On Friday night, Sidney and I wanted to do something a little different to cap off our date night. So after we finished dinner we decided that we wanted to act like tourists. How did we do that, you ask? We decided to go to one of the biggest tourist traps (I mean destinations) in town.
Sidney and I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Maggi D’s on Friday night.
The Hollywood Wax Museum in Myrtle Beach is an impressive structure. The exterior is built according to a popular King Kong scene. A version of the New York skyline takes up the outside base of the structure and at the very top is a giant King Kong gripping an airplane from atop the Empire State Building. You see, when you are driving down U.S. 17 Bypass it is impossible not to look. As Sidney and I drive by it almost on a daily basis, our curiosity finally got the best of us.
Before we walked inside on Friday night, I took this photo of the Hollywood Wax Museum.
Believe it or not, the Hollywood Wax Museum isn’t solely a wax museum. It also is home to a mirror maze and a haunted house. The price for out-of-towners for an all-access pass good for all three attractions is $27. However, since Sidney and I are proud locals, we only had to pay $20.
Although I was probably more interested in the mirror maze and haunted house, we decided to tour what the center was named for first. After getting our picture taken in front of a King Kong backdrop, we entered the wax museum. Quickly, for those who don’t know, a wax figure is a replica of an actual person made out of (I am guessing but don’t know for sure) wax. The artists of these figures do their best to pinpoint the physical characteristics and mannerisms of each person.
The Hollywood Wax Museum is filled with replicas of famous celebrities.
With that said, some wax figures were dead on when it came to portraying the person they were supposed to. Other figures weren’t even close. However, Sidney and I would both say that the accurate ones were much more abundant than the ones that missed the mark. Another thing we can say for sure is that the total number of wax figures exceeded our expectations.
Some of the wax figures depicted certain celebrities right on while others were a little bit of a stretch.
Each wax figure had a screen with a description about that particular person. It contained the name of the person, his/her career highlights, and usually some obscure fact(s). When Sidney and I first entered the museum we started to read each screen. However, as it became clear that we would be there all night if we did, we started to pick and choose.
This isn’t a museum where they encourage you to put your phones away. In fact, it is the absolute opposite. To promote selfies, the museum offered props at several of the figures for visitors to use. For example, Rocky Balboa and Hugh Hefner each had robes on a hook that you could put on. Harrison Ford (as Indiana Jones) had a hat you could don and a snake you could drape around yourself. It was a nice touch.
Several of the figures came with props that you could use while taking photos.
The museum was set up in sections. In one part you had iconic figures from the 1950s such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. Another section had horror film legends. Another had action heroes. One section had divas. Another one had current female pop stars such as Pink, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry. The museum was very organized, vast, and clean.
Me hanging out with some of the 1950s icons.
When it came to our favorite figures, I especially liked the John Travolta replica. Sidney sided with Justin Timberlake. My favorite section was the horror one but coincidentally it was Sidney’s least favorite. She wouldn’t go inside it with me. Overall, we had a great time “meeting” all of those famous people .
Sidney liked Justin Timberlake and I liked John Travolta.
After we finished at the museum we took a look at the gift shop and then hopped on an elevator to the basement for the mirror maze and the haunted house. We did the maze first.
A look at some of the figures in the horror section.
We went through the doors and entered a room with a screen. Surrounding the screen were what seemed like hundreds of different mirrors projecting our reflection. After we adjusted to seeing our reflection in so many unique ways the screen turned on and a king gave us our mission. We had to go save the princess. This wasn’t like the mirror maze at the fair we all went through when we were younger. This maze was an expensive production. It was built like a castle. Music played, lights flashed, smoke rose. It almost seemed like it was half reality, half virtual reality. It took some teamwork on our part to get out but we made it. If you want an actual look at Sidney and I navigating through the maze, there is a video on my Facebook page of us doing just that.
Sidney wouldn’t do the “haunted house” with me but she didn’t miss too much. I used quotations because it is officially not a haunted house but rather a “zombie apocalypse outbreak.” The premise of the attraction is that a government experiment went completely wrong and zombies took over. Visitors have the opportunity to walk through the center where the failed experiment went down. I went through with two other couples. You watch a video and the doors open but it is just downhill from there. The whole thing is on autopilot. You go past zombies that are set to move or light up based on proximity sensors. There was only one live actor at the very end of the attraction. For someone like myself who loves haunted attractions, I was not impressed.
But the $20 was worth the admission for the wax museum and the mirror maze. The Hollywood Wax Museum is definitely one of those things that you only need to do once. However, that one time you do it will definitely make for a fun and unique date night. Don’t Blink.
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