pirate voyage reviews

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Is the Pirate’s Voyage Show in Myrtle Beach Worth It?

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This Pirate’s Voyage review will help you decide whether the Myrtle Beach attraction is right for your family’s next beach trip. Thanks to our friends at Dollywood for hosting us for this fun event.

When traveling on a family vacation with tweens, it can get a little more challenging each year to find things to do that every member of the family enjoys at the same time.

During our recent family trip to Myrtle Beach, we got the chance to check out the Pirate’s Voyage dinner show as they launch their 10th season. It was by far our favorite experience from the entire weekend.

When I asked my youngest what she would tell other moms planning trips for their families about Pirate’s Voyage, she earnestly replied:

“It has everything you need! Food, family, and fun.”

She’s not wrong. How can you even argue that? I love that my little lady values the “family” portion of that statement so much that she included it as an essential for a good time.

The Pirate’s Voyage is a Dolly Parton production with locations in both Myrtle Beach and Pigeon Forge, TN. If anyone knows a thing about how to entertain a crowd, it is Miss Dolly Parton.

The kids were gasping, cheering, and laughing all throughout the show. At one point my daughter shouted: “Is that actually real?!”

Totally grinning, I glanced over at my husband to see his jaw hanging open and his eyes bulging wide.

We honestly couldn’t even believe what we were seeing on stage and our high expectations for the evening were far exceeded.

Every member of our family gives the show a hearty two thumbs up, we definitely recommend a visit if you happen to be in Myrtle Beach this year.

Want to know if the Pirate’s Voyage show is right for your family? Be sure to get the full details in my review below.

A complete Pirate’s Voyage review for families with kids:

What is the pirate’s voyage dinner show.

One part Vegas show plus one part Hollywood action movie meets one part family dinner night.

Imagine Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow performing with a Cirque du Soleil troupe over a 15-foot-deep indoor lagoon with movie-style stunts and special effects.

All while your family sits back and enjoys a 4-course meal delivered to your seats by pirate wenches.

The daring adventure features sword fights, blazing cannons, mystical mermaids and pirates scaling high above two full-sized pirate ships fighting to win Davy Jones’ coveted sunken treasure. The show is an epic battle for lost treasure on land, on deck, and in the water. Daring dock diving dogs, salty sea lions and tropical birds join in the quest and are truly a highlight of the experience.

Who will enjoy the live performance most?

This theater experience definitely caters to families with kids. While I’m pretty sure Tim and I would have loved it on our own for a date night, we really loved having the whole family attend.

TWEENS & TEENS:

There’s enough swashbuckling action to keep older kids engaged throughout the show. Our girls especially loved the live animals and special effects which included fire, fog, and cannons booming.

KIDS UNDER 8:

There are a few audience participation moments in the show that are included specifically for younger kids. The littles we saw helping out all seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Is it too scary? Some of the action sequences are very intense with loud booms and flashing lights. There is a scene where the theater gets really dark and the performers wear glow-in-the-dark skeleton suits that could frighten more timid kids.

Nothing bad happens to anyone in the show but there are action-packed sword fights where some pirates pretend to get stabbed and thrown into the water. There is no fake blood or anything gory at all and these scenes move super fast with no dwelling on anyone being injured.

Will both girls and boys like this show?

I can emphatically say there is something for everyone here.

The pirate crews are made up of both men and women pirates. The women are just as daring and adventurous as their counterparts, not just damsels in distress. I loved that one lady was Captain of a pirate ship.

On the other hand, there are sparkly mermaids and a bit of romance worked into the show as well. It isn’t all action, all the time.

For all four members of my family, the live animals were the biggest hit. It was such a fun surprise every time they’d pop up in the performance.

Where is the dinner theater?

You’ll find the Pirate’s Voyage theater at:

8907 N Kings Hwy Myrtle Beach, SC 29572 United States (US) Phone: (843) 497-9700

We were pleased to find ample parking in the theater lot so that doesn’t need to be a concern.

How to get tickets to the show and when to arrive:

You can order your tickets to the dinner show online at the Pirate’s Voyage web site here .

Depending on the timing of your trip, there are between 1 – 3 showtimes available. To take full advantage of your tickets, we highly recommend arriving at least an hour early before your show for the pre-show entertainment.

While you wait for the theater doors to open, you’ll find beverage and snack service along with live performances, face painting opportunities, and more.

NOTE: If you get tickets for seats in the first row, there’s a small chance you’ll get splashed during the show. Some of the pirates can get a bit feisty and do belly flops into the water. We didn’t get soaked, but a bit of a splash happened at the end of our meal that required extra napkins to mop up a bit. The amazing view was well worth it though.

What food is included in your pirate dinner? 

The dinner service during Pirate’s Voyage was wonderful. Our waitress took care of everything while we relaxed and watched the performance.

When you arrive at your seat, you’ll find your plate and a fork with napkins already waiting. The server comes through with each element of the dinner one item at a time so you always have something to nibble on while watching the show.

Our soda glasses never ran dry, she was always there with a refill.

A bar server also comes through taking orders for adult beverages if you desire. I tried a frozen peach-rum concoction that was out of this world and was served in a souvenir mug that my kids are currently fighting over.

The Pirate’s Voyage dinner menu includes:

• Fresh cheese biscuit, served warm
• Creamy veggie soup, served in a mug to sip
• Half a “cackler,” a pirate version of a roasted chicken. This was by far my daughter’s favorite item.
• Pulled pork with BBQ sauce served on the side
• Herb basted potato, our server called it a pirate french fry. Ha!
• Cob of corn
• Light and flaky apple turnover

It was more food than any of us could finish, you definitely will not go hungry.

Special dietary considerations:

This is the standard dinner meal that comes with your tickets but they do offer both a vegetarian and gluten-free dinner menu option if you need it. Just be sure to mention it at the time of your reservation.

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For The Best Dinner At Dollywood, Just Add Pirates

Pirates voyage dinner theater is a swashbuckling adventure in the smoky mountains..

Call it silly and touristy if you must, but I absolutely love a dinner theater attraction—the bigger, louder, and brighter, the better. I've eaten kalua pork and chicken long rice at a luau in Hawaii while hula dancers swayed against a blazing sunset, and I've tapped my toes while watching Irish step dancers and snacking on bangers and mash at Raglan Road in Walt Disney World. But admittedly, I'm not truly happy unless my meal is paired with death-defying stunts and pyrotechnics. These high standards of mine were instilled by none other than Ms. Dolly Parton herself.

I started going to Dolly Parton's Stampede when it first opened in 1988, back when it was the Dixie Stampede . It's in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, a tiny town in the Smoky Mountains that's home to Dollywood and to countless other kinds of family entertainment, from a Titanic museum to a lumberjack stunt show to a centuries-old grist mill that's now a restaurant on the banks of the Little Pigeon River. Every time my family would go back to Pigeon Forge, our Dollywood trip wasn't complete unless we sat high up in that arena, watching games of horsemanship and "stampeding" our applause with our feet because, as part of the entertainment, we were eating with our bare hands.

On my most recent trip back, though, I wanted something different. Something daring. Something adventurous. Something... with pirates.

Dollywood’s Pirates Voyage dinner show, explained

Pirates Voyage is a dinner show that's owned by Dollywood, but isn't part of the park itself—although dinner for an adult costs almost as much as a ticket to the theme park just down the road. Over the course of an hour and a half, guests sit and eat while a show unfolds, combining physical stunts, aerial acrobatics, sword fighting, fire dancing, animal actors, and games of competition. Oh, and mermaids.

The theater's tiered seating is situated around a 300,000-gallon lagoon, which is 15 feet deep and holds two 25-foot pirate ships, one decked out in crimson and one in sapphire. In the center of the pool is a deck with a ship's mast rising up from it and a platform sort of like a crow's nest high overhead. The entire set is visible as soon as you enter the room, but still, I couldn't have anticipated the complexity and quality of the stunts we were about to witness.

Our party included my Dollywood-loving lifelong best friend and her daughters, 8 and 2, whom we were introducing to the wonders of Pigeon Forge for the first time. Our adult tickets were $69.99 each, the 8-year-old's ticket was $35, and the toddler was free as long as she sat on someone's lap. The price of admission includes a four-course meal and unlimited soft drinks, and alcohol is available for purchase. Shows happen almost every night of the year in Pigeon Forge and at the Myrtle Beach location as well.

As soon as we sat down, a server dressed as a pirate came to take our drink order. The meal started with a creamy vegetable soup; I enjoyed the thick bisque purely for the nostalgia, since it was essentially the same recipe as it has been at the Stampede for more than 30 years. As the show progressed, we were served fried chicken, sugar-cured ham, corn on the cob, a roasted potato, and a biscuit, then an apple turnover. The chicken was flavorful and I especially liked the ham, but the meal is a distant second on the list of reasons I enjoyed the experience.

Just as our food started coming out, the lights in the theater went down, and all of a sudden Blackbeard descended from the ceiling, sitting in what I can only describe as a pirate throne. He started the show, a parrot on his arm, setting the scene for what would be the night's competition between the crimson pirates and the sapphire ones. Eventually, there would be challenges they'd try to win to capture the hidden treasure. First, there were going to be some really thrilling stunts.

Mermaids dropped down from the rafters, sitting on ship anchors suspended from the ceiling and diving into the water. A fire-wielding pirate took center stage with a flaming sword, who lit the stage on fire before setting the water itself ablaze. Stunt divers careened off high-dive platforms, plunging into the water and disappearing under the ships. There was a lot of sword fighting, a lot of swinging wildly on ship's rigging, a lot of truly unbelievable feats of strength and skill.

And there were animals, too. Trained dogs performed tricks, tropical birds took flight, and Salty the Sea Lion stole the show with his antics, stealing fish from his pirate trainer and eliciting a huge audience response when he succeeded in getting his treats. Dolly Parton wrote a song for the show, "Sail Away," which plays during the performance, while two performers partner for aerial acrobatics.

The whole thing was bigger and more spectacular than any show I've ever seen at a theme park, and I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The next day, we spent the day at Dollywood riding roller coasters and eating the park's incredible cinnamon bread until we were about to burst. The day after, we went attraction hopping in Pigeon Forge, exploring Wonderworks, the interactive science museum housed in an upside-down mansion, and Magiquest, where we had magic wands and used them to unlock treasures in a medieval-style castle. It was a lot of fun packed into three days.

At the end, I asked my friend's 8-year-old what her favorite part of the whole trip was, fully expecting her to say one of the thrill rides—she goes to Disney a lot and knows her way around a theme park vacation.

"Um," she said, "probably Salty."

A sea lion performing tricks in a pirate lagoon won the whole trip. I honestly can't say I'm surprised. That guy has some real star power.

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