it’s the only oceanfront amusement park in Myrtle Beach.

The really nice thing is that it does not cost anything to enter the park. So if parents want to come in and just let the kids ride, they only pay for what the kids do. There are several rides that are fun for older kids and adults. Those include the Yo-Yo, Thunderbolt, the 110-foot free fall Sling Shot Drop Zone, Hurricane and the wooden roller coaster. There are some who love to ride these over and over. Then there’s the ferris wheel, South Carolina’s highest, that provides a time to relax and enjoy the spectacular view over the ocean.

The park is family friendly and most of the more than thirty rides at Family Kingdom are designed for younger children, mainly ages 3-10. They have bumper cars, go-kart tracks, some spinning rides and the Log Flume.

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The Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, SC

By Myrtle Beach Insider on February 25, 2010

If you’re looking for an entertaining and inspiring show during your visit to Myrtle Beach, you’ll want to get your tickets early for your favorite performance at The Carolina Opry Theater. Entertainer and entrepreneur, Calvin Gilmore is the mind behind the most popular production at the theater and its name sake, The Carolina Opry. Gilmore began the show in 1986 in a 1,000 seat theater in Surfside Beach. This show along with another popular production was selling out nightly, and in 1993, the two shows joined forces under the Carolina Opry name. With the combination of a new 2,200 seat theater located in Myrtle Beach and a fabulously entertaining presentation, it has remained a hit ever since.

The gorgeous Carolina Opry Theater in Myrtle Beach, SC is a sensational site to see. The beautiful staircases, tall looming columns, and the tremendous lobby create an elegant setting for a night out at the theater. They present two regularly scheduled shows weekly, The Carolina Opry and Good Vibrations. These two shows rotate with usually one performance daily except Sunday. Be sure to check the website for the times and dates of the show you would like to attend. The Carolina Opry Christmas Special is a momentous event each year that runs only in November and December. The theater stage becomes a magical winter land loaded with Christmas cheer and tradition.

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