Hard Rock / Freestyle Music Park Discussion Thread

[wickedtwister]

^ When they can attract a decent crowd WITHOUT charging less than $9 for admission, I will agree with that statement.

 

--Robb

 

I totally agree with you. It is AWESOME they get good crowds but they should try soon to get good crowds for say 25 or higher so they can really rack in some money!! So far especially since July 4th attendance is looking very good for the most part.

 

I spoke with a park employee and he was talking about more kids rides maybe 1 or 2 thrill rides and a water ride so i do agree with people that i see hope in the park!!

I love this place!

[CHILLERLC1]

I love the park too. I just hope to bring my sun glasses next time.

 

That was a goofy request the guy wanting to ride The Time Machine to make a point for his toupee but it's funny press news, any news.

[willh51]

I went back to the park Sunday (my Hard Rock Park trip report from last year should be around here somewhere), which was the last day of the 2 for $17.76 admissions.

 

I got there right before 4 p.m. and there were tons of cars in the parking lot and people waiting to buy tickets. They had most of the booths open.

 

The staff up front were very, very friendly and everything, for the most part, still looks nice in this area.

 

I had to wait an hour to ride the Time Machine right when I got there. I think there was some sort of breakdown because for a while they were cycling empty trains. Unfortunately, the large fans don't do much inside the queue, so it was hot as hell in the downstairs room. Upstairs they were using all five decades to load people, but to my surprise, you only walked through the former preshow rooms and onto the train, no videos.

 

I rode a total of five times and got to hear music from the 70s, 80s, 90s, & 2000s. The 60s track is on a YouTube video, so it does exist. The ride experience was the same as last year, though I thought the drop was absolutely killing it Sunday. In the back row I was getting some serious airtime - great stuff. The rattle is still there, though not much in the front, and they still trim before the zero-g and have the damn midcourse on way too hard. I liked most of the new songs, the 70s and 2000s tracks were the best.

 

Time Machine had 2-train, SLOW operations. It would seem to me that 27 people don't need to direct people to their squares, and maybe a few more could be used to load the train. At least they filled all the seats. The two guys loading were slow, and although friendly and saying "enjoy your ride," they were complaining about their rotations, etc.

 

Not sure if the preshow rooms are gone for good or just not open yet, but something needs to be done about the loading on this coaster. Trains were sitting there empty, dispatches were terrible, etc. As for the third train, it was difficult to see, but I'm not even sure it was in the maintenance bay.

 

Great operations on Round About, the cars barely stopped moving and they were calling people up to fill all empty seats. The guy next to me was talking about coming here last year, etc., so I don't remember what song played, but something was on.

 

Soak'd had a huge line so I skipped it.

 

Iron Horse had a short line, one train operations but fast loading. Already starting to rattle like hell though, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" played but stopped abruptly on the second lift.

 

Overall, it was nice to see a good crowd there, but it was the last day for discount admission and the crowd thinned to "should have been walk-on but wasn't because of the loading" for Time Machine later in the day.

 

The park looked pretty good but was a bit dirtier than when I went last year, which is understandable as there were a lot of people there to drop bottles, etc.

 

One thing I did notice is that it is apparently OK to smoke wherever you want in the park, including in lines. I half expected someone to light up a cig on Time Machine. People were bringing drinks on the ride (the ops did comment about it and complain about the people "up front"), sitting on all the rails, etc. I'd recommend getting some staff on this. It doesn't bother me, but I did notice people complaining about having smoke in their face.

 

I only went for a couple of hours but it was nice to see a crowd and some families. Here's hoping they are making money and can add some high capacity stuff, namely of the water variety. It would be nice for the cheaper prices on concessions to stay, too. $1.99 for a bottle of water is cheap at a theme park.

[jedimaster1227]

Freestyle Music Park has begun its latest discount ticketing campaign, known as Countdown to Lockdown. The picture (I can't seem to grab it) shows an older lady, presumably a teacher in front of a clock that is labled "Back to School." The deal itself is one day admission for the price of $19.99 coupled with buy one, get one free offer when purchasing that ticket. The catch once again is that the ticket must be purchased before 4:00 pm.

 

So pricing for tickets purchased in pairs before 4:00 pm now comes out to about $10 a head.

 

The deal can be found here: http://freestylemusicpark.com/plan/tickets

[CHILLERLC1]

The family I've known that has gone to Myrtle Beach ever year except this year finally heard from me yesterday about Freestyle's admission deal. It's been the best news to their ears since I've known and talked to them long enough through the years about the Pavilion, Hard Rock coming, disclosing the bad news, and then the reopening and now this. I've been working the word of mouth approach for years about Myrtle Beach.

[itsasamccormick]

I cant believe that T.M. had a long line! B&M's are people eaters!

[themeparkman25]

I just was at this park on the 29th and I absolutely love it, but the one thing they weren't very good at, and especially on Time Machine, was throughput. They single trained all day, albeit it wasn't too busy, but they still weren't very fast. I will post my TR soon, probably today (friday). For awhile I was indifferent as to this parks destiny, but after going, I am definitely pulling for this park.

[CHILLERLC1]

They were used to having hardly a train worth of people there. Now the park has to adjust. Let's get that MCBR to use for what it's really for: zipping the 2-3 trains through it.

[OHcpIOki]

The park announced yesterday that LeAnn Rimes is playing at the park on September 12th.

[medic738]

On the Science channel Sunday they ran a marathon of the "Colossal COnstruction" series. One episode covered the construction of Hard Rock Park especially the Led Zepplen coaster and Maximum RPM.

 

It was a great episode especially for construction geeks. Thank goodness for my DVR!

[CHILLERLC1]

I've had my best word of mouth experience recently. I met a customer going on a first time Myrtle Beach visit, told them about the park and very easily they picked up the Freestyle part of the name. They asked about things for teens particularly. I even threw in mention of the back to school promo they seem to have and mentioned about food in the area. I hope they make it there on their visit. In fairness for a well rounded suggestion I mentioned Family Kingdom as well.

[lilj4425]

It's making national headlines at least.

 

And Myrtle Beach's former Hard Rock Park, which went bankrupt a few months after its debut last year, reopened this spring as Freestyle Music Park with a softer image, more kid-oriented rides and sharply lower prices. Now, admission is as low as two for $19.99, vs. $50 per person during the park's former incarnation.

 

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/affordableamerica/2009-08-13-myrtle-beach_N.htm

[Homeboy23]

$19.99 for 2 people before 4pm.

$19.99 for 1 person after 4pm.

 

They did keep the July 4 deal going as I thought they would, well to an extent I guess.

[CHILLERLC1]

I loving we got the USA Today National Press to hook up this park.

[themeparkman25]

I am looking for a blue print plan of time machine or at least a really good NL recreation to base my model off of. Does anyone have anything that would work?

 

In addition, how tall is the second loop on time machine?

 

Thanks!

[nitrofan]

I went to FMP last Saturday, and had an amazing time! I'll post a full TR later. I really don't get all the complaining I've heard about this park.

[themeparkman25]

^Nor do I. Besides the relatively small amount of thrill rides the park has, it is a very pretty park with great atmosphere. I fell in love with this park when I went.

 

 

Still looking for Time Machine info if anyone has it.

[lilj4425]

Interesting article on Freestyle Music Park here: http://www.thestate.com/business/story/913798.html

[robbalvey]

I really don't get all the complaining I've heard about this park.

The complaining was never really about the park itself (Although I don't think they have a very good collection of roller coasters nor enough family rides or enough to do to keep you busy for more than a few hours) but more about whether or not the park should exist in the first place.

 

Obviously the Hard Rock Park version was an epic failure, and probably one of the biggest failures of the amusement industry.

 

FMP have yet to prove they can fill the park charging more than $10 per person for admission.

 

Basically, what they built in Myrtle Beach was like a "mini-IOA", but they are charging just $10 to get in.

 

The arguments have been more about "should this park be a success, or should they just pack it up and look for greener pastures elsewhere."

 

At $10 per person this park really seems to be on critical life support. I don't believe they can actually be making much money charging that low of admission especially since I haven't heard many reports say the park is very busy, other than their successful 4th of July evening.

 

Many reports say "There's about 100 cars in the lot..." and that's what you'd expect for a local FEC...not a "mini-IOA."

 

This park is like "Champagne quality bringing in beer revenue."

 

Will they survive? I dunno. It's great they managed to have at least one successful night this season, but I'll really only be impressed when they can do that and still be charging closer to a full-price admission. Of course, I also think they need to become a full-price park before that can happen too.

 

--Robb

[knottslover77]

I just think the park would have faired better in California or florida. Bad park placement I think is the main problem.

 

--Jay

[themeparkman25]

You have to consider competition in those markets though, it is definitely more competitive in both of those states. I think another huge issue, and this is from personal experience, is the high cost of getting to the park for people outside the state. It was like 450 from Denver to Myrtle Beach, not cheap!

[atem122]

The park's placement would have been best in a place with a large populous but no major theme parks around like Seattle or New York (I think it could probably out compete Darien Lake)

[themeparkman25]

I guess going off both of your ideas, what about San Diego? I know it has some sweet parks an hour and a half north, but it has nothing really within city limits.

[atem122]

^It already has Sea World, competes with Disneyland and Legoland, and land there is expensive

[themeparkman25]

Ya but SWSD and SWO are not equal. SWSD lacks anything major, similar to Legoland. As I stated previously, the closest major park is located a solid hours drive to the North, there is nothing major directly in San Diego. You can tap into Tijuana too.