Myrtle Beach welcomes some old favorites as well as some new things to do on the Grand Stand for 2012.  Myrtle Beach – one of the top destinations for family vacations – continues to grow and welcomes new visitors, with over 15 million people flocking to their shores in 2011.

Here’s a sneak peak at what to expect for 2012:

• Coastal Uncorked: Food, Wine & Spirits Festival: The annual Coastal Uncorked festival, in its third year, will take place April 22-29, 2012. All events will be moved to one central location, downtown across from the Boardwalk. The event will include two days of Tasting Tents (April 27-28) with live music and a gourmet village at the site.

• Myrtle Beach Adrenaline Adventures: Two new zip line adventure courses are planned to open in spring 2012 where the former Pavilion Amusement park stood between 8th and 9th Avenues on Ocean Blvd. and on a few acres on the south end of Myrtle Beach. The former Pavilion site’s theme will be a “Carolina Beach-shabby-shack” theme, while the property on South Ocean Boulevard between Springmaid Resort and Damon’s restaurant will have a “Swiss Family Robinson” theme.

• Myrtle Beach Art Museum 15th Anniversary Year Long Celebration: The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum has launched a new yearlong campaign celebrating its 15th anniversary, called “I Heart Art.” Throughout the year, the museum will host events designed to get the public excited about art, with plans to build an art-themed miniature golf course and hold collector’s events, exhibitions of high school art works and fashion runway competitions.

• Pat Boone Family Theater: The Pat Boone Family Theater is slated for opening this winter. Approximately one-half million dollars in renovations will turn the former NASCAR Café restaurant into a 600-seat theater. Pat Boone, who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s and continues to record, will help book acts and also perform several times a year. A Boone Museum will feature some of his memorabilia. The Pat Boone Family Theater will offer a variety of entertainment, appealing across age groups to tourists as well as residents. The resident performers will include magicians and singers, and the theater will house special events and performers such as comedians, nostalgic pop artists and gospel festivals.

• New Mexican Restaurant & Boardwalk Extension: A new Mexican restaurant – Banditos – is scheduled to open in May.  A 425-foot extension of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk is also planned near the restaurant, as is a 60-foot wide oceanfront area that the city would use for a new park.