Myrtle Beach - SkyWheel (Day & Night)

SkyWheel in Sunset (highly recommended time of visit)

One of the landmarks in Myrtle Beach that I highly recommended my peeps to visit is called the “SkyWheel“. As its name sums it up, it’s a big Ferris Wheel structure that is located at the downtown Myrtle Beach. It can lift you high up in the sky to see the beautiful view along the Myrtle Beach Shore.

As many of us lives in the downtown Toronto core, surrounded by super tall condos, I am sure we all appreciate a beautiful view of the Myrtle Beach that allows us to see far far away of the ocean shore without any obstruction issues.

If you staying around the downtown Myrtle Beach, then you can simple just walk to the SkyWheel. But if you are driving from other parts of the Myrtle Beach, there is plenty of street parking around the area. I do recommend you park your car in many of the parking lots that are located at the Withers Drive. Withers Drive is literally one block north of SkyWheel. Many of these parking lots charges you $5 USD flat-rate to park the entire day. As Torontonians, we all know parking at $5 USD all day in a downtown area is dirt cheap as compared to us parking in Toronto for at least a minimum of $15 CDN around the downtown Toronto core.

After walking for a block from the parking lot, we had arrived to the SkyWheel. The SkyWheel is the highest structure around the area so it’s not hard to spot. After we walked to the booth to get our tickets, we walked inside and waited in the lineup for our turn. During our wait, the lineup wasn’t so bad, (in fact, it was Mother’s Day and any mothers who wanted to ride the SkyWheel that day got to ride it for FREE). It was a nice gesture by SkyWheel recognizing the awesome mothers on this planet. Any local residents or tourists who are planning to take the SkyWheel should check if there are any special deals during their visits.

Waiting to get into one of these SkyWheel cabins

After a 10-minute wait, the lovely staff asked the visitors how many people are in their groups. Each groups of peeps will lineup behind each mini-stations so when the SkyWheel is about to finish for the previous groups of people, we will all be ready to enter each cabin. After another 5-minute wait, the previous groups of visitors were slowly departed on the other side. One cabin by one cabin, the staff loaded up the fresh groups of people into each cabin (approximately up to 6 people can be in one cabin). Now as we were slowly loaded up, we got to see the beautiful view of the Myrtle Beach before it even start spinning, so that was nice. There were at least 24 cabins around the wheel, but no worries, they aren’t going to load up all of the cabins before start moving or else we will be there forever. They usually load up 5 or 6 groups of people and start spinning the wheel. The rest of the visitors will have to wait for their next turn. So, the loading and unloading process was quick and efficient.

Views -Drake Style

During our visit in mid-May, Myrtle Beach was around 31C, so it’s quite hot. But no worries, inside each SkyWheel cabin, there were air conditioned ventilation, you could open up as many of them as you please to keep you cool.

Keeping everyone cool

As the SkyWheel began to go around, you got to see very far distance of the entire downtown Myrtle Beach. You could see the inner short buildings, the ocean shores and the piers. It’s lovely when you could see the blue sky, white clouds and the entire limitless ocean view. It’s gorgeous! For the peeps who are scared of heights, mind you, I am also scared of heights as well but I felt fine. I think the air conditioned cabin with glass windows and doors made me felt safe and the height isn’t so bad, so if I can do it, so can you! LOL

Awesome ocean view from above

The SkyWheel took about 4 to 5 rotations so it definitely provided ample of time for the people inside the cabin to switch around to pose with the inner downtown buildings or the ocean view. I thought the amount of time inside the cabin was perfect as we had enough time to enjoy the view, take pictures and videos throughout. Anything longer than 4 or 5 rotations with the big SkyWheel, I may get bore, so the timing was perfect.

Adults ages 12+ = $14 USD
Child ages 3-11 = $9 USD

There are also VIP services for both adults and child, if you require more information about the SkyWheel, please click here.

I highly recommend the SkyWheel as it’s perfect for date night, family time and all types of occasions.

MoVernie Tips: Below are some of my tips that will maximize your experience with the SkyWheel

I highly recommend you to visit the SkyWheel during sunset time. Imagine sitting in the SkyWheel and able to view the Sunset? It’s beautiful.
After the SkyWheel ride, be sure to check out its official store to check on the SkyWheel merchandize.
LandShark Ball & Grill is located right beside the entrance of the SkyWheel. They provided local craft beer and it has a great view of the ocean shore. It is also located close to the Beach Square so when there are live music performances, you could view and listen to the shows from the restaurant.
Be sure to walk along the boardwalk, it gives you access to the sand and ocean water while overlooking the SkyWheel.
Along the Boardwalk, just a 5-minute walk, I highly recommended you to walk towards the Pier 14. There is a well-established restaurant there right on the Pier 14. You can grab a bite and beverages there and overlooking the SkyWheel from a far.
Now, if you don’t want to go to the restaurant on Pier 14, you should still go to the Pier as it’s the best place to take photos of the beautiful SkyWheel from a distance. To do that, you have to enter via a souvenir store (yes, it was a bit weird that there isn’t just an entrance to the Pier but you have to walk through a store. Perhaps that’s the way to get you to buy some of its mechanize during your visit. Each person has to pay $1 USD to the store cashier to go to the back of the Pier. Keep the receipt as you only need to pay the $1 USD once per person. After that, you can go as many times during the entire day.
At the pier, you can take photos and videos. Listen to the ocean waves and check out some of the locals who actually do fishing right at the Pier.
After your visit to the Pier 14, you can either keep walking on the Boardwalk and walk along the ocean shore or you can go back to the North Ocean Blvd and check out the strip of stores. There are tons of bars and restaurants that you could check out. There are many attractions such as those haunted houses or saloons. I noticed there are many fake tattoos places for children as well. One particular store that I recommend is the “I Love Sugar” candy store. It’s modern, chic, colourful, huge, lots of variety of candies and ice cream and many more. High recommended for anyone who loves a “Sugar Rush”!
After a short walk around the Boardwalk or the stores along the North Beach Blvd, the sky should be dark and I highly recommend you to walk back to the Pier 14 (perhaps bring a sweater if you get cold easily). Remembered the receipt that I mentioned to you from point #6? Show the cashier and you can walk back to the Pier. The SkyWheel is lit with it’s multi-coloured light fixtures. Beautiful ocean waves behind you and overlooking the beautiful SkyWheel. SkyWheel day and night gives you completely different vibes. Both periods are gorgeous.
After all the walking, it’s time to chill and grab some dinner. Myrtle Beach has some of the amazing food hidden gems in the country. Try “The Chemist“, only a block from the SkyWheel and close to the parking lots in Wither Drive. The Chemist uses the theme of chemistry and molecular concepts on its food and beverages. A super cool place that it’s hard to find in Toronto or anywhere around the world.

Our stay at Myrtle Beach was paid for by Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce as part of our press trip. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely my own. For more photos, tweets and videos check out #MyMyrtleBeach and @MyMyrtleBeach on Twitter & Instagram!

Follow my journey on Instagram (@RealMoVernie) and Twitter (@MoVernie) as MoKenny & I tour Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Subscribe to my MoVernie BLOG.

Also follow me on SnapChat @MoVernie or Periscope @MoVernie for more interactive live-broadcast videos.

And MoVernie is outta here!