Our Summer Road Trip to Myrtle Beach - Complete - 1/21 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Me, Christie, 36, stay-at-home mom and the trip organizer.
My husband, Jay, 37, production line worker at Nissan, the funding source of the trip!
Our son, Joshua, 5
Experience:
Jay and I visited Lookout Mountain in 2001, but not Ruby Falls, Jay and I had separately visited Stone Mountain back in the 80's , and none of us had ever been to Myrtle Beach, or even anywhere on the Atlantic Ocean.
Dates:
June 29 - July 8, 2007
Lodging:
Comfort Inn & Suites, Stone Mountain, Georgia (2 nights)
Harbour Lights Resort, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (5 nights)
Ramada Limited, Chattanooga, Tennessee (2 nights)
Transportation:
car, many hours from Clinton, MS
Contents:
• Introduction
• Planning
• Day 0 - June 28
• Day 1 - June 29
• Day 2 - June 30
• Day 3 - July 1
• Day 4 - July 2
• Day 5 - July 3
• Day 6 - July 4
• Day 7 - July 5
• Day 8 - July 6
• Day 9 - July 7
• Day 10 - July 8
• Conclusion
~ ~ ~ Introduction
Well, I'm getting a little tired of the straight narrative style of trip reports , so I may resort to just listing some things in this one. But at the same time, I'll still try to put in some detail here and there, where it might be helpful.
This was our first trip to Myrtle Beach, and I couldn't find much online, and they never sent me the visitor guide I requested twice , so we really didn't know what to expect. I was personally looking forward to our stopovers in Stone Mountain and Chattanooga more than I was the time we had in Myrtle Beach! For the first time we did not take a break every day for Joshua to have a nap, since I had been gradually phasing it out over the past few months.
What I'll be doing throughout the trip report is giving you the web site addresses for all the places we visited. Then you can check out all the details for yourself, if it sounds like a place you might want to go.
I did not take my own advice about getting a new set of PassPockets for our non-Disney trips this year. Mainly because since I had no idea what we'd be doing each day, I didn't think they'd be necessary. But after the trip I wished I had gotten them just for the organization skills they give you. As it stands, our stuff from this trip is still a jumble of papers and brochures in several shopping bags. It's enough to make you break out in hives!
I would welcome any and all comments or questions via a Private Message or a reply to this post. I always like to offer my assistance based on what I've picked up over my numerous trips and all the reading I do. And if things should need a little clarification, just chime in and let me know!
Well, last year we had decided to use our vacation club membership to take our summer vacation at a place we had never visited before, but we struck out on all our options and ended up going back to Gatlinburg. We love the Smoky Mountains, so that was okay, but this year we were determined to do something different. And, after Disney World in ‘05 (busy and expensive) and Gatlinburg in ‘06 (busy), we were looking for somewhere to go that would be different, relaxing (kinda sorta) and not as expensive either. We went back to our list of vacation club resorts in places we had never been before, and re-prioritized them with Myrtle Beach topping the list this time.
I used one of the lessons I learned from planning last summer's trip: call as soon as possible! We knew we would only be in Myrtle Beach for five nights, which meant we would need to wait until 6 months ahead of time to be able to call for a reservation. But I had learned that with us having to travel during the week of July 4, everything would be booked already. So I took advantage of us being Silver Members (sounds impressive doesn't it?! ) of our vacation club and having no cancellation fee applied to our account to book a whole week, then call back later and cancel the nights we wouldn't need. This allowed us to call 12 months ahead of time, so I was sure we'd be able to get a unit reserved.
So here I go to the phone, about 11 ½ months ahead of time (the 12-month window came up while we were in Gatlinburg), confident of myself. But I was to be denied again - drat this stupid vacation club and its policies! Yes, they had plenty of units available for that week, but because I didn't have enough points in my account at that time, I couldn't make the reservation unless I prepaid next year's maintenance fees - No Thank You!!! : So I hung up and called back a couple of months later, once we had received our next year's allotment of points in our account. Whew! My main task was over - we had accommodations in Myrtle Beach, somewhere we'd never been, and we'd be able to see the actual ocean, instead of just the Gulf of Mexico.
Even with a new destination on the horizon, it still took me a while to get excited about the trip, mainly because we're not big beach people, and I didn't know what else we would do while there. I started looking up web sites for Myrtle Beach to try to learn about what was available, but I only found a couple of sites, and they didn't really list that much other than golf courses and shopping malls. I requested an official visitors guide and waited and waited. About three months later, I requested the guide again. I am still waiting for them to arrive ... Since we never got a visitors guide, we figured we'd just pick up some brochures from the Welcome Center when we crossed into South Carolina. Besides, we wanted this to be a fairly relaxing trip, so we didn't want to have too much planned anyway.
The resort in Myrtle Beach consists solely of 2-bedroom units, so we toyed with the idea of inviting other people to travel with us. NOT Jay's dad, since we had just taken him with us to Branson. I knew my parents wouldn't be interested since it was so far to drive. We had gotten tired of asking our friends from church; I think they think we're crazy for constantly asking them to do stuff with us like trips. We went back and forth for a while about asking some friends from a few years back if they wanted to drive up to Myrtle Beach for a day or two since they now live in South Carolina. But they are so high-maintenance we ended up not calling them. If they ever find out we were that close to them, though, they will get mad at us for not speaking or calling - even though they only email when they want something, quit sending us Christmas cards, and we hadn't heard from them in about a year! So it ended up just being the three of us going on the trip, which was fine. And since the resort doesn't offer a one-bedroom unit, we ended up with lots of extra space, and we wouldn't have to worry about using the sleeper sofa for Joshua, so it all worked out for the best.
In the meantime, we knew it would be too far for us to drive all the way in one day on the way over there, and we had decided to stay in Atlanta for a couple of nights, to give us a full day to spend at Stone Mountain. I was trying to talk Jay into staying at one of the hotels inside Stone Mountain Park with me picking up the tab, but he said no. So I did my research and came up with the Comfort Inn & Suites, only about 1/4 or ½ mile from the entrance to the park. We had the regular room, not a suite, but it would be plenty of room. Plus the room came with a refrigerator and microwave, and they had free breakfast down the hall each morning.
Since I never did receive a Myrtle Beach visitor guide, all the research I did at this point was to determine what was available at Stone Mountain and how much it would cost. I figured out our best option would be to get the wristband which would allow us to do practically everything there for one price. I learned that Animal Planet was going to be sponsoring several animal shows during the summer, so that gave us several extra things to choose from besides what Stone Mountain would normally have to offer. My gripe about this place is that they don't open until 10, some things not even until 11, and then everything shuts down at 8. Then if you want to see the laser light and fireworks show at 9:30, you have nothing to do except sit around and wait. They also now offer a Ducks ride around the park and into the lake, but that cost extra - it wasn't included on the wristband admission, so we crossed that off our list. And that was the extent of our planning - I did discover that Myrtle Beach had a state park on the beach, and I looked up some prices and operating hours for a couple of places I thought we might go to like Family Kingdom and the Children's Museum, but that was about all I could find online.
As usual, we had a session where we tried on all our shorts to make sure they still fit - mine did, but Jay ended up having to buy a few new pairs - he had started a new job at the plant where he test drives the vehicles, so with the loss in physical activity he had added a few extra inches. Then I started packing, using the new set of luggage we had gotten for ourselves at Christmas. I planned on washing clothes while we were gone, so that left a little extra space for packing fun stuff like movies, games, a jigsaw puzzle, toys for Joshua and even the Wii game I had just given Jay for our anniversary. One thing's for sure - we wouldn't be sitting around the resort wondering what to do!
Then I pulled out the PassPorter packing list, plus my usual list I use when I take Joshua anywhere for an overnight stay, to make sure we weren't leaving anything out. I realized I would need flip-flops for the beach, as well as a beach bag. I borrowed those items from my sister, and took Joshua to Payless to pick out a pair of flip-flops for him. I started piling things up on the dining table and trying to figure out how best to pack it all. After we came up with a list of which meals we'd be cooking, I made a list of what food to take with us, as well as a separate list of what we would need to buy once we arrived. Our cooler space was limited, plus it doesn't keep things as cold as a refrigerator, so I didn't want to take too much and have it spoil. Remember, it would be a couple of days until we had a real refrigerator.
We decided to use the car for this trip instead of the truck, so we at least didn't have to worry about checking on the condition of the homemade cover for the truck bed. And even though it sounded like we were taking a ton of stuff, we weren't really going to be that crowded inside the car. Did I mention that Jay upgraded me from a Sentra to an Altima for Christmas? You can really tell a difference on the amount of space inside those two vehicles. So anyway, it looked like everything was under control, and we just had one more day of waiting.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Thanks for checking in everybody! Sorry this one is so short ...
Day 0 - Thursday, June 28
Okay, so this first part didn't happen today, but it sure felt like it: I forgot to mention that about a week or so before the trip, I finally sat down and tallied up how far it was to drive home from Myrtle Beach. What do you mean it will be 16 hours?!?!?! I had thought we could drive home all the way without stopping, but I don't think so now! So I convinced Jay to let us stay a couple of nights in Chattanooga and visit the Lookout Mountain attractions. Joshua had never been there and I thought he would like it. Plus, we had the extra time to do it - we were just going to use those last couple days to rest at home anyway. So I quickly booked a hotel - it was going to be the Days Inn as they were the best deal, but by the time I discussed it with Jay and got back online a couple of days later, they had gone up on their rates. So I picked the next best deal, which was the Ramada Limited.
Now back to Day 0: Jay had to work tonight, so he spent most of the day asleep. I tried to do as many things as I could, but mainly it was just the typical pre-trip chore: laundry! Once the clothes were clean, I started packing. As I got each item ready to go into the car I brought it to the door so I could load as much as possible all at one time. Things went pretty smoothly, and Jay woke up that afternoon to get ready for work. He checked on my progress and gathered up his electronic gadgets, overnight bag, and stuff like that.
I did my usual job of packing: whatever each of us would need during our stay in Atlanta was packed in one bag so we wouldn't have to unload the whole car. We were going to be picnicing at both the Alabama and Georgia welcome centers on the way, so I got our food together as well. I went over our lists again to make sure we didn't forget anything, but it looked like we were on track with our packing. Jay left for work and I got Joshua ready for bed. Next I plugged in the cooler to start getting cool, and made a list of all the things that would need to be put in the cooler in the morning. That would be Jay's responsibility - to load the cooler, while I got Joshua and myself up, dressed and fed. Then I did one last check of everything before getting myself ready for bed.
Next up: Day 1 - A very long drive
Again, sorry this was so short ... if it hadn't been for leaving out the part about staying in Chattanooga, I probably would have just skipped this and gone straight to Day 1. I'll try to do better next time!
I am so going to enjoy this TR. I always like reading yours because you are so thorough.
I have never been to Stone Mountain, and I'm originally from AL and my DH is from Atlanta. You'd think I would have made it there by now. But no. : Silly me. I just have to get there soon. Maybe when we go to visit family in Atlanta for Christmas.
I wish I had known you needed a visitors guide for Myrtle Beach. I have a couple from our trip there. I could have passed them on to you. We went two years ago over Thanksgiving. I couldn't get over how "touristy" it was. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting more of a Hilton Head feel. How wrong I was! I can't wait to see what you thought of it and of the Atlantic Ocean!
About This Page: 
, and none of us had ever been to Myrtle Beach, or even anywhere on the Atlantic Ocean. 
from Clinton, MS
, so I may resort to just listing some things in this one. But at the same time, I'll still try to put in some detail here and there, where it might be helpful.
, so we really didn't know what to expect. I was personally looking forward to our stopovers in Stone Mountain and Chattanooga more than I was the time we had in Myrtle Beach! 
For the first time we did not take a break every day for Joshua to have a nap, since I had been gradually phasing it out over the past few months.
But after the trip I wished I had gotten them just for the organization skills they give you. As it stands, our stuff from this trip is still a jumble of papers and brochures in several shopping bags. It's enough to make you break out in hives! 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
We went back to our list of vacation club resorts in places we had never been before, and re-prioritized them with Myrtle Beach topping the list this time.
We knew we would only be in Myrtle Beach for five nights, which meant we would need to wait until 6 months ahead of time to be able to call for a reservation. But I had learned that with us having to travel during the week of July 4, everything would be booked already. So I took advantage of us being Silver Members (sounds impressive doesn't it?! 
) of our vacation club and having no cancellation fee applied to our account to book a whole week, then call back later and cancel the nights we wouldn't need. 
: So I hung up and called back a couple of months later, once we had received our next year's allotment of points in our account. Whew! My main task was over - we had accommodations in Myrtle Beach, somewhere we'd never been, and we'd be able to see the actual ocean, instead of just the Gulf of Mexico. 
Since we never got a visitors guide, we figured we'd just pick up some brochures from the Welcome Center when we crossed into South Carolina. Besides, we wanted this to be a fairly relaxing trip, so we didn't want to have too much planned anyway.
So I did my research and came up with the Comfort Inn & Suites, only about 1/4 or ½ mile from the entrance to the park. We had the regular room, not a suite, but it would be plenty of room. Plus the room came with a refrigerator and microwave, and they had free breakfast down the hall each morning. 
So I convinced Jay to let us stay a couple of nights in Chattanooga and visit the Lookout Mountain attractions. Joshua had never been there and I thought he would like it. Plus, we had the extra time to do it - we were just going to use those last couple days to rest at home anyway. 
Linear Mode
