Monday, Feb. 23, 2009
Hard Rock Park vows to rock again
An aerial view of Hard Rock Park. Photo By Randall Hill / rhill@thesunnews.com
It appears the music isn't over for Hard Rock Park.
Shuttered after its inaugural season and forced to file bankruptcy, the $400 million rock 'n' roll theme park in Myrtle Beach will rock once again as a new ownership group plans to reopen the attraction by Memorial Day.
And, most importantly to budget-minded patrons (who isn't, these days?), the new operators have vowed to slash admission prices, perhaps remedying one of the park's biggest customer gripes. The park admission will be $35-$40, instead of $50, a sum that raised many eyebrows along the Grand Strand.
Also good news for potential park patrons and thrill seekers, the new ownership group plans to pump $15 million into improvements, including the addition of three-to-four rides geared toward children.
In addition, park passes from the inaugural season will be honored with six-month extensions when it reopens.
What's still up in the air is whether the attraction will retain the Hard Rock brand name. The original owners/developers paid $2.5 million per year to license the Hard Rock name from the company that owns and runs the successful chain of music-themed cafes (like the one at Broadway at the Beach) and hotels, concert venues and casinos.
Hard Rock Park opened in April 2008, amid much fanfare and hoopla, but with the backdrop of the deepening recession and economic turmoil looming.
Simply put, not enough people came through the turnstiles to meet the park's visitor projections (3 million per year) and by September the operation was shut down and engaged in bankruptcy proceedings.
The next few months, prospective buyers toured the facility and made various bids on it.
But on Feb. 19, representatives from FPI MB Entertainment LLC closed on the purchase of the 55-acre park and its assets for $25 million from Delaware's district bankruptcy court.
"We are ecstatic about our purchase of the park and look forward to getting to work on preparing the park for a Memorial Day opening," said Steve Baker, investor in FPI MBE, according to a press release. Baker is also president and CEO of Baker Leisure Group, the company that will manage and operate the park, according to the press release.
During its one-and-only season, the park featured three signature rides attached to some big names in the world of rock 'n' roll: Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues and the Eagles. The centerpiece of the amusement park is the looping, snaking "Led Zeppelin: The Ride" rollercoaster, set to the classic hard rock band's 1969 track "Whole Lotta Love," blasted on-board the coaster via 64 speakers, representing 1,200 watts of power per train.
"Led Zeppelin: The Ride" is 15 stories high, constructed as high as the Federal Aviation Administration would allow, at its apex coming 13 inches below the FAA's prescribed limit. In all there are six loops and inversions (going upside down) - including a 120-foot-tall loop, a 75-foot-tall cobra roll, and a 75-foot-tall roll. The mass of twisted track and steel weighs approximately 1.2 million pounds.
A smaller scale roller coaster, "Life in the Fast Lane" was named in honor of the Eagles 1976 hit about the excesses of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.
The Eagles and Moody Blues were also involved in the park's grand opening celebration held in June, with each act performing at the facility's outdoor amphitheater on back-to-back nights. Other acts to perform at the park's amphitheater in 2008 included Kid Rock, Sister Hazel, George Clinton and The Charlie Daniels Band.