Theme Park Discussion / Hard Rock Park

I don't know how many people have been following the construction of Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, but I took a VIP tour the other day of 2 areas to see how the work is progressing. Here's a copy of the trip report I posted to www.coasterforce.com. It was a nice small tour (only 4 of us), so we got a good up close look at how the park is progressing. It's looking great.


First off, let me say that I'm really impressed. I was going in to this not expecting too much (just by looking at the ride list), but the place went well beyond my expectations. The atmosphere and theming is fantastic and I love all the little touches they've done.

So let's start with the pictures.
Good luck for those of you on dial-up. If it's too rediculous, let me know and I'll make some links.

**Contains some spoilers, so careful if you want the park to be a total surprise**



Starting off, the entrance has a very Mediterranean feel to it and is rather well themed.



Past the ticket booths is the front gates with the Hard Rock park logo in the center.



The guest services building with a picture of the Beatles up above. Nearly everything here has some kind of music reference, which I suppose is incredibly appropriate. It's all done very tastefully, though-- nothing is too overpowering.



All guests heading into the park go under this sign.



Underneath is this painting.



The centerpiece of the park is the giant Gibson guitar, which will also be the center to the nightly fireworks show on the lagoon.



The entire entrance path is a big guitar in the path. The black circles on the foreground (forget what they're called on a guitar) will shoot up water as dancing fountains.



Always reminding you where you are.



While we didn't get to tour that section, you can see Slippery When Wet in the USA section.



Also across the pond is Shake Rattle and Rollercoaster, the park's small Vekoma.



The prototype lift system on Max RPM is still waiting to be tested.



The first section on the tour is the Cool Country area.



Every section has a major ride, a smaller ride, a large eatery, a walk-up eatery and several interactive areas. This is the small ride in the Cool Country section.



The detailing starts on the cars, which have fake mud sprayed on them in an incredibly realistic pattern. The coloring is very convincing.



The queue line is themed very nicely and covered for the hot South Carolina summers.



An awesome detail is with the concrete around the ride where they rolled ATV tires. It creates a really nice touch that helps make the atmosphere at this park a lot better then others I've been to.



This is the biggest eatery in the park and will feature several different types of sauces.



There are lots of tables outside (as well as inside) and even a small play area for the kids while the adults eat.



One of (maybe the) largest of the show venues is in this old pottery building that was already on the site before the park was started. It will feature an ice show.



This cow statue is just one of the interactive features through the park. It will be fully interactive with a guy that communicates with the guests through a microphone in the statue. The udder also shoots out water in several directions, soaking the guests (and in this case our tour guide!).



Another of the interactive touches is this still (gotta love the South) that shoots up steam and sprays water as people turn the knobs and levers.



You can see one of the trains back on the transfer track for Eagles: Life in the Fast Lane (which was changed just yesterday from Midnight Rider).



The brand new sign is in the middle of the awesome themed hands that are supposedly dragging this building down to hell. The Eagles coaster will be themed as an old abandoned mill or warehouse or something taken over by biker gangs who eventually killed each other. Supposedly it's pretty spooky.



As Marcus displays, this bike will actually rev when you sit on it. Another nice interactive touch.



From across the pond is Led Zeppelin: The Ride.



We'll head over to Rock and Roll Heaven next.



More really cool touches include these guitar shaped fences.



The guys were still working on this sign when we visited. This marks the entrance to Rock and Roll Heaven from the entrance area.



Adding some final stucco touches. It looks very nice.



This is kind of like a tribute garden section. There's symbols of a bunch of religions to go along with one of the Hard Rock mottos of coexisting.



All around the side are bricks commemorating people in the music industry that have died. There will be bigger stones to the legends like Elvis and John Lennon.



This was another preexisting structure on the site that used to be used for a boat show on the lake. Now it's a large stadium for the Malibu Beach Party show.



The name escapes me, but here's the large restaurant in the section.



Right across the way is Reggae River Falls, an interactive water play structure that looks pretty nice.



Going inside the restaurant, we can see just how far the detail goes.



Really nice theming inside.



Workers were finishing up some of the details in the building.



The wood statues of famous music artists are up on all the walls. Pictured here are Mama Cass and Ray Charles.



Lots of tables to go around.



Now we get towards the real interesting stuff. Here's Led Zeppelin.



The exit from Led Zeppelin leads into this gift shop in a World War II era structure recreation.



The entrance sign to the ride, which is the largest thing in the park.



This might've been one of the coolest things we saw. This is an interactive fountain thing (more below).



As you pass your hand under the streams of water, a sensor picks it up and plays a different chord for each section. If you pass it under all of them it starts playing Stairway to Heaven.



When the park opens, there will be a sand artist here everyday doing castles and structures and things.



The Malibu Beach party actors will pose here for photo shoots after every show.



The lift and the second loop on Led Zeppelin. 155ft was the tallest they could get the ride with the airport nearby. You can only wonder how big it might've been if it weren't for that restriction.



You see a lot of artist quotes around the park.



The first part of Led Zeppelin.



From across the lagoon is the Eagles coaster.



Storytime!
When they first came along to build this park, they found these 2 swans on this island. Another of Hard Rock's beliefs is protecting the environment, so they built their bridge around this island, protection the swan's habitat (they also named them Romeo and Juliet). Juliet is sitting on 3 eggs here, so they'll be more swans to come soon. Everybody go awwww now.



Back to coasters. Led Zeppelin's helix.



The other entrance to Rock and Roll Heaven. Great entrance sign.



The gift shop by Led Zeppelin is already fully stocked. I've already bought stuff from there too...



More details of the area.



The foliage really helps the feel of this area. The open section of path will be a craft center with glass blowers and weavers and such.



The giant guitar looms across the lake with Slippery When Wet in the background.



Inside one of the buildings in the entrance is this cool stained glass window.



A picture of the early groundbreaking for the park.



I want this model.



Another shot of the guitar in the ground down the entrance area.



And finally, a shot of the gates and some crazy enthusiast.




Thanks for reading the update! Hard Rock really is a fantastic park and I had a great time on the tour. Thanks to Kate and all the other people that were really awesome when we went. I'm really looking forward to visiting this park soon.

Looks impressive...

I'm going to have to see if I can find a layout sketch of Zep. But of course I always pictured Led Zeppelin would be a kick-ass wooden coaster so this is automatically wrong.

I like that it looks like they're really fussing over the details though and not getting too hung up on any one thing.

Ride6

The layout is pretty standard... here's the original model. Looks like a great ride, though.. and the onboard audio is certainly a plus.

Did you buy that model?
Great update...the new Eagles name really bothers me though, especially since you released what the idea behind the ride is. What do the Eagles have to do with a spooky themed motorcylce ride in Cool Country...ughhh, sometimes parks do the most annoying things.

Yeah-- I better put a spoilers tag up top.

And no-- I wish I could buy the model. That would rock. But no, that's property of the park.

This is actually looking much better then i thought.

On a huge scale this thing would just be the greatest.

Did you buy that model?
Great update...the new Eagles name really bothers me though, especially since you released what the idea behind the ride is. What do the Eagles have to do with a spooky themed motorcylce ride in Cool Country...ughhh, sometimes parks do the most annoying things.

Heh yeah, like putting a completely overrated band as the centerpiece ride (opinion i suppose though). Still annoys me for some reason though...whatever at least they themed it well.

Park looks great, they themed it really well and the details really help. It would be completely kickass if there was a metal section though.

Oh god.
Would be fun, but I think it would be too much to take in at once.
Looks like a really great park, but there's a lot of things that seem over the top.

Like LED ZEPPELIN THE MOTHERFUCKING RIDE.
just seems ridiculous to me.

that is all.

Wow my friend just told me about this last night over Xbox LIVE (he lives in Myrtle Beach). Somehow I missed it before yesterday, but man it looks cool.

The beemer looks like a really boring layout and tbh i dont rate the theming of the park.Its drab and boring

I will most likely be visiting there this summer since I visit Myrtle Beach often. Thanks alot for the "sneak peek".

Looks like a nice park, too bad I wont be going to Myrtle Beach anytime soon...

Whoa, a lotttt better than what I thought it would be.
-JDP

Sooooooooo I actually managed to get to this park today. It was quite nice but there was just not a lot to do. We actually left the park for about 4 hours and mulled around the nearby outlet malls.

Led Zeppelin was amazing, really, but they make you wait and watch the 5 minute preshow everytime you ride. Every show is an old interview with the band and then them playing Whole Lotta Love. Needless to say a lot of people have memorized the preshow and are pretty fed up with it by the end of the day. I'm hoping sooner or later Hard Rock Park will learn how to move people more efficiently...trains were only going out every couple of minutes. But--the actual ride as I said is fantastic, as is the soundtrack, which really adds a lot to the experience. In fact you can expect some great music no matter where you go in the park, which is a lot of fun.

Maximum RPM is the ride with the ferris wheel lift here, which was neat. Apart from that the ride is pretty dull and short. In fact I think the best part is the karaoke queue line, which is an awesome idea. Overall the park is really themed VERY well but for all the great quality of the park, it lacks quantity. There's really not enough to keep you busy all day, which is probably why at the parking gates they suggest to you that you can leave the park and get back in without additional parking cost.

Well of course we did come back after dinner and managed to ride some coasters at night (wooo!) and catch the fireworks, which were set to Bohemian Rhapsody. They did a really good job with the fireworks. I can't think of the last time I enjoyed fireworks that much really. Between the music, fireworks, fountains, lasers, and the giant Gibson all lit up it was a spectacular show. I think this may have been the highlight of the park.

In short, this is the type of park you should visit after dark, because it's really easy to see everything in a few hours. But, what's there is not a bad experience and definitely deserves your attention if you ever find yourself in Myrtle.

I'm gonna be in Mrytle Beach next Monday-Thursday so I'll probably be going there once or twice.

I'm really looking forward to it but am expecting the worse due to the recent reviews I've seen on most sites. I really hope I walk away enjoying it.

^ You will. Make sure you don't go just for the rides, however. I highly recommend seeing all the shows. All 3 are quite good.

Also, for anyone interested, I've finished writing a Hard Rock Park guide on CoasterForce. Included are interviews with 3 of the management positions and pictures from the grand opening of both the park and the Moody Blues dark ride.
www.coasterforce.com/Hard_Rock_Park

Yeah I'm gonna try and do everything, even though I'm not much of a flat ride person.

Other then the coasters I'm looking forward to the shows, foam ball pit and the bounce house.

And I'm hoping we're entertained enough to stay until the Bohemian Rhapsody show at the end of the night, and to get some night rides.

But yeah that Zepelin preshow has been a huge complaint from almost everybody I've talked to about it. Mainly at night when there's absolutely no line and they've seen it 5 times by then already.

I saw 2 of the 3 big shows plus the Phonehenge show. The big shows were rather strange to be honest, but Roadies was better than the Malibu Beach one. I passed on the country music show for obvious reasons. Phonehenge was interesting, more personal, but nothing I've never seen before. You should definitely stay for the fireworks, or at least come back for them. They were really impressive as I've said and completely worth it. Nights in White Satin was okay but like much of the park leaves you in a state of confusion. The spinning tunnel in the queue was more fun, haha.

I recently went to the park too and coming from Ohio...i.e. Cedar Point, I have to say I was quite disappointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting but honestly, um...MORE. I do have an on-ride coaster video of Led Zeppelin but its a huge file. If anyone can compress an AVI file for me, that would be great, I could post it. It is actually my two sons riding it, not me. The coaster is beautiful, albeit short.

I saw the shows, enjoyed them all. I rode the other coasters, enjoyed them. I shopped, s'ok. The moody blues dark ride was absolutely ridiculous IMO. I don't know maybe you had to be high to enjoy it, I'm sure I would have liked it back in the day

We were done in about 3-4 hours. We went to Medieval Times across the parking lot for dinner and I actually enjoyed that more than the park. Sad, I know. I think the park COULD be good but it is going to have to expand and add more rides and THINGS TO DO than they currently have.

I didn't see the fireworks, but I'm sure that might have been fun.

The biggest disappointment to me was the COST of the park was waaaayyy too high for what you get. I'd pay the same price and ride 16 or more coasters and not even get everything in a day I wanted at Cedar Point...

^ That's a shame you were disappointed. While I do think there may not be enough right now, I think it's reasonable for a new park. For me the atmosphere really made it. I've been 3 times now and have really enjoyed myself. The cost is certainly an understandable thing-- it's quite a lot for most people. I had talked to the CEO about it, and he did make a convincing argument for it, although maybe a $10 drop would be nice. Although with people not travelling and a park just starting out, they need all the help they can get. Your comment on the dark ride is something I've seen a few people say. I really enjoy it now. It took a few times, but I keep noticing new things. I've done it about 10 or 12 times now and I must say I really think it's a great attraction.

To Comet: On the preshow thing... yeah, after a few times it becomes a pain. However, there's not really anything they can do about it. In order to use the song, they were required to play the whole 7 or whatever minutes of it... so a preshow was the only way to do that. To let people pass is actually a breach of contract. So unfortunately, you just gotta stick through it. I can about recite it by now.

As for additions... there are more things planned, although I don't have a timescale. Their looking at another type of water ride to escape the hot South Carolina summer... there are thoughts for dark rides and coasters in the works too. I'm unsure as to how things will be going, but I do know there are already plans in the works.