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Hard Rock / Freestyle Music Park Discussion Thread


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  • 2 years later...

The timing of this park was horrible and location even worse, If this park happened in Vegas or Orlando or attached to one of the casino properties like Tampa two to three years before or in the past 3 to 4 years things could have been so different and we'd still have a B&M with a custom Zepplin soundtrack playing during the ride. All I can think of is Orlando with a dedicated Hard Rock resort entrance as part of Universal.

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The timing of this park was horrible and location even worse, If this park happened in Vegas or Orlando or attached to one of the casino properties like Tampa two to three years before or in the past 3 to 4 years things could have been so different and we'd still have a B&M with a custom Zepplin soundtrack playing during the ride. All I can think of is Orlando with a dedicated Hard Rock resort entrance as part of Universal.

 

Or Nashville. Larger Airport, Larger Local Population, Music Festivals all year long... And Music City. Done.

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  • 3 months later...

Part of me wonders, if SF had bought this park and rebranded everything and marketed it as a local park, if it could have turned out to be successful. Pointless, I know. Just a thought I had.

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Part of me wonders, if SF had bought this park and rebranded everything and marketed it as a local park, if it could have turned out to be successful. Pointless, I know. Just a thought I had.

 

No.

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^I agree with Joey. I visited the park during both it its incarnations, and back then, I could tell the place just wasn't going to make it (especially as Freestyle Music Park).

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I went to Freestyle Music Park the weekend after Michael Jackson passed away when they ran a promotion for $5 admission (as opposed to the normal $39.95 ticket price) and even with such a significantly reduced cost, the park couldn't have had more than 100 guests present throughout the day. It wasn't the brand or the ride lineup... It was the location, the cost of admission, the cost to operate the park and the lack of marketing that led to the park failing, twice. Six Flags would've been in the same boat, as Cedar Fair, Parques Reunidos or any other operator would have had.

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Yeah, this may be somewhat of a generalization but I've always felt like the people that go on vacation to Myrtle Beach aren't the type of people that would visit a Hard Rock theme park with big thrill rides.

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^Eh, I don't know if that's entirely true. There are a ton of families who vacation pretty regularly in the Myrtle Beach area, it's a pretty popular spot as far as I know. I never visited any version of Hard Rock Park but seems like it just might have been the wrong kind of property in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

I'm interested to see how well that Owa property in Foley/Gulf Shores area performs the next couple of years. I feel like that type of mixed commercial/amusement property might have been a better fit than a full out POP daily admission park.

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Needed to be in Orlando or Vegas, at the very least a Casino resort already in place. Would have complimented Hard Rock Tampa or the newer one near Miami that's building the sweet Guitar shaped hotel tower. There was nothing to support it at the location they chose. It was to come later but the Recession tanked everything super quick.

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Yeah, this may be somewhat of a generalization but I've always felt like the people that go on vacation to Myrtle Beach aren't the type of people that would visit a Hard Rock theme park with big thrill rides.

 

They might've had a prayer if the park had been located closer to the beach to catch the late afternoon/evening crowds. But even so, it would've been a long shot.

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Yeah, this may be somewhat of a generalization but I've always felt like the people that go on vacation to Myrtle Beach aren't the type of people that would visit a Hard Rock theme park with big thrill rides.
^Eh, I don't know if that's entirely true.

You're right. What he meant to say was....

 

I've always felt like the people that go on vacation to Myrtle Beach aren't the type of people that would DRIVE OUT OF THEIR WAY to visit a Hard Rock theme park with big thrill rides.

 

If this park was right near the beach, walking distance even, it would have had a shot. People go to Myrtle Beach park their cars and don't get back in them until it's time to leave Myrtle Beach.

 

And with no real option to get to the park other than to get in your car and drive there, it was never going to be a success.

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^ Yeah, I missed that element there, and I'll bet that's why Family Kingdom can continue to exist. It's right there in the thick of it!

 

It does make me curious though. I worked in the rental car business part-time when I lived in Savannah, and we got a lot of people out of our airport that specifically were vacationing at Hilton Head Island. I wonder how many people that fly into Myrtle Beach for vacations actually do rent cars out as opposed to being shuttled directly from the airport to their hotel along the beach...

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  • 1 year later...

The property that used to be home of Hard Rock Park/Freestyle Music Park has been sold. The intentions of the buyers has not yet been made known...

 

http://www.wmbfnews.com/2019/01/11/former-freestyle-music-park-sold/

 

The 125 acres of land where the former Freestyle Music Park once stood has been sold.

 

According to Horry County tax records, the site was sold for $3,545,000 on Dec. 28, 2018. Records show it was purchased by FTPP Bishop Parkway LLC, which was registered as a business with the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office in Oct. 2018.

 

In 2008, the site was home to the Hard Rock Music Park. The defunct park was then sold to FPI MB Entertainment for $25 million in 2009 to become Freestyle Music Park, which closed that same year.

 

Some rides from the park have since been sold, including a large steel roller coaster, which is now the centerpiece of Dragon Park in Ha Long, Vietnam. The park opened in Jan. 2017.

 

On WMBF News' Facebook page, many have speculated as to what they think the land will ultimately be used for. Some have suggested an amphitheater or drive-in movie theater, while others hoped for an indoor hockey rink.

 

Some neighbors said they’ve heard chatter of an RV park, but no rumors have been confirmed.

Edited by jedimaster1227
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  • 1 month later...
  • 8 months later...

Plans have been submitted by the new developers of the former Hard Rock Park/Freestyle Music Park property to rezone the Waccamaw Pottery Outlets mall section of the park, paving the way for a distribution district that could include storage, warehouses, breweries and some indoor recreation elements. This proposal would not rezone the majority of the total property, leaving much of the former park's land for theme park use only, though the purchaser of the land has been quoted previously as saying that the land would not be used for a new theme park.

 

https://www.wbtw.com/home/owners-look-to-redevelop-part-of-former-music-themed-amusement-park-near-myrtle-beach/

 

hardrockparkdistributiondistrict1.thumb.png.f327fd8951f36f45f2537dfb1773571f.png

The location of the proposed distribution district within the former Freestyle Music Park property. (Courtesy: Horry County)

Developers are trying to bring a new purpose to the site that was supposed to be one of the biggest attractions in the Myrtle Beach area.

 

It looks like the beginning of a Halloween horror movie: an amusement park abandoned a decade ago. Near the interchange for U.S. Highway 501 and George Bishop Parkway is the site of the former Freestyle Music Park, which closed in 2009. It opened in 2008 under the name Hard Rock Park.

 

The property’s owners, which include former Myrtle Beach mayor John Rhodes, now want to get some of this land in the Fantasy Harbour district of Horry County back up and running.

 

“There’s interest in that area from a redevelopment standpoint and this is sort of the first step in getting there,” said Sean Hoelscher of DDC Engineers.

 

The developers are asking the county to rezone a northern part of the property. The goal is to make it a warehousing and distribution district.

 

The plan does not mention any redevelopment of the rest of the property where most of Freestyle Music Park was. Right now, the whole property essentially can only be used as an amusement park.

 

A distribution district would allow businesses in a 300,000-square-foot building to have one of about 30 different uses. Those include warehouses, storage, breweries, indoor recreation and several different types of manufacturing.

 

The building would be redeveloped in up to four phases.

 

“They are looking to potentially subdivide the building, a few simple lots for certain portions of the building,” said county planner John Danford.

 

At a county planning commission workshop Thursday, Hoelscher said splitting up the building would allow more flexibility for any business looking to revive part of the old amusement park.

 

“We’ve instituted the phase system, the phase lines, which will provide the redevelopment of the existing structure in a timely and efficient manner,” he said.

 

A public hearing about this proposal is scheduled for the next county planning commission meeting Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m.

hardrockparkdistributiondistrict2.thumb.png.9fef62e3221bc21ecbcd568297d90c32.png

The phasing plan for the 300,000-square-foot building on the north side of the former Freestyle Music Park site. (Courtesy: Horry County)

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  • 7 months later...

Out of curiosity, I drove past the old Hard Rock Park / Freestyle Music Park on the way back to the airport. I was interested to see what (if anything) was still standing.

 

Much to my surprise, the park sign still sits at the corner of Fantasy Harbour Boulevard and George Bishop Parkway.

 

1098317813_FreestyleMusicParkSign.thumb.JPG.1c02f0d3fc448e46a472e15652e3e732.JPG

 

For obvious reasons, the park has blocked off the parking lot and has many no tresspassing signs, but I was able to catch a glimpse of the abandoned parking lot and entrance plaza from the adjacent Crossfit Complex.

 

2099141420_FreestyleAmusementParkEntrance.thumb.JPG.603b8d72d31d5ea4343c2e9c0b798d8b.JPG

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  • 1 year later...

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