Fun Things to do When it’s Raining in Panama City FL
There’s plenty of things to do in Panama City Beach when it’s raining. A little rain doesn’t have to mean your day is ruined. In fact, think of it as a way to discover some awesome things to do that you might have missed out on if it wasn’t raining!
Unlucky. You’re probably reading this because the weather is lousy today. Don’t worry that one of your vacation days is rained out. Panama City Beach, Florida still has LOTS of things to do with the kids today…
XD Darkride Experience in Pier Park
There’s nothing to really compare this incredible attraction to. We can say that it has the same level of polish and excitement as an attraction you’d expect at Universal Studios.
The XD Darkride Experience is a fully immersive 3D movie-meets-video game with motion seats, surround sound, strobe lights and blasts of wind.
You basically have to use a high precision laser gun to blast at enemies on the screen as the movie unfolds. Oh, and you’re also competing for the high score with everybody else!
Bottom line; if you have any gamers in your group, you are going to LOVE it. Chances are, dad will secretly be just as excited…
There are 3 different movies to choose from, the goriest being Zombies. Then there’s a Mad-Max style apocalyptic story called Road Fighters. Finally, there’s a more kid-friendly story where you shoot robot bandits holding up a train in the Wild West called Los Banditos.
The movies / games are about 15 minutes each, including a short briefing, and a mini training session.
It’s not the LONGEST possible way to beat the weather on this list, but it’s easily one of the most exciting!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 30 Minutes.
1. Wonderworks
Good luck driving down Front Beach Road, and missing the GIANT upside-down house!
WonderWorks is filled with over 100 highly interactive virtual, physical, and mental exhibits and challenges.
Enter through the roof, and make your way up through the interactive museum… all the way to the ground floor!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 3 hours.
2. Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum
A trip to Ripley’s is another great way to beat the rain and experience lots of unique and fun hands-on exhibits.
If you’ve ever been to a Ripley’s Believe it or not museum before, you know you can expect to see a huge collection of oddities and unusual exhibits!
Shrunken heads, life-sized figures of the World’s tallest man and more!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 3 hours.
3. Gulf World Marine Park
The doors to Gulf World open daily at 9 a.m. rain or shine.
Gulf World brings you a selection of animal shows featuring sea lions, shark feedings, talking tropical birds, and their famous dolphin show.
Most of the shows have interactive elements to them.
There’s also a wide array of hands-on exhibits, such as a stingray petting pool.
If you go back at night, you can experience an incredible 90 minute magic and illusion show included in the cost of your ticket.
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 5 hours.
4. Check Out Pier Park
This huge outdoor shopping mall is full of cool stores and “beachy” boutiques to kill some time in.
The As Seen on TV store is a great example. Lots of cool gadgets and gift ideas.
Yes, it’s an outdoor layout, but you can easily dart to the next store between downpours of rain.
One of the best parts about Pier Park, is that the layout means you can split up if you want to. The kiddos can go one way, you go yours and meet up at a set time and place later.
There’s places to eat, shop, and things to do all in one place. Making it sort of the ideal place to get stranded on a rainy day.
Pier Park is easily one of the best things to do in Panama City Beach when it’s raining.
Potential downside: spending a lot of money. If you go into this giving everybody a budget to stick to, then things wont get out of hand 🙂
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 4 hours.
5. Indoor Blacklight Mini Golf
There’s currently only one place in Panama City Beach, FL with indoor blacklight Mini Golf; Race City.
The themed course takes you through ancient aztec ruins, underwater cities, and our into deep space.
Courses are redesigned throughout the year to keep the experience interesting and new, even if you have played there before!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 2 hours.
6. Arcade Games
Another classic way to beat the rain in Panama City Beach is to head to some of the indoor arcades.
Spend as long as you like playing classic arcade games and video games that will test your skill.
Most of the arcade games also spit out tickets as you play, which can be traded in for prizes.
These prizes vary from fabulously tacky and fun, to surprisingly awesome; including iPads, and digital cameras!
The cool part about this way to beat the bad weather, is that mom and dad get to see the kiddos having fun playing the classic arcade games.
It’s a great way to bring everybody together. It’s even more fun if you pool your tickets together at the end and trade them in for a big prize!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 3 hours.
7. IMAX Cinema
A classic way to avoid rainy Panama City Beach days.
Round up the family and catch the latest Hollywood blockbuster in style!
The Grand Cinema, located just over a mile away from the Sandpiper Beacon has a state of the art IMAX 3D Cinema.
You only have 2 things to do… Grab the popcorn and nachos, then sit back and be entertained…
There’s even a small arcade game room in the lobby area to help kill a little extra time before the movie starts!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 2-3 hours.
8. Mirror Maze, Laser Craze & Lazer Tag
You’ll soon forget all about the rain as you try to navigate your way through this huge 2,300 sq. ft house of mirrors.
A mysterious light and sound show completes the experience, and creates a feeling of tension and excitement.
Once you make your way to the end, you can also test your skill in the ‘Laser Craze’ game.
Try to dodge laser beams just like a spy in the movies. Your every move will make or break your score at the end, so be careful!
Finally, strap on a vest, grab your Laser Gun and do battle in the 1,800 sq. ft Laser Tag arena.
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 2 hours.
9. Bowling at Rockit Lanes
With 24 Bowling lanes, a fun arcade, pool tables, and a rollerskating rink, you can definitely dodge the rain at Rockit lanes.
If you stop by at night, the bowling lanes turn cosmic, with lasers, and black lights.
There’s also a sports bar and grille on site. So mom & dad can grab a bite to eat and a drink while the kids entertain themselves. (NB The prices are pretty steep for food, so you may want to eat elsewhere and just play here).
It will probably feel pretty good to sit down for a while!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 4 hours.
10. Play Games in Your Hotel Room
Here’s an even cheaper way you can beat the rain, and still get to enjoy some quality family time together.
If you didn’t already pack them just in case, take a quick drive to the store and pick up your favorite board game or a deck of cards.
To beat even more time, take the whole family and each of you can pick out a game!
Now all you have to do is to head back to your Hotel room, and spend some quality family time together playing games.
Trust us, the kids will survive taking a break from their phones for a few hours! Plus you get to save some money on admission fees etc.
What’s more, you now own a bunch of cool games that you can play again and again when you get back home!
The value for money, and fact you get to keep your games makes this one of our favorite things to do in Panama City Beach when it’s raining!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 2-3 hours.
11. Grab a Bite to Eat in a Restaurant
Rainy days are usually good business days for restaurants.
Even if people aren’t hungry, they will jump into the nearest restaurant to beat the rain for a while. They make a great place to plan the rest of the day while the rain stops.
There are so many fantastic places to eat to choose from. More and more open up each year, Panama City Beach is home to a fantastic selection of places to eat.
If you can’t find something to please everybody in your group here, then you’ve got some seriously picky eaters in your group!
Seafood, steaks, BBQ, southern homestyle food, gourmet sandwiches, burgers, and more… You might as well grab a desert too, you’ve got time 😉
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 1-2 hours.
12. Go Wild at Dave & Buster’s
Imagine a 40,000 sq. ft. space filled with wall-to-wall video games, prizes, a restaurant, a bar, and flat screen TVs showing all the sports games.
That’s gotta be a pretty good recipe for the kids, and mom and dad to stay entertained, and stay dry!
There’s no question that Dave & Buster’s is a great option for beating the rain, but you can bet that you won’t be the only family who realizes that too…
So you might want to expect longer wait times, slower service, and lines for the more popular games.
The amount you spend on games can rack up pretty quickly though. So the longer you stay there beating the weather, the more it’s going to cost you. While this is a really fun way to stay dry, it’s not the most cost-effective if it ends up raining for a few hours!
Potential Time Spent Avoiding the Rain: 2-3 hours.
Bonus: Right At Your Hotel…
If you do your research ahead of time, you might even find a Panama City Beach hotel that gives you lots of things to do without even having to leave the property.
The Sandpiper Beacon gives families plenty of ways to stay entertained, even when the weather isn’t playing nicely 🙂
- Tropical, Covered Tiki Bar
- Indoor (seasonally heated) Pool
- Lazy River Ride (Indoor )
- Fun Games & Activities
- Indoor Pool Tables
- Table Tennis (Indoor)
- Indoor Arcade Game Room
- Family Craft Hour
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