We are currently at Ocean Lakes (Thursday 8/5). When we pulled in last Saturday my wife's first reaction was - let's get the blazes out of here. This campground had been highly recommended by a friend and we are going to have a discussion when we get home. 1. I guess the place is a victum of it's own success, they have an OK ccmpground but not great. But it sure is jam packed. In reality, the sites are not as large as they appear on the web site and it is VERY large, to the point most people get around by electric golf cart. 2. the golf carts are supposed to be operated by someone with a drivers liense but I have seen kids about 12 or so drag racing them up and down the first street off the ocean. I will say when I contacted the front office about the drag racing they did send a security car out for one pass and then the racing was back on again. 3. We have a site one back from the ocean and boy were we suspried when it seems that shooting off fireworks on the beach until 12 midnight or even 1am seems to the the local sport. Again when I called I was told that the beach on controlled by the county and there was nothing they could do. Most seems to be done by people staying at Ocean Lekes and near by developments. 4. I did ask for another space but the one open space was in very bad shape so we stayed where we are. 5. The beach here is very narrow. There is a high rise development immediately to the North and there there is almost NO beach so the people there end up coming down to the area in front of Ocean Lakes so most available spaces are gone. Get on the beach early or late. 6. also with the fireworks - I have found debris from the fireworks, shot off on the beach, on my campsite EVERY morning - needless to say I don't leave the awing out at night since I don't want it to catch on fire. 7. If you stay here do not get a site close to the ocean, everynight the golf car traffic on the road next to the beach looks like the Washington DC beltway on a Friday afternoon rush hour. 8. Also, the pools are VERY crowded. Now please don't get me wrong - I am not a complainer - and the Ocean Lakes web site is factural - it just that they do not tell the whole truth. Oh - one more thing - the Ocean Lakes RV service group is very friendly and helpful - I highly recommend them. There is a lot of wind off the ocean here due to the low barrier dune at Ocean Lakes and awning repair keeps them busy. Sudden gusts of wind have taken a couple of awnings and flipped them over the trailers. I only had a minor repair. What did we like about Myrtel Beach? The shows - Midevil Times, Dolly's show, the drive to Charleston to go to Fort Sumpter and tour the naval vessels on display. Today we are gong to a plantation near Georgetown for a tour. There are a lot of things to do here. The vacation has been good, but we are not spending a whole lot of time at Ocean Lakes and our time in the ocean or on the beach has been non-existent. If this is what you are looking for - fine - this is the place to come but we will never come here again. In fact we are leaving early.
We have stayed at Ocean Lakes, Lakewood, Pirateland, and the Myrtle Beach KOA. Pirateland is our favorite....clean restrooms, nice campsites, great swimming pool area with lazy river and nice management. We stayed at Ocean Lakes once, and will never go back there again. Small campsites, dirty restroom facilities, cloudy swimming pools, and employees that don't care about the guests. We had a problem with very loud, obnoxious neighbors who decided to pitch a tent on our campsite one evening while we were at a show. We came back to find that they had pitched a tent for their "overflow" guests in the area where we had our van parked earlier. We asked them to please move the tent to their own campsite, which was difficult because they had this huge motor home. They argued that the area where we had parked our car was actually a part of their campsite. Not true, because their tent was placed right next to our pop-up!! Anyway, after many trips to the office, someone finally came out and asked these people to move their tent. However, the remainder of our trip was ruined with nightly drunken parties at their campsite. We will NEVER stay there again. Lakewood is nice too. Great Christian "themed" campground with lots of great activities for kids. The Myrtle Beach KOA was just okay and not on the beach. Pirateland will always be our first choice!!
It's bee 3 years since I've been to Myrtle Beach, but my vote would go to Ocean Lakes. We have resevations for next September, my nephew is getting married in Myrtle Beach next year... RVman
We went to Ocean Lakes Campground in 2007. We had 3 issues with it - the amount of golf carts on the roads at any given time (some driven by kids), lack of biking opportunities beyond the campground itself (we had to drive everywhere) and a spotty internet connection. While we enjoyed our 2-weeks and would go back, this year we decided to try Myrtle Beach Travel Park. We were pleasantly surprised how much better we liked it. It has an indoor pool and a very large complex of outdoor pools including a lazy river. The campground itself is smaller (I think) than Ocean Lakes, but comparable in layout. but Myrtle Beach has wooden shelters for picnic tables, which we liked. The amenities at Ocean Lakes and Myrtle Beach Travel Park are similar (good bathrooms, store, etc). We ate several times at MBTP's on premise restaurant and it was very good. What we liked the most, however, was the location. We ride bikes and found that, not only were there tons of campground roads, but the main road in is not a busy road, has sidewalks to ride on and many side roads to explore. Wal-Mart, Tanger Outlet and other shopping are a short (and safe) bike ride away - as is a Golden Corral and other restaurants. It is also very close to Barefoot Landing and not far from Broadway at the Beach. There are no golf carts allowed on the transient sites and the internet connection was very reliable. We stayed here a month and do not have one complaint. We would definately recommend Myrtle Beach Travel Park to people with or without children.
If you choice is between Myrtle Beach Travel Park and Ocean Lakes. It should be an easy one. Go to the Travel Park. Camping at Ocean Lakes is like camping right in the middle of Kings Highway. The amount of golf cart traffic is unbelieveable. Also the amount of fireworks on a daily basis makes everynight seem like the 4th of July. MBTP has nice, large sites, and you don't have to worry about you kids getting ran over by golf carts.
QUOTE(staramorcita @ Jan 22 2004, 08:59 PM) [snapback]335[/snapback] I'm heading down to South Carolina this summer to go to Myrtle Beach. I've narrowed my choices down to three: Ocean Lakes, PirateLand, Barefoot Camping Resort. I have two small children 6 and 7 years old, so I'm looking for a place where they won't be bored if we don't leave the grounds. Has anyone been to any of these rv parks? Thanks Roxanne We were at Ocean Lakes last summer. Interesting place, it is the largest place I've stayed. Our spot was dircetly across from the ocean, well across from the large dune that separated us from the ocean. Lots of kids activities, to me this place is the Disneyland of RV parks. One thing to consider is, there are 100's if not 1000's of golf carts everywhere. They weren't really a problem, everyone appeared to be having a good time. But when the sun went down this place lit up like a parade. These carts had lights, neon, sirens, music, horns, jacked up tires, you name it. I kind of enjoyed watching the carts cruise by. I took some pictures of the carts cruising around, here's one that is a time lapse photograph showing the motion. if the image link doesn't work copy this : http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb182/f...nlakescarts.jpg and paste it inot your address bar. My Webpage
I have noticed that no one has talked about PirateLand yet on the discussion. PirateLand is easily the worst campground in Myrtle Beach that you could stay in. Many people have complained about drunk teenagers running around in golf carts constantly, creating accidents and heavy traffic. Overall, the entire campground has been deemed unsafe due to the golf carts and the constant trash everywhere as well as the uncleanliness of the facilities only adds to the misery. I would check out the reviews at: https://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/South_Carolina/ under PirateLand, then click for older reviews. Also check out: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g54359-d488007-Reviews-Pirateland_Oceanfront_Campground-Myrtle_Beach_South_Carolina.html for more reviews. Overall, I would definitely not choose PirateLand.
QUOTE(GSP805 @ Jun 16 2004, 10:55 PM) [snapback]830[/snapback] :angry: Avoid Barefoot Camping Resort in North Myrtle Beach. The sites are super small and the management is extremely nasty. Please refer to my review. I related our bad incident there. Pirateland has nice sites but the beach is narrow. We are going to Apache on this next trip. I used to stay at Barefoot and loved it, but it is no longer in business. Was sold to make way for a big condo complex. Sorry you had a bad experience there
Um, I've camped in Myrtle Beach almost every year since I've been alive. We started out at Lake Arrowhead and moved on to Pirateland. I have been satisfied until the past few years. The Security is grouchy and rude. They will scream and yell at adults that are out walking to the beach late at night, obviously we aren't allowed to walk around after dark, didn't know that was a "rule". Also we would make reservations along with other family members and ask that we get our campsites close to one another, we would book at least six months in advance. We were told "no problem", then when we drove from Tennessee all the way to Myrtle Beach to check in, they would say they had to give the sites to someone else. This year we went to Lakewood Campground and it was a world of difference!!!! Check in was seamless and speedy. We booked three sites together, and we got three sites together!! We had requested a shady site because we were tent camping and our site was completely shaded! We had a clothes line up and when the security guard came by and noticed it he asked us to take it down, and could NOT have been nicer! I was floored! All the ladies at the store were so friendly and sweet. There were so many activities for kids, the playground was amazing, they had different food vendors in almost every night. The campground is very nicely situated and nicely appointed. The policy says "no alcohol allowed" but nobody ever said anything when our beer boxes were at the post for trash pickup. We noticed a lot of other beer drinkers, but responsible drinkers who didn't act up and had manners about them. Everyone would use a koozie so the kiddo's didn't notice if you were drinking a BL. Heaven forbid if someone has a beer on vacation. My only regret is that we didn't start going here sooner. I will NEVER go back to Pirateland, ever. Lakewood is my only choice for camping at Myrtle Beach now. It beats Pirateland out of the water!!!
This will be the third year we've gone to MB. The first year we stayed at Pirateland because my wife had family staying there. It was okay, but I wasn't too impressed. I agree there were WAY too many underaged golfcart drivers and no one seemed to care. Last year we stayed at Lakewood - couldn't have had a better experience! Our initial site was a little cramped with a tree - we asked for a different site and got the one we wanted. While there, one of our Shelties went into seizures and the CG staff went out of their way to find a Vet Hospital for us. We're going back to Lakewood again this year towards the end of August - been booked since February.
Plan on camping for a week in September at Myrtle Beach, SC. Trying to decide where to go. We have 2 boys (9 & 13) and was thinking of Pirateland because it looks like they would have fun there and its right on the beach. Also thinking of Apache because of the pier. We all love to fish off the pier, but am worried it is not as nice as Pirateland and not as much for the boys to do. If we don't stay at Apache, I would like a nice campground that is close to a good fishing pier. Any input or comments would REALLY help...thanks!
QUOTE(bella4ever @ Jun 4 2010, 02:18 PM) [snapback]22382[/snapback] Plan on camping for a week in September at Myrtle Beach, SC. I have no experience with Apache, and haven't camped in Pirateland since about 1990. I've been back to Pirateland though to visit and they have some nice ameneties. I'd also recommend looking into Ocean Lakes - it's down the road from Pirateland. There is no fishing pier, though there is a pier about a mile down the beach, not a terrible walk, just not IN the campground. Ocean Lakes also has house rentals (that's where we've been staying for about 8 years now, plan on camping there next spring). Ocan Lakes has nice pull throughs and reasonably wide roads. The one time we did camp there (when I bought my fifth wheel) they worked with me to find a slot I could easily get in and out of as a rookie driver. The staff is always friendly/helpful. The snack bar serves a decent barbecue pork sandwich, and the pool is nice when you've had enough salt water. Wherever you stay, you'll have a good time.
Hi, we stayed at Lakewood in April and it was clean, professionally staffed, family oriented, and they enforced their own rules about golf carts, yappy dogs, and late hours. The pool was very crowded, and I agree, in the summer, stay farther away from the beach to avoid the traffic. We did drive through PirateLand and Ocean Lakes. We found the first one to be markedly run down. It had a completely different feel to it: seemed to attract a whole different type of 'camper' that more enjoyed partying, loud music, and crude/vocal behavior (sorry to sound classist here..but didn't seem like a very cultivated lot). Ocean Lakes seemed more upscale, for lack of a better word, but not much different than Lakewood except for fewer trees, more golf carts, and a busier feel. Good luck with your decision. I've appreciated reading everyone's posts to plan my trip next April!
One of my favorite camping places is Myrtle Beach State Park. http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/park-fin...e-park/795.aspx There are more 'natural' programs for kids, seining in the ocean, learning about snakes and other wildlife. The pier is good for fishing, even just people watching and learning about the fish and the traditions of the area. Dogs are allowed on the beach in the evening. If I lived closer, I would visit here as often as I possibly could. The only drawback was that the gate is locked at night.. I am not sure if this is still the case or not. You could leave in an emergency, but had to be in before midnight. This park does get INSANELY busy for holiday weekends... But it sure smells good with all the BBQ!! This park is one of my all time favorite places to camp. :wub:
My parents live at Apache. There is a small playground, a small pool, a store with some games and the pier. However I believe they charge you every time you go on the pier (that may have changed since I was there last). I like it there but, in all honesty, your kids will find more to do at other parks. You can still go fish at Apache but there is a fee for going in the park but I think you get it back if you purchase something. The wifi there is not free. For someone with kids I would recommend staying elsewhere.
We stayed at Lakewood also, but a few years back. We went Easter week, it wasn't that crowded. We took a site right across from the beach. We wanted to see the ocean and not be behind a sand dune. We had a great time there. Rented a golf cart and checked the place out. We drove through the other campground mentioned. I would like to try Myrtle Beach Travel Park, Ocean Waves and the state park in that order. When and if we get back that way. There is a Coast to Coast resort on the river, but the name escapes me now. It is pretty close to all the attractions, The mall, theater and the Nascar Cafe. I'll post this then look it up and add the name later. The name is Briarcliff.
Briarcliff is not a place I would stay myself. A friend stayed there and they had a "we are better than you" attitude. I told about my friend before where they insisted on backing his camper into the space, hit a post and then made my friend pay for it. He liked the campground but felt people were stuffy and didn't like having kids around.
We use Briarcliff RV Park every time we go up to North Myrtle Beach in spring and fall only. We have looked at lots of oceans around the world and see little different in any. Briarcliff is a 55 plus park to me but you may have some kids around and that is OK. On the beach you have sand to track in, very close lived, tons of people, no shade and salt damage to everything in motorhome. Briarcliff is a clean place with full hookups plus nice trees. No one has every said I will back your motorhome into the site and had that been the case we would drive out of the park. In all our years in this park I have never saw this happen yet. Park is nice and we found the people in park to be OK as well. Number of people live here full time but it is hard to tell who is who. Park and sites are well cared for.
