East coast beach resort for families...

[5lilfish]

We're looking into spending a few nights at the beach on the East Coast (in late August). We're open to anywhere from Virginia down to S. Carolina (possibly Georgia). We have 5 kids ranging from 2-12 yrs old. We need a nice beach area and a great/fun pool area. Something with a water slide and/or lazy river would be very nice. it would also be nice to have a few diversions and some decent places to eat in the area.

Of course there are hundreds of resorts. It's hard to judge them by going to websites so I'm hoping to get somepersonal opinions.

Any ideas?
Jess

 

[Christine]

Myrtle Beach seems to have all the action you are looking for. Most hotels there have great pools/lazy rivers and lots of action. I don't know of two many other beaches that have all that.

 

[5lilfish]

Myrtle Beach is a strong possibilty for us...but, again, there are SO many resorts there. I'm hoping someone has stayed at a place and can recommend it personally. It's hard to compare places just by their websites.

Thanks...
Jess

 

[5lilfish]

anybody?

thanks...
Jess

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Wildwood is perfect for kids but in southern NJ, not sure if that is too far north for you.

 

[5lilfish]

Wildwood is perfect for kids but in southern NJ, not sure if that is too far north for you.

Thank you...

We've been to Wildwood a couple times and loved it. This time, though, I am looking for a resort with some more amenities than the hotels in Wildwood. With our twin 2 yr old girls, I'd like some nice on-site options (pool/lazy river/etc) that my DH can use with the older 3 kids if I need to go rest with the twins.

Jess

 

[NCRedding]

My favorite resort is Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort which is 15-20 miles south of Myrtle. In a gated community, it has a variety of accomodations ranging from hotel rooms, suites, condos to large oceanfront houses. Each village has its own pool, plus there is a fun waterpark area located near the hotel which all guests can use. No water slide, but a lazy river, the buckets that drop water on people, etc. There is also a nice beach with a beach house with chairs and restrooms. The hotel has an golf cart shuttle, plus most of the condos, villages are within walking distance of the beach house. There is also parking at the beach house if you want to drive.

Its located about 5 miles south of Murrells Inlet which has a great variety of good restaurants. I like it because it is secluded, but if you want to get into the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach, you can, but you don't have to. You'll find they drop the rates around August 15th. They also offer specials.

We also like Kiawah, but it is a little more expensive than Litchfield, and has fewer pool options than Litchfield.

We're going to Litchfield in 9 days--can't wait!

 

[boltfans]

We just got back from Myrtle Beach and have gone there every summer since I was 11yo. I think it's great for families and really love it now that I have 2 kids. My mom has a condo in the Kingston Plantation so that's where we stay, but I love the location and would stay there anyway. The website is www.kingstonplantation.com but you can also find rentals through local realtor sites and they might be a bit cheaper. There are a bunch of condos/townhouses/hotel on site, a little waterpark for the kids with 2 slides, a lazy river, and one of those hugebuckets of water that dumps on you. There are tons of regular pools and it's right on the beach (I'm sure mst places are, but you never know). Since there's a hotel on site, there's a restaurant there and a bar and lunch restaurant by the hotel pool/waterpark. Also, they have a kids program with lots of activities all day for them. My kids made tye-dye shirts, got a hair wrap, painted picture frames, and they have lots of other stuff like sand castle contests, pitch burst (where you can break a water balloon on someone's head), dance parties, etc. There's also a sports club on property with tennis courts, raquetball courts, an indoor pool, and of course exercise equipment.

And for activities in the area, there is just a ton of stuff, too much to even mention. There are tons of restaurants of all types, plenty of shops, kid amusements, etc. You're really close to Barefoot Landing, which is basically an outdoor mall/restaurant area, but it has kid stuff too. My daughter did a rock wall, carousel, trampoline jumping on these bungee cords, there's a huge mirror maze, an alligator zoo, and more. And you're not far from Broadway at the Beach, which is another similar type of place but it also has paddle boats and a bunch of rides.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

We stayed at Dunes Village Resort in Myrtle Beach last month and I would highly recommend it, particularly to large families. They have condos that have a full kitchen which is great (we made breakfast every day and kept drinks and snacks handy). It is oceanfront, and has two indoor waterparks, an outdoor lazy river and two pools, too many hot tubs to count, etc. The condo we rented was clean, comfortable and had a cool little balcony that had an ocean view. I overheard a little boy tell his mom that he liked it better than Disney (my kids agreed with him).