Family Kingdom Amusement Park

Family Kingdom carries on a tradition that once lined the American coast, the seaside amusement park perched right at the edge of the sand. Where many such parks have vanished, Myrtle Beach's has endured, its rides crowded together on an oceanfront lot where the smell of salt air mingles with cotton candy and the sound of the surf carries over the midway.

The park offers the full range of amusement park experiences, from stomach-dropping thrill rides and a towering swing to a Ferris wheel with ocean views, along with plenty of gentle rides for the youngest visitors. It has the unpretentious, nostalgic feel of amusement parks from an earlier era, a place where the fun is straightforward and the ocean is always in view.

The heart of Family Kingdom is the Swamp Fox, a wooden roller coaster that has run along the Myrtle Beach oceanfront for decades. Wooden coasters ride differently from their steel cousins, with a rattling, rolling motion and airtime hills that give a distinctly old-fashioned thrill, and the Swamp Fox delivers that classic experience with the Atlantic as a backdrop.

Its name honors Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War guerrilla leader nicknamed the Swamp Fox for the way he vanished into the Lowcountry swamps to elude British troops. The coaster is a piece of Grand Strand tradition in its own right, the kind of ride that families return to across generations.

Across the street from the rides, Family Kingdom operates an oceanfront water park with slides, a lazy river, and splash areas, giving families a way to cool off on a hot Grand Strand day. Between the amusement park and the water park, a visit can easily fill an afternoon or a full day.

The setting is what sets the place apart. With the beach just steps away, it is simple to combine a morning in the surf with an afternoon on the rides, the kind of seamless beach-and-boardwalk day that defines a classic Myrtle Beach vacation.

Family Kingdom sits at the southern end of the Grand Strand, the roughly sixty-mile arc of continuous beach that stretches along South Carolina's northern coast. Myrtle Beach grew up as a summer resort in the early twentieth century and became one of the East Coast's great vacation destinations, packed with attractions, boardwalks, mini-golf, and endless sand.

Nearby, the SkyWheel towers over the oceanfront boardwalk, and the wider Grand Strand runs from the family beaches of the north down to the quieter marshes of Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island. Family Kingdom is a piece of the old, classic Myrtle Beach, a reminder of the boardwalk amusements that first drew crowds to this coast.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.