Freestyle Music Park to be Sold for $10 Million?

© Google

Here's a weird story.  A Christian focus non-profit named Abiding Village that runs an urban arts center is trying to raise $10 million in the next three weeks to purchase the land that sits under Freestyle Music Park, formerly Hard Rock Park.

Their plan seems to only include gaining the land, and if they can do it they will use it in three phases - all of which have nothing to do with a theme park.  I can't image that anyone would sell the park with the rides still on it - so that could also mean that we will finally see the rides sold and relocated.  Well, perhaps.  The B&M would probably move easily, and the mine train could head elsewhere too - but you have to wonder about other rides like the really unique Premier Rides coaster with the Ferris wheel lift.

It's been ages since we've heard anything about the status of the park, and while we (at least I) do not ever expect it to reopen I have to wonder why the rides are still there.  So while this current pipe dream may just be that, it may open the door to seeing a new life for some of the attractions.  At least I hope so, it's a shame to see them all sitting there rotting away!

Aerial Antics: Freestyle Music (Hard Rock) Park

Freestyle Music Park, née Hard Rock Park, lived a short life in South Carolina, only two seasons to be specific.  The first year it was branded and known as Hard Rock Park, and under new owners the second season it was Freestyle Music Park.  Without funds, the park has sat closed since 2009. 

Here she is, the entire property in one shot.  The park closed with the hopes of reopening one day, so none of the rides have been removed, and at least when these shots were taken the park looked to be in good condition.

When the park opened this area was known as the All Access Entry Plaza because it was, well, the park's entrance plaza.  A fitting name, but also pretty cool to see from the air.  At the end of the entrance street, lined with shops and food locations, was a huge guitar built into the ground that bordered up against the park's lake.

Moving around the park clockwise, the first section that guests would enter was originally known as Rock & Roll Heaven, which as you can see had a large expansion pad built into the area.  Sad that it never got put to use.  The area also had an amphitheater (there were several in varying sizes throughout the park) that featured a stunt show.

One of the park's star attractions was a large B&M sit down roller coaster originally known as Led Zeppelin, the ride.  I've mentioned before that I have always enjoyed the ride's paint scheme.  Having never ridden it, I can't comment on the ride experience, but it featured a fairly common collection of B&M elements.

Once visitors "crossed the pond" they entered the British themed section of the park aptly titled British Invasion.  With streets themed as roads in the city, guests encountered another of the park's roller coasters, the unique Maximum RPM.  The coaster utilized a Ferris wheel style lift that dropped the cars into a twisting course.

Lost in The 70's was themed to the trippy times of the decade, and also was home to a one of a kind dark ride: Nights in White Satin: The Trip.  The dark ride, with elements from Sally Corp., was based on the song of the same name by the Moody Blues and used some space from a former outlet mall for its path.  It garnered quite a following in the year it was open, since it was rethemed when the park reopened as Freestyle Music Park.

A lot of folks thought that we'd never see another water coaster of the style built, but the park forged on and had Premier Rides create Slippery When Wet.  Using a vertical lift, the individual suspended cars traveled around the track in a series of gentle twists and turns past and through some misters, geysers and water curtains.

Here's a twofer!  The park's roller coaster collection also contained a kiddie ride, a standard Vekoma roller skater named Shake Rattle 'n' Roller Coaster.  That can be seen on the left of this image, on the right was a Vekoma mine train named Life in the Fast Lane, and themed to the song by the Eagles.

If you'd like to check out the aerials of the park, use Google's maps 45 degree feature via this link.

Daily Spin 6.28.09

© 2009 Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver has confirmed that their signature woodie, Cyclone, may be down for the count this season. Park spokeswoman Connie Moore told the press that the coaster is undergoing extensive maintenance in an effort to get it back into prime condition for its 70th birthday next year. Apparently the original intent was to complete the work in time for the 2009 season, but things simply fell behind schedule and it is now unknown whether the coaster will run at all this year. The Denver Post has the full story.

After receiving more than 800 suggestions for the new name of the former "Little Laser" kiddie coaster, Dorney Park has narrowed the pool down to five and they want your input! You have until 4 p.m. on July 4 to place your vote on the park's web site (lower left-hand column). The contenders are Little Lightning, Kiddie Hawk, Kiddie Coaster, Slightly Possessed, and Steel First.

A couple weeks ago, while analyzing the inaugural brochure to come out of Freestyle Music Park, I noted the irony of the park being located on "Hard Rock Parkway". Apparently that won't be a concern for any future brochures, as the Horry County Planning Commission has approved a proposal to change the road's name to "Fantasy Harbour Boulevard". According to this article, the park's new owners sought the change and there were no objections from any of the other property owners on the street.

In a rather amazing coincidence, MySanAntonio.com chose yesterday of all days to republish this story about Six Flags Fiesta Texas's infamous Rattler. (You know, the same ride I covered in Part 3 of my Fiesta Texas TR literally a few hours beforehand.) The article, which was originally published in 1999, outlines the coaster's troubled history and the scores of allegations, injuries, and lawsuits which led to its many "surgeries". Agree or disagree with the author's slant, at least the article gives some perspective on how we ended up with the current incarnation of this ride.

Sabrina's Brochure Spotlight: Freestyle Music Park 2009

A couple weeks ago, I dispatched a crack reporting team (otherwise known as my parents) to Myrtle Beach on a top secret brochure-gathering conquest. They executed their mission with guts and gusto, and the fruits of their labors arrived in my mailbox this week. The crown jewel was this, our very first look at what the new owners of the former Hard Rock Park can do with a few flaps of paper. Did they earn the Sabrina seal of approval? Let's find out.

Covers are important. Good ones grab your attention. Great ones grab your attention and give you an instant visual synopsis of what the featured park is all about.

Score one for Freestyle Music Park. Right off the top, they hit us with a catchy new slogan and an accompanying photo that capture the mission of the new management team: This is a family-friendly park with a musical flair. And just for good measure--or perhaps as a blatant act of overcompensation for the marketing shortcomings of the previous owners--they have super-sized this brochure! This baby's so tall, it's sure to stand out amongst the other brochures in the rack.

So far, so good.

Freestyle Music Park is so much fun, they had to use a DOUBLE exclamation point! I heart double exclamation points!! (This is starting to sound like a Seinfeld episode!!!!)

The inside of this brochure is consistent with the cover in terms of the message it is trying to convey. There's no sign of any hard-core thrill rides yet; it's all about the children. They've also managed to inject all sorts of musical language into this intro paragraph. It's catchy and creative. Score two.

Now we get into the meat of this brochure. This page highlights all the shows and attractions that are new for 2009. Or as this brochure states it, "for for 2009". Huh? Haste may make waste (as the aforementioned crack reporting team used to tell me), but in this case I think it's a small miracle that they were able to get a brochure out at all. It seems like new announcements have been coming out of Freestyle Music Park practically on a daily basis over the past couple months, and they didn't have a lot of time to turn this park over to begin with! So let's give 'em a break and forgive the typo, eh?

But going back to the matter at hand, y'all know how I feel about details, and this brochure's got a LOT of them. I'm a fan. Score three.

Oh dear...not this again. It's the return of the cheesy coaster rider wearing the even cheesier park t-shirt! Not only that, but in this case the park logo has been very obviously Photoshopped onto that otherwise plain black tee. [And if it wasn't, I'll eat this brochure.] That's two strikes on one page! And they were doing so well!!

Well, nobody's perfect. There is a photo of people eating ice cream on this page, and I like ice cream. So that sort of makes up for it. But the level of cheesiness attained in the Time Machine (a.k.a. Led Zeppelin) photo prevents me from awarding a point here. I simply can't do it.

In case you've long since lost track of all the name changes at this park (as I have), this map provides a good summary. Oh, to have an identity crisis at the ripe old age of one...

This map definitely merits some points though. It's colorful, well organized, and very detailed. And when I say detailed, note that it actually includes pictures of the food items featured at each of the dining locations! Now I know precisely where ice cream products can be procured at this fine establishment. Thank you, Freestyle Music Park! Bonus score.

Legacies, like old habits, die hard. Take, for instance, the directions to Freestyle Music Park: "...Turn left on Hard Rock Parkway. Follow signs to Freestyle Music Park." Ouch! Or maybe in this case, "shhh" would be more appropriate--There may be intellectual property rights tied up with that street name! Horrors!!!

In conclusion, the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this post is a resounding "Yes!". In what little time was allotted to them, I think the folks at Freestyle Music Park have done a great job with this brochure. I'd like to see a bit more in the thrill rides department, but I think they have their primary target audience--families--pretty well covered. Here's hoping that the park has a successful season so we can analyze many more of their brochures in the years to come!

Aerial Antics: Hard Rock Park

Freestyle Music Park fka Hard Rock Park is in the news quite a bit lately with their grand re-opening right around the corner. That said, I thought it was be timely to post some aerial photos that feature the park getting ready to open for the first time last year!

The park just recently posted their new map which reveals all the name changes that have taken place this year - they really left no stone unturned here, as pretty much everything I can see on the park map has a new name. Staying away from that "intellectual property" I assume.

This was Maximum RMP - now known as Round About. The Premier Rides coaster featured the first ever Ferris Wheel lift system that brought the trains to the top of the first drop. The ride is pretty short but works well for the family bracket of park guests.

Here's the former Led Zeppelin, now The Time Machine. I don't care what it's called, I still love this B&M's paint job! The Hard Rock Park Blog, now called FSMPBlog.com, posted some concept art for the ride's new station design that's pretty neat.

A standard Vekoma roller skater coaster, formerly known as Shake, Rattle 'n' Roller Coaster - now simply called Hang Ten. The coaster is joined by 4 new family rides in a new section of the park named Kids in America.

And here we have the former Eagles Life in the Fast Lane coaster which is now known as the Iron Horse. What can I say, I love mine trains! This one still needs some sort of theming along the way, though.


And here is the park's first TV commercial that they recently posted to YouTube. They're really doing all they can to get the word out about them which I think is great - any news is good news!

A Step In The Right Direction

I noticed this Freestyle Music Park promo on NewsPlusNotes the other day and just had to do a screen grab because it represents so much of what Hard Rock Park missed out on: advertising!

The new park is doing everything and anything it can to drum up publicity for it's grand reopening in a few weeks. They actually just had another media event to show off their new sign as well as provide the details of a new live entertainment show they will be offering. The show will be called Flip5Live and contain an energetic performance of dancers, tumblers, and singers aimed at the whole family.

Take A Trip on The Time Machine

Freestyle Music Park has renamed the former Led Zeppelin roller coaster "The Time Machine," the park announced today in a press release.

The ride will now feature 5 different songs from different generations as it's on-board soundtrack. The names of the songs were not released yet. You can see some recent photos of the Zeppelin station for the coaster being painted pink and red at Discovery Myrtle Beach.

According to their website, the park opens in a mere 18 days.

"Kids in America" to Debut at Freestyle Music Park

© 2009 DiscoverMyrtleBeach.com

This week Freestyle Music Park unveiled plans for a brand new 17,000-square-foot children's area called "Kids in America". [For you young'uns, "Kids in America" is an '80s song by Kim Wilde!] The new area will replace the former "Banana Splitsville" section of the park and will feature four new rides from Zamperla:

• Life is a Highway - A convoy ride featuring miniature 18-wheelers


• Wheels In The Sky - A "magic bike" ride where guests sit in hang glider carts and control the height of their carts by pedaling


• Fly Like An Eagle - A kite flyer that you ride lying down


• Get Off Of My Cloud - A tower ride which will take guests high above the park in balloon baskets

A number of existing children's rides and attractions--including a climbing wall, jungle gym, and train ride--will also be incorporated into Kids in America. In conjunction with the new area, the park also announced the creation of the Freestyle Music Park Kid's Foundation. This charitable foundation will provide tickets, park merchandise, and other services for various children's charities throughout the Myrtle Beach area. These developments are all part of the new management team's plan to create a more family friendly environment within the former Hard Rock Park.

One additional bonus "nugget" was revealed at the media event: The park has adopted a new logo (pictured above). It's actually very similar to the previous logo, it just incorporates a guitar pick! Very stylish. For more photos and lots of additional information on all the changes taking place at Freestyle Music Park, check out this thread on DiscoverMyrtleBeach.com.

Freestyle Music Park Interview

The Coaster Critic has posted a new two-part interview with the President of Freestyle Music Park, Steve Baker.

Part one covers the history of Mr. Baker and how he became involved with the park, while part two focuses on his strategy for getting guests through the gates this summer. Baker has a long history in the amusement park industry so hopefully that skill set will help him in turning the park around.

Part one and part two of the interview have been posted separately, so be sure to check out both.

Freestyle Music Park (Hard Rock Park)

Hard Rock Park has been renamed Freestyle Music Park! Details are to be released as we get closer to the park's reopening, but here's the press release they put out this morning:

~~~
FPI MB ENTERTAINMENT LLC TO OPEN FREESTYLE MUSIC PARK MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND - New Name Reflects Renewed Vision and Direction for Former Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

April 9, 2009, Myrtle Beach, S.C. - FPI MB Entertainment LLC (FPI MBE) today unveiled the new name for the former Hard Rock Park. "Freestyle Music Park" represents FPI MBE's renewed vision and direction for the Park in 2009 and beyond.

"Freestyle Music Park" is the destination for the celebration of that revolutionary phenomenon rock n' roll but also encompasses other genres of music including country, reggae, beach music, pop, R&B, alternative, Christian, and disco. At Freestyle Music Park, you can indulge your inner "rock star" while enjoying the park's many and excellent rides, shows and other attractions.

In addition, Freestyle Music Park will be the prototype and launching point for the Freestyle Park brand throughout the world. FPI MBE plans to open additional new attractions and entertainment venues in the coming years, under the Freestyle Park banner. Our Myrtle Beach Park will be the first to feature a music theme.

"Choosing 'Freestyle Music' as the name of the Park is a strategic move that we see as a key benefit for the long-term success of the project while broadening its appeal to an infinitely larger number of guests," said Steve Baker, president of FPI MBE. "With Freestyle Music Park, we own the name, leaving us unencumbered by one specific brand. This will allow us, from a partnership perspective, to explore other opportunities and collaborate with national and international brands that will strengthen and extend the 'Freestyle' brand in Myrtle Beach and throughout the rest of the world."

In the weeks ahead, FPI MBE will be announcing several changes to its Freestyle Music Park. Many of the rides, restaurants and areas throughout the Park are being re-themed to better fit into the vision of Freestyle Music Park. Castings are also underway for talent to star in Freestyle Music Park's musical and live stage show acts, which are currently in development and will be announced at a later date.
~~~

Interesting direction, no? Very bold move of the new owners to decide to start a brand with this park - they must have a lot of faith that they can turn things around and make the park a success. I wish them the best!

No More Hard Rock Park

Hard Rock Park is no more - turns out the new owners of the theme park and Hard Rock did not reach and agreement for the continued use of the name.

A new name was not announced, but parks officials said it will be music oriented with an emphasis on Rock'n'Roll. The Led Zeppelin and Eagles coasters will also be renamed.

An announcement with the new name should come within a week. The park's former website, HardRockPark.com now takes visitors to Hard Rock's website.

A Little Hard Rock Park Drama

Hard Rock Park's former CEO Steve Goodwin says that he has intellectual property rights to the theme park and filed in bankruptcy court a request to receive $500,000 a year plus more depending on the park's revenues.

Well, the judge in the case actually ruled in favor of Mr. Goodwin, however, he did not provide specifics about money - just the ruling that he has rights to intellectual property in the park.

The new owner quickly said they will simply rename rides, restaurants, and merchandise locations in order to avoid using the former owner's 'property.'

I certainly understand that a lot of time and effort was put into the park during the first year, but this seems like going against the flow of trying to get the park open this spring. Hopefully all parties can be satisfied so the focus on running the park can return.

Daily Spin 3.23.09

I'm getting a little dizzy from all these Daily Spins lately, but there's just so much news (and good news, too!) that I must condense! Let's start...

Legoland California will add a new ride... or I should say attraction to their theme park this year in the form of a giant slide. The 30 ft. tall attraction will open on the 4th of July and be called Dune Raiders. Located in the Lost Adventure section of the park, the slide will be heavily themed to fit in with its surroundings.

But wait there's more! Legoland California also recently received their next step of the approval processed for the new 250 room hotel they wish to build on their property. They're saying that the hotel is in their 10 year plans, so it's not something that's going to happen right away. Still, it's nice to see that further expansion is in their plans.

Yippie for more park openings! Silver Dollar City opened this past Thursday to a healthy crowd of 9,000 - more than the park was expecting. That's such positive news during these trying times. Hopefully more park openings will come with great results like this one.

Hard Rock Park is still not officially Hard Rock Park. Confusing, but true. The park is trying to work with Hard Rock to keep the theme park's name, but hasn't been able to come to an agreement yet. Although the park had a rocky start to say the least, most agree that a name change would make the park's recovery even more difficult.

Can you believe that Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America is already a year old? That went by pretty fast. To celebrate, the park is having a contest where 8 riders will try to outlast each other riding on the Spongebob Rock Bottom Plunge roller coaster in order to win a cruise for their family.

Although the rides and critters are gone, Cypress Gardens is ready to reopen this coming Saturday. Season Pass and daily admission prices have been set, and the article says that 40,000 annuals have been replanted and the water ski show will be ready for opening day.

Will the U.S. make it to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo? Still up in the air, sadly. I really hope that things can be pulled together in time for America to have a pavilion at the event.

Daily Spin 3.19.09

Six Flags Magic Mountain has some new photos of Terminator: Salvation up on their official website. The pics allow us new views of the ride's first drop from a perspective we haven't seen yet. Check those out here.

Change is in the air for Hard Rock Park, this recent article has the new park owners stating that they do not plan to keep the park's Nights in White Satin dark ride operating as it does not fit in with a family appeal. The park does plan on adding more kiddie rides, though.

Holiday World's Holiblog has some pics of the boats for Pilgrims Plunge that have arrived at the park, and some videos of them as well. I like their style! I'm anxiously awaiting seeing them fly down that massive flume into the splash pool below...

Wondering what the official story is behind Voodoo at Dorney Park's name change to Possessed? Well the cat is officially out of the bag on that one, you can read the details in this

newspaper article.

Universal Studios Florida is almost ready to top off their new Rockit coaster, in the latest photos you can see that they've started to install the first drop. All that leaves is the vertical lift and the crest to install.

Walt Disney World's Epcot recently started this year's International Flower & Garden Festival. If you've ever been to the theme park during this event you know how beautiful the displays are. The Orlando Sentinel has photos from the opening of the event.

Worlds of Fun always has a Prowler update for us, don't they? The latest batch of photos features the ride's finishing details coming into place. The new wooden coaster will hopefully open with the park this April.

A Photo Tour of Hard Rock Park Pt. 4

Here is the last part of our Photo Tour of Hard Rock Park. We'll start with the USA themed section of the park.

The section of the theme park dedicated to the USA features a variety of rides and attractions for guests.

And some interesting features like these Heavy Metal Graveyard statues. I think these more unusual attractions really make this park unique.

And this section is home to the Shake, Rattle, and Roller Coaster - which is a family ride. It's a Vekoma roller skater model, which can be found in many parks.

Slippery When Wet. Premier Rides created this suspended coaster with plenty of on board and ground-based water features.

And a unique version of Lady Liberty watches over the land.

Our final section is the Cool Country area - obviously themed to country music.

The park's mine train coaster is named Eagles Life in the Fast Lane.

I love mine trains, so I think it's wonderful that the park chose to add one to their coaster lineup.

And here's a cool Elvis like cow statue that shoots water at unsuspecting guests - much like a similar fountain found in Islands of Adventure.

And here's a sign in the park - which after the first unsuccessful season is fairly ironic. The park is getting a second chance, so make you plans now to visit this summer!

Many thanks again to Carol and Scott for all the photos!

A Photo Tour of Hard Rock Park Pt. 3

Up next in Scott & Carol's photo tour of Hard Rock Park during it's opening season we cross the ocean and head over to the British Invasion section of the park.

Here we have a nice view of the section of the park from across the lagoon. The Maximum RPM! roller coaster stands out as one of the bigger rides in this section.

Scott & Carol visited for the park opening, and Maximum RPM! wasn't quite ready at that time. The Premier designed coaster features a one of a kind Ferris wheel lift to get the cars going.

Here we have the Magic Mushroom Garden flat ride. A Trokia, if you will with some wild theming!

Here are Carol and Scott doing their best Abbey Road photograph impersonation! Like I said in the first section the park has lots of fun little photo spots like this.

And this is the London Cab Ride. Another well themed flat ride that spins guests round and round.

The Roadies Stunt Show "features incredible high-action stunts, amazing special effects, and outrageous physical comedy, as we follow the adventures of a hapless Roadie-wannabe on his first day on the job."

And it has FIRE!

Easily one of the most talked about rides at the park before it opened was Nights In White Satin - The Trip. A totally unique and certainly one of a kind dark ride themed to the Moody Blues song of the same name.

Sally Corporation created the dark ride for the park, and I recommend checking out this link to Sally's page for their work to learn more.

Here's a general photo of one of the buildings in the area that gives a good feel for the theming in the British Invasion section.

Next time, in our last part, we'll check out the remaining two themed lands of Hard Rock Park.