Originally Posted By brotherdave Financially troubled Hard Rock Park will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, either as a whole, or in part, by December 12. <a href="http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/breaking_news/story/670507.html" target="_blank">http://www.myrtlebeachonline.c...507.html</a> I guess I should have tried to make it there this year, but who would have guessed it would belly flop like this when they were building the park. Of course, having over $4.00 a gallon gas and a lousy economy probably doomed it from the start. I can only hope that a better operator will buy it whole and that the park will reopen next summer. Sadly, I don't think this will happen...
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains Disney should buy it --- then they could ship all the Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, and HSM 1,2,3 stuff there.... They could call it Disneys Presents - Hannah Montana's High School Musical Rocks Camp Park. They could rotate all the Ice Shows and Traveling Stage Shows through there too! That way all the merchadise would have a place to go!! They could have JoBroLand - where you get thrown from the ride in 27 sec... Hannah Montana Land - It could be a water ride HSM could have 3 Lands -- One based on sports, one based on musicals, and one where you never have to grow up... Camp Rock Land... Don't know about this one... =)
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains I am just kidding of course!!! But it would be nice to get all that crap out of the parks!!!
Originally Posted By Bob Paris Oh we hears ya!!!! That way we could also get a lot of the annoying tweens out of the REAL parks too!
Originally Posted By Kira "JoBroLand - where you get thrown from the ride in 27 sec" I see what you did there LOL
Originally Posted By avromark 4 dollar a gallon gas prices be darned, I'll just let gottaluv pull my flexibody CUV with her SUV. Of course I'd pay for all the unleaded gas she cares to pump into her SUV So are the Hardrock Hotels also on the chopping board?
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains <, I'd pay for all the unleaded gas she cares to pump into her SUV >> We could pretend we were on the amazing race and couldn't see the diesel only sticker... <<JoBroLand - where you get thrown from the ride in 27 sec>> At the end they could tell you it was your fault and if you hadn't gotten off the ride it might have been longer.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Hard Rock Park is not owned by Hard Rock International. It is a licsened 'product', so, no, I don't think the hotels would be affected. The article states that even if the park is sold as a whole unit, it does not necesarily mean that it would retain the Hard Rock name or theme. The new owners would have to renegotiate with Hard Rock Intl if they want to keep the name and theme.
Originally Posted By barboy ///Of course, having over $4.00 a gallon gas and a lousy economy probably doomed it from the start./// Several months ago I argued with a poster or two over the prospects of this park doing well. I was in sheer disbelief that investors/firms would be so stupid to open a theme park in Myrtle Beach of all places. And not just any theme park but a park based on hard rock music which has way too few followers to justify such a venture. I made it clear earlier(on this board) that the local population coupled with tourists could not suppport such a project. Without an ounce of market research I knew such a venture would not work or at the very least I would have stayed far away from dropping one dime into a project like that. The bad news for Hard Rock park has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the current economy; if the economy were thriving then Hard Rock would have just barely stayed afloat, treading water at best(and that is if the planets would have aligned properly)and more likely would have suffered a slow death. The economic downturn just pulled the plug on something very fast that would have been on 'life support'.
Originally Posted By avromark gotta if you haven't learned one thing by now it's that I'm cheap I figured you'd pass up on the offer. Barboy the other thing is timing oh and Capitalism and ...
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA If I hadn't read about 'Hard Rock Theme Park' here at LP.com -- I would have been completely unaware of the park opening. Never saw a news story. Never read a magazine article. Nothing.
Originally Posted By carribean queen The Jonas bros, Hannah Montana, HS Musical and Camp Rock are what bring the next generations to Disney. Don't forget Power Rangers, Kim Possible and so on. These characters could very well be the Snow Whites and Cinderellas of tomorrow.
Originally Posted By avromark ^^^ I'm just going to have say that would be a Darth Vader moment! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Seriously, no.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains <<The Jonas bros, Hannah Montana, HS Musical and Camp Rock are what bring the next generations to Disney. Don't forget Power Rangers, Kim Possible and so on. These characters could very well be the Snow Whites and Cinderellas of tomorrow>>> The difference with these characters and Snow White or Cinderella... Is they have come and gone (KP & PR) Where as the Princesses and such are classics. Even with some of the newer animated features they are made with the hope that they too can become classic stories. The TV shows are not.
Originally Posted By avromark ^^^ I Can see the next E-Ticket You are the Disney Games. Just think of the investment needed
Originally Posted By dshyates None of the characters now, will becoame classics like the older films. It has to do with the way media is consumed these days. The old classics were released in the theaters. Then put in the vault for 7 years. Then given another theater run. Parents would take thier kids in the 60s to see Snow White. And the kids could get a very similar theater experience as their parents. Now it comes out on DVD and can be watched to death in the first year. Then it goes on the shelf, and replaced by the flavor of the day. Its Kung Fu Panda at my house this weekend.
Originally Posted By barboy ///Never saw a news story. Never read a magazine article./// And if you had chances are you still wouldn't have taken a trip out there--- am I right? I guess what I'm saying is that this park could not have pulled families in on its own merits; it would have been largely at the mercy of those who would have been heading out to Myrtle Beach anyway. How many golfers are there or those looking to get away for a weekend? Answer: nowhere near enough to support a theme park in recession or in good times. To thrive theme parks need a large population base whereby locals can pick up the slack if tourists flounder --- Places like Myrtle Beach, Outer Banks or Tahoe won't cut it. The only one to pull it off so far was Magic Kingdom and that worked because it had a heavy name and desirability **before** they broke ground in the middle of nowhere. Disney's name was so strong they could have set up camp in Utah's salt flats and guests would have come(OK, I'm exaggerating....but you get the point).
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <And if you had chances are you still wouldn't have taken a trip out there--- am I right?> Correct. But there's not a theme park on the planet that's going to prompt me to take a trip to see it. I visited Hilton Head 15-16 years ago, but I was living in Florida. To plan a trip to that area of the country -- just to see Hard Rock Theme Park. No way. Did anyone else see any coverage on Hard Rock Theme Park?
Originally Posted By wahooskipper No...but they knew that was coming. Cost overruns on building the place led to a nearly $0 marketing budget. They were hoping to limp through the first year and gear up in year two with a publicity campaign. Oops. They probably should have built one less rollercoaster to start out with. But, the timing could not have been worse from an economic perspective.
Originally Posted By dshyates I still believe that MB is a good market for family friendly entertainment. They did get hammered this year be the economy. The demo that goes to MB is the first that will be impacted by a bad economy. But on an average year they have over 13 million visitors. There were 3 major problems that doomed the HRP. First was the economy. It was a reeally bad year to try and open a brand new theme park, from a brand new theme park company. Second was, as wahoo mentioned, they ran out of money to advertise. They also ran out of money to get in the major acts they had planned and ended up with 3 b-list shows. They were also charging to much for admission. With the only other park in the region (Carowinds) charging $35, HRP's $50 was a deterant. I think $42 would have been more appropriate for the market. I still thing that who ever buys HRP has a great chance of making a go of it. It is a good park, but MB was a ghost town this past summer. And this year may not be any better. But MB will recover. I predict 2010 will be a good year for the park.
