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Hard Rock / Freestyle Music Park Discussion Thread


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I really don't get the love for Nights in white satin. It wasn't that good a ride to me, and one of the problems was the way the screens would just end and then you'd have a blank wall or whatever.

 

We came off the thing going "What was that?".

 

It was certainly better than Monstars of Rock though.

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I really don't get the love for Nights in white satin. It wasn't that good a ride to me, and one of the problems was the way the screens would just end and then you'd have a blank wall or whatever.

 

We came off the thing going "What was that?".

 

It was certainly better than Monstars of Rock though.

Agreed, after the rave reviews I had read I was underwhelmed. I enjoyed walking through the line with the spinning tunnel and all more than the actual ride.

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I really don't get the love for Nights in white satin. It wasn't that good a ride to me, and one of the problems was the way the screens would just end and then you'd have a blank wall or whatever.

What made people like Nights in White Satin wasn't that it was a good ride, but the fact that it got made in the first place. I mean, I'm just picturing a bunch of guys out drinking one night and someone goes "We should make a dark ride based on our best acid trip memories" and they keep talking about it, and joking about it, and then OMG the ride ACTUALLY GOT PRODUCED!

 

That would be like me joking around with friends about a "Debbie Does Dallas" dark ride and then in some sort of weird sequence of events, the ride gets made!

 

It wasn't a great dark ride by any means, and when the only real family ride the park had was based on an acid trip you know it's a real miss, but the subject matter just made you go WTF!!!

 

--Robb

Edited by robbalvey
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http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/24/1653381/freestyle-board-resigned-following.html

 

The majority of Freestyle Music Park's board of directors have stepped down in the wake of a foreclosure suit against the park, former president Steve Baker said in an interview today.

 

A single member, appointed by the park's Russian investors, stayed on the board and continues to try to sell the park, said Baker, who also resigned. All other members of FPI MB Entertainment LLC, the park's owner, resigned after the park's mortgage holder, FPI US LLC, filed a foreclosure suit on Aug. 5, he said. Baker said he could not confirm the identity of the remaining board member with FPI MBE. The future of the park looks grim, Baker said. "I don’t think its dead…but I’m not real optimistic because I don’t think there’s anyone close to buying it," he said. Attorneys Nate Fata, representing FPI MBE, and David Slough, representing FPI US, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.

 

The park failed twice in two years after lackluster seasons: First as Hard Rock Park in 2008, then as Freestyle in 2009. The park did not reopen for a 2010 season. The resignations leave Russian investors on both sides of the foreclosure suit. The mortgage holder, FPI US LLC, is a US division of MT Development, a Russian developer. FPI US formed a joint venture with MB Entertainment LLC to start the park under the name FPI MB Entertainment LLC, according to court documents, and appointed its own representative to the resulting company's board.

 

FPI MBE responded to the foreclosure suit Friday, admitting most of the claims against it, according to court documents. FPI MBE affirmed that it owes nearly $25 million on the park, is in default on its loans and is unable to pay the outstanding amount. "They're pretty much admitting a debt is owed and they're pretty much admitting there’s a mortgage and there’s going to be a foreclosure," said Joseph Wachter, an attorney not affiliated with either party. The response said that FPI MBE should not be responsible for its debt beyond what can be repaid if the property is auctioned off. That's the only claim FPI MBE denied outright with minor claims being denied due to lack of sufficient information, Wachter said. The response indicates a change in the legal approach for FPI MB Entertainment LLC, the park's owner, which has sporadically responded to lawsuits. Local and federal courts have issued at least eight rulings against FPI MB for failure to respond to lawsuits.

 

Baker and the board had been working to find a new buyer for the park prior to their resignations, he said. The foreclosure suit puts additional urgency on the park to find new investors and will make it more difficult to sell, he said. "The Myrtle Beach market can support a park, and I think that market can be attractive," Baker said. "But I think time is not on the investors' side."

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=13110922

 

Nearly a month after a foreclosure lawsuit was filed against Freestyle Music Park and its parent company, more than a dozen former department heads have sued seeking more than $232,000 in unpaid wages and bonuses, according to court papers filed late Friday.

 

Seventeen employees are listed as plaintiffs, including John Stine, the theme park's former director of sales and marketing and chief park spokesman.

 

The suit also seeks legal fees, court costs and actual damages "up to three times the amount of compensation due."

 

According to the suit, FPI MB Entertainment owes the employees $90,347.77 in unpaid salaries and $142,206.24 in bonuses, or $232,554.01 altogether. Three times that amount is $697,662.03.

 

The bonuses are part of each employee's contract and are payable upon termination, with or without cause, the suit says.

 

"During the term of their employment, the Plaintiffs were successful in earning monies under the terms of the bonus structure," the suit says. "The Defendant has failed to pay any of the money due to the Defendants under the bonus structure that they set out when the Plaintiffs were hired."

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"During the term of their employment, the Plaintiffs were successful in earning monies under the terms of the bonus structure," the suit says. "The Defendant has failed to pay any of the money due to the Defendants under the bonus structure that they set out when the Plaintiffs were hired."

 

 

Slightly off topic and I'm quoting the article not Adam (who I'll thank tremendously for all his news posts). This, my friends, is how you fail at business 101. You implement a bonus structure that is not based on the fiscal health of the business and simply on one (or a group of) employee's performance.....

 

Hypothetical Situation A-

The General Manager, Marketing Head, COO, of the park is required to hit a certain attendance mark to recieve his bonus. In an effort to boost attendance numbers they give away the gate (charge nothing to get in- say $17.76 or whatever it was). The park fails because of its cash flow issues and you sue because you didn't get your attendance bonus.. Ironic? Wrong? You decide.

 

 

Chris "Yes I realize this isn't really pertinent to the thread and I'm sorry" Connolly

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Remember folks, two of the guys responsible for Hard Rock Freestyle Music Disaster are now going to be in key positions at two major Six Flags parks!

 

Which parks? (so I can plan a credit run before they close down)

I believe it was Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

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Remember folks, two of the guys responsible for Hard Rock Freestyle Music Disaster are now going to be in key positions at two major Six Flags parks!

 

Which parks? (so I can plan a credit run before they close down)

I believe it was Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

 

I'm just curious, but roughly what were their roles with Hard Rock/FMP? I find it crazy that someone who had a hand in the Hard Rock debacle would have a prominent role at one of the country's biggest parks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2010/09/18/856523/creditors-accuse-sc-amusement.html

 

Businesses owed money by the owners of a failed Myrtle Beach amusement park have accused a mortgage holder of fraud in court filings. The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported Saturday that four companies challenging a foreclosure lawsuit filed responses in court saying the mortgage holder and the owner of Freestyle Music Park are actually the same entity.

 

"We think that there was an element of fraud involved in establishing the mortgage in the first place," said Audra Byrd, an attorney representing Brandon Advertising Inc. in Myrtle Beach. "We think it was created to shield the company from having to pay its creditors."

 

Mortgage holder FPI US has sued FPI MB Entertainment to foreclose on the property. If successful, the mortgage company would move to the front of the creditor line and get paid first if the park is liquidated or sold. "The answer is obviously no ... they're not the same entity," said attorney Nate Fata, who is representing the park owners in the current case, but who has represented FPI US in the past.

 

The $400 million park opened in 2008 as a Hard Rock Park. After a poor opening season, the park went into bankruptcy and was sold to FPI MB Entertainment for $25 million. Freestyle Music Park was open just one summer and it too had financial problems especially with one debt it inherited from the bankruptcy purchase. The park did not open this summer.

 

Last month, a former president of the park said every board member except one had resigned after the mortgage holder filed the foreclosure suit.

 

Byrd said the move to foreclose on the property is to eliminate the outstanding debt without paying anything for it. "The mortgage and notes were created for the purpose of doing what they are trying to do: to foreclose on the property and walk away with that asset - the property - lien free," she said.

 

Fata would not discuss details of the case and said his client would respond to the allegations in court if they responded at all.

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http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/09/17/1699552/court-gives-go-ahead-to-repossess.html

 

An Horry County judge has granted one of Freestyle Music Park's creditors the right to reclaim property that sits inside the shuttered park, according to court documents.

 

VenCore Solutions requested an order to take immediate possession of the property, stating that the property was in immediate danger of destruction. The Oregon-based company had leased a wide variety of property, including shelving units and radios, to Freestyle. The lawyer for FPI MB, Freestyle's owner, wrote a letter to VenCore confirming that the the property "is currently uninsured and not subject to a hurricane contingency plan," according to an affidavit from James Paul Johnson, VenCore's Chief Operating Officer. The judge granted the order on Sept. 8, stating that it appeared the property was in immediate danger.

 

B. Keith Poston, VenCore's attorney, said the company instructed him not to comment on the case. Nate Fata, FPI MB's attorney, could not be reached immediately for comment. It is unclear how VenCore will go about repossessing the property.

 

VenCore initially leased the property to Hard Rock Park in an agreement that was passed on to Freestyle when it bought the park out of bankruptcy in 2009. VenCore additionally claims Freestyle owes $1,074,738 for failing to comply with the terms of the leasing agreements.

 

Freestyle closed after a disappointing first season and did not reopen in 2010. The park failed twice in two years after lackluster seasons: first as Hard Rock Park in 2008, then as Freestyle. The park did not reopen for a 2010 season as the owners searched for new investors.

 

Freestyle additionally faces a foreclosure suit that claims the park owes more than $25 million on its mortgage. The park aims to find some resolution - possibly bringing on new investors or selling the park - to reopen the park, Fata said in August.

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