During last week’s trip to Dutch Wonderland, Sam and I decided we were going to head down to Carowinds the following week to meet up with Greg and his family on Wednesday, August 11. We booked a hotel for a couple of nights just outside the park, but I had an idea for Sam and I – visit Myrtle Beach and stop at Pavilion Park, Funplex, and Family Kingdom as well. Each of the entries in this blog series will cover those stops, with the final two both covering different days at Carowinds.
After an eight hour drive from Baltimore to Myrtle Beach, we made our way to Hamburger Joe’s for a bite to eat. This restaurant was highly recommended in the video, “Things to do in Myrtle Beach South Carolina 2021,” produced by In The Loop. It gets an endorsement from both Sam and I as well. Great food, fair prices, and amazing service.
After getting food in our bellies, it was onto to secure our first credit of the day at Pavilion Park. Sadly, our visit would have to be kept short, along with the ones to Funplex, and Family Kingdom afterward. We just had too many places to visit and not enough time if we wanted to get to our hotel by Carowinds at a decent time. This stop was solely for the park’s coaster, Myrtle Turtle.
Myrtle Turtle
Back in 2019 I rode my first-ever SBF Visa spinning coaster at Funland of Fredericksburg. Not too long after, I rode my second at The Island in Pigeon Forge. In 2021 I have nabbed a few more credits on their MX608 and MX608/E models at Morey’s Piers and Playland’s Castaway Cove. So yeah, I’ve gotten in my fair share of these little figure eight coasters.
Being 100 percent honest here, I am not a fan of these, but I still ride them for the credits. During those rides, I’ve had mixed results with how much spin we did or did not get during our ride. I’ll tell you what, though. None of them have come close to the amount of spin Sam and I got during our one ride on Myrtle Turtle. It’s not even close!
The ride ops insisted that we get in the backward facing seat of the second cart. They also insisted that Sam sit on the inside of the figure eight. We’ve never been assigned seats on one of these before, so that was strange. We were also the only ones riding the the coaster.
Once things began, our cart was already spinning going up the incline. Heading down the decline, we were being flung around and around like never before on one of these rides. It persisted for the entirety of the ride cycle too. Making matters worse, our train was still in a steady spin as it lowered itself back to the station. We really wanted a ride op to grab the train so we could depart, but they let us keep spinning for what felt like five minutes, but was probably less than 45 seconds. There was so much spinning.
With it being scorching hot and us having just downed a burger and wings at Hamburger Joe’s, we were already a wreck. We stumbled off the ride and took a few minutes to collect ourselves.
Final Ride Counts
Myrtle Turtle (1)
In & Out Due to Limited Time
Wanting to give us a few minutes before heading to Funplex for our first-ever Hamster Wheel SBF Visa coaster, I snapped some photos of Myrtle Turtle and a few nearby rides. From there we popped our heads out by the nearby WonderWorks for a look at the Broadway at the Beach. There was so much going on and countless things we wished we could spend time checking out. We were already behind schedule, however, so back to the car we went. Hopefully I’ll find myself down in Myrtle Beach again with more time to explore Pavilion Park and its surroundings.
Pavilion Park Photo Gallery - August 10, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Myrtle Turtle
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Myrtle Turtle
