Encounters

Waste of money and everything was not working! The only redeeming quality was the air-​conditioning and that was lacking as well.

This place was a total rip off but typical of what you get when you go to places like Broadway at the Beach that are giant tourist traps. We went because Wonderworks had a line around the building so it was out for the day. It looked like the exhibits had not been updated in a long time and in fact, you could tell they hadn’t because the TV screens were showing messages about amazing footage that would be available in 2013. It looks like a sci fi fan plopped down all their «artifacts» and waited for the money to roll in. Total waste of $ 34. TOTAL WASTE!!!

No! What a let down! I have a geeky side and I love this stuff. We were skeptical but gave it a shot. It was $ 24 for both of us.
We walked into the first section all about the history of the pyramids and ancient civilizations and how they may relate to aliens. It was all cheaply made. After that it all fell apart…
The following sections were filled with random «artifacts» that were made of cheap material and some of which had nothing to do with aliens. The place was poorly laid out as well. Then came the biggest disappointment… the «abduction experience /​simulation.» This is what we were the most excited about. There was a hallway with plastic and pads on the floor and walls. There is a string of tube lights along the floor and a disco globe at the end of the walk way and a smoke machine. Literally, an elementary school science fair submission would score higher than this experience. We started laughing at the quality.
When we finished the lady at the counter asked how the experience was; I was honest. She claimed that the owner is working hard to make it better by adding planets to the ceiling. In my opinion… that won’t be enough.
Stay away friends. Too much money for a poor experience. Definition of a tourist trap.

The scares and actors are amazing. Great job and keep up the good work

Waste of time and money, cost $ 17 for 2 adults. If I could give a 0 stars I would. You can see the videos they show on tv or you tube. Its dark and hard to read about the items they have on display. Not going into anymore details cause I already wasted too much of my time walking through that place. I bet there out of business in 2 years.

Myrtle Beach is quite well known for tourist traps, and Encounters is no different. However, being the true believer I am, I couldn’t pass up an alien-​themed tourist trap. So when we made our visit to Broadway at the Beach I dragged the missus along for an extraterrestrial adventure.
Encounters is located next to Margaritaville, where that weird human body exhibit used to be. For starters, I have to complain about the front office. The website had said admission was $ 8, and I had a $ 2 coupon (found in one of those «Monster» coupon books that are all over the place down here) that covered up to six individuals, so I was expecting to pay $ 6 a person. I gave the cashier the coupon and it came out to $ 19 and change. I was shocked, and then noticed that the sign in the window said admission was $ 10 a person. So after walking away we realized that it was still off, and I realized that they only used the coupon for one ticket, not both. We finally got everything squared away and the manager gave us $ 2 back, and with those stupid TV remote controller thingys you get at a museum in hand we headed into the building to see some aliens.
Encounters is divided up into a number of rooms, all of which have a general «alien» theme, such as alien interactions with ancient civilizations, getting abducted and alien representation in media. These «exhibits» use random videos, plaques on the wall and replicas of «artifacts» to defend the existence of aliens. The first room, which is the ancient civilizations one, is a bit all over the place and really felt cheap. I was disheartened, but luckily the place does actually pick up to make it somewhat decent.
One thing I did find interesting is that they had a chronological order of alien encounters along the wall, with each plaque commemorating a «key event», such as Roswell and the guy that the movie «Fire in the Sky» was based off of. There were also some video documentaries going on here and there, but they were all running in the middle of their segment so it was hard to concentrate on what was being talked about. Sure, it’s all stuff I could have easily googled and found information about online, but you can say the same for most any museum. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not considering Encounters a museum, but it’s not a complete waste of time. Regardless, there are some really lame wastes of space, particularly the «abduction simulator.»
In the end, we spent a little under an hour roaming about, checking out alien artifacts and taking pictures next to ET and Alien models. It’s a good waste of time if you are into aliens, and definitely kid-friendly…I’m sure my nephew would have loved it if he was there. I will say this… Encounters definitely fits in at Broadway at the Beach.

We just found this by chance and it ended up being a highlight of our family vacation. We had dinner at Margaritaville at broadway by the beach and the staff suggested it. Our tween kids had fun watching the videos and looking at all of the artifacts. More fun than a normal museum. It makes you think about how much of the ufo reports have been covered up by the government. The kids loved the reports of sightings in myrtle beach and spent the rest of our vacation looking for ufos at night. It was a cheap family event that we will all remember for many years!

Horrible! Waste of time and money. There are cheesy props and fog machines. Clips from tv shows are playing throughout the «exhibit», you can experience the same thing on YouTube.