The Abandoned History of Hard Rock Park/Freestyle Music Park | Expedition Extinct
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- Join us on Expedition Extinct as we look at the unfortunate fate of a park that operated for less than two years. Hard Rock Park or later Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach South Carolina was built from scratch and later abandoned.
We will see you next time on Expedition Theme Park.
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Special thank you to John Binkowski
Intended for educational purposes
Video Credits -
Night In White Satin - The Trip - • Nights in White Satin ...
TEA Talk - • 2017 TEA Summit Day 1 ...
Select Images Credit - themeparksushi....
In The Loop -
• Hard Rock Park Opening...
• Freestyle Music Park (...
• Abandoned Freestyle Mu...
Jr Win - • Myrtle Beach Drone View
DiscoverMB - • Hard Rock Park Bohemia...
Chris Duran -
• Hard Rock Park Constru...
• Hard Rock Park - Eagle...
• Hard Rock Park Bohemia...
• Hard Rock Park July 4t...
• Maximum RPM! Hard Rock...
Sean Flaharty - • Hard Rock Park - Augus...
AndySchinitz - • Hard Rock Park
gcpeanut - • Hard Rock Park
GTNPRoductions21 -
• Country On The Rocks A...
• Malibu Beach Party Sho...
Jason Kitchen - • Talking cow at Hard Ro...
gardencitystud2008 -
• Shake rattle n rollerc...
• magic mushroom ride at...
Philaahzophy - • Reggae River Falls at ... \
bjfan1992 - • led zeppelin roller co...
jorgefelix2329 - • led zeppelin concert o...
Chuck Mull - • Hard Rock Park Opening...
xpressva - • Our Day at Freestyle M...
Coaster101.com - • Monstars of Rock - Fre...
FreeStyleMusicPark - • CSI: Live At Freestyle...
FAB Luxembourg - • Video
The Carpetbagger - • Abandoned Theme Park -...
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Interested to know what Hard Rock Park/Freestyle Music Park looks like today? Take a look at this update photo report from the location. expeditionthemepark.com/2020/06/freestyle-music-park-abandoned-photo-update/
fun fact Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since 2007
All these vids youve made and stories told, there is always a mega corporation and lawsuits and loans. But there's always some dude/gal at the forefront of it with a vision to create a spectacular place of pure enjoyment and they always end up a complete afterthought when the park has been mixed up like a bowl of soup at the final stages.
it's gone, a FedEx hub sits where it was.
What a shame this park didn't make it. It seems like a really cool concept. Perhaps in a different time this park could have been huge.
Exactly.
Personally i think if it was built in 2016 and beyond......It could have worked since now some people are having second thoughts on universal or disney but then again it all goes back to location
MagCynic it never was very nice there was trash everywhere the rides were almost always shut down and it was just not as nice as the videos make it out to be
The only problem with this park is that it was priced like Busch Gardens but it was half the size... maybe even smaller. I loved this park, I had annual passes... but the people who made this park thought it was bigger than it actually was.
MagCynic this couldve saved rock music today
"If you're coming for a ride park , to ride all of the cool rides - the biggest, the tallest, and the fastest - then that's not us." That's a great way to sell your rides to the public.
They DID have one terrific looping coaster. But the "Eagles" themed coaster was just ok. The other Coaster themed with the little convertible cars was fun, but more like a kiddie ride. The last and final year it was open I went with a friend (we had season passes that were honored from the previous operators) we rode that little coaster probably ten times in a row and never had to get off it and get back in line - that's how small the "crowds" were. No one waiting in line for anything. The place was practically deserted.
@@YouKnowWhereYouWentWrong Yep I think they knew there was no way on the state wide level that they could compete with Carowinds or Six Flags over Georgia both known for having multiple fast coasters, so they tried to sell it as something unique instead.
Actually I suppose he was trying to stress that the place was fun, but different then the average amusement park because of its music theme.
@@chrish931 Don't forget Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg a few miles up the road LOL
The should have had a giant DJ turntable that just spun you right round like a record right round
A karaoke cue line is the best idea I’ve ever heard and I have no idea why this isn’t everywhere.
Is it though? There's some bad karaoke and tourism can be a very mixed bag.
@@Iburnyoudie I don’t think the point of karaoke is for it to be “good”. I’m almost certain it’s be fun and enjoy the shared love of music. If people don’t want to do karaoke they don’t have to. I personally think it’s an awesome idea instead of standing in long boring que lines
I paid a visit to my grandparents in Myrtle Beach in 2009 and they surprised me by taking me to Freestyle Park. I was skeptical on the way there because most Myrtle Beach area entertainment I would describe as tacky, and I figured this place would be kinda lame. I was honestly shocked by how amazing our experience was - I remember the ticket prices being very cheap because they had gotten some kind of deal (common for senior citizens down there.) The rides were a lot of fun and the lines weren't long - the live shows (ice skating, etc) and the 4th of July fireworks display were awesome. When I went back to visit them in 2011 I was looking forward to going again, but was shocked to learn the park had closed. Thank you for making this video. I am so glad I got to visit this park, even if it was in it's second year coming off the hard rock brand. It's a very special memory of my grandparents, both of whom have passed away, and I will fondly remember it as the one time I rode a roller coaster with my grandmother.
Great memory, thanks for sharing 🙏🏽🌈
Tickets were 2 for $20 that year for everyone - at least when we went. We went both years and really enjoyed it.
I moved there in 2013 and I couldn't understand why it was such a popular vacation place. Then when I found out the Roller coaster that I saw in the skyline wasn't operating (Zepline was still there abandoned) I couldn't understand it even more.
The traffic was insane in the summer and I couldn't understand what all these people were doing.
"How do we save this failing park?" "Remove everything that made it unique and cool!"
My family got an annual pass for this park and it didn't disappoint us. We were shocked that such a detailed park would open in our hometown. The rollercoasters were beautifully designed and the shows were entertaining and quite original when it opened. The firework show alone was really lovely. I still remember walking through the British Invasion area saddened that so few people came to this park. Of course it was all a mess... the timing and apparently management. I truly believe it may have survived if it opened now as Myrtle Beach tourism/city population has boomed.
My teenage self had a camera and a youtube channel where I had a pov on pretty much every ride and a lot of the theming.... but copyright would always take it down. So sad that I deleted that channel because it gave an insight into what the park was really like in those days. Thanks for the memories!
You really NEEDED the annual pass for it to be worth. Regular prices were a bit high for one visit but after we got our annual passes we felt it was worth it. took us 45 minutes to get there so we just went every other weekend and the pass paid for itself.
Alda Hazel is my favorite RUclipsr!
The coasters are okay... lol
Our band used to travel from Florida to play at The Whammy Bar every few months. During our breaks we’d ride the Led Zeppelin coaster (Unfortunately we could do this, because the attendance was so low we could fit it in). That ride used “Whole Lotta Love”, and they timed the first drop perfectly with the music. It was such a neat theme park, and the way the music blended into a different style of the same song for each section was great. It’s such a shame this place didn’t make it. It was a smaller park, but it had a really good vibe.
Just the brief clip of coaster and the Zepelin tune gave me goosebumps.
Every coaster needs to be timed to a zeppelin song!
@@stevenikazy2943 same !! I was like what and now its 2020 and this is the absolutely first time I ever heard if this place. Would have just gone for zeppelin coaster no doubt
A guy from my yoga class at Coastal was in a band that played at the Whammy Bar alot, too!
I loved the led zeppelin coaster!! Whole lotta love...
"We will grow with the market"
Market: * immediately crashes *
I visited it when it was still Hard Rock. I'd just graduated high school, and we went as a celebration. Everyone's tickets were 50 bucks, and when we rolled up, the parking lot was completely empty. We didn't think they were open. Got in, there are pictures somewhere with me and my brother at the free air guitars stand. No lines anywhere, Maximum RPM was down. We just sat on the Led Zepplin ride and rode as many times as we could until we wanted to ride something else. This was...June of '08
i also graduated high school june of 08 and i went down to visit! very early on we went on almost all the rides i wish i would have taken more photos but the few i had are treasured
There was no advertising on the most obvious place - rock radio stations. Even though I live in NC, by the time l heard an ad for this park, it was about to close.
Yeah they thought they could get by without and didn't have any money left
@@ExpeditionThemePark That was a big mistake. Thanks for the video.
I lived less than 2 hours away, been to Myrtle Beach several times and probably would have gone, except I had no idea this had existed.
I'd have gone, as I am not that far away, a couple of hours drive. I saw news reports about it opening, and figured that it would be around for years, probably getting bigger and better each year. I was wrong. :(
I live in the area, that park was a disaster from the get-go. We were given season passes when they opened for my Birthday, and we went about three weeks later, thinking we'd give them time to iron the kinks out. The "Water Attraction" with water skiers doing stunts. Not open. A full half of the rides. Not open. The large sit-down restaurant. Not open. But you can believe they were pushing the merch and the bars. There were no children's prices (imagine taking your 3 year old to a small theme park and paying $50 plus to get them in) and no 'group sales' rates. The hospitality managers in the area were 'treated' to a presentation and told 'the Brand Name sells itself, we don't offer any discounts' - I know this because I was there. The billboards on the main highways in maybe a hundred mile radius only had "Hard Rock Park" on it - no location, not even the city name! It opened in May and was supposed to be open through Halloween. They closed the first week of September. The folks that bought the park for pennies on the dollar tried to re-brand it as "Free Style Music Park" - what a STUPID name. To their credit, they honored the season pass holders from the year before. But again, the large sit-down restaurant was not open. And still, no kid's pricing or group rates. It was a beautiful park, but it was VERY small, and certainly not worth paying well over 50 bucks to get into. The only real draw was that awesome looping coaster. We went probably 5-6 times in those two years and I rode that coaster probably 50 times - there were never any lines, the park was never crowded. And the second year, you guessed it, it closed early they closed up shop. The economy played a part in its failure, but some company like Disney or Six Flags could have bought it out, waited a few years to actually complete it and made it work. You should see the site today. It's over-grown with weeds, a few stray metal buildings here and there. Rides dismantled were sold on. Sad, really. That Led Zeppelin themed coaster was incredible. Sorry to rant, but like I said, I live in the area, and there is a hugely successful locally owned amusement park down by the ocean that's like the old school places where you can walk around and buy tickets just for the rides you want to go on, or you can buy an "All Day" wristband for unlimited rides. It's been there for over 50 years. It has the only wooden roller coaster still in operation in the state, and has a water park. So yes, a well run amusement park CAN be successful in Myrtle Beach - I know people call it the "Redneck Riviera" - but the area is not some slum that people avoid.
Poor Myrtle Beach. they lost this, the pavillion, the big hard rock cafe pyramid, planet hollywood, WE MUST PROTECT FAMILY KINGDOM. All the charm and big striking cool roadside visuals are being taken away
I remember when I went to Myrtle back in mid 2008. Went to Family Kingdom. I remember when we were leaving we saw Hard Rock Park, looked like it was open but we really couldn't tell. We hadn't seen any signs, no billboards, had virtually no idea of its existence but we knew right when we saw it that we regretted not going there instead; and we would have if we knew anything about it. I think Hard Rock didn't do a good enough job marketing all that they had established there.
This park had so much potential, and they had done so much even on a tight budget that it was beyond impressive. If they marketed this better, and drew some profit, surely they could have had appearances by classic Rock & Roll legends playing venues at their park. Seriously; a Bohemian Rhapsody fireworks show? Who wouldn't want to see that?
This looked like such a great park, but it seemed everything conspired against it. Such a sad story, and crazy that its fate was essentially sealed after less than one season
Too bad they opened at such a harsh economic time
Yeah, the timing just wasn't good with every part of this
However, Carowinds which was at that time was under its first season with Cedar Fair greatly benefitted and opened major rides like Intimidator in 2010 and Fury 325 in 2015 transforming it from regional park to internation destination.
If they'd waited 5 years, tops, it probably would have been a solid success. But having your initial idea for the park in late 2001, then opening said park in 2008... they just got the worst of it, timing-wise. No one was going to risk their money in tight economic times on an untested park.
I’m a Myrtle Beach resident and I watched the park get built and get removed. The park was okay to visit, but there was very little appeal to try something again after you’ve done it. After a while, you were just board and ready to leave. The location wasn’t the greatest imo, built behind the old closed up Waccamaw Pottery mall.
@@jamesklatt Yep, plus everybody in both North and South Carolina knows about Carowinds, I'm from Charleston and was living there at the time the park opened and I didn't even know it existed until I heard it was closing down and being sold. Plus it didn't look like nearly as good of a park for rides as Carowinds is, but being only an hour and a half or so away from Charleston metro vs five to six hours for Carowinds maybe it could have gotten some people to go to hard rock instead but no advertising means most of us in Charleston had no idea it was open. Not to mention Myrtle Beach is a party beach, it has some nice family type attractions but it's really a drinking and partying type vacation destination. Honestly I was much more saddened to here the Pavilion closed even though it was a much more basic park, but it was on the beach and was there when I was a kid, so it had sentimental value.
*10 minutes after watching this video:
On steam, reinstalling Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, ready to run a park called Myrtle Beach
I was a teenager when HRP opened and was hired to work the carnival games as my very first job ever. The Eagles played there live and I could watch and hear it from my spot. It was magical! It was so weird to me at that age that the park failed.
One of my biggest regrets in my theme park life is not going to Hard Rock Park in the debut year. I still think the concept has legs, but it was drowned by a lot of bad timing in the original run.
Yeah, it could of been a major player today if it had got past those first few years
it wouldntve mattered management was too bad
Well why don't you purchase the abandoned lot and bring it back to life and reopen it man
ChrisS82 Cost... that’s why lol
@@TombstoneChris Because he doesn't have the money
Visited this park while I was in high school for a field trip. Honestly had a mostly good time. Bohemian Rhapsody themed fireworks show, huge Zeppelin roller coaster, trippy Moody Blues ride- I genuinely enjoyed it for the most part, and there was barely any wait for any of the rides. It had a lot of potential, but I’ll admit you could tell something was off while there. Basic things were are also very expensive- a bottle of water was almost $7. You could tell the park was hurting financially. The lack of crowds was also off putting. Wish I could remember more, but this was over 10 years ago. Kind of wish it was still there. Were it open today it likely would do well.
I always wanted to go
As a resident of Myrtle Beach for 22 years I’ll tell you all the one main reason it didn’t make it. No Water Park. Had they built a Water Park as planned people would have flocked there. None of the other Water Parks closed during the recession but an off the beach location in 90 plus degree heat and no water is not a successful model.
I've been here since 1991 and I agree %100. Look at Family Kingdom down by the beach. Open for over 50 years and still going strong. They opened their (admittedly small but still fun, and ocean front) water park ten or so years ago and it's still packing the crowds in. Hard Rock Park was a missed opportunity all around.
The biggest downfall is it was too far from the beach, not family friendly and bad timing. They opted to close and demolish the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park at the same time the economy tanked. That lot sat vacant for many years. I have no idea if anyone ever developed it. Had Hard Rock Park been constructed in that area closer to the beach, it would likely still be in existence today.
My Dad lived in Little River for many years. We went there both when it was Hard Rock Park and Freestyle Music Park. Rides were decent, but the location was awful. Busy 501 right near it and a very busy Outlet Mall across 501. Nothing else was family friendly about that area.
I am pretty sure the Hard Rock Park T-Shirt still hangs in my closet. I just can't bring myself to get rid of it.
Agreed!! They didn't have near enough shade provided.
Reggae River Falls was a good start, but a full on set of pools and slides would've made it.
Do people really pay to go to a water park when there's an ocean right there? That's the biggest water park in the world!
aintno littlegirl yes. And the water park right on the beach at Family Kingdom does well.
We were at Hard Rock Park in July, like the other comments the parking lot was very empty.We had a great time and still talk about it. We rode the Zeppelin coaster several times with no wait. The buildup before the ride and the music timed perfectly made it one of the best experiences I've had on a coaster!! Such a shame, but glad we had the experience. We still drink coffee out of the Zeppelin and Hard Rock mugs that we brought home.
I got to go to Hard Rock the summer it was still called Hard Rock, when I was in middle school. One thing no one seems to mention is that the majority of the back side of the park was paved entirely as blacktop. The rides were incredible but the only real takeaway my family had was how incredibly HOT the park was. In the summer when it was already 90+ degrees out, the blacktop was nearly sticking to our shoes, and made any part of the park that wasn't shaded unbearable. I still imagine a dark ride like Moody Blues would KILL somewhere in a place like Vegas, with a more adult audience.
We went the first opening year, it was a fun park, bc of the location, tourists wouldn’t know it existed.
We stayed at the resort across from it.
They offered bogo, it was Freestyle then. Sadly it didn’t make it
I worked on this park for over a year. There was a lot of fantastic art work, and it's nice to see footage of all this stuff. I heard much of the original themed elements were destroyed or thrown away when Freestyle Music Park took over. Such a shame.
Former Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes purchased the old park property back on December 28, 2018. He said that there will not be another theme park there but there's a chance that it will at least no longer look like the eyesore at 21:59.
I actually visited with my family while it was Hard Rock Park. I was maybe 9 or 10 at the time, but I remember truly enjoying my day at the park. Although I remember the food not being great (we had some overpriced, low quality pizza at lunch), I remember the theming being pretty good even though I didn’t know a lot of the music that was being referenced at the time. The Nights in White Satin ride was incredibly unique and still sticks out in my memory today as being just a weird experience all around. I remember being creeped out by the whole nature of the ride, yet seeing nothing scary at all. The Led Zeppelin ride was fun and we did it many times, but the pre show was a longer-than-necessary clip of the psychedelic noise-making part of Whole Lotta Love, which kept us from going back multiple times to ride again. Maybe it was just my young brain, but that pre show had to have at least been five minutes or more, nearly as long as the ride itself. The Ferris wheel roller coaster, as were all the roller coasters, was an enjoyable experience that also beckoned multiple rides if the wait time was low. I don’t remember any of the shows we saw so I can’t really comment on them. All in all I remember being sorta disappointed that the park was shutting down, as we usually go to a beach close enough to Myrtle Beach every summer and surely would have visited the park again. I had a pretty good experience at the Hard Rock Park and wish that it was still around to add something else to the Myrtle area. Too bad it didn’t work out.
I was the same age and had like the same experience there lol.
myrtle is pretty depressing i dont know why people choose but hey if you enjoy it somehow come on down
@@ToastyMcStrudel We usually stay at Ocean Isle, NC or Cherry Grove area. Definitely not Myrtle, but close enough for a day trip there.
Re: Led Zeppelin, The Pre-show was twice the length of the ride, and if you use a wheelchair like me, you bypassed the entire show. Bummer.
The people that built Nights In White Satin are more than willing to build the ride again. I've talked with them and it was one of their favorite rides to design.
I grew up in Myrtle Beach. I actually had gotten a job here before it opened up--EVERYONE was lining up to try to work here! Fortunately, I didn't follow through on it, but a few of my friends did. So sad that this park failed so badly!!
Even without the 2008 crash I am not sure they would have survived. I've done several projects in Myrtle Beach since the mid 90's and successful ventures are designed to supplement the beach, not replace it.
My wife and I took our two daughters (16 and 13) to Hard Rock Park in August of 2008. My main memories are that there were not many people there.
We rode all the coasters, including Led Zeppelin the Ride, which I loved. Nothing amazing about the coaster it was quite generic; but impressive for a brand new park. I do remember seeing some parents of smaller children cringing when “Whole Lotta Love” was playing and the point of the song where Robert Plant was in mid orgasmic moans.
My impression was that HRP was not a very family-friendly park due to some suggestive music that was played.
One great memory was in the British Revolution section. On the top of a roof was a stage and there was a two-piece band from England called “The Fab Two”. I believe they were brothers, one playing keyboards and the other drums. During their set they noticed my Beatles Let It Be shirt and gave a shout-out.
All in all, there wasn’t much to the park and we ended up leaving after just a few hours. Certainly not what you would think for a day out at a theme park. I still have the Led Zeppelin the Ride hat that I bought.
Amazing and sad how fast the park went under. I would have liked to see the LZ coaster go to another park in the states.
"I'm not smoking anything, I swear" With an email subject like that, you just _know_ the message is gonna be good, one way or another.
I've read up a bit on this park, and it looked pretty awesome. I was most fascinated by Led Zeppelin/The Time Machine, since I've always loved B&M's coasters. Shame it failed, as I think a music-themed amusement park is quite original, creative, and 200% enjoyable.
Hi
I relate to that.
Place was awesome. One thing you didn't mention in the video was the huge beer cups. It was a big plastic Hard Rock cup with a strap on it you could wear like a necklace. If you bought the cup, refills were discounted. They actually let me take my beer on the trippy, Moody Blues ride. They had a restaurant and the menu featured meals that were chosen by famous musicians. (Think I got the Willie Nelson) Inside they had all these hand-carved totem's of famous dead musicians. Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Kurt Cobain. There was also this big guitar statue/fountain where the strings were water streams. If you stuck your hand in the water of a particular stream, it would make a sound like you plucked that note on the guitar. So people would be there taking turns at trying to play songs legible on a big water harp. The transitions were great. Oh and the pinball wizard arcade was pretty cool. They really went all out. It tons of little Easter eggs everywhere. Just bad timing, bad location,maybe some bad business. If this park was opened a few years earlier/later it might've been a hit. It was just too odd and specific for people in MB. Its a very red state/area. Many things wouldn't translate or draw the type of enthusiasm needed. I loved it personally. (Led Zep being my fav band) But I imagine some Lynyrd Skynyrd stuff would probably go over better. The whole Bittish invasion thing is cool af for rock fans. But red necks couldnt possibly care less. Most couldnt even name a moody blues song if you asked them. Hate that that ride is gone forever. Eventually someone will get this experience right. It could be done. But not in SC.
I would've loved to visit this.
Hai proto! I'm also a proto sometimes
Same here, it would have been so cool.
Me too... I hate missing out on these kinds of things. What a let down...
I went twice, once in 2008 and another in 2009. It’s so surreal to see videos of it abandoned
It was amazing when it first opened as Hard Rock Park!! Freestyle Music Park was trash tho...
My wife and I live in Charlotte NC and we drive down to Myrtle Beach quite often for a fun overnight trip, we walk around these grounds all the time and never really realized what it was. Cool video!
My family went to this place when it was open and had a blast, it's still one of the best theme parks I ever went to. The only advertisement we saw for the place was the billboards, and luckily my family took enough interest to follow them and go to the park! Thinking back it was not very busy with little to no lines for most rides. Loved every minuet though, especially the queue and ride for the Led Zepplin roller coaster. ALSO they had a water harp that when you ran your fingers through it it played stairway to heaven at the gates of the Rock and Roll Heaven area. There were all sorts of cool little details like that all over the park. It's so bizarre to have been somewhere that's now an official closed/abandoned location, trippy.
Took longer to plan and build than it was open
Omg i remember going as a kid and riding the rollercoaster OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The option to listen to 50's or 60's music was so cool
Didn’t know I could get this sad over a theme park. I remember seeing all the news about this when I was younger and thought it was so cool. Then I didn’t see anything about it until this video. It’s really is tragic seeing something that people worked so hard on being forgotten so soon
Yeah :(
I got super excited reading about this park when I went to Myrtle Beach for the first time 4 years ago, just to find out that it not only wasn't hard rock anymore, but had been closed years prior. Maybe its because I grew up at the Jersey shore, but having a beach going tourism town with no theme park (or piers as I'm used to) made it feel empty. The mere 200ft of boardwalk didn't help either haha.
There was no hardrock càfe inside?!?
Nope!
There was one right down the road. It was an Egyptian style Pyramid with cool theming throughout. That's been demolished about a year ago, and now there's just a normal Dave & Busters there. HRC moved buildings (basically next door), but it lost a lot of its charm.
Haha....oversight is a mfer
Expedition Theme Park that's like having a universal park without any lazy screen rides!
Thomas not a train What the fuck they tore down the Pyramid?!?! Omg! I have so many good memories of visiting there! Granted I haven’t been to Myrtle Beach in 6+ years (family preferring Charleston) but reading this makes me sad! *Nooo!*
I got to go here on opening day. I lived over by Carowinds in Charlotte so it was a short drive. Probably one of the coolest parks I’ve been to. Very happy I got to experience it.
Crazy watching this because me and my family had season passes to the park since it was only a mile away from my house. I was 8 when it was built and I’m 21 now...all there is left is an empty lot with some buildings still up. I would love to go back and watch the country ice show ):
My family went to the initial grand opening, which included 2 day tickets and both The Moody Blues and The Eagles concerts. I was pretty young at the time. Having been used to the comparatively enormous parks in Orlando, and Busch Gardens in Tampa, I was initially underwhelmed. By the time we had left, though, the park had won me over a bit. Led Zeppelin was awesome. The Eagle's ride with the flaming statue at the end was also good. Unfortunately we didn't ride Maximum RPM (it wasn't operating, as noted in this video) or Knights in White Satin (can't remember the reasoning for this one). My dad was really excited for the concerts, which was most of the reason why we went. I was too young to really appreciate them at the time. Given the size of the crowd, I wouldn't have thought that the park was going to fail. Especially so quickly.
I went to this park during their first year. There were barely any visitors and some of the rides were AMAZING!
Loved the Led Zep Roller Coaster and the "Nights in White Satin" dark ride
My grandparents lived in Myrtle Beach when I was growing up and we would go visit them for a week or two almost every year. I remember during one visit we drove by Hard Rock Park right after it opened and I wanted to go so bad. My mom told me we’d go the next time we visited my grandparents but by that point it was Freestyle and my parents didn’t like the new look. Kinda bummed we never got to go but I’m glad it brought joy to whoever did get to visit.
I did get to visit the Hard Rock Cafe pyramid when that was at Broadway at the Beach, that was cool. Sadly that’s gone now too, along with Planet Hollywood and a few other notable attractions. One of the other closed attractions that comes to mind was MagiQuest, also at Broadway at the Beach. Man, that place was fun, although I lost my wand for it years ago 😂
This park and its history really interests me. It was such an opportunity missed and the timing was so unfortunate.
I can't believe no one has tried to recreate it
I LOVE the entrance sign, "here we are now, entertain us!"
I'm so happy you talked about this park. I went with my aunt a few years before she passed from breast cancer. This park means a lot to me. It was so unbelievably fun.
Reading the comments in 2021, I'm glad to see I wasn;t the only one who has fond memories of the ONE time i got to go to the park. :) it was 2008 i was fresh out of high school. I loved it, i loved the theming. Random characters like "Hard rock teddy bears" and "unnamed hippies" would walk by and i would take pictures. I still think of this park when I think "Life in the fast lane" .
Small correction. While Maximum RPM was rebuilt at Sunpark in Vietnam it never ran!
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Please do a toys are us the video
@@davtdv2925 he only makes videos about theme parks
@@davtdv2925 That's a toy store, not an amusement park.
@ Rachel Wilson - You need to check the "Company Man" YT channel.
I went here the season it was open and it was so fun. The led zeppelin roller coaster, nights in white satin the trip, London calling. We had a blast. I remember looking up passes for the next season and the page never updated. I was heartbroken when they announced it's closing. And pretty pissed as a 16 year old. I still have my merch from the giftshops and loads of flip phone pics.
As a music and theme park fan, I can't believe I never heard of this! I wonder if the concept was just too limited for a general audience, but it definitely looks cool.
I wonder if anyone besides Disney and Universal will be able to open a major theme park anymore.
I was able to go in the summer of 2008. Growing up going to Cedar Point and fighting crowds and long lines, Hard Rock Park was a breath of fresh air with short lines but still good rides. It was great getting on the rides several times the day we spent in the park. There was also really good entertainment throughout the day on different stages and in different areas of the park. I was very sad to hear they were closing and hoped that Cedar Fair, Six Flags or another major player in the theme park world would scoop it up and revitalize the park which had good bones. Seems like a missed opportunity in a highly visited summer tourist destination. Maybe someday it’ll be reopened bigger and better than it was imagined.
Used to live in Myrtle Beach right after college. I was fortunate enough to go to this park when it first opened. I went twice more when it changed to Freestyle Music Park. Its a shame it didn't make it...it was a cool little park with a ton of potential - both for the Park and Myrtle Beach. Although I've long moved away now, Myrtle Beach deserves an amusement/theme park to compete with Orlando!
I moved to Myrtle Beach that summer to lifeguard and had a season pass...I loved that place! Except that I lost my phone on Led Zeppelin and got stuck on the RPM ferris wheel lift for like 20min one time...Nights in White Satin was AMAZING!! I moved back home after that summer and when I visited the next year, it was Freestyle Music Park and everything great about Hard Rock Park was gone...So sad...I still have a guitar shaped souvenir cup somewhere in storage haha...The 08 recession screwed up a great thing...
Lived in Myrtle Beach when this was open. Watched them build it, did the backstage tour, bought annual passes, went a million times. Then the bad news in the Fall. But enjoyed it as Freestyle the next season. They honored anyone who had HRP annual passes. Was very sad when even THAT park failed. Watched the property sit idle with rumours of reopening. Then watched them dismantle the rides & tear most buildings down.
This is so sad to me, I've lived in South carolina my whole life ( I was a teen when this was operating) and never even heard of it despite Myrtle Beach being the number one vacation destination for a lot of people I knew. I absolutely love the theming and would love to go to this so badly if it was still operational, especially living so close. No wonder it barely stayed open much longer once they changed it to completely generic theming.
Now I NEED to see a Bohemian Rhapsody fireworks show
It was epic and cost way too much money to do every night like they were doing. It ended with a dude on a jet ski driving around the lagoon while another guy was flying a kite with fireworks on it behind him.
Dope.
Not everybody has the money Disney does :(
I saw a fireworks show at La Ronde were they did an homage for Queen so they just played their songs and when they played Bohemian Rhapsody it was truly glorious.
Missy Barbour HELL YEAH! Bohemian Rhapsodies!
What a freaking shame! I was there many years ago, going to hard rock cafe, the restaurants around the lagoon, the attractions, et al. Said I would go back with the family, but didn't. It's like the end of an era.
Made one trip to this park, man it was really fun my brother and I had a blast. We went back to myrtle beach a few years later intending to visit the park while we were there not realizing it was closed. I always wondered what had happened to it. Now I know.
My family planned to visit this park for our Myrtle Beach trip in 2009, but we came across an issue which delayed our trip to 2010. Once we went, we just pulled over and observed the abandoned park. We had a chance to go, but we lost it.
I was lucky enough to visit this park when I was 9 years old during their first (and only) season as Hard Rock. I don't remember much of it, but what I do I remember incredibly fondly. I remember getting an airbrush tattoo in the entry plaza, the Heavy Metal Graveyard, and The Garage Jam play area, which had me scurrying around the lower level collecting foam balls for my father to shoot from an air cannon on the balcony above at unsuspecting guest who didn't know what they were walking into. I remember I was terrified on Nights in White Satin: The Trip, but so badly wish I could go back and ride it again. It truly was an experience. Myrtle Beach could just never sustain something as big as an amusement park, especially one as unique as HRP. I'm certain in another place, at another time, it would've been a hit.
thanks for this video!! i went to school at coastal carolina which is just a few miles away. i remember seeing this park for the first time in 2014 completely abandoned with random tracks lying about. i was always so curious about it as I had never heard about the park before. when i was still in school at coastal, we went back and walked outside the gate to see what we could. i was in awe at seeing such potential in what was left of it and amazed at how such an idea and structure could be completely abandoned. it’s really sad. great video though!!
Fascinating story and nice drone work. The great recession killed a lot of dreams.
this place seems cool. kind of reminds me of what they tried to do with JazzLand down by New Orleans, a park I used to go to a bunch with my family when I was a kid.
I went to the park once. Loved it, but man it crashed the economy of the area with how much money was dumped into construction. I honestly feel like it was just a way to launder money and get tax breaks for job creation. Too bad.
Man this is all very sad. RIP Hard Rock Park & Freestyle Music Park (2008-2009)
This makes me so sad. I've been there twice and I really wish it could have made it through those first few years. I had wonderful experiences and it's an all around nostalgic feeling. The rides were amazing and all of the workers were great. Great music and live performances plus amazing rides! Makes me wish I could go back one more time lol.
I was a season pass holder at Hard Rock Park. They also had an Excalibur/sword in a stone at British Invasion
Man, your videos are ace. Your research is second to none! Well done, my dude.
I visited it while it was hard rock park and loved it. I still bring it up every time i go to Myrtle beach
Such a sad story, it is a shame that it did not survive and that it just sits there abandoned. I guess it was just bad timing and lack of advertising. Great video Sam!
I work for the company that did of the Mech, ELEC, Plumb and Fire Protection engineering work on the park. I don't remember too much about it, just that we worked on that project.
I drive by this park everyday. It's sad to see it just sit there and rot. Freestyle music park sign is still up to this day.
Thank you so much for making this video! I went to the Hard Rock Park when it first opened and adored it. It was a shame it was shut down :(
We live in Myrtle Beach and went to both parks and really enjoyed them,it was truly sad that they couldn't stay open
Before the park opened to the public, I mentioned to my wife that we needed to visit ASAP before it went bankrupt. When we visited during first season, there could not have been more than 500 people in-park. Despite this, the park was open till 1 AM. I'm pretty sure the staff outnumbered the visitors. On a Saturday. In July.
This park was constructed with a ridiculous amount of bravado and ignorance of the market they were in. It's literally an example of what not to do in theme park design and management (so much so that it's a case study). This park was an experiment for some industry professionals (who otherwise seem successful) where they were given free reign. Creatives and managers often compromise after butting heads. The creators of this park openly bragged about not being bogged down by such things like the "bean counters" and "pencil pushers" that fans often take issue with. That's a necessary process in this industry. The economic environment nationally and locally was not appropriate for the park. The branding wasn't appropriate. The ride selection wasn't appropriate. The pricing wasn't appropriate. The location wasn't appropriate. The expected attendance wasn't appropriate. Dedicating a massive amount of the park's budget to IP deals wasn't appropriate. Sex jokes, drugs, nudity at a park that had the overwhelming majority of rides built for the under 13 crowd wasn't appropriate.
Who puts a $20 million B&M into a place that had less than $100 million for their entire ride budget?
Who expects a park that's (way overpredicting) a few million visitors a year to operate from 9-11 during off peak and 9-1am during peak season? The staffing alone would have murdered them even without all of the other missteps. Not even Magic Kingdom (most visited park on earth with 50 times the daily attendance - really 50 times the daily in-park) maintains those hours. Just insanity.
Not to pile on, but to say this park was "well themed" is quite generous. Much of the land theming was quite nice, but the rides were barely themed. Even Led Zeppelin had a passable queue, a very good preshow, and then zero theme on the ride. Honestly, the only well executed ride in the entire park was the fantastic Nights in White Satin. And that's rather damning when the manufacturer of that ride does it in-house as a turnkey solution (meaning the park creatives probably had little input).
For the armchair imagineers out there- this is what happens when there are no accountants. This is what happens with creatives with no business savvy build and run a theme park without any oversight. I'll stop here, but there's an entire book's worth of park design/management rules that were ignored and an even bigger book of lessons learned.
You have very valid points... let me ask you this because ive always wondered this. Do you think the name helped kill it? Im a rollercoaster junkie and have been on more than 200 different coasters but im not a big fan of hard rock n roll or of the cheesy hard rock chain so i was never really inclined to go. If the rides were more impressive i may have but they had a run of the mill B&M so its like whatever. But I used to think it would just be filled with blaring rock n roll music. I wouldve probably gave it a shot if it was named freestyle originally... I think the name segregated it a bit
I remember visiting when it was freestyle music park. It was so fun and it’s a shame it closed. It was cool having an amusement park so close to home
I remember going to Hard Rock Park when I was 8 and I loved it, and I remember the Bohemian Rhapsody firework show being so awesome
Nights in white satin was one of the coolest rides I have ever been on it's a shame that it is gone
I’ve been waiting for this video!! I went to both iterations of this park when it was open and I absolutely LOVED it!!! I still have some merchandise with the Hard Rock Park logo and I cherish it because it’s gone. Thank You for such a fantastic video on a great part of my childhood!!
Took family to Hard Rock
There were so few people that kids could ride...get back in line and be the next riders again
Fireworks were awesome!!
I visited both years it operated. It was a great park and just had the perfect storm of bad luck. Myrtle Beach Pavilion closed not long before and a lot of locals seemed to resent HRP even though they had nothing to do with each other. It was also in an odd location and hard to drive to. Plus the VIP lounge had a half naked picture of Madonna in the men’s room. Gotta love it.
i don't know why I keep watching these. I keep getting excited halfway through about these parks and wanting to go, and then remembering it's expedition for a reason! Great video
I saw a brochure for this park the first time I went to Six Flags Over Georgia, in one of our hotels. I basically begged my dad to go because of how cool Time Machine looked. We never went, unfortunately. I wish we did, I was tall enough, and unbeknownst to me it'd be our only chance to ever go. Shame.
Lmao I was in Characters, and met Jon Binkowski. Very nice guy honestly, a little too ambitious and a little full of himself, but he definitely puts a lot of heart and soul into his projects from what I remember.
It went from a respectable brand personality of Hard Rock into a tryhard "Fellow Kids" nightmare of an independent brand with zero recognition.
The 2008 financial crisis was an obvious factor in its demise, but departing from an established brand seems like suicide.
The second group that came in was sorta clueless. They were foreign and for sure didn't understand our economy.
I was fortunate to visit this park it was Freestyle Music Park when I went it did look like a ghost town around it drove there from Miami . The park was fun but empty which was actually great for the roller coaster rides one of the few times that when the ride was over the attendant asked "wanna go again" heck yea!😀
A damn shame. Looks like it was an amazing and unique park that had a lot of potential. Sad to see something like this go away.
Glad I was able to get those coaster credits.
I actually used to pass this skeleton of a park every day on my way to work at, ironically, Hard Rock Cafe. While I don't work there anymore, I still live in the Myrtle Beach area and pass the park consistently. It's less of an eyesore now that the roller-coaster isn't there (so you'd never guess there was a theme park there), but that area is a place you don't want to be caught in at night. The whole area is sketchy. I always wanted to hop the fence and get some pictures, but there was a lot of talk about wild dogs taking over the park. It was apparently a big deal. I doubt anything will come of that area, it's pretty run down now. All that's left is a Medieval Times.
Nowadays, all the park is useful for is a parking lot. There were talks of some Chinese company buying the land to turn it into some China themed park geared towards the Chinese tourists coming to America (because that's what they'd want to see when visiting a new country), but I think that fell through for all the obvious reasons.
no wild dogs, just kids smoking weed lol
This looked like a really cool place. I wish I could have visited it when it was open. Thanks for making this awesome video!
I attended the grand opening of this park when they had the two Night concerts with the Eagles and The Moody Blues... Being a huge Moody's fan I loved the Dark Ride and rode it more times than I can count... Got to see The Moody Blues put their hands in cement at the park... Such a shame the economy had crashed that spring and this park really had no chance of hanging around a long time... But I have great memories of those several days I was there
I love the way you present information.
The most tragic story ever heard is and will remain that of Mirapolis Park in France which closed in 1991 and opened in 1985. It had big problems from its first opening day when fairgrounds arrived to pour nails on the outputs of autauroutes and began to fight against visitors and employees as well as half of the visitors had arrived with fake tickets. Results: the park had huge financial worries and the slightest attempt to attract visitors to the park ended with a powerful failure! If you want to know the saddest story of amusement park, Mirapolis holds the record! You should make a video! :D
I will look into it.
@CHICHI7 Yes
Wtf is up with the French? Didn't they show up to Disney Paris' opening day with fake tickets?
@@LeeGHThomas No no, they did not come to Disney Park with fake tickets. This is because in Mirapolis, it was just a few feullies of papers that were used to make the entrance tickets and therefore simpler to copy! x)
Fight against the visitors?
Mirapolis for smash ultimate!!!!
That ferris wheel coaster looked pretty awesome.
What a GOOD idea!!! Looks like it was pretty cool! I think Vegas would be a great place for this!
If there’s a Rock and Roll Heaven, you know theyve got a hell of a park
Hard Rock Park would've worked, but it opened as the economy was starting to tank and I'm not sure that the other Park chains weren't on to something when they talked about Myrtle Beach not being a great area for a theme park. In another economy and nother location? It could've worked and been open still to this day.
James King No it couldn’t. A theme park cannot compete with a beach for tourists
I’m glad you shared this video! I was married in June of 2008 and I remember seeing an ad for this somehow in the Pittsburgh, PA area. I wanted to go badly. With all the money we shelled out in 2008 there was no way we could afford to go that year but maybe again in a year or two. By the time I had eventually looked into going I couldn’t find anything and to this day my wife swore I was thinking of the Rock n Roller Coaster in Disney World. Thank you for helping to give clarity to a memory!
Awesome video brother! I actually went to the park back in 2008 and really enjoyed it! You should also check out the Pavilion Amusement Part in Myrtle Beach. It’s a really interesting extinct park with a lot of history!