Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hard Rock Fail

Well I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. I predicted downfall for Hard Rock Park, all the way back two weeks after its grand opening on June 16th. For those that don't know yet Hard Rock Park Closed Its Doors Early & Filed Chapter 11.

The rock and roll based theme park claims they are going to be back next year, but I really can't see it. I mean they had a brand spanking new park this year that opened and no one showed up, so there are going to re-open next year with no new rides and less buzz and be sucessful, I doubt it.

I also love how they of course don't blame there failures on there poorly priced product, but instead they scape goat the economy. Which seems interesting because no one else is really hurting in the amusement park world this summer:

Disney Parks Up In Profit & Revenue
Six Flags reports third quarter gains in attendance and revenue
Cedar Fair Attendence Up 5%

See the other parks are doing fine HRP, but yea, blame the economy.

I stick with the reasons I posted in the blog last time as to why this is now know as Hard Rock Fail

Too Expensive
You don't open a new park with not a lot of rides and charge 10 dollars to park and 50 dollars to get in.

Myrtle Beach
I don't think this area has enough tourists to support a large scale theme park. People go for the beach or adults go to golf. They do look for things to do in the evening which is why places like Broadway at the Beach are so succesful. This population couldn't even generate enough revenue to prevent the quaint Pavillion Park from being sold to condos.

The Theme
While the name says Hard Rock Park, its really Classic Rock Park. The Eagles, Led Zepplin, Moody Blues, Queen, What do these four have in common? There old as shit. They appeal to the classic rock demographic (old men) not the theme park demographic (families). Before Hard Rock Park was announced I couldn't tell you one song by the Moody Blues.

Too Many Shows, Not Enough Rides
People go to parks that aren't Disney/Universal and expect to ride rides all day, not ride 5 rides in the park and then see 4 shows. While I have had good things about the shows, people want rides. This park for many people expecting a typical regional park had the "I've done everything in two hours, That wasn't worth fifty bucks."

Poor Ride Choices
Out of the four big rides (Led Zep, The Eagles, Nights In White Satin, Max RPM) I would say only two were wise investments and those being Led Zep & Eagles. Max RPM was a very cool idea, unfortunately it didn't work and about 75% of the shortened operating season one of the parks main attractions sat closed. I also say Moody Blues Nights In The Trip wasn't the best idea. YES, the ride has gotten great reviews, but heres the issue THERE IS NO WAY TO MARKET THIS RIDE. You can't have ads that say "Come Ride The Illegal Drug Glamorization Ride At Hard Rock Park" even though word of mouth on the ride was good the "Well the best ride at the place was the one that makes you feel like you dropped acid" has negative effects once it gets to families, because that will convince them to stay away from the park.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Watch the movie: "The Producers" and you'll see what Hard Rock Park was all about.

If you ask me, HRP was designed to fail. They KNEW it was never going to work, they just wanted to raise $400 Million, build what looks like a good effort, (pocket a few million), then let it FLOP.

If you think about it, this is the ONLY way Hard Rock Park makes any business sense.