Hard Rock Park up for auction

My heart just sank, although I am not surprised. :(

Well, I never made it to Wild West World, but I did get to Hard Rock Park. Here's hoping the Nights in White Satin dark ride gets a good home.

Unbelievable...I was there on the last day they were open. I still don't understand how in the world they managed to mess this up. It is a nice park with a good concept in the middle of an area that attracts 15 million visitors (mostly families) a year. Economy down or not, it never should have come to this. This park can still be successful, and I hope that a good company takes advantage of the cheap entry fee. Question though, what about the Hard Rock Corporation? They could purchase the park (while cutting those large licensing fees) and hire a company to manage.

It would just be a shame to see it all go after a year. As someone who visits Myrtle Beach a couple of times a year, I'm disappointed to see all of that work and potential go away.

Agreed about Nights In White Satin. That was one of my favorites.

Any investors out there?

Nights In White Satin is one of the best dark rides ever. :(

HRP was one of the best parks ever. :(

Glad I got there when I did. :)

Life goes on.

Geez, when will the bleeding stop?

Wild West World

Geauga Lake

Cypress Gardens

Hard Rock Park

^Thats 3 in one year, I say we are done for now.

Although Im still worried about what happens to the BGE/WCUSA and SWSA depending on what deal goes through.

So sad. :( This park had amazing potential and was so well designed. It sucks to see it go after less than a year.

Add Celebration City and Celebration Centre to the pile. We're probably not done yet. :(

And even when the economy improves, I'm sure it will be a long time before any investor considers opening a park a good idea.

If the economy continues to slide and especially if energy costs go way up as many are predicting, I have a feeling that we will see MANY more parks closing down (or at the very least removing rides with high operating costs).

Lord Gonchar said:
Nights In White Satin is one of the best dark rides ever. :(

HRP was one of the best parks ever. :(

Glad I got there when I did. :)

Life goes on.

I couldn't agree more. By the way, what did your kids think about the Satin ride? Where they kind of freaked or did they think it was the coolest thing ever? :)

-Tina

From the sounds of it, Nights In White Satin is probably a little too drug-oriented to fit in with a major-market American park. Perhaps it might find a home in the U.K.?

Well, it was called "Knights in White Satin: The Trip" for a reason. :)

coasterqueenTRN said:
By the way, what did your kids think about the Satin ride? Where they kind of freaked or did they think it was the coolest thing ever? :)

My son (the younger of my kids) loved it and still occasionally talks about it.

My daughter wasn't nearly as amused and thought it smelled bad. I think she didn't dig the incense.

We rode it four times the day we visited and now I'm wishing we'd have done it more. I've seen a few vids on the internet, but none do the ride justice.

The problem with this park plain and simple was the Executives. They did little to no research on price or city, just went with their own thoughts. They spent money like crazy, even before opening they spent thousands of dollars allowing people to come into the park and look around for free, which is a great idea, except they had more staffing for this sneak preview event then they ended up having on their very last few days. They overpaid employees, then made a bad deal with foreigners making it a contractual obligation that they got 40 hours so locals and people who had been with the park from the begining got their hours cut. Overpaid for everything in their grand opening event, overpaid in their liscensing, and gave no leway to have 20,000 people a day during the peak season. Overhired too much full time staff ignoring the fact that myrtle beach would have little to no tourists 9 months of the year and having a park calendar that would run 10 months long. They also never learned their lesson and if they had the money were going to change nothing, except maybe staffing, and keep everything else the same. Shame that people who weren't ready for such a responsibiltiy were lent or given by shareholders 400 million dollars and have turned it into 35 million dollars.

Ensign Smith said:
From the sounds of it, Nights In White Satin is probably a little too drug-oriented to fit in with a major-market American park. Perhaps it might find a home in the U.K.?

People make the biggest fuss over nothing. Well, I don't think kids care. The ride IS drug-oriented, but only for the adults who see it. :)Actually, it's very hippy-oriented. :)

I thought it was appropriate for all ages. I wouldn't have a problem taking my kids on the ride. The ride featured a lot of cool shapes and colors in 3D. What kid wouldn't like that? :) The ride was very G-rated. I have seen worse watching School House Rock and Mr. Rogers. ;)

The lady I talked to at customer relations mentioned that a lot of people found the ride "offensive." Please. It's only "offensive" if the parents make it out to be that way. People are SO uptight. Heck, The "It's A Small World" rides at the Disney parks are A LOT more disturbing visually! ;)

-Tina

I never got HRP, but from the sound of it, I wouldn't have a problem with the theme either. I'm sure my six year old would enjoy it immensely.

I was speaking more about the prudishness of a large percentage of American consumers, especially parents, about something like this. That's why I suggested it might be better off finding a home abroad, away from our irrational Puritan mindsets.

^PNE in Vancouver perhaps? :)

I wouldn't have had any problem with the theme of Knights In White Satin either, just so they weren't passing out blow-up hammers that read "Do Drugs" to 6 year olds at the end of the ride.

Some undertoned themes go right over kids heads because they haven't learned about such things. I've not been on the ride, but I'm pretty sure it didn't say anywhere in the ride, "Hey kids! Do drugs! It's fun!"

If anyone picks this park up, they should make a few changes to the ride lineup before reopening. Sell the few coasters that are similar and build a decent water ride. Take out the tipping bucket attraction or build some waterslides to go with it.

I didn't go because I took a good look at the boring coaster lineup and the lack of water rides. I'm kind of regretting not going to the park when I had the chance now.