Me, Courtnie, Mike & lena in front of Hard Rock Park.
15 July 2008
Lena and I were up and out of the house by 8:00 am to get to our appointment. We checked in and were introduced to a nice young man (Brian Ryan) that would be our guide (and salesman) during the seminar. After watching a video on their properties, and how buying into the resort works, we were taken on a tour of two of the local properties.
Just me in front of the main gate.
One was a very nice single family home with four bedrooms, large kitchen/dining room and living room. The next property they showed us was one of their high-rise condos which is located right on the beach! The room was very nicely furnished and had a beautiful view of the ocean. After that, it was back to the conference center where they attempted to get us to buy into their resorts. They do make it sound too good to be true, and they tried their best, but we didn’t give in to all the pressure and after about 3 hours, we walked out with our discount tickets as they promised. Now if you’re asking why we didn’t just leave, well you can’t. You must stay for the whole thing, and even after you tell them no, many times, you have to go through a refusal process at the very end before you get the tickets. To me, it was worth saving $150.00. If you are at all interested in Wyndham Vacation Resorts, visit https://www.
wyndhamvacationresorts.com/ffr/index.do
Once back at the house, we gathered our stuff, ate a quick lunch, and the four of us were out the door for Hard Rock Park (see review). We arrived at the park in about ½ an hour, and found parking very close to the main gate even though they opened at 10:00am. It was not very busy, possible due to the chance of rain, and we were inside the park gates in no time. We stopped to have our picture taken at the front gate, and then we preceded to the roller coaster that made me want to come here in the first place…Led Zeppelin! We found our way to the coaster easily (hard to miss a white roller coaster 15 stories high) and Courtnie and I proceeded to get in line, but there was no line! You are first staged in a large room, you then move into a smaller room where you watch a video of the band performing a live version of “Whole Lotta Love” where they try and make you feel you are at a concert.
Led Zeppelin
The room is dark, the side walls have silhouettes of people at a concert, and the large screen monitor in front of you is the size of the room itself. As good as it was, there is nothing even close than to have actually been at a Led Zeppelin concert, which I have (dating myself). Five minutes later, the next set of doors open up and you are getting in your assigned car. After the required safety check, the ride slowly leaves the station, shaped like a zeppelin balloon, and starts climbing the 15 story first drop. Half way up, the Led Zeppelin song “Whole Lotta Love” starts playing loudly through the sound system built into each car, which plays all the way through as we are riding this 15 story tall coaster that reached speeds of 65 miles per hour and had six different loops!!!! The sound system was amazing, and the ride itself was one of the best I’ve been on, and I wanted to ride again, but there was plenty of time for that. We also rode a 3-D ride called Nights in White Satin The Trip.
This is a slow, dark ride set to the song by the Moody Blues, “Nights in White Satin” and I guess is suppose to simulate an LSD “trip” with the black lights, special laser effects, colors and poster. It was quit a trip alright, and fun, and it did get us out of the rain for a few minutes. The one other roller coaster we rode was Eagles Life in The Fast Lane. This coaster also played music through a sound system built into each car, which of course was the song by the Eagles, “Life in the Fast Lane”. This ride was a bit milder than Led Zeppelin, but a longer ride than Led Zeppelin and still very fun! After checking out a few shows my daughter wanted to see, and all the other stuff the park had to offer, we decided to go back and ride Led Zeppelin once more. This time, my son Mike wanted to ride, so it was the three of us this time around. Again, no line, so we were on the ride quickly.
Here’s where misfortune struck us again! ¾ of the way through the ride, the cars come to a point where they have to slow down before entering a series of very sharp curves.
Me
At this point, the braking system is suppose to slow down the cars, but this time the braking system stopped the cars…and there we were, stuck about 50 feet up. At least we were right side up, and it wasn’t raining. About 15 minutes go by and the ride crew comes walking up the steps to talk to us and evacuate us off the ride. There is a safety procedure for this, which involves extracting people one car at a time (there are four people to a car) with one staff member in front of the group, and one in the rear with a staff member in between each guest as we walk down the steps to the ground. We were only three cars back, so we didn’t have long to wait, and someone from the parks customer services office was there to greet us and take our name and phone number. We also got a voucher for free drinks in the park. Some people would think we should have gotten more, but, no one was hurt, the staff got us off the ride and to the ground safely, and it gave us a story not many people get to tell.
Inside Hard Rock Park
Hey, it made for a good story here! After that, we did some more walking around and shopping in the park, then headed back home. It was taco/Mexican food night at the house and I was hungry!
After dinner, we all went down to the beach to watch my brother in law Bill light off some fire works. I also brought my fishing pole in hope to catch something other than sharks this time. The fire works were set off with no one getting blown up, but all I caught was one little shark…oh well, it was still fun!
After we all got home, a few of us relaxed in the hot tub for a while and then called it a night.
Rock -n- Roll Theme Park
Hard Rock Park is a brand new theme park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina located at 211 George Bishop Parkway just off of US 501 near Myrtle Beach Airport.
The park opened in the spring of 2008, is well spread out and sits on approximately 55-acres at the center of a 140 acre development that celebrates the spirit of rock and roll.
Currently, the park has four roller coasters, six stage areas for shows and concerts, one 3-D ride, many restaurants and food stands, a kid’s play area with a Caribbean themed splash area, an arcade, a carousel and many other standard theme park favorites. The Led Zeppelin roller coaster offers a DVD of you on the ride, which is something I have never seen before at other theme parks. We did get one, so if I can figure out how to get it on YouTube, I’ll post it here for you all to watch. This park has something for every one, especially the kids. We had a great time and if it wasn’t for the roller coaster episode (see blog) we might have stayed longer to watch the fireworks over the lake, which is at the center of the park.
This park is new, so it has room for expansion, which I feel it needs to get repeat customers. I loved the park and the time we were there, but I’m glad we didn’t spend the $55.00 a person entrance fee. There is also a $10.00 parking fee to park on the lot. On the way in, we saw signs for valet parking, which was $20.00, but I do not know if they were associated with the park or not because all the signs were out side the park property, not on the inside. The signs leading in, and back out of the park are almost non existent, so finding our way to the park and to the entrance was difficult, but we managed. The signs we saw were small and just stuck in the ground along the road. I assume that this will be corrected in time, as this is the first year the park has been opened.
When we visit Myrtle Beach again in a few years, I’m sure we will return to Hard Rock Park, I just hope they have added some more rides by that time and offer discount tickets. I don’t feel like sitting through another resort seminar to get discount tickets!
If you’ve never been, I recommend it, especially if you love roller coasters and Rock-n-Roll!!
For more information on Hard Rock Park, visit http://www.hardrockpark.com/
