Hard Rock / Freestyle Music Park Discussion Thread

"Nights in white satin,

never reaching the end"...

"Breathe deep the gathering gloom."

FYI, there were NO winners in the auction this week. They even extended it until yesterday. That means they got no minumum bids (35 million).

If you can't find one buyer willing to pay less than 10 cents on the dollar for the park, they obviously don't think the park can be successful in Myrtle Beach. I think the break up and individual ride sale is iminent!

FYI, there were NO winners in the auction this week. They even extended it until yesterday. That means they got no minumum bids (35 million).

 

If you can't find one buyer willing to pay less than 10 cents on the dollar for the park, they obviously don't think the park can be successful in Myrtle Beach. I think the break up and individual ride sale is iminent!

Looks like this park will fade into history just like Freedomland and Wild West World. It's a shame though. They really put a lot of detail into the park and once and a while I'd take a peek at construction. I wonder who will get Maximium RPM and Led Zepplin?

There were no bidders?!? Wow...I knew it would be hard for the park to find buyers, but...nobody?!?

I guess now, they're going to start auctioning off the park piece by piece.

I wonder how much Led Zeppelin's going for?

spacemtfan said:

I wonder how much Led Zeppelin's going for?

"No Quarter"

Man, I really wish this park could be given a second chance. I really enjoyed the park when I visited back in July.

spacemtfan said:

I wonder how much Led Zeppelin's going for?

 

"No Quarter"

Ha! Here's another Led Zep song title for the situation:

"What Is And What Should Never Be"

Seriously though, I wish I had visited this park, good or bad. I hope the most unique rides will find good homes.

I may ramble on a bit, and this may just make you sick again, but how many more times do we have to say that a park down by the seaside is going to fail. I mean, after being there all day, even Robb told them in the evening: Your time is gonna come! That’s the way of this business! But some hot dog there, and his friends, seriously believed that a rock and roll park down by the ocean will succeed.

Maximum RPM will probably be the rover and be propped up on four sticks before too long. Afterall, the wearing and tearing of that ride will be seen in the light of day. Led Zeppelin: The ride, is moving over the hills and far away, probably going to California. Yes, it’s a heartbreaker, and I’m gonna crawl into a hole because I didn’t get the credits.

Why can’t someone just admit that “it’s nobody’s fault but mine”, and as a team, we have had a major communication breakdown. Instead these idiots think “run for your life”, as some want to string them up on the gallows pole. I’m just dazed and confused by the whole thing. So I’m gonna go get my black dog, and have some tea for one.

Thank you.

JJ

(Btw - 27)

Ha! That was great, Jeff! I found all 27. Couldn't you have fit Carouselambra in there somewhere?...

Screamscape is reporting that NO ONE BID ON THE PARK!!!

Amazing...

http://www.screamscape.com/html/hard_rock_park.htm

(12/19/08) I’m personally a little shocked, but apparently there were no qualifying bids put in for Hard Rock Park. With just $3.5 million down, buying an entire theme park for $35 million is steal… even if all they wanted to do was raze the property and relocate the rides elsewhere. Some blame has been placed on not only the current economic conditions, but also some parties have complained that they didn’t feel that they had enough time to do the proper research on the park and the local market. As such, there are rumors that some parties may have asked for an extension to sometime in January to put in new bids.

It goes on to say there have been some talks with PARC Management but they want the city and county to cough up $5 million each which was refused.

--Robb

That almost makes as much sence as going to a Ford dealer, and asking them to pay you 5,000 bucks to buy a new car. I would assume that the city and county are also facing budget issues as they probably didn't recieve the same revenues they did a year ago. It will be interesting to see what happens.

-Gary T.

^Have you noticed the ads dealerships are running lately? You practically *DO* get 5,000 back. It's a win-win situation, since the dealer would not otherwise sell the car.

It's the same idea for Hard Rock Park: if the city and county want the potential economic boost from HRP, they have to help it survive too.

Personally, I'm not reading too far into the lack of bids. I think Screamscape is dead on. Lining up at least $35 million in credit (or paying in cash) is no easy task with the way things are. Companies are definitely going to want to do their own market studies, appraisals, etc. before making that committment. Without a doubt, someone will still end up buying the park once all the proper analysis is done. I certainly wouldn't take the word of HRP management!

I have not seen any ads like that here, I was simply assuming that things had gotten so bad with the auto industry that offers like that could not be done. Might be different though since the LA area is a completly different beast than that of Eastern NC.

i know in columbia some car places are doing 2 cars for one...too bad the jag dealership hasn't jumped on the bandwagon!

Well, it looks like the story of Hard Rock Park has now ended according to Discovery Myrtle Beach:

http://discovermyrtlebeachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1782

This is a sad story to report. Hard Rock Park has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Attorneys for the park asked the Delaware bankruptcy court to alter its bankruptcy fomr Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, which would appoint a trustee to the property and liquidate all its assests.

 

"Despite considerable effort ... the debtors were unable to consummate a sale of all, or substantially all, of their assets on terms and conditions acceptable to the debtors, the [creditors] committee, and the lenders within sufficient time to permit an orderly conclusion of these cases under chapter 11, given the considerable constraints on, and ultimate availability of, postpetition financing," the filing states. "Because the bid and sale process has been unsuccessful thus far, there exists no reasonable prospect of success in the immediate future. ... Regrettably, conversion of their chapter 11 bankruptcy cases to cases under chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code thus appears to be the only remaining means of allowing the debtors' assets to be liquidated and potential causes of action to be pursued and monetized for the benefit of creditors

 

In financial documents, the park shows a it made just $21.5 million dollars between April 2008 - September 2008 an owes almost $300 million. The odds of most creditors (including Discover Myrtle Beach) to receive any money from the liquidation stands about a 0% chance.

 

Hard Rock International, who licensed the 'Hard Rock' name to HRP Operations said in a court filed that the park damaged its reputation and did not live up to its agreement to thoroughly advertise and market the park.

 

"The park is not known as a destination of choice in Myrtle Beach, but is widely associated, as reported in the state and local news, with financial problems that have negatively impacted operations," the company said in the documents dated Dec. 23. "Hard Rock [trademarks] have been, and continue to be, harmed by the [park's] conduct."

 

Hard Rock International is also asking a judge to turn over memorabilia loaned to the park, such as the Magical Mystery Tour bus.

 

Now that the park is official finished, we'll be doing a series of articles detailing the park from our perspective.

 

More to come...

I'm not surprised given that no one even bid on the park. Hopefully the rides find new homes, and hopefully whoever buys Life in the Fast Lane can actually theme it. I'm also curious to see who buys Maximum RPM since it had so many mechanical problems.

Very sad... I feel bad for Hard Rock International - Most people don't know that they only licensed the name to the park.

I was hoping someone would come in and pick the park up for a second chance but that would have been shy of a miracle.

RIP HRP.

I figured no one would shell out the money to buy the park whole. I guess next time they should plan to build a theme park in places where they can actually make money, like Orlando, Ohio, or Cali and not on top of former entertainment venues that failed.

Better luck next time.

Another victim of the economy. The park never really hit the ground running. They tried to make it into a decent park, but in the end, another one hit the dust.

^ I don't think the economy was that big of a factor in the failure of the park. I think location and advertising played a more vital role.

Another victim of the economy. The park never really hit the ground running. They tried to make it into a decent park, but in the end, another one hit the dust.

Yeah it's sad, but then again they should have known to NOT open the park due to the shape of the economy. and it's not like the park was in the best location of South Carolina

I wonder where the coasters are gonna go.....

Another victim of the economy. The park never really hit the ground running. They tried to make it into a decent park, but in the end, another one hit the dust.

I kinda disagree. If the economy was good, I still think it would have failed. Looks to me that from all the negative comments, trip reports, pictures, etc... about the park, it just didn't have what it took to stay open. The concept was good, they just didn't do it very well. Which just goes to prove that a B&M is not a gauranteed success.

That is a shame that a brand new theme park did not even last two seasons. I actually had a fun time there. Here are the two trips I had at Hard Rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3yiULxV8Hk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9YLCQDJ10

I'm also curious to see who buys Maximum RPM since it had so many mechanical problems.

I wonder if it would be possible to replace the ferris wheel lift with a traditional lift hill.

Another victim of the economy.

As much as some people may want to blame the economy, I do not feel that is what killed Hard Rock Park. If you end up making some very poor business decisions which costs you and others hundreds of millions, now is a good time to do it! You've got a great excuse that everyone seems to be buying into.

--Robb