Tourism Talk | Attractions change it up at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach

A theater at Broadway at the Beach has closed for the winter while another exhibit at the entertainment complex has decided to stick around longer than expected.

The IMAX 3D Theatre closed for the winter Nov. 18 with plans to reopen in the spring, according to an e-mail from General Manager Steve Hunt. The theater has typically stayed open through the off-season – as most Broadway merchants do.

“The theater is working with potential partners to refresh the theater and complete necessary renovations for the upcoming spring 2012 season,” Hunt said via e-mail.

The theater converted to 3D in 2007 and has hosted nearly 1 million guests since then, Hunt said.

Officials at Broadway at the Beach referred questions to IMAX officials, who couldn’t be reached last week.

Across Lake Broadway, the Bodies Revealed exhibit has once again extended its run in Myrtle Beach and plans to return next summer – an unprecedented move for the traveling display.

The exhibit, which gives patrons an inside view of the body through preserved human specimens, will stay open on a shortened schedule through Jan. 8 and will re-open June 11 with new specimens for a second run.

The display originally planned to leave in September, but decided to stick around into October to capture school groups that were gearing up for field trips in the fall.

There’s so much demand, officials decided it should stay even longer, said Theresa Nelson, a spokeswoman with Premier Exhibitions, which organizes Bodies Revealed exhibits.

There are so many tourists who flock to Broadway at the Beach that the demand continues as new visitors arrive, Nelson said, declining to say how many have gone through the exhibit. This was the exhibit’s first stop in South Carolina.

“We’ve had such a strong response from the public and there’s still strong demand,” she said. “At Broadway at the Beach, there’s such a built-in tourist population.”

The exhibit travels to cities across the country and usually stays for four to six months, Nelson said. An encore display, such as the one Myrtle Beach is getting starting in June, is rare, she said.

“That is not something we typically do,” Nelson said.

Bodies Revealed was developed by a team of medical professionals to show how the human body works and how things such as exercise or disease can affect it. The bodies and body parts are real, donated for scientific purposes and preserved through a process called polymer preservation, which permanently preserves human tissue using liquid silicone rubber that is treated and hardened.

Myrtle Beach is one of three cities where the exhibit is being displayed, the others are in Lexington, Ky., and Toledo, Ohio, according to Premier Exhibitions’ website. The next stops will be in Shreveport, La., and Galveston, Texas, according to the website.

The exhibit, between Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant and the Hampton Inn, is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays until Jan. 8. It will reopen June 11.

“The attraction has been well-received. Both the public and the exhibitor were happy with the exhibit,” said Lei Gainer, a spokeswoman for Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., which owns Broadway at the Beach. “They wanted to return and we wanted them back.”

Zip lines make a splash at amusement expo

Zip lines were all the rage among economy-conscious amusement operators at the annual industry show last month in Orlando.

Several business owners from the Grand Strand who attended the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions’ expo Nov. 14-18 said attendance was lighter than previous years and that most amusement operators weren’t planning major additions in 2012, instead holding out until 2013 when experts predict the wobbly economy might be on more firm footing.

There were fewer companies participating in the expo this year – 1,106 compared with 1,140 last year, according to the amusements association’s website. Total registrants, however, was up slightly to 25,800 compared with 25,000 last year.

Those amusement operators who were looking for something new at the expo flocked to zip line displays, including one that is portable so it can be moved to different sites, said Mark Lazarus, owner of Wild Water & Wheels in Surfside Beach and the OD Pavilion in North Myrtle Beach, who attended the show.

New kinds of zip lines showed off at the expo, as did companies that make brakes for zip lines. One new zip line, called the Soaring Eagle, which debuted at the show replaces the usual harnesses riders glide through the air in with a ride vehicle that seats two people and allows riders to stop and start in the same spot using a motor to draw the riders backward along the line.

Zip lines have taken off along the Grand Strand, with one opening earlier this year at Broadway at the Beach and two more in the works, one on the south end of Myrtle Beach and another on the former Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park site. The two proposed zip lines are going through the city’s approval process and aim to open in March.

“The hottest new [attraction] is in zip lines,” said Buz Plyler, owner of the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, who also attended the expo. “I would not be surprised to see a good number of them coming to the area.”

Like others in the economy-weary industry, neither Plyler nor Lazarus attended the show looking for a big new addition for next year, though both were shopping for smaller items to throw into the mix. Still, a ropes course that can incorporate water caught Lazarus’ eye.

Business at Wild Water & Wheels was down slightly this summer, which Lazarus blamed on wet weather in August and competition from all the new attractions along the Grand Strand for visitors’ limited dollars, including Pirates Voyage theater show, WonderWorks at Broadway at the Beach and the SkyWheel-Land Shark restaurant oceanfront in Myrtle Beach.

“The amusement park in general had a good year last year and we think we’ll continue that trend,” Lazarus said. “There won’t be as many new things in Myrtle Beach as there was this year.”