I Love Rock & Roll--and Theme Parks
Here in the Boston area we have a legendary sports radio talk show host, Eddie Andelman, who often admonishes his phone-in callers with "No whadyathinks." As in, "Hey Eddie, whadyathink about the Sox pulling Ortiz out of the lineup?" Andelman wants to talk sports, and he doesn't want to have to constantly interject his own opinions into the fray. Invariably, friends and family who know about my park trips, often confront me with whadyathinks. I just returned from a soft opening "Sound Check" visit to the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which officially opens this Friday. So, of course, everyone wants to know: Whadithink?
Joan Jett famously snarled, "I love rock & roll." Me too. And I love theme parks. The combination of the two seems like a natural, and it's amazing to me that it's taken this long to build a rock-themed park. The Hard Rock Park captures the spirit of the music and the culture. And it does it with great style, plenty of humor, a dash of irreverence, and lots and lots of music. Simply put, it rocks. The upbeat mood is infectious, and some of the clever, wacky references (an area in the British Invasion section, which uses London-style red telephone booths to depict the famous ancient English ruin site, is known as, wait for it...Phonehenge) can't help but put a grin on my face.
And that's what a great theme park should do: generate smiles, create opportunities for visitors to discover wild (and sometimes wacky) experiences together, immerse visitors in a reassuring, affirming environment, cultivate the joy we experience when we celebrate our common popular culture. Hard Rock Park succeeds on all of these levels.
And it does it on a comparatively lean budget. Except for the world-class thrills of Led Zeppelin-The Ride and the weird, yet wonderful Nights in White Satin- The Trip (which is near-Disney quality--and quite trippy), there are no mega-blockbuster attractions. I'd imagine a lot of the announced $400-million construction budget went to securing the rights of all the artists and songs represented at the park, especially mega-acts like Led Zeppelin and the Eagles.
"We planned to start small," says Hard Rock Park CEO Steven Goodwin. He compares the park to Walt Disney's original conception of Disneyland, which focused more on the overall experience than over-the-top E-ticket attractions. "If we don't stray too far from Walt's vision, we can't go too wrong," Goodwin reasons. That sounds like a good model to follow.
That doesn't mean Goodwin and his team built a perfect park. There are some incongruous details. What's the Reggae River Falls water play structure and the Malibu Beach Party show doing in the Rock & Roll Heaven section of the park, for example? And the Eagles may at one time have been dubbed country-rock, but it seems a stretch to stick their coaster in the Cool Country section. Most of the Lost in the 70s area seems to be...lost. (Although I did visit during the pre-opening period. More 70s stuff may be on the way.)
The park is also notable for what's not there. While there are enough shows, live music, and cool vibe to keep wimpy guests busy, I think the park could use more high-end, low-thrills attractions like Nights in White Satin: The Trip to keep the coaster-averse coming back. And the park seems to have largely overlooked some important rock genres. Where are the odes to Motown, for example? To the blues? To early pioneers like Chuck Berry? To rap and hip hop? Hard Rock Park could also use an attraction depicting the history of rock and roll to help tie its theme together. Perhaps it should consider producing a slick film in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The theater at the head of the park would be an ideal location for such a presentation. Instead it houses a lame, self-congratulatory exhibit about the history of Hard Rock Cafes and the park itself. According to Goodwin, a new film is on its way to the theater, although he didn't provide details.
On balance, though, Hard Rock Park is a load of fun. And it sounds as if there are expansion plans in the works that promise to make it even better. Goodwin says that there is plenty of room to grow within the confines of the park's current 55-acre footprint and lots more acreage beyond the gates as well. And he hints that there will be a steady flow of new attractions to keep the park fresh and the buzz steady.
I've still, er, got a buzz from my visit to Hard Rock Park. I love rock & roll, and I love theme parks. And now I can say that I love Hard Rock Park. How about you? Have you been to Hard Rock Park? If so, whadyathink? Are you planning to go? Weigh in with your thoughts by clicking on the "Comments" link below.
Photo: Led Zeppelin-The Ride strikes a mighty pose at dusk. Arthur Levine 2008. Licensed to About.com.As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary accommodations for the purpose of reviewing those services. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
Comments
The moment my friend Neal and I had been waiting for finally arrived. The Hard Rock Theme Park http://www.hardrockpark.com/ in Myrtle Beach opened its gates for a “Sound Check”. The “Sound Check” is the equivalent of a soft opening in which the park opens its doors and allows guests to experiece the park at a discount prior to the official grand opening/ Not all attractions or shows are available during the “Sound Check”. But nonetheless, we were rearing to go visit a theme park that was located only 1.5 hours away from Wilmington, NC.
The first time we visited Hard Rock Park was about a month ago when we traveled down to take the hard hat tour. This was a $20 pre-park opening tour in which they gave you a sneak peak of the park, a real Hard Rock Hard Hat and a $15 discount on a Season Pass. We of course purchased our season pass as we left the park since we knew we would back several more times. The Season Pass costs $150 and allows you unlimited access to the park which includes all concerts. The pass does not include access to the Grand Opening Eagles concert. This special event will cost park goers $250. The pass also includes free parking as well as discounts on food, merchandise and single day passes for guests.
Our second visit to Hard Rock Park came on Friday April 18th 2008. We wanted to go down and see how the park was doing after only being open for a few days. We arrived at the park around 7:00pm. The closing time of the park for this evening was 10pm. So we figured we could walk the park, take in the sights and sounds and have dinner at the park.
Our first impression of the park was that of a laid back, tropical rock and roll atmosphere. The entrance way looks like something you would see at the home of a successful rocker. It was well landscaped, steel gates, southwestern style brick fencing and ticket booths. Upon arriving at the entrance way we had to visit the Season Pass booth to get our pictures taken and receive park pass. The staff at the booth were friendly, courteous and answered all our questions. Upon entering the park we were also greeted by a friendly park employee who asked us where we were from and offered assistance. After talking with her for a few minutes we made our way into the central park area. The following is a list of pro’s and con’s that we found with our visit. Now keep in mind this was a soft opening and not all attractions were functioning.
Hard Rock Park Pro’s
The first thing you notice is the music. The park has over 350 Peavey speakers throughout the park playing rock and roll music. This had to be my favorite feature of the park. It really added that party laid back element that differentiated this park from the rest I have visited. The music is not too loud or too soft, it is just right! The selection of music is also awesome and keeps you pumped up as you walk around. I would often catch myself singing along with the songs.
The park also has a really good atmoshpere. In the center of the park is a lagoon that seperates all the different “lands” of the park. This area is also where they do the late night fireworks display. The lagoon is a great focal point and really adds to the party atmosphere. The layout of the park is also very user friendly. It is one big oval that connects each area nicely. The bridge that connects Heaven and Hell to the British Invasion areas is also a very nice touch and a great place to take pictures or just see the whole park.
The food was also really good at the park and they offered a good selection of different items. You could get hot dogs, pizza, sandwiches all the way up to a rack of ribs. The park also serves a wide array of alcohol drinks from beer to a full service bar. After circling the park we setting on the Paradise Restaurant over by the Led Zeppelin roller coaster. What drew us in here was the Jimmy Buffet style beach singer set up outside the restaurant. I had the 1/2 pound foot long Nathan’s Hot Dog, an order of fries and a drink ($11). I must say that this was the best hot dog I have ever eaten. Excellent!! Neal had a cheeseburger, fries and bottled water ($9). He also raved at how good the food tasted. Prices were reasonable for a theme park and the season pass discount helped out as well. Next trip down we plan on tackling the BBQ place on the other side of the park.
The gift shops were also very reasonable with regards to pricing and offered a nice selection of Park gear as well as themed gear from each of the different “lands”. All the usual Hard Rock items that you would find in their restaurants were avaiable. The flow of the shops also fed well into the attractions and restaurants.
The Fireworks display that took place at 10pm was also very good. The fireworks display takes place in the lagoon. The display was set to music from Queen. It had a nice “Disney” feel to it as all the lights in the park were turned off except for the big Gibson Guitar in the middle. The Guitar was very cool in that it lit up and played to the music. Overall the Fireworks display was short but good. It only lasted one song.
Hard Rock Theme Park Cons: Overall it was a good experience however with my new found MBA service marketing classes (Props to Dr. Meyer) I was able to see things in a different light. Plus there is always room for small improvements and I would be doing park management and readers of this blog a disservice by not pointing these out.
Employee knowledge of the park was overall generally lacking. The employees were very friendly, however there were three instances where they could not answer our questions and we witnessed an employee who could not answer a question from a park guest. This happened at the front of the park in the Guitar Museum and Park Model/Information room. As we were looking at the model of the park another lady and her daughter entered the room. There was an employee in the room cleaning the glass compartment. The park guest asked the employee how big the park was? The employee could not answer the question. She also asked another question about one of the shows in which the employee did not know also. This is not a huge deal but you would expect the person who is working the park model room to know these sort of questions. Not to fear though, Neal and I were able to chime in and help the employee since we are self proclaimed HRTP “freaks”. I also asked the lady what she thought of the park and her one complaint was that the shows were “ok”, not great but “ok”. Now this could be attributed the park just being open and the full cast not being present. This is something I will have to witness on my next visit.
The one bathroom that I did visit over near the Led Zeppelin was not very clean. It had a weird stench in and the trash cans were full. The sinks and toilet areas had also not been serviced in awhile. This was kind of troubling because the park was not busy at all on this evening. What will happen when Kid Rock is jamming out and 15k people are in the park? We also noticed several full trash cans around the food stands.
Another general observation was the overall lack of indoor seating at the food stands. We only saw two areas that you could eat inside. During the hot summer months this may cause a problem as park goers will want to eat in a cool environment.
Another observation took place as we drove up. The parking attendants were not wearing any sort of uniform. They all had on jeans and t-shirts with the orange construction vests over top. I understand this is a rock park but I think it would be good to have these people in some sort of uniform. Maybe all black “Roady” type outfits. This is a park goers first impression. All these individuals were very friendly though. It was also hard to determine who was a park employee while inside the park? You had to really look at some of them to determine if they were employees. The only way to really tell was if they were wearing their badge around there neck. A uniform of some sorts would be good for these employees.
No park maps at the front gate.
The food stands need to advertise out front what they are serving. We had to walk in to all these place to see what was on the menu. This goes back to the lack of a park map. A park map could have solved this problem.
Looking inside the ticket booth at the front you could see all the telecom stuff and wires on the back wall. Maybe cover these up with Rock Posters or something. It made the booths looked cluttered and messy.
The concert pavilion area seemed very small. The area did not have much room at all. If you want a good view of the bands you will want to arrive early and lay claim to your spot. However you can listen to the band anywhere in the park as the music will pump through the speakers.
Another very tiny observation we had was with the season pass. It is the size of a hotel room key and they do not give you a holder for it. Seems like they could have done a little more for the Season Pass Holders with regards to the design of the pass.
Overall the Hard Rock Theme Park lived up to our expectations. I look forward to the many visits I will make down to Myrtle Beach this summer to see the concerts and experience the attractions. Following our next visit, tentatively set for the May 8th One Republic Concert, I will write another update as the park will be fully functional at this point.
Till Next Time
George and Neal
GOING TO MYRTLE BEACH WITH MY FAMILY
2 GRAND KIDS 7 AND 8 THIS WILL BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND DAYS WITH THEN AND ENJOY THE PARK…DO THE HAVE A KARAOKE SECTION WE LOVE TO SING TOGETHER
Hi Bob-
In fact, Hard Rock Park has a unique Karaoke booth set up in the queue for the Maximum RPM coaster. Have a great vacation!
-Arthur
Hard Rock Park was awesome and it has the potential to be even greater. I liked the Roller coasters the best… The led Zeplin rocked as did the Life in the Fast Lane coaster…. Loved the fire breathing statute and the 2 for 1 roller coaster being what made up the ride.
cons- Prices on food, but hey its an amusement park I guess it is comperable to other amusement parks food and beverages prices
Pros- Friendly staff and unique experiences in the six different sections…..
I’m a taxi driver here in MB. Although I have yet to go to the park, I do encounter quite a few of the tourists who have and the general feeling they share is one of disappointment. Most feel that the park is overpriced and that they are not getting enough bang for thier buck. The locals feel that the park has been unfair to them in particular, in that they do not offer discounts. From what I understand, ticket sales are far less than expected. I’m sure a lot of that can be explained by the lackluster economy, but a sizeable chunk of the blame can be placed upon the shoulders of HRP’s management team for not reaching out to the local population for their support. Many times, tourists visiting MB will ask a local opinions about where to go and what to do, I know this from practical experience and yes I do like to make money, but I don’t rip off my customers by lying to them that they will have a great time at HRP, I give them an honest opinion based on what I know and heard from others that have visited HRP (I like to get the return business and if my customers feel I misled them, I might not get the callback). One of the main things that bothers a lot of the cabbies here in MB is the fact that HRP has chosen an upstart cab company called Rock Star Cab to exclusively service the park. This cab company has chosen to color their taxis with gaudy ads for HRP. Unfortunatly the city of Myrtle Beach does not allow advertising on the outside of taxi cabs and as an end result this company was denied medallions to pick up within city limits. Now their base of opperations are located in North Myrtle Beach, about 20 miles away from the theme park,… how convenient. In Horry County, there are roughly 300 taxis opperating, Rock Star has about 15-20 of these cabs. So in choosing one particular cab company over all the others, HRP managment has alienated the 280 or so other cabs in the area in favor of a cab company which really cannot service them properly. Smooth move HRP.
Hey Shoeless (is it legal for a cab driver to go without footwear?):
While I don’t know anything about the taxi deal, I hear you on the cost of admission. From the start, I thought that $50 for everyone, including children, seemed out of line. Apparently Hard Rock Park has come to the same conclusion. They’ve begun offering “special deals” during the height of the season with significantly reduced prices for children. And for locals, they now have discounted tickets available as well. Since the park is offering these discounts during what should be the busiest time of year, I can’t imagine it will revert back to the $50 for “children of all ages” policy in the off-season.
-Arthur
my friends and i visited the park on sunday 7/6. we couldnt wait to get there and the employees on the outside were all excited, making us more excited. upon entry, we realized how small this place is. the park was not busy and there were no lines for the rides. we went to the led zeppelin roller coaster, and discovered it was closed indefinately. the employee blocking the entrance barely spoke english and couldnt answer our question (all the english speaking employees were at the main gate). the next roller coaster, max rpm, was closed as well. we were very disappointed at this point, and were also half way around the park already! we walked around, hit one ride, and hit some of the stores. the stores were all the same. they have multiple songs playing at the same time in different areas of the park, but its all so small it sounds like 5 songs playing at the same time, which got old real fast. we went to guest services for a refund and had to WAIT IN LINE! we were not the only ones dissatisfied. they were cool about the ticket refunds but not the parking refund ($10 to park!). the lady said ‘people paid $20 to park to see this place under construction…’ i dont care what people did before the park opened, im not satisfied and im asking for a refund for whats happening now! before she escorted us out (similar to being kicked out of a concert!) she gave us a brochure stating this was not a ‘ride’ park. yea, im ok with that, but youre advertisements say otherwise (you know, the ones on the radio every commercial break!)
this park is severely overpriced and hopelessly overhyped. even if all rides were open, you could visit every ride and shop, eat lunch, and still be done in 2-2.5 hours tops. im a big hard rock cafe fan and visit all of the restaurants that i can, but this place is ruining the hard rock name.
Shoeless should’ve used the name “sour grapes”. Make sure your facts are correct before stating them as such. Cab drivers are bothered by the general and overwhelming drop in business this year due to the tanking economy and the ever-rising price of fuel. That being said, your gripe about the park and subsequent statements just don’t hold water. The facts are: HRP chose Rock Star Cab because of the brand new fleet of Dodge Sprinters, the higher level of insurance coverage and stricter regulations for drivers than are required by the city of Myrtle Beach; there are six (6) wrapped cabs for the HRP representing each of the areas within the theme park; Rock Star Cab currently has over 20 cabs in the fleet, and all but the 6 wrapped cabs have medallions which allow them to service the city of Myrtle Beach and anywhere along the Grand Strand; the offices for the company are NOT located in N Myrtle Beach, but right next to the HRP in the former Waccamaw Pottery mall; any cab may drop off customers at the park and may also be called back by their customer for the return trip. Rock Star Cab has DOES have exclusive use of the cab stand at the park.
Every new business has growing pains, and the HRP is no exception. They have already instituted discount programs for locals, multi-day tickets and children, along with a 30-minute full-refund guarantee. Find THAT anywhere else in Myrtle Beach…I bet you won’t! I think “Shoeless” should hope for the park’s success instead of trying to slam it because they partnered with a particular cab company. And, by the way, you really should go to the park yourself before making any judgements.
Intheknow sounds very much like a representative of the Park! Unfortunately, the park got started at a very bad time, economically. It is not doing well, from all that has been in the news about it. I, personally, have not been there. I would like to; however, I cannot afford it. I am a local, and what the Hard Rock people fail to understand is that Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand in general is an area where a majority of the locals are service industry people. I, myself, work two jobs to get by. The “discounts” for locals are not much to speak of. And the Park did put off a lot of locals in not offering any type of discount from the beginning. They have since gone to selected restaurants and hotels and offered free season passes to employees there, but they have yet to come and offer a season pass to anyone where I work. We attract a lot of tourists and constantly make recommendations on places to go, other places to eat, etc. It seems to me that to be fair, Hard Rock should/could have offered these passes to a lot more places in the area, or even a half price discount to anyone who was willing to hear the presentation that they gave to be an “ambassador” for the Park. Basically, the cost of the park rivals Disney, and there is a lot more to Disney. My children want very much to go to the Hard Rock Park, but I simply cannot afford to take them. It seems to me like the Hard Rock people were pretty greedy from the beginning, when they swore they would not offer discounts to locals (and, naturally, that statement was offensive to locals), and then the Park got desperate when they realized they needed the locals and offered a meager discount. This Park may have attracted a few people for the theme park, itself, but most people who come to the Beach, especially these days, come for the Beach itself. And by the way, Intheknow, a 30-minute full refund guarantee doesn’t say much. In most theme parks, 30 minutes isn’t enough time to know whether you will enjoy yourself or not…