18 of the Best Things To Do in Panama City Beach with Kids

Ah, vacation season!

You’ve chosen a destination, booked your hotel, made your transportation plans, triple-checked your time off from work, and spent endless days fantasizing with your family about the amazing trip you’re all about to take.

If you’re like approximately 4.5 million other annual tourists, you’ve decided to visit Panama City Beach, home to one of the best beaches in Florida’s Panhandle! 

That’s an excellent choice for any would-be vacationer and great news if you have kids. This popular tourist destination has plenty of activities for the little, medium, and big kids in your family. 

Read on below to find over a dozen different examples of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids or take a look at our guide to 50+ great things to do throughout the rest of Florida as a family.

Relax on Panama City Beach

No review of the best things to do in Panama City Beach would be complete without mentioning the world-famous beach itself! PCB is home to several picturesque beaches, but it has been argued that its namesake beach is the best of them all. 

The powdery white beached comes from quartz crystals that washed down from the Appalachian mountains hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 

This long journey down to sea level bleached, ground down, polished, and smoothed the quartz, which washed up out of the Gulf of Mexico and deposited onto the shoreline to form the beaches we know today. 

Seeing how PCB has an average of 320 sunny days per year, taking the family to the beach is one of the best and least expensive things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

PCB’s climate is subtropical, and its average temperature is 74 degrees, so you’ll be able to enjoy fun in the sun on Panama City Beach almost all year round. 

Kids of all ages will have a blast building sandcastles, playing volleyball, swimming in the Gulf, and making memories that will last a lifetime. 

Gulf World Marine Park

Your kids will love visiting Gulf World Marine Park, where they’ll be amazed by daily live shows featuring tropical birds, dolphins, reptiles, sea lions, and more! 

One price gets you into all the shows and lets you enjoy Gulf World’s tropical indoor and outdoor gardens containing sea turtles and penguins. There’s also a stingray petting pool, and the whole family can get in on the fun of feeding the stingrays at Stingray Bay. 

Parking is always free, and the park is always open, even when it’s rainy out. 

One of the main reasons Gulf World Marine Park is one of the best things to do with kids in Panama City Beach is the sheer amount of animals you can get up close and personal with during your visit. 

There are several interactive programs you can make reservations for, including the swim with a Dolphin program. You and your family can dive into the park’s million-gallon dolphin habitat and see what it’s like to share the water with these magnificent creatures. 

You and the kids can also try out Gulf World’s trainer for a day program that provides an all-day experience in which you’ll work with park trainers and see what goes on behind the scenes of Gulf World.

Zoo World Panama City Beach

Suppose you’re looking for an exciting vacation experience that teaches kids of all ages about the importance of wildlife conservation. In that case, Zoo World should be at the top of your travel itinerary. 

ZooWorld is home to more than 260 exotic animals from around the globe, and your family can even directly interact with some of them. ZooWorld offers daily exhibits and shows that include activities like petting a sloth, walking about with flamingos, feeding alligators and giraffes, and more. It is open every day from 9:30 am and 5 pm. 

Ticket prices are $19.95 for adults, $13.95 for children 2-12, $18.95 for seniors, and kids under two get in free. 

ZooWorld is determined to showcase the beauty and variety of wildlife and teach visitors about our shared responsibility to conserve wild habitats. They allow guests to get up close and personal with the animals they champion and learn about their lives. 

Through these interactions, ZooWorld hoped to inspire its visitors to understand how critical the survival of endangered species is and how important the preservation of their natural habitats truly is. 

SkyWheel Panama City Beach

If your kiddos are into high-flying hijinks, Sky Wheel Panama City Beach boasts a zip-line, the Sky Trail, a SkyTykes ropes course, and the SkyWheel Observation Wheel that gives the tourist attraction its name.

On the Skywheel, a 53-meter observation wheel, 30 climate-controlled gondolas can hold up to six people. VIP gondolas seat up to four people. You’ll never be placed with strangers inside, and each flight is private for you and your family. 

If you’re hungry, your group can always visit the SkyWheel Snack Shack to grab snacks and drinks for the kids and cocktails for the grown-ups. There are even non-alcoholic mocktails for the younger members of your family to enjoy. 

No matter the age, Skywheel Panama City is a safe and fun place for you and your family to enjoy breathtaking views and all-ages excitement for everyone. Grandparents, toddlers, teenagers, and even babies will have the time of their lives. 

Skywheel Panama City Beach is open all year round, so you and your loved ones can experience all this fantastic vacation destination has to offer. 

Shipwreck Island Waterpark

This tropical-themed waterpark is the place for aquatic thrills and spills that the whole family will go wild for. Swimming, plunging, whirling, and dunking are guaranteed! 

The park opens for the last three Saturdays and Sundays of May, and then it starts daily operations on Saturday, May 22nd through Sunday, August 8th. After that, the park is open for three weekends in August, then for three days during the Labor Day weekend. 

Admission to the park is $46.00 for guests 50 inches or taller. For guests below 50 inches, the price is $37.00. Any child below 35 inches gets in free. Shipwreck’s Senior price is $32.00 for guests 62 and older. 

You can purchase lockers to store your family’s belongings while you enjoy your Shipwreck Island adventures. The lockers are $9 for a small size, $11.00 for a medium-size, and $14.00 for the jumbo size option. $2 of the payment is refundable upon return of the locker key. 

Shipwreck Island offers a concession shop called The Pirate’s Plunder, where you can find sunglasses, suncare products, and even souvenirs to bring home with you.

Check out the waterpark yourself and see why it’s one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids!  

Splash Resort

If you haven’t yet found the perfect place for your family to stay while on vacation, the Splash Resort is a great option to look into. This luxurious gulf-front resort is ideal for adults and kids, with two towers and 21 different floors. 

Splash Resort’s colorful, whimsical designs will delight guests of all ages. They’ll love the beachfront arcade, the lazy river, bi-level pools, water theme parks, and the Lil tot splash pad. There’s even a jacuzzi!

Enjoy expansive, gulf-front balconies in the luxury rooms that come with granite countertops, high-end appliances, more eye-catching decor, and different sizes, layouts, and options for every family’s unique needs. 

Other amenities include a “dive-in” movie theatre, a state-of-the-art fitness facility, a Bar & Grill by the poolside, an apparel store, high-speed internet access, and quick access to the local Pier Park shopping center.  

Pier Park is known as one of the premier shopping malls in the Southeastern United States. It has just about everything you might need to buy as well as delicious restaurants, all in one convenient place. 

Coconut Creek Family Fun Park

For more all-ages adventures, take a visit to Coconut Creek Family Fun Park, one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

Coconut Creek boasts two tropical 18-hole mini-golf courses that will challenge and delight the whole family. You can also enjoy the famous Coconut Creek Gran Maze. This famous, football field-sized maze will test your navigational skills as you help each other try and find the escape. 

Families and groups of all sizes and ages are sure to find hours of laughs and plenty of fun times at this year-round Panama City Beach attraction. Coconut Creek strives to be one of the foremost family-friendly PCB attractions in town. 

Coconut Creek opens at 9:00 am every day, and the last admission is at 11:30 pm. The park is closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  

If you visit Coconut Creek’s website, you can print a $2 off coupon, which subtracts from the $26.00 plus one-time tax fee. With this price, you can play unlimited rounds of mini-golf and explore the Gran Maze to your heart’s delight. 

Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise

See what it would have been like to roam the high seas as a pirate on PCBs Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise and find a day full of activity and adventure that every member of the family will never forget.

The cruise is headed up by Captain “Fearless” Phil and his crew of sea dogs who will keep you and your children laughing, learning, and loving this vacation attraction. They’ll marvel at the scenic surroundings on this 2-hour cruise that includes great music and dolphin sightings. 

You and your family can purchase pirate-themed souvenirs, drink soda and beer while snacking on tasty morsels. You can find the Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise on Grand Lagoon, in the Lighthouse Marina. 

The kids can pretend to sword fight, help swab the deck, take a shot at the “kid cannon,” learn how to read a treasure map to find sunken treasure and share their hard gotten loot amongst each other. They’ll spend delightful hours getting their faces painted, participating in a pirate dance party, playing in water gunfights, and even getting pirate-themed temporary tattoos. 

The cruise is open from March through October. Trip schedules do vary throughout the year, however. 

• Adults 15 and up pay $27 plus tax
• Seniors age 60 and up pay $23 plus tax
• Tickets for kids ages 3-14 are $19 plus tax
• Tickets for toddlers aged 1-2 are $13 plus tax
• Any child under 12 months gets on the cruise for free. 
• Sunset Cruises are all $2 More Per Ticket (except for infants.)

Pier Park

As mentioned above, Pier Park is one of the southeast’s premier shopping destinations visited by millions of tourists every year. It can provide you and your family hours upon hours of shopping and fun on your Panama City Beach trip. 

This substantial outdoor shopping mall is one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. It has 1.1 million square feet of shops, restaurants, and retailers and the awe-inspiring Grand Theatre. The six-screen movie theatre provides state-of-the-art entertainment for all ages. 

Pier Park has 25 of the world’s best restaurants to please any palette. Shop at 124 stores where you can buy home goods, clothing, shoes, and so much more. The whole family can have a ball playing laser tag, listening to live music, shopping, dining, and having a blast all in one convenient location. 

Emerald Falls Family Recreation Center

For more thrills and rip-roaring family fun, you can try a day at Emerald Falls Family Recreation Center, one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

Amp up the excitement with bumper boat rides, join your family in 18 or 36 holes of challenging and fantastic mini-golf or visit the out-of-this-world Alien Arcade. The arcade features hundreds of games, from your old favorites to the newest and most popular. 

You can even try the Max Flight Simulator and experience a 360-degree roller coaster straight out of the future. 

Race your family members down the lanes on Emerald Fall’s three go-kart tracks. One of them, the Vortex, is a four-story Formula II track made entirely of wood. Find your inner need for speed with hours of 9 horsepower fun. 

There are even some extreme rides like the SkyFlyer and the Vertical Accelerator to tickle the adrenaline junkies in your family. The younger kids will love the Kids Kingdom, which has five kid-friendly rides. 

The whole family will appreciate Emerald Falls’ scenic location on the beachside. 

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum

If your children are curious and love all things weird and wacky, then the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum is one of the best things you can do in Panama City with kids.

They can find a shrunken head exhibit, a whimsical kids crawl area, the world-famous Odditorium, and uncover all sorts of bizarre, outlandish fun at the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. 

Enjoy the awe-inspiring 7D Moving Theater, the befuddling Mirror Maze, and galleries of the weird and wacky. There’s even a Lasers Race the kids are sure to love. 

No trip to the museum would be complete without getting a color wax mold of your hands to take home as a souvenir. 

The museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. You’ll find free parking outside this boat-shaped attraction, and you can conveniently purchase tickets online from your mobile phone or computer. 

Wonderworks

If you’d like to show your family an amusement park for their minds, the 35,000 square foot Wonderworks is a great place to find hours’ worth of “edutainment” that will challenge their minds and kindle their imaginations. 

With over 100 hands-on exhibits, kids and grown-ups will love the tale of this once-top secret lab found in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. When an experiment went wrong, the lab was transported to Panama City Beach, where it landed upside down. 

Luckily for you and your family, the exhibits weren’t destroyed and are available to explore to their heart’s content. When you enter, the ceiling is at your feet, and the ground is above your head.

Your kids will go nuts as Wonderworks turns their worlds upside down. Once you pass through the inversion tunnel to turn the world right-side-up, that’s where the fun really begins. 

You can choose from six unique Wonder Zones, so everyone’s fancy is sure to get tickled. 

Delight your senses in the Extreme Weather Zone. Prove your might and mettle in the Physical Challenge Zone. Shoot for the stars in the Space Discovery Zone, or even let your mind wander in the Imagination Lab. 

Kids will love the Wonder Art Gallery, the Indoor Rope Course, and the thrilling Laser Tag Arena. 

Saint Andrews State Park

If you and your family would like to get a little closer with mother nature during your vacation, then Saint Andrew State Park is one of the best things you can do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

Explore and enjoy five unique ecological landscapes all in one stunning location. With tons of activities and amenities, you’ll spend a fun-filled day out in nature, enjoying the beautiful scenery that Florida has to offer.

Ride bikes along nature trails, watch different species of birds, take an adventurous boat tour along the waterways, set up camp for the night (or a few), go canoeing and kayaking, even go fishing. 

You can enjoy nature hikes, go horseback riding, mountain biking, paddling, picnics, scuba diving, snorkeling, stargazing, swimming, surfing, tubing, and so much more. 

Saint Andrews boasts an amphitheater, a beach, cabins, campfire circles, campgrounds, a Canoe Kayak Lunch, concession stands, clean restrooms, an equestrian trail garden, a play fort, a laundry area, and even a lighthouse. You can also bring your pets!

Eat your meals in the fresh air at the picnic pavilion, stay clean with the shower station, or take a dip with the kids in the swimming pool.

Race City PCB

For more high-speed thrills for those adrenaline junkies, Race City is one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

Home to PCB’s only rollercoaster and the town’s fastest, steepest go-kart tracks, Race City is sure to provide hours of entertainment for you and every member of the family, no matter their ages. 

You can play indoor mini-golf, enjoy other thrill rides, and take advantage of the indoor Mega Arcade that’s got tons of games and activities from which to choose. Whether in rain or shine, Race City has indoor and outdoor activities, so the fun never stops. 

Race City offers both slow and fast-paced rides for every taste and outdoor mini-golf as well as indoor blacklight mini-golf. Fly over 60 mph on the Skycoaster and simulate the feeling of bungee jumping, hand gliding, and skydiving all at once!

Shoot water cannons at each other on Race City’s bumper boats, take a few whirls in the Spin Zone, explore the absurd in the wild and wacky Fun House.

Camp Helen State Park

Another way for the whole family to commune with nature is to visit Camp Helen State Park, one of Florida’s largest coastal dune lakes. At Camp Helen, you and your whole family can wander through the rich natural resources of the local environment. 

Bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Powell, you cannot visit the 180-acre park at night. Visitors can enjoy freshwater and saltwater fishing, swimming, hiking, beachcombing, and nature study. 

You can see the prehistoric mounds that possibly indicate that humans have lived in the area for more than 4,000 years. 

For four decades, from the 1940s to the 1980s, Camp Helen was a resort for the employees of Avondale Mills, an Alabama textile mill. Presently, visitors enjoy bird watching, paddling, picnics, wildlife viewing, beachfront, historic sites, nature trails, and plenty of clean restroom facilities. 

Camp Helen State Park is open from 8 am until sunset, 365 days a year. The entrance price is $4 per vehicle and $2 per pedestrian or bicyclist. You simply deposit your money into an honor box to pay entrance fees. 

You can also pay online for a single-day pass. 

Conservation Park

For even more outdoor recreation, your family can explore the Panama City Beach Conservation Park.

Tourists and locals love the park created by the City of Panama and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Hikers, nature lovers, and cyclists alike will find the nature trails full of fascinating wildlife.

The Conservation Park has 24 miles of trails, over a mile of boardwalks, and encompasses over 2900 acres in total. The shortest track is 0.6 miles, and the longest is 11 miles. There are 12 different trails from which to choose. 

At the southeast corner of the park, you’ll find a large, 4,400 square foot building with plenty of garbage disposal, restrooms, and picnic tables. Bring some binoculars to enjoy fabulous bird and wildlife watching. 

The park is open seven days a week, from dusk until dawn. 

Wild Thang Airboat Tour

If you want to thrill and delight your family with a Florida Panhandle adventure, check out the Wild Thang Airboat tour, one of the best things you can do in Panama City Beach with kids. 

Travel along the marshes and creeks in shallow waters as you search for dolphins, birds of prey, herons, alligators, and egrets. You’ll glide over St. Andrew’s Bay and Grand Lagoon, where you can observe wildlife in its natural habitat. 

Wow the kids with sightings of snakes, sharks, manatees, jellyfish, turtles, and much more. They might also see bald eagles, wild hogs, and deer as well. The Wild Thang airboats can seat up to 16 people. 

Larger groups should reserve as many boats as needed so that your entire party can go out on the same tour. You’ll have to wear hearing protection as the boats are very loud, and it can be hard to hear at times. 

At top speeds, you’ll be traveling 30 and 40 miles per hour. Unfortunately, no passengers under two are allowed, so no small toddlers and infants can come along. Children cannot sit on their parent’s laps. 

Dress appropriately and prepare to get wet. The wearing of hats is discouraged, but be sure to use plenty of bug spray and sunscreen. The boats are not wheelchair accessible. 

Rain will not deter a Wild Thang ride, but if the captain decides weather conditions are not safe enough, they will let you know 30 minutes before departure. Wild Thang offers 30 minutes tours and hour-long tours. 

When you return, Wild Thang keeps baby gators that the kids can get up close with and hold.

The Big Takeaway

As you can see, if you’re looking for the best things to do in Panama City Beach with kids. There are so many options to choose from that all your family members will be sure to have a fantastic time and a vacation they won’t soon forget.

Experience Florida’s many natural wonders, unique attractions, beautiful scenery, and enjoy plenty of kid-friendly fun and tons of vacation entertainment for everyone.

If you’re going to Florida on your vacation, any and all of the options listed are fantastic things to do in Panama City Beach with kids.