Hard Rock Theme Park Myrtle Beach Review

DATE OF VISIT – 4-18-08 from 6-10pm

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