Freestyle Music Park begins foreclosure proceedings

*sigh* Freestyle...

I won't go back into what I think could have saved the park or where they went wrong. Moving forward, I know that when this happened in 2008, there were local and national (and really even international) parties that were interested in such a low price, but didn't bite at the time for different reasons. Perhaps a more experienced and better funded party will step forward this time.

I really believe the park will be sold as a whole (just my personal thoughts on it), and I do think that it could become a success, if even just a modest one. But unlike the last (2?) owners, the next buyer needs to not only have enough money to purchase the park, but to deal with all of the consequences BEFORE making the decision to buy. I think the guy who opened the OD Pavilion that was interested the last time would have fit that bill nicely.

As far as moving the rides, even if the park becomes a firesale and is sold piece by piece, you're still purchasing the ride, then paying the full price it would cost to deconstruct, and then the full price to move and reconstruct it. You're simply getting a discount on the purchase price of the ride, not the total cost. And by the time you pay to dismantle, move, and reassemble, especially these newer rides, it likely isn't *as* cheap as we probably think.

The least favored choice I have in an already established chain would be CP. I would rather see Six Flags buy it than CP. Mostly because the 2nd owners *had* to rip out theming, and I know CP would likely go the distance to finish that off, add subpar food (and charge an arm and a leg for it), and besides, they're still dealing with the Paramount acquisition, so I don't think they need to put resources into another troubled idea.

I'd love to see someone like Sea World Parks (or anyone under Blackstone, really) get it, or Parques Reunidos (sp?) or ParcManagement (who already has a presence down the road from Freestyle).

I still think it *COULD* be a great buy and be turned into a decent attraction, if someone with not only enough money to purchase, but promote, maintain, and manage the park steps up to the challenge.

From an aesthetic point of view, Led Zepplin /Time Machine could look very nice at Holiday World. The lift hill is actually a few feet shorter than Voyage's. The layout has a clean slender appearance, also like Voyage. It would certainly change the skyline, but I think it could look natural.

One potential challenge: Led Zepplin was designed for flat ground while much of Holiday World is quite hilly.

If anyone is interested, Bing.com has aerial shots of Holiday World (with completed Voyage) and Hard Rock Park (with completed Zepplin). Photoshop away!

From a business plan point of view, this would still be a huge risky investment for HW. However, a big, modern sit down looper would be unique to the region.

They'd have to keep the on-board sound working though. Make it something unique.

Otherwise, you're importing a mid-size looper that got middling reviews at best and couldn't draw a crowd in one of the busiest tourist areas in the US.

I think Darrius Rucker should buy it and turn it into "HootieWorld". I'm not sure I would try the "Blowfish" attraction but he does have roots in SC and he would make an interesting partner in the project.

I think I'd rather see Dollies than Hooties... ;)

If the park stayed put, I would like to see Herschend take over. I think that they know how to run parks in tourist areas.

DaveStroem said:
If the park stayed put, I would like to see Herschend take over. I think that they know how to run parks in tourist areas.

I second this notion.

couldn't draw a crowd in one of the busiest tourist areas in the US.

To be fair, MB's tourism has taken seirious hits. The once lucrative Bike Week(s) have been a bust ever since politicians decided they wanted upper 'class' money there and made a lot of problems for bike week (which depending on which bike week event it was, often ended up being well to do retirees with money and time). Businesses down there are not happy. Now they're trying to get rid of Senior Week and Spring Break traffic. Where do they expect to get money from?

The middle class Americans that went there had been hit by the economy, but many don't go now that MB has moved towards 'only' trying to cater to the upper class, who don't seem that interested. Don't get me wrong, I know that they could do well with less people who had more money to spend, but they haven't (yet) successfully turned Myrtle Beach into an upper class resort destination, and yet they've managed to cut out a large portion of people who were spending money NOW.

It really is a mess. The area is slowly bouncing back, but it's going to take a mixture of upper and middle class people to keep it going. Myrtle Beach politicians seemed to want the Martha's Vinyard or Hamptons clientele on a cheaper budget, and it isn't going to happen like that. And don't get me started on downtown (Perhaps search for my previous multitude of posts complaining about what they've done to ruin down town).

I would love to see Herschend take over. They already focus their parks and attractions as *more than just a theme park*, and focus on entertainment, shopping, food, AND rides, and as Myself (and others) have said, that's what they need at Hard Rock.

Heck, I'd love to see Herschend come in and just buy up everything in Fantasy Harbor, the once theater churches, the park, and more, and turn it into a large attraction with hotels, a water park, shows, rides, games, shopping, and more. Herschend seems financially stable enough to not only buy the park, but to actually run the park the way it needs. And that they know how to run similiar businesses, I think it'd be a great fit.

On top of everything else, Myrtle beach is over an hour from the nearest interstate at best. Coming from the North, I still have an hour and a half of driving after I-20 ends. That's not too bad. The year I went to Myrtle beach on the way home from Florida, I had 160 miles of driving on state routes after getting off I-95.

I wouldn't necessarily say that being away from the interstate is an issue. Up until just a few years ago, the area was the 2nd most popular tourist city behind Orlando (Not sure what it ranks now).

In 2008 Forbes didn't even have them in the top 25

Which is a shame after being in 2nd place for so long.

As much as I love HFEC (and that's a LOT) - nothing they could do would pull Myrtle out of its malaise. Unless gas goes under $2/gallon, which is among the least likely things that could ever happen...Myrtle's not coming back to where it once was....or even anywhere close.

Gator, I don't even think Gas is that much of an issue anymore. It isn't affecting all of the other places where tourists flock (and drive) to. The last several times I've been down there, just talking to locals, or reading the newspaper, it's obvious that there are some loud locals and the city council that want to push away the people with money to come down there, and go after people that don't care enough to go down there.

The whole Black Bike Week fiasco, as well as pushing towards getting rid of the Harley Spring and Fall pilgrimages (instead of, you know, just being fair in it's treatment to both) really hurt Myrtle.

The area used to do so much in May and June, but now that the bikers aren't going and they're pushing to get rid of the teens on vacation, who is going to spend money?

Downtown has the new boardwalk (haven't been yet to check it out this year), and that's good, but the shops are still dirty, vulgar, and sell useless crap. There's not much to do downtown, it's all away from downtown.

Ensign Smith said:

RatherGoodBear said:

DaveStroem said:
Only question would be what holiday would a Zeppelin be?

May 6 (1937)?

Not sure if I'm the only one who appreciated the humanity of that joke. ;)

Hey, I'm from NJ...I certainly did, even if I'm about 1.5 hours from Lakehurst.

Separate query..I see a lot of folks talking about Freestyle, but only a precious few OPINIONS of the park from people who went there. Having been to HRP and loved it, I have no feel for what Freestyle was like under that banner.

I didn't get to go to HRP cause I had so much going on with my (then) new job, but I did go Last Year with AV Matt. As far as the rides go, they were okay, I liked Time Machine and (surprisingly) Iron Horse, but the rest were very Meh.

The Ice Show (I heard it was fairly unchanged) was good, the CSI show was bad, didn't see the stunt show.

The rest of the rides were okay outside of the coasters, and the park had a nice atmosphere, but it was a better nite time park (had it been busier and more stuff going on). They ripped a lot out and had to change a lot to get it opened, since they originally thought they were going to get the HRP IP to go along with the park, and only had 2 months. In that time, they did a good job changing it over, but the park felt like it was missing various stuff, like it was unfinshed.

Everyone I talked to raved about it as HRP, and those that went to both said that Freestyle wasn't 'bad', especially under the circumstances, but it just wasn't the same.

I did think that, though they were needed, the 'new' kiddy section wasn't done very well. They basically took a flat section of the park and plopped down some off the rack rides (with cool names), that weren't themed, looked out of place, and there wasn't any landscaping around it like the rest of the park (even when landscaping and theming had been ripped out, lots had been re-done).

And don't get me started on the dark ride.

Here are my pix.

I took the family to North Myrtle Beach for spring break this year. (When you live in Florida you tend to want to go somewhere cooler.) I'm sorry to say the place was a ghost town. And, the shop owners all said that the loss of bike week was devastating.

I think the lack of a major interstate to get you there is a valid point. We likely won't go back to the area for quite some time as that was one of the more unpleasant aspects of the trip.

Tekwardo said:
And don't get me started on the dark ride.

I've flushed better ideas down the commode...even flushed twice just to make sure they didn't come back, LOL ;)

rollergator said:

Tekwardo said:
And don't get me started on the dark ride.

I've flushed better ideas down the commode...even flushed twice just to make sure they didn't come back, LOL ;)

Tek/Gator....you guys ARE dissing the FREESTYLE version of the dark ride, right? Because I thought Nights In White Satin was one of the most enjoyable rides of its type I ever had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of.

Yes, they are.

NIWS was not one of the best dark rides ever, it was the best dark ride ever.

It's a shame that video from Sally themselves can't even effectively capture the experience.