We are all needing a little vacation at this point right?? My personal answer is a resounding YES!!! It is so good for your mental space to take time away from reality and escape for a little bit. Everything has been so overly virtual for the last 6 months, and I think we all need a dose of real life experiences! Right? So in order to do that, we as a family take precautions, follow the guidelines of the properties that we are staying on to be respectful, and be sure if we are sick to stay home! And since we could check off each of those items, we packed our bags and headed to North Myrtle Beach, SC for a 4 day, 3 night stay! Huge thanks to some wonderful neighbors sharing their experiences on this property, we found it and booked it as soon as we could!
We stayed on the Kingston Plantation, which is beautiful and wonderfully located. I have never stayed in a property that was so well equipped to stay on property or not need to use your vehicle your entire stay. There are so many different lodging and dining options, surely there is something for everyone. From condos to hotels, beach front to lake front… they literally have it all, and everything in between. We were able to stay at the Brighton Tower right beside the Embassy Suites hotel. If you saw my Instagram stories, you saw our view was amazing! It looked right over the beach, pools and water park, which we went to religiously, everyday! More on that to come! Or scroll to whichever section you have questions about!
CHECK IN
As you arrive, the check in hub is at the Embassy Suites hotel. With COVID-19, they have had to take precautions so they have signs up everywhere with what they expect from their guests. We are asked to wear masks when indoors and not socially distant. It is not required to wear masks outside! They do ask when checking in to keep socially distant, and have markers to show where to stand.
When we checked in, we were welcomed warmly by Jazmine.
She helped make sure we got where we needed to go, and made sure our room was everything we needed it to be. I was really grateful for her attention to detail which made the check in process easy and quick!
THE CONDO
Lets start with the rooms though because I know there can be a lot of hurdles when you have to select that right room for your family.
Like I said, we were in the Brighton Tower, which consists of condos. Which means, we had a full dining room, full kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. All were amazing sizes with incredible views!
As you walk in and go to the right, you enter the master bedroom, and bathroom. The master bedroom has an amazing balcony view of the water park and ocean. It was absolutely perfect for us. The master also had great sized closets, although not big enough to fit a pack n play entirely. If you have read my previous travel reviews, you know this is something I am ALWAYS looking at. The master bathroom, however did have an option for that if you needed. The master bed was comfortable and well supplied with pillows and blanket options. The bathroom was also well stocked and provided the necessary shampoo, conditioner, soap and towels that you might need.
Since we are in the COVID-19 pandemic, they aren’t servicing the rooms everyday, however they were sure to reiterate that if you need anything, to please call and ask and they can bring up extra towels, shampoo, or pillows.
As you continue in, you have a large dining, living and kitchen area, which also connects to the large balcony from the master. The kitchen was well stocked with all the utensils you need for eating, cooking and prepping food. It was so nice to have the option to eat out or cook something at home when we wanted something a little quicker than a dine in option. We made a quick Walmart run (which is 1.5 miles away from the property), and grabbed a few really easy dinner and lunch options. You will want to check and see if the room you’re staying in has breakfast or if it doesn’t. More on the breakfast below.
The second bedroom has two double beds, which my opinion has the best views of the condo. The boys of course wanted to share a bed (which is so tender), and they can literally lay in bed and just stare out at the ocean. It’s insanely beautiful. Their room had tons of drawer storage and closets as well. There were 11 drawers in all including the nightstand, and we used a total of 6 for the 3 kids. I love having a drawer dedicated to dirty laundry, and then the kids are using the nightstand drawers for their toys (LOL), and we only needed 3 for their clothes. They’re all pretty good sized!
The second bathroom is also massive! It’s a single sink, but lots of floor space, which is perfect for us because we could easily fit a pack n play in there. We probably could have fit 2 in there if we needed to! Also, there is a full sized working washer and dryer as well! I absolutely love when places we are staying at have washers and dryers because then we can do all our laundry before we leave, and come home with clean clothes instead of a mountain of laundry! It’s my OCD shining through, but I’m going to let it have it’s stay.
One of my favorite travel tips I have learned is to bring an oil diffuser. This is in no way related to this property, because it smelt nice, fresh and clean. But I am in such a routine with our oils and our smells at home, that it feels so homey and comfortable having our smells from home when we are traveling! Plus I think it helps the kids adjust really well that first night because the smells are familiar and help them feel safe.
BREAKFAST
The Embassy Suites hotel has a creative new take on the continental breakfast. If you are staying in the Embassy Suites hotel, it is free with your stay. However, if you aren’t it is free for kids and $13 for adults. With COVID-19 being such a big deal, they have had to take extra precautions to protect their staff and guests. They have ready to go bags with a muffin, two small doughnuts, and a piece of fruit. Plus grab and go yogurt cups too!
They also had a hot breakfast option, which included different things on different days, but it would be potatoes or hashbrowns, eggs and waffles or french toast all packaged up in a to go container.
As you made your way around, you would come to the beverage section where they had all the juices, water, coffee and sodas you could want!
If you wanted any extra fruit, muffins, doughnuts or cold cereal, the last station in the line up had that available. They have someone stationed there that will box up whatever else you’d like!
The kids really loved the doughnuts, so we always snagged an extra on the way out!
POOLS
The property has a ton of pools available and open! The area that we frequented most is the Water Park and Lazy river, but we also visited another pool right next to the Embassy Suites because it was open late, and who needs a bedtime when on vacation? Not us!
The water park is insanely cool. Normally we are such beach goers, but with this water park here, we went to the beach only once and the water park has been a daily occurance (except for day 1 because we got in after they closed).
On the weekend the water park is open from 10-6, and during the week 12-5. They give the kids wrist bands based off age and height that tells the lifeguards which activities they can or can’t do. My oldest is 6 and over 40″ tall, so he could do everything on his own. My middle child is 4 and 36″ so he couldn’t do the lazy river by himself, but could with adult accompaniment. But, he could do the water slide by himself. My youngest is younger than 3 so she couldn’t do water slides or the lazy river without an adult. Hopefully that gives a reference.
The boys literally went down the water slides more than a hundred times easily, and Hallie loved it too. They lived for it! Everyday it was a countdown till 10:00 am when we could head down and get in! The water was perfect temperature, which made for a really relaxing time. I actually got to sit and talk to my husband (uninterrupted) while each of our kids were playing right in front of us for hours on end. It was some type of heaven for sure.
THE PROPERTY
As I said at the beginning, this property is insanely gorgeous! It is so lush and green, that no matter where you stay, you will have a stunning view of something…. ocean, lakes, greenery… they have it all!
We walked a lot between the Brighton Tower and Embassy Suites, and it’s just beautiful! They have palm trees are all over the place, which really elevates the experience. They have splash and dine option outside, as well as the bar. In the same area is the towel exchange, which you will need to visit for you pool towels.
Inside the Embassy Suites hotel, they have shopping, conference centers, shopping, Starbucks and their continental breakfast area. They also have a grill that’s open and you can order from and eat in, or you can have it delivered to the pool. Super convenient for those days you can’t get your kids out of the pool to come up and eat and rest. Another perk if you decide to stay at the Embassy Suites was that we got 2 drink vouchers per adult, per day of our visit which was again, really a nice touch for when you’re out in the sun all day and came up short in the drink department.
More toward the front of the property, they have a sand volley ball net up, a play set for the kids, plus lots of gorgeous walking trails for you to enjoy while walking up to the pools.
The property also offers a free shuttle service that will take you anywhere in a 2 mile radius of the hotels, which is awesome because as I mentioned before… Walmart is only 1.5 miles away. And what’s better… the Tanger Outlets are also in that radius. Tons of dining, shopping, golf and other entertainment is well within that radius, which is such an awesome perk!
FINAL THOUGHTS
We had a beautiful experience here at Kingston Resorts. They have so many options, it would be hard not to find something for everyone here. We made some beautiful memories, and the kids keep thanking us for bringing them here. I think we will need to make our way down here again, because this was a much needed breath of fresh air for us all!
Thank you Kingston Resorts, and Embassy Suites for having us and allowing us to make such great memories here!
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