Panama City Beach is best known for being the most beautiful place in the world! It’s also an excellent and must-visit relaxing place for families, with plenty to do for everyone. There are several fun-oriented things to do in Panama City Beach with kids, from the beach to the boardwalk, from waterslides to waterparks. The following list is just a glimpse of some of our favorite activities in Panama City Beach with children, but there’s plenty more where that came from! Here are 15 relaxing fun things to do in Panama City Beach with kids:
- Shipwreck Island Waterpark — Laguna Beach
Shipwreck Island Waterpark Laguna Beach is a great place to spend the day with family. The waterpark has a variety of rides and attractions for all ages, including:
- Shipwreck Island Waverider (A wave pool)
- Shipwreck Island Hurricane (An interactive hurricane experience)
- Shipwreck Island River Rapids (A family raft ride)
Shipwreck Island Surf Lagoon (A water playground with slides, dumping buckets, and spray jets) Shipwreck Island Tidal Wave (A high-speed slide that goes down a four-story tower into a large bowl) Shipwreck Island Typhoon (An interactive storm experience with pounding waves, lightning and thunder effects)
- Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum — Laguna Beach
If you’re looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon with your kids, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum Laguna Beach is the perfect place. This museum has many exhibits and artifacts that are interactive and educational. In addition, it is in the heart of Laguna Beach, so your family can walk around town for some great photo opportunities!
The museum features hundreds of artifacts from all over the world (including items from Africa and Asia). Some examples include shrunken heads from South America, human skeletal bones from Europe, statues made out of coins found in landfills across America, and much more!
In addition to seeing these fantastic exhibits firsthand and reading about each one online before visiting them yourself, educational games are available at this location too!
- Panama City Beach
Panama City Beach is a popular vacation destination for families. It’s the perfect visit place if you want to enjoy the beach, shopping, dining, and attractions all in one place. The city has plenty of fascinating things to do with kids!
You can do many fun activities with your kids in Panama City Beach, like visiting the Pier. There are two piers on Panama City Beach. The first is the Boardwalk Pier, which offers an array of shops and restaurants. You can also ride on the Ferris wheel or enjoy some time at the arcade while you’re there. The second pier is known as “The Fishing Hole,” where you can rent boats or fish from land or sea during certain hours.
- Gulf World Marine Park — Laguna Beach
Gulf World Marine Park Laguna Beach is a great place to visit with the family. Kids engage in activities like tubing through the mangroves and snorkeling in their private lagoon with turtles and fish. Kids can also learn about marine life by seeing how it’s fed by volunteers who work at the park. They can also participate in enrichment programs designed specifically for children, like scuba diving lessons or tours of the aquariums, where they will learn about sharks, rays, and other sea creatures.
- SkyWheel Panama City Beach — Pier Park
The SkyWheel Panama City Beach Pier Park is a giant Ferris wheel that offers 360-degree views of the Gulf Coast. You can ride it for up to $25 per person or rent a gondola and experience it alone. The ride lasts about 30 minutes, but they recommend waiting until after dinner because there are limited hours during peak season (April through October).
The view from the SkyWheel is breathtaking, and it’s one of the best ways to get a birds-eye view of Panama City Beach. The Ferris wheel is by the end of Pier Park, which also has a boardwalk, fishing pier, arcade games, and food vendors.
The SkyWheel was built in 2013 and is 448 feet tall with 36 gondolas that hold up to 8 people each. It’s one of the tallest known Ferris wheels in the world!
- Saint Andrews State Park — Lower Grand Lagoon
The Lower Grand Lagoon is a great place to kayak, canoe, and paddleboard in Panama City Beach. You can also fish here if you have your equipment. The park has camping areas as well as cabins that are available for rent.
There’s even an outdoor amphitheater where concerts are held throughout the year!
The park is open for visits year-round and has a variety of wildlife, including turtles, alligators, and otters. There are plenty of hiking trails and paved paths for those who prefer to go for a stroll or bike ride.
- Coconut Creek Family Fun Park — Laguna Beach
Coconut Creek Family Fun Park is an excellent place for kids to play. It’s true, especially if you’re visiting with your family or even if you’re looking for an afternoon activity that won’t break the bank. There are plenty of rides and activities here, but they’re all affordable!
Coconut Creek Family Fun Park has excellent food, too; it’s not expensive (and coupons are available online through their website). If your child isn’t feeling like having lunch or dinner yet—or even if they want something more substantial than just chips and candy—this park offers them many options!
They also offer birthday parties here, so if you have an upcoming celebration, this would be one great location where everyone could go together without worrying about transportation issues because they are on different coasts.”
- Conservation Park — Conservation Drive
Conservation Park Conservation Drive is a family-friendly attraction on the Gulf Coast of Florida that’s perfect for a day trip. The park is a wildlife refuge, and it has an on-site museum and gift shop where you can learn about all the different species that call this place home.
You can also walk through their natural habitat and see animals up close! Your toddlers (or teens) might like having their faces painted by one of their favorite characters from Zootopia or Star Wars: Rebels.
The park also has other fun things to do, such as go fishing off one of their many fishing piers or sit down at one of their picnic tables under an umbrella while enjoying some ice cream from Sonic Drive-In (one of my favorites).
- Pier Park — Pier Park
Pier Park is in Panama City Beach, FL. It’s a family-friendly park with lots of activities and restaurants. The pier has several boats available for rent, including kayaks/canoes/sailboards, etc. Beach umbrellas are available if you want to spend time on the sand! Other amenities and fun activities at Pier park include:
- three playgrounds
- an arcade area with over 50 games
- two fishing piers (one for adults and one for kids)
- combined picnic areas with tables and grills (that can be reserved)
- restrooms
- parking lot locations throughout the park
- access to the beach via stairs or elevator
- Race City PCB — Laguna Beach
Race City Laguna Beach is fun to spend the day with your kids. There are race cars, go-karts, bumper boats, and more that you can take out on the water or land. If you are excited to try something new, head to Laser Tag, where they have laser guns that shoot at each other!
For those who love arcade games, there’s an arcade room full of them. Miniature golf courses are also available if you want some time away from the beach without leaving town!
If you live nearby, then check out their amusement park, Splash Lagoon, which features bumper boats and a boat ride called ‘The Great White Shark,’ which lets visitors get up close with sharks while sitting inside them (with safety gear).
- Wonderworks — Laguna Beach
Wonderworks is a fun and interactive educational museum with something for the whole family. It’s in Laguna Beach, CA, just 20 minutes from Panama City Beach. The Wonderworks family history section is a great way to learn about American history while your kids explore their favorite childhood toys or play with some of their favorite characters like Barbie and Hello Kitty!
The museum also offers a dedicated science area with cool experiments you can try out yourself! You’ll be amazed to experience how much knowledge you’ll gain about science after just one visit!
- Splash Resort — Laguna Beach
Splash Resort Laguna Beach is a Panama City Beach, Florida water park. The park has a giant wave pool and a lazy river that are perfect for the whole family to enjoy together. There are also several other attractions at Splash Resort Laguna Beach, such as:
- A giant waterslide
- A kiddie pool with fountains and spray showers
- An arcade room full of games that kids can play while they wait for their turn on the slides or other rides
- A gift shop for you to purchase splendid souvenirs made by local artists
- ZooWorld Panama City Beach — Laguna Beach
ZooWorld is a great place to spend the day with your family. The zoo has a variety of animals and exhibits, including an aquarium, butterfly garden, and petting zoo. It’s in Panama City Beach, Florida.
The entrance fee is $12 per person over age 3 or 2 (under 48 inches tall). The price includes admission to the zoo and access to all rides open during operating hours (which vary depending on the season).
The zoo has an astonishingly massive variety of animals, including African lions, tigers, lemurs, and monkeys. There’s also an aquarium with dolphins and manatees and an aviary where you can walk and see birds of prey up close.
- Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise — Lower Grand Lagoon
Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise Lower Grand Lagoon is a fun activity for the whole family. There are several different options for the Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise Lower Grand Lagoon, including:
- A one-hour tour in a double-decker pirate ship with an experienced captain and crew.
- A half-day tour with stops at several sites along the coast of Gulf County, including Cape Sable Island National Seashore, Fort Escambia National Historic Site, and others.
- An all-day adventure on the lower lagoon aboard our original tall ship named The Black Pearl!
- Airboat Adventures — Sidecamp Road
Airboat Adventures is a great place to spend a day with the kids. The airboats are small, so they quickly jump on and off. You can also rent an airboat that holds up to 8 people at once (plus a driver), or you can go with one person in your airboat.
Airboat Adventures offers 1-hour airboat rides in the Florida Everglades for $49 per person, $99 for 2 hours, or $149 for 3 hours!
If you’re keen on adventurous getaways, you can try the 3-hour Jungle Airboat Adventure for $149 per person. In this adventure, you’ll go through the Everglades and see beautiful wildlife while learning a lot about the area. This ride is not a boring one! They also offer tours that last 2 hours instead of 1 hour and include lunch.
Panama City Beach is best known as one of the most beautiful places in the country to visit with kids. There are so many exciting, adventurous and fun things to do here, and it’s hard to know where to begin! Here are some great suggestions that are sure to keep you entertained for hours on end.
