OT - Myrtle Beach

[The House of Mouse]

Anyone travelled to myrtle beach for march break before? Any tips? My daughter is doing the J1 this summer at Disney, so we thought we would try something different for march break as we will be in disney for the month of July.

I have a resort booked - Camelot by the Sea, but I am having second thoughts. Trip advisor reviews aren't that favourable. Was thinking about switching to north myrtle beach at the avista resort.

Any help would be great. We have never been to myrtle beach before. Thanks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I've been to Myrtle many times including March break, once. The weather will not be very warm if that's what you are wanting. It certainly is better than here at home but you will need a jacket and sweatshirts all the time. Myrtle is a summer place so there are many, many things that are closed all winter.

When choosing a resort you have to be very, very careful. The websites make them all look nice but the reality is that the pics are years old and many resorts do not maintain their properties. We have been to several really gross places there. The better places have a N. Ocean Blvd address and are in the area of the Anderson Ocean club which BTW is very nice. Another really nice place is the Dunes Village. North Myrtle is more of a condo type area. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from Myrtle and in the winter will be totally lifeless. All the touristy type stuff is in Myrtle but like I said a lot of it won't be open.

Also, they advertise CanAm days during our March break.....it means absolutely nothing. That's how we ended up going in March and we did not meet one local that knew anything about it....including the hotel staff. At that time the adds also said that they would take Canadian money at par....reality, they did not. We even had trouble getting a bank to exchange it.

 

[magickingdommommy]

Our first visit to Myrtle Beach was during March break. We loved it! We stayed at Dunes Village (booked on homeaway.com). The condo was great - small water park in pool area and a schedule of kids activities.

It was cool, we didn't swim in the ocean but we could still walk along the beach looking for sea shells and shark teeth.

The best part was that nothing was busy. We took the kids to see alligators, and dd had a blast at Magiquest while ds went go karting. No line ups for anything.

Shopping was also great.

We've stayed in North Myrtle Beach in the summer. It was nice too but further away from everything.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

I've been to Myrtle many times including March break, once. The weather will not be very warm if that's what you are wanting. It certainly is better than here at home but you will need a jacket and sweatshirts all the time. Myrtle is a summer place so there are many, many things that are closed all winter.

When choosing a resort you have to be very, very careful. The websites make them all look nice but the reality is that the pics are years old and many resorts do not maintain their properties. We have been to several really gross places there. The better places have a N. Ocean Blvd address and are in the area of the Anderson Ocean club which BTW is very nice. Another really nice place is the Dunes Village. North Myrtle is more of a condo type area. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from Myrtle and in the winter will be totally lifeless. All the touristy type stuff is in Myrtle but like I said a lot of it won't be open.

Also, they advertise CanAm days during our March break.....it means absolutely nothing. That's how we ended up going in March and we did not meet one local that knew anything about it....including the hotel staff. At that time the adds also said that they would take Canadian money at par....reality, they did not. We even had trouble getting a bank to exchange it.

I just booked for summer, knowing NOTHING about the area. Is the Caribbean Resort nice? It gets good reviews, but I am scared of spending so much money for a dirty or run-down place. I 'd rather be going to Disney, but DD really wants the beach! Thanks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I just booked for summer, knowing NOTHING about the area. Is the Caribbean Resort nice? It gets good reviews, but I am scared of spending so much money for a dirty or run-down place. I 'd rather be going to Disney, but DD really wants the beach! Thanks!

I don't know that resort or anyone who has stayed there. Generally, anything that is north of about 21st or 22nd Ave is OK. Check out the Dunes Village and the Anderson Ocean Club....I've been to both and both are very nice. I have also heard very good things about the Breakers.

You actually should be concerned about ending up in a dirty hotel....there are MANY. Last time we were there was for a convention and I spent hours researching places to stay. We were going to be there over the July 4th holiday so the prices were even higher and I had to find something reasonable. I ended up booking a place that looked fantastic on paper but when we arrived the room was VERY old and it felt dirty. They had exterior corridors and the wall that had the door on it was all window....it was a single pane of glass and when you closed the door the glass shook. You could see daylight all the way around the door. We went to look at the grounds and noticed that the pools were all cloudy. At this point there was no way we were going to stay there so we packed up and left. Other families in our group were at the Dunes Village so we went there. I should tell you that in the summer things are very booked up...even the gross hotels. So moving hotels is no easy thing. We were able to do it because a friend had a 2br and we were able to bunk in with them for a few days until a room was available for us.

On that trip we were with several other families and none of them had been there before. The friend we stayed with summed up MB perfectly....'it's nothing but Niagara Falls with a beach'. Another family on that trip had been to Virginia Beach the year before and said it was much nicer.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

Oh gosh, I HATED the Niagara Falls area! So dirty and tacky for the most part, and a real money pit. I'm secretly hoping I find some amazing bargain in Orlando and talk her into going back there...! Thanks so much for the input!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Oh gosh, I HATED the Niagara Falls area! So dirty and tacky for the most part, and a real money pit. I'm secretly hoping I find some amazing bargain in Orlando and talk her into going back there...! Thanks so much for the input!

It is very similar to Niagara Falls...lots of tacky souvie shops and arcades. It's also similar to I-Drive in Orlando. The traffic in the summer is total grid lock at all hours just like NF and I-drive.

There is good shopping and some nice restaurants but they are all the same as any tourist spot....Carrabas, Friendly's, Golden Corral etc. There are a ton of seafood buffets that are pretty expensive($30+/person) and really not that good.....think brown and deep fried.

The beach is nice but it's a beach...nothing special over other beaches. Two things to know about the beach....1. there is a jellyfish season which means you can be stung easily and 2.often the lifguards make everyone get out of the water because of shark activity.

I sound like I really don't like MB. At this time I'm really just OK with it....don't love or hate it but have very little desire to go back.

 

[neodisneyfan]

We went to Myrtle Beach once and I will never go back! We went during march break and it was freezing, the ocean was too cold to swim in and the hotels were absolutely awful. We however did not go to North Myrtle Beach which I hear is much nicer but I will never know because I will never go back. It is a very run down area and nothing is very nice at all. There is a outside mall and aquarium that is nice but that is it. The beach is not very nice either. If you want a beautiful beach but don't care about the weather so much try Destin, FL. It is on the panhandle between Pensacola and Panama city and it is the most beautiful beach! It is probabley warmer there in March than in Myrtle. We have been going there every year for the last 14 years and it is very upscale compared to Myrtle but it doesn't break the bank. Just my opinion!

 

[dancin Disney style]

We went to Myrtle Beach once and I will never go back! We went during march break and it was freezing, the ocean was too cold to swim in and the hotels were absolutely awful. We however did not go to North Myrtle Beach which I hear is much nicer but I will never know because I will never go back. It is a very run down area and nothing is very nice at all. There is a outside mall and aquarium that is nice but that is it. The beach is not very nice either. If you want a beautiful beach but don't care about the weather so much try Destin, FL. It is on the panhandle between Pensacola and Panama city and it is the most beautiful beach! It is probabley warmer there in March than in Myrtle. We have been going there every year for the last 14 years and it is very upscale compared to Myrtle but it doesn't break the bank. Just my opinion!

The outdoor mall with the aquarium is Broadway at the Beach. The aquarium is a Ripley's aquarium and not really worth the money. It costs around $25 to get in and you can be through the whole place in an hour. We actually found the carp in the water around the mall to be more entertaining than the aquarium.....carp food costs 25 cents.

North Myrtle is not touristy at all. It's primarily condo and timeshares.....very residential.

The FL panhandle is very nice...that's where all the south US residents go to vacation in the summer. It's like their Muskoka.