RailRider Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 The family and I just got back from our annual trip to Myrtle Beach. We spent the first week of September there and had an excellent time. The first week in September has become our annual time to go because my wife and I celebrate our wedding aniversary every year. This was #4. We had a great condo in a high rise in North Myrtle Beach that house my wife, daugher, in-laws, parents and myself. The crowds were light, the weather was great, and food was excelent. Before we get to the pictures here are some thoughts about the trip. As we do every year we went to the Dixee Stampedee and Zoe absolutely loved it. Honestly the best entertainment and meal for your money. If you have not seen the aireal act it is truly amazing, great show. We have stayed in North Myrtle Beach for the past 8 years and it is a much nicer area than downtown. Clean, Family Friendly, Great Resorts, and close to all the attractions. Downtown is going through a revitilazation which has hit some snags and I prefer to stay away until more things change downtown. The shopping in MB is great, Barefoot Landing and Broadway at the Beach offer something for everyone. The classic stores are still around like Kligs Kites and the General Store... Mmmm Wall of Hot Sauce. But there are also lots of new stores which were realy unique. As always the dinning in the MB and GrandStrand is amazing. Some of the best seafood around and if you like Calabash Style Seafood you are in heaven. I didnt have one bad meal the entire time, which is amazing because we always try a few new places every year. Myrles Inlet is an area south of MB that is truly unique and different compared to the MB. The MarshWalk is amazing, its very beautiful and relaxing and a great way to get away from all the activity in MB. Before we get to the pictures, some final thoughts. No we didnt visit HRP and we had no intentions. For what you get the cost is to high. Enough said. Good thing we didnt visit anyways, because we had to buy a new tire on the way home anyways. Yes as some of you have heard, while we were heading home, we blew a tire on the WV Turnpike. Now here is something amazing. Traveling at 70 mph we hit some debri in the road, the right rear tire blew immediately and our vehicle did not waiver or even shake one bit. Heres whats more amazing we were in an SUV, a Ford Edge to be exact. The Edge was amazing in how it handled the blow out and especially at such high speeds. Check out the picture of the tire below. Overall we had an excellent time in Myrtle Beach, especially NMB. I honestly think there is something for everyone to do and its a great family vacation destination. Heres looking forward to next years trip. Enjoy the slideshow below. Heres the infamous tire... Thank you Ford Edge for your amazing handling abilities. Ford you will receive a letter about this. Turn up your speakers, hit play and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Thank goodness you and your family are okay! Your daughter is adorable! And it is quite clear how important family is to you all. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Wow it looks like you guys made some great family memories and as the slide show went on the tanner you guys got. It also sounded like the biggest crowd you guys had was at your condo. A special paragraph just for Zoe, she is really growing fast and she is absolutely adorable. You guys must be so proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted September 14, 2008 Author Share Posted September 14, 2008 Thanks for the kind words about Zoe, we are very proud parents. Yes the biggest crowd was at the condo, the crowds were really down even over Labor Day weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Bombay Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Great TR and pictures! Thanks for sharing and I am glad you guys are ok, your daughter is so cute. Glad to see you guys had such a good time in Myrtle Beach, your attitude on HRP seems to be a similar opinion of many, many tourists in the area, I hope they find a way to turn it around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Well HRP is doing plenty of advertising in the area, billboards, taxis, tv commercials. Problem is, no discounted tickets. Especially through your resort coniceirge or even at the various shows. For example if I take a timeshare tour for 2 hours of my life I either get free show tickets for 2 or discounted tickets. Yes I know not everyone is willing to do that. So heres something else most of the big shows in MB do. For example if I buy tickets to the Carolina Opry I then get half price tickets to either the Dixee Stampeede or Good Vibrations. If I buy tickets to the Alabam theater I can then purchase discounted tickets to Aligator Adventure or another one of their shows. HRP has no incentives like this. I cannot count how many times I will buy tickets to the 2nd attraction because of the disount, normally no intentions to, but I do it because its a good deal and something new. I still dont understand No Starlight Admission??? Makes no sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Butcher Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 HRP is practicing what industry Leads like to refer to as "Pricing Integrity". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Well thats a good strategy for not spending much time in the industry. I honestly don't think you can practice pricing integrity till you build a reputation in the industry, which HRP obviously hasn't. Disney is probably the only park I can think of that does anything near pricing integrity, but you can still find discounts, but they are harder to find than Swiss war medals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Butcher Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Well thats a good strategy for not spending much time in the industry. I honestly don't think you can practice pricing integrity till you build a reputation in the industry, which HRP obviously hasn't. Disney is probably the only park I can think of that does anything near pricing integrity, but you can still find discounts, but they are harder to find than Swiss war medals. Actually discounts to Disney are easier to come by during their "off-season", and most tourists welcome centers in Florida have some real great deals. Ask Avatar, he engages in Disney Discounts. Disney is always looking to package things together to make you spend more, but get more for what you pay for. Disney really has what I think is the best discount available at any park. The longer you stay, the less it costs you per day. If you go to Disney for just one day you pay $75 per day, however if you extend your visit to Ten days, you pay 23.70 a day. Add in AAA discounts, and room rate bundles and dining options, and there are other possibilites as well. Really, in my opinion Disney is shooting themselves in the foot with that pricing. Most people going to Disney are going to go stay for around four days and visit all four parks, and maybe do a park hopper on the fifth day and hit all their favorites. After three days Disney begins their pricing strategy, decreasing the cost per day, in my opinion probably at least a day short. I think most in the industry and those who seasonally attend the Disney themeparks would agree, that Disney could make another $40 dollars a head after that third day if they didnt steadily decrease pricing until day 4, and they wouldn't lose out too much on attendance. Now really, if Disney thought they could do that, who knows maybe they would have already. That is why I think that even three years ago when our economy wasn't so bad off that it speaks volumes that a company like Disney would not institute too much pricing integrity, not after the length of a quick (3 days) vacation stay anyways. WDW, is in the tourist heart of the United States, and yet they only practice pricing integrity (or as I call it Premium Pricing), in the first three days of a visit, when it could be argued that Most Disney visitors will spend four days (or more), and very few, sans locals, will spend less than three. This doesn't even take into account other discounts available to FLA residents and other things. For the experience you have, Disney's admission is discounted even before you clip a coupon. HRP's as I have heard, and theoretically differentiated is not, and the tourism content of its location includes more retirees, couples on honeymoon, those on anniversary, and just less youthful exuberance in general, not exactly the best of markets for a Hard Rock Park! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 I agree about the Disney pricing, I guess I should have been more specific. I vist Disney for no more than 2 days, I am a fan of Universal and my Daughter isn't old enough to care yet. So with my situation Disney is premium pricing, we dont go enough days to take advantage of the discounts. MB on the other hand during peak summer seasson is full of families and especially famlies with teenagers. Very blue colar crowd during the summer, mix in retires and honeymooners, but the main demo is famlies of 4. You dont see the older crowd become the dominating demographic until the offseasson. Basically these are the snowbirds that fly south for the winter. Myrtle Beach theoretically is a great area for a theme park, but the failure of HRP is many fold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Cory – you are right on the Disney price breakdown dropping on the forth visit and here is that breakdown Magic Your Way Base Ticket (gate price for admission to one theme park per day, including tax) # Days Adult (ages 10 and up) Child (ages 3-9) 1 $79.88 $67.10 2 $158.69 $133.13 3 $225.78 $190.64 4 $233.24 $195.96 5 $236.43 $199.16 6 $239.63 $202.35 7 $242.82 $205.55 8 $246.02 $208.74 9 $249.21 $211.94 10 $252.41 $215.13 As far as why they make such a drastic cut after the third is for a variety of reasons we may never know, but a big potion of the GP have their favorite Disney park and then their least favorite. If Disney kept the price up on the forth visit many visitors would opt out on their least favorite Disney park for the opportunity to go to Universal or Sea World. But instead the visitors have a different choice of paying $7.46 for a day at Disney or pay more for the other non Disney parks. This then keeps a lot of visitors in the park for another day and allows Disney to make more money that may have lost. RailRider – Zoe will be ready soon for a Disney trip and I wanted to tell you that you are going in September that is when you usually get the best deals. I just wanted to tell you that so you’ll keep that in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 One can always buy the ten day option, and add the no-expiration thingy...locking in the price for future trips for many years go come....of course Disney gets your money now, and you delay gratification.... Terpy, who has days still from early 2000.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 True but there is a cost to those non expire tickets No Expiration Option - Regular Magic Your Way Tickets expire 14 days after their first use. Choosing the No Expiration option means you are free to come back and take advantage of unused days at any time. Extra cost on top of the base-price ticket is: 1-day ticket n/a 2-day ticket $17 3-day ticket $23 4-day ticket $50 5-day ticket $70 6-day ticket $80 7-day ticket $110 8-day ticket $145 9-day ticket $170 10-day ticket $200 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureExpresser Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 When we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, they actually passed out discount coupons to everyone in our party that got you a ticket for $38. I had a season pass, but the other people I went with wouldn't have went to the park if they hadn't given us the coupons. I hate to see this park going down so quickly because I really enjoy it, but if parks that have been around for many years are having economic woes, what made them think a brand new one would make so much money in its first year. People going to the beach will walk, walk, walk, and walk some more in the evenings, so to get them to a place, you have to let them walk around for free and let them spend their money as they want, that is why the pavilion amusement park was always so successful UNTIL the year they started charging everyone to come in. I want this park to survive, if for only one reason, I LOVE the Nights in White Satin Ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standbyme Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Very nice trip report...the slide show was fun to watch. Looking at the picture of that tire was scary...you should feel very lucky...I would have been sick to my stomach after I saw it! I'm glad you are all are safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailRider Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Avatar I will keep that in mind, and yes Zoe is a princess, but will want to be one in a few short years and I can almost gurantee we will visit during the fall. Honestly the best time to vacation if possible. Standbyme, I knew it was bad but not that bad till I saw it up close. On top of that it was a great joy to unload the entire back of Edge of our luggage so I could get the spare out. But hey it went on no problem and got us safely to the dealership. I still think our HRP admission money was better spent on a new tire. More pictures are coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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