When a newspaper columnist dubbed the stretch of South Carolina shoreline from Little River south to Georgetown the Grand Strand in 1949, little did he know just how grand it would be more than a half-century later.

Some 12 million vacationers descend on the seaside playground each year. If it's been a while since you've visited, you might not recognize the fast-growing area that has become more sophisticated in recent years.

Ripley's Aquarium (ENLARGE)
A replica of the Titanic and the iceberg it encountered in the North Atlantic capture the attention of a family.
PAULA CROUCH THRASHER/AJC (ENLARGE)
You can watch the hammock makers at work at this Pawleys Island landmark.
Carolina Opry (ENLARGE)
All That, a 'dancing ensemble,' uses elements of tap and Irish step dancing.
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IF YOU GO Getting there • By air: AirTran and Hooters Air usually offer the best deals, which are generally less than $150 round trip. • By car: Take I-20 east until it ends in Florence, S.C., then continue to Myrtle Beach via U.S. 601. Where to stay With more than 72,000 rooms in the area, there are plenty of options. Here are a few: • Radisson Plaza Hotel: Adjacent to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, the contemporary 402-room hotel has a AAA four-diamond rating, the area's highest. Indoor pool and fine-dining restaurant. Complimentary shuttle service to the beach, a half-mile away. 1-800-333-3333, 2101 N. Oak St. Web site • Hampton Inn & Suites — Broadway at the Beach: While its not on the beach, it's certainly in the middle of the action. You can walk to some of the Grand Strand's top attractions. And with its yellow-and-cream exterior and red-tiled roof, its one of the most attractive hotels in the area. Indoor and outdoor pools. Free breakfast. 1140 Celebrity Circle. 1-888-916-2001, Web site • Hampton Inn & Suites Oceanfront: Its beachfront location is a plus — as are the wooden rocking chairs on the balconies. Free breakfast. One- and two-bedroom suites as well as family suites with bunks beds available. 1-877-946-6400, Web site . • Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort: The newly renovated 385-room oceanfront hotel is part of the Kingston Plantation at the quieter north end of Myrtle Beach. All rooms have ocean view and private balcony. Restaurants and Verandah Bar on site. 10000 Beach Club Drive. 1-843-449-5000, Web site . Where to eat When you can't eat any more at the all-you-can-eat Calabash seafood houses, check out these spots — just four of the 1,800 restaurants on the Grand Strand: • Greg Norman's Australian Grille: Wood-grilled and rotisserie meats and seafood are the specialty of the house. Outback-inspired decor, with Aboriginal art, and lots of dark wood, leather and stone. Adjoining the dining room is the Shark Pub. On the Intracoastal Waterway at Barefoot Landing. 4930 U.S. 17 south, North Myrtle Beach. 843-361-0000, Web site • Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville: If a visit to Ripley's Aquarium puts you in the mood for seafood, wander over to this Parrot Head palace where the food is served in a carnival atmosphere with stilt walkers who make balloon sculptures, local bands and a spinning hurricane overhead. Grilled grouper with mango salsa and Key lime pie hit the spot. The restaurant is part of Caribbean-themed Heroes Harbor, which opened last summer as the first major addition at Broadway in six years. 1114 Celebrity Circle. 843-448-5455, Web site . • Buckhead Colorado Steakhouse: This favorite at Coastal Grand Mall has some new neighbors, including Cracker Barrel, Sticky Fingers, Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy and Smokey Bones. Angus steaks reign at this rustic ski lodge-themed restaurant, but the menu also offers gator tail, baby back ribs, white-water trout, Atlantic salmon, New Zealand lamb chops and chopped buffalo steak. 760 Coastal Grand Circle. 843-839-2777. • Louis's at Pawleys: Award-winning chef Louis Osteen literally wrote the book on Lowcountry cuisine — "Louis Osteen's Charleston Cuisine: Recipes From a Lowcountry Chef." He brings his culinary magic to the Hammock Shops at Pawleys Island, where he's opened a restaurant in a replica of an 18th-century plantation home with 300-year-old ballast brick floors and timbers from area plantations. Can't go wrong with she-crab soup, crab and lobster cakes with whole-grain mustard, shrimp and grits and maybe a side of beer-braised collards. Outdoor dining is available at the adjacent Fish Camp Bar. 10880 Ocean Highway (U.S. 17). 843-237-8757, Web site . Information • Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday: One-stop shopping for golf packages at 95 championship courses, with accommodations at 77 participating hotels and resorts. 1-800-845-4653, Web site . • Myrtle Beach Trips.com: Wide variety of family vacation packages, including Myrtle Beach Pelicans baseball packages. Also, golf packages. Operated by Burroughs & Chapin Co., developer of Broadway at the Beach as well as shopping malls, golf complexes, recreation and amusement facilities, and residential and resort communities in the area since the late 1800s. Web site . • Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau: Online reservations for lodging and golf packages. 1-800-356-3016, Web site . Amelia Island's Fernandina Beach boasts sand, history, more  Readers sound-off about their favorite beaches

Sure, the beach is still the big draw, along with the all-you-can-eat Calabash seafood buffets, the miniature golf courses, the souvenir shops along Kings Highway, fireworks emporiums and the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, a landmark for more than 50 years. And the shag — the jitterbug-on-Prozac dance born on Ocean Drive — still rules the Strand.

But the face of Myrtle Beach and surrounding communities has changed dramatically with the opening of the 350-acre Broadway at the Beach dining, shopping and entertainment complex a decade ago; the minor league baseball stadium that's home to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, an Atlanta Braves Class A farm team, in 1999; and, just last year, the 1.5 million-square-foot Coastal Grand Mall.

The list of diversions seems so endless, you might wonder if you'll actually have time for the beach: Alligator Adventure, the House of Blues, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, Medieval Times, two Tanger Outlets, Family Kingdom Amusement Park, NASCAR Speedpark, Myrtle Waves, Ripley's Aquarium and the Carolina Opry. Not to mention 123 golf courses, nine ranked in Golf Digest's top 100 public golf courses in the nation.

Restaurants? There's something like 1,800, including tourist faves like Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and just about every chain you've ever heard of.

On a recent visit, we checked out some big-deal attractions and discovered some small pleasures.

Under the sea

"Titanic: Island of Life" — a special exhibit at Ripley's Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach through the end of the year — puts you aboard the ill-fated oceanliner for a look at how the disaster could have happened.

The exhibit attempts to answer questions like: Why were dispatches from another ship regarding the ice field ignored and why was the S.O.S. signal sent from the Titanic never heard?

A short introductory film focuses on what's happening to the ship as it lies on the floor of the North Atlantic. It seems the Titanic has provided lessons not only in human nature but nature itself as the iron hulk is "being transformed into a massive living organism" by a colony of bacteria and fungus.

A video screen imbedded in a re-creation of a blue iceberg — the kind the Titanic struck — delves into the nature of icebergs, specifically the 5,000-year-old iceberg that doomed the "unsinkable" ship.

On display are items that were found in a mile-long debris field: bottles, leather shoes, a porcelain doll head. Among the 28 interactive exhibits is one that lets visitors plunge their hands into water that's 28 degrees, the temperature of the frigid North Atlantic that April night in 1912.

Signage throughout provides chilling facts such as: "third-class men are released from below a full hour after first-class dogs were released from the ship's kennel." And you'll learn that a one-way fare for the best first-class suite was $4,350 — a princely sum even by today's standards.

• Information: Open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. $16.95 age 12 and older; $9.95 ages 5-11; $3.95 ages 2-4; under 2 free. 1-800-734-8888, http://www.ripleysaquarium.com.

Under the sea II

On Feb. 17, 1864, the H.L. Hunley became the first American submarine to sink another vessel. But after its successful strike on the USS Housatonic, it disappeared with its nine crew members, not to be seen again until its discovery in Charleston Harbor in 1995. It lay in sand and silt until it was recovered in 2000, 136 years after its mysterious disappearance.

The H.L. Hunley Exhibition at Adventure in Science, History and Nature at Broadway at the Beach tells the story of the submarine with movies, interactive exhibits and displays of artifacts and replicas of items found aboard the Hunley.

One of the most interesting is a replica of a gold coin given to Hunley commander Lt. George Dixon by his sweetheart as a good luck charm. As legend has it, the coin in his pocket stopped a bullet fired at him point blank during the Battle of Shiloh and saved his life. The coin, a $20 gold piece, was found next to Dixon's remains when the Hunley was excavated.

You'll learn about the 15-year search for the Hunley led by best-selling author Clive Cussler, who established the National Underwater Marine Agency. And you'll see how preservationists are conserving the submarine in a Charleston, S.C., laboratory.

Kids will love climbing in a reproduction of the submarine to manually turn the propeller cranks and playing a video game that re-creates the experience of launching torpedoes at the Housatonic.

After visiting the exhibit, you may be no closer to understanding why the Hunley disappeared, but you'll gain respect for the brave men who died on the mission as well as those people devoted to solving the mystery.

• Information: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. $8.95 age 13 and older; $5.95, ages 3-12; children under 3 admitted free. 843-913-7899, http://www.broadwayatthebeach.com/entertainment.html. Friends of the Hunley Web site is http://www.hunley.org.

Flights of fantasy

MagiQuest, Myrtle Beach's newest attraction, is sure to be a hit with the Harry Potter generation. (Is it just me or does the white-bearded Quest Master, keeper of the magical runes, bear a striking resemblance to Hogwarts' headmaster Dumbledore?)

The castlelike interactive family entertainment venue that intertwines fantasy and reality was to open this weekend at Broadway at the Beach, but we got a sneak peek weeks ago.

Imagine you could go inside a video game for an adventure that unfolds with the wave of a magic wand — that's MagiQuest.

The game was developed by Denise Watson, a psychologist, author and self-described "playologist." But the game was thoroughly kid-tested by a "board of directors," ages 6-13.

Watson explains that "through role-playing, intellect, teamwork and imagination, players use their magic wands and earn powers to achieve increasing levels of success as they venture further into their chosen quest."

Here's how it works: First, participants select a magic wand that will be theirs to embellish and take home. After attending wand training class, participants become Magi and are ready to step inside the magical realm of stone towers, an enchanted forest, a pixie tree house and a creepy crypt. Then it's time to choose a quest at a bank of computers set in large stone monuments (think Stonehenge). There are encounters with a pixie, elf, goblin, unicorn and dragon.

Technology makes it possible to recognize each player. As Magi accomplish tasks and collect runes, their powers increase. They are then able to command lightning bolts, control music, open treasure boxes or rescue princesses.

Points earned as each quest is accomplished translate into increased abilities that can be used for the next quest or encounter. And because the wand has a memory, Magi can return to MagiQuest at any time to resume the adventure.

If it all sounds rather complicated, just ask your 10-year-old to explain it to you.

• Information: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. daily, through Sept. 4; operating hours vary the rest of the year. Magic wand (to use and take home), $10.99; one hour of play (wand turns off if you're in line), $7.95; optional compass ($7.95) and key ($5.95). 1-866-353-6244, http://www.magiquest.com.

That's entertainment

Talk about high energy: By the time the curtain falls on the Carolina Opry's fast-paced, two-hour show with about a zillion costume and set changes, the audience is about as exhausted as the versatile cast of performers. But in a good way.

Stretching his legs at intermission, Willard Camp of Lawrenceville can't say enough good things about the singing, dancing and comedy he's seen onstage at the 2,200-seat auditorium.

"It's one of the better shows I've ever seen — at Branson [Mo.] or anywhere," says Camp, tour leader and bus driver for the 36 senior citizens from Sunrise Baptist Church who'd traveled to Myrtle Beach to see shows, golf and shop.

As the Grand Strand's longest-running show, the Carolina Opry has been seen by nearly 5.5 million visitors since it was created in 1986 by Nashville entertainer and entrepreneur Calvin Gilmore. In 1992, the Opry moved from Surfside Beach into its opulent theater on 11.3 acres at the junction of U.S. 17 business north and the U.S. 17 bypass.

Don't let the name "Opry" fool you. While the polished performers deliver a heaping helping of country, bluegrass, gospel and even cowboy ballads, don't be surprised to hear everything from Gloria Estefan's "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" to the Village People's "YMCA" to a piano medley from "Phantom of the Opera." And Moses Braxton's soul-stirring "Old Man River" is worth the price of admission.

All That, billed as a "hip-hop clog dancing ensemble," wows the audience with an amazing combination of speed and sound. The group, whose percussive dance style features elements of tap and Irish step dancing, rose to fame on ABC Family Channel's 2003 revival of "Dance Fever."

The entertainment is enhanced by a $2 million state-of-the-art sound and lighting system and massive video screens. Full-size cars, trucks and even a horse make appearances onstage.

The show serves wholesome, all-American fare with just enough wink-wink innuendo and occasional risqué business to keep it from coming off too goody-goody. You may roll your eyes at some of the corn pone comedy, but you'll be grinning like an opossum in spite of yourself.

• Information: Shows are Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; the cast appears in "Good Vibrations! Hits of the '60s, '70s & '80s" on Tuesdays and Fridays through August, then Fridays only until November when the holiday show opens. $31.95-$39; $20 students with ID; $15 age 16 and under. 1-800-843-6779, http://www.thecarolinaopry.com.

A vine time

From behind the wine-tasting bar at La Belle Amie near North Myrtle Beach, Al Ienco — better known as Wine Guy — is singing the praises of his award-winning, medium-bodied pinot noir, describing it as having an "earthy aroma like mushrooms."

But Dawna LaRoche of Chillicothe, Ohio, is hankering for the sweet taste of Southern Magnolia, a wine made from the muscadine grape, which is largely unappreciated by oenophiles.

"I love the muscadine," she says. "You can't find muscadine wine up north. Southern Magnolia is a wonderful wine. It smells like magnolias. I tell you, a lot of people up north love that bottle of wine."

So she and her husband, Robert, were stocking up.

Established in 1993 by Vickie Weigle on 40 acres of tobacco farmland in her family for generations, La Belle Amie is the Grand Strand's only vineyard. The Wine Guy is quick to point out that it is not a winery.

"We grow grapes here. We're about a year away from being a winery," he says. It won't happen until state laws on wine production are changed.

Weigle planted one acre with 225 muscadine vines in 1995, then faced three years of hurricanes that decimated the vineyards. The first hurricane-free year, 1997, a small harvest yielded 60 bottles of wine. But luck wasn't with La Belle Amie (which means "good friend" in French and is a play on the family name of Bellamy). In 1998, the entire harvest was lost to two hurricanes, and in 1999, a week before harvest, Hurricane Floyd dumped 20 inches of rain during its 24-hour visit. The shop opened in 2000 "with not one bottle of wine," says Ienco.

But Weigle didn't give up. Now, the vineyards are producing enough grapes for 15,000 to 20,000 bottles of muscadine wines a year. Another 40,000 or so bottles are produced in family-run wineries in the Languedoc region of France or from Romanian-grown grapes.

Visitors are welcome to bring a picnic to the vineyards or on the grounds or relax on the front porch of the shop with a glass of wine and play with Bella, "the ball dog," a white border collie who's the vineyard mascot.

• Information: Walking tours offered at 10 a.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The tasting room is open Mondays-Saturdays. Call for hours. $3 for tastes of any five wines. 843-399-9463, http://www.labelleamie.com.

Ghostly encounters

Make a date to meet Blackbeard — if you dare. The notorious pirate is but one of the apparitions you'll encounter at Ghosts and Legends, a clever and spooky little attraction at Barefoot Landing.

Once you've bought your ticket, you wait in the gift shop wondering where the door to the theater is when — voilà! — a wall slides open to reveal a cob webby, musty parlor with a flickering fireplace. Once inside, you take a seat on a bench and the haunting begins: Doors open and shut, a spotlight darts around the room, a book opens and a voice intones "truth can be stranger than fiction."

The ghosts of the Lowcountry tell their tales, and while they aren't seen, their presence in the drafty room seems quite real. The first visitor is Alice Flagg, from a prominent Murrells Inlet family of the mid-1850s. At 15, she fell in love with a lumberman named Tommy, who gave her a ring that she wore around her neck in secret, because their love was forbidden. She died of malaria, but was not buried with the ring. To this day, it is said that she roams in search of her ring.

A chest opens to reveal glittering treasures as Blackbeard, Edward Teach, appears. Then, there's the story of the boo hag, who spins her skin off her bones to slip through keyholes.

Finally, there's the Gray Man, who for two centuries, has warned residents from Little River to Pawleys Island of impending hurricanes. This may be the scariest tale of all with some neat special effects. We won't spoil it for you.

• Information: Shows presented every 30 minutes throughout the day. $8; $5 age 12 and under. Also, a 1 1/2-hour evening Ghost Walk ($15, $10) around Barefoot Landing offers a dozen more spooky Southern tales, and the Low Country Seance ($45), by appointment and limited to 10 guests, is a theatrical re-creation of an 1850s seance. 843-361-2700, http://www.ghostshows.com.

Gators galore

Given my if-you've-seen-one-alligator attitude, and the fact that the big galoots mostly lie around doing little or nothing, I couldn't muster too much excitement about a visit to Alligator Adventure.

But this is the world's largest reptile park (or so they claim), and it is a must-do for anyone who digs the prehistoric-looking creatures. In addition to the gators and crocodiles, there are more than 230 species of animals, including birds, snakes, Galapagos tortoises, turtles and frogs, and a couple of black bears named Bonnie and Clyde. But what melted my heart like a gnarly old gator never could was the river otter exhibit where the adorable creatures frolic. Awwww.

The park's setting, at Barefoot Landing on U.S. 17 in North Myrtle Beach, is impressive, with natural swamps and marshes. So is Utan, billed as the world's longest crocodile, at nearly 20 feet.

Shows are offered several times daily. At the reptile shows at the amphitheater, audience members get to interact with animals — such as the 23-pound, 6-year-old Burmese python who could be well over 200 pounds and up to 25 feet when fully grown. From mid-April to mid-October, you can watch the alligator feedings. Fun fact: Gators don't eat much the rest of the year. For the kids, there's Barefoot Buddies, a rock 'n' roll children's show starring mascots Al and Tynee.

• Information: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. $14.95; $12.95 senior citizens; $8.95 ages 4-12; age 3 and under free. 843-361-0789, http://www.alligatoradventure.com.

Lazy afternoon

Slow down the pace with a stroll through the Hammock Shops on U.S. 17 in Pawleys Island — home of the Original Pawleys Island Rope Hammock since 1889. The cotton rope hammocks designed by riverboat captain Joshua John Ward are handwoven in a shop where you can watch the hammock makers at work.

Nearly two dozen shops have sprouted through the years under the ancient oaks around the original Pawleys Island Hammock Shop, which dates to 1938. You'll find jewelry, shoes, clothing, candles, gourmet foods, Christmas decorations and collectibles, gifts for pets (and the people who love them), nature-themed items, Southwestern and American Indian art and jewelry, sports autographs and collectibles and more.

Here, too, is one of the Grand Strand's finest restaurants, Louis's at Pawleys, where specialities include an enormous crispy fried whole fish (flounder the night I dined) drizzled with Sichuan peanut sauce, Louis's crab and lobster cakes with whole grain mustard and, of course, shrimp and grits. The Fish Camp Bar at Louis's is a good place to unwind after a few hours of shopping.

• Information: Shops open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m. Sundays. 843-237-8448 (for information on all the stores). The Original Hammock Shop, http://hammockshop.com.