And the new name of Hard Rock Park is........Freestyle Music Park

Personally I don't like it.

I like the logo, but I can't stand the name. It just doesn't "fit."

You're joking. That's beyond cheesy.

Neither do I. I see what they're trying to do, though. It seems that the narrow scope of theming around "hard rock" might have caused fans of other genres to lose interest.

The name still doesn't sound like a theme park with rides. It sounds like a place to bring your instruments and have a huge jam session--something a theme park might do as a one-day event.

From the article Ki4life08 posted:

In addition, Freestyle Music Park will be the prototype and launching point for the Freestyle Park brand throughout the world. FPI MBE plans to open additional attractions and entertainment venues in the coming years, under the Freestyle Park banner.

Have they learned nothing? Now is not the ideal time to be opening new parks. Ouch... there goes my head hurting again...

Wow that is terrible. I know they were pressed for time on coming up witht he name but I think anyone of us here could have done better than that.

The name makes me think of bright colors and skate-boarding, not a place for families to hang out...

But the logo is nice!

The name makes me think of bright colors and skate-boarding, not a place for families to hang out...

But the logo is nice!

Yes, Skateboards and BMX bikes come to mind. Maybe they will eventually phase the music out and make it an extreme sports park.

WhiteHawk Park. [edit]...as in Shawn & Tony...

When I hear "Freestyle Music" I think of freeform jazz ...and sideburns.

...Focus groups put together in Myrtle Beach, Charlotte and New York gave feedback about the name Freestyle Music Park, and the response was positive, Baker said.

"I hope people think of it as freedom of expression, of freedom to express yourself. We like to say, freedom to explore your inner rock star," Baker said, but added the park will include many types of music....

...But Rich Hair, former senior vice president for amusements and attractions for Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., said he's not a fan.

He thinks names that reflect the location or culture of the region fare better - like Hershey Park in Hershey, Pa., or Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. "I'm baffled by it," he said, but also noted that what's inside the park is more important than the name.

"Your name is not going to stop you. What's going to stop you is a poor product or an overpriced park," Hair said.

The park will incorporate genres of music including rock 'n' roll, country, reggae, beach music, pop, R&B, alternative, Christian and disco, officials said....

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/855409.html

Besides the awful name and somewhat cheesy logo I am more displeased to see the admission cost. $39.95 for Adults and $29.95 for children. Seriously for a park that strugled with few rides to begin with how can you expect to charge that high of prices for that place.

I wish them good luck, but I have little faith right now.

^^Not to mention an unconfirmed, at best, status of their ride operations!!

So...if it went for $25M in the first bankruptcy sale, how much will it go for the next time???

What an awful name...the first thing I think of when I hear "freestyle" is swimming! "Music Park" (minus the "Freestyle") would have been better..."Musical Adventures" could have worked...so many other possibilities...

Besides the awful name and somewhat cheesy logo I am more displeased to see the admission cost. $39.95 for Adults and $29.95 for children. Seriously for a park that strugled with few rides to begin with how can you expect to charge that high of prices for that place.

I wish them good luck, but I have little faith right now.

While I will agree with you that admission price may still be a "bit" high, it sure beats the former "one size fits all" price of $50. It also brings the price down to a point that is very competitive with their local market. This is an area I often think as being Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg on the beach. The place is loaded full of souvenir shops, putt-putt, aquariums etc. While this may not be a good value in other places I could see this price point working. Don't forget these people understand the value of coupons and advertising with the places people stay.

EDIT: PS- I like the logo hate the name

I do not see this admission price working. I am beginning to remember all the things I didn't like about Six Flags back when Baker was their primary consultant. Sigh.

I say we start a KIC fund to buy the park when it goes bankrupt again.

Just doesn't look good and the admission price is insanely high for what is inside the park.

Freestyle Music Park, Cedar Fair could do better than that...

This is a case of vanity on the part of one of the owners...Freestyle is what they call their other parks...and Freestyle married up with Music just doesn't work. It would be as if one of KECO's parks had been called Tiny Park and the movie studio insisted on calling it Paramount's Tiny Park....or if there had been a park called Canada's Wonderland they had insisted on calling it...oh, wait...though they did modify that slightly...

I also think that the price is too high and think of swimming or wrestling when I see the "freestyle"

The new name is awful and so are the admission prices. Isn't that why Hard Rock Park struggled? For the amount of rides they have admission prices should be no more then $25.00 but $39.95 that is ridicules....

On the Name, I guess that's what happens when you are forced into a last minute change. It's just not good.

On the Prices, this is high for the amount/# of rides, but it is not that outrageous when you look at how expensive the general area is. I'm not sure that the better option for the park wouldn't be a pay- per-ride approach with an all day pass option.

One must remember that the park may be between a hard rock and a hard place here. First of all, they must price high enough to recover their costs, or they, too, will be the holder of a bankrupt property. There is much to be said for pay by the ride. I have been a long proponent of the concept, which I actually think is fairer to the average patron AND to the person who wants to ride and ride and ride. Quite frankly, Q-Bot type systems are bringing back a form of pay by the ride with a very high gate price in addition. If that's not a good description of a gold Q-Bot at Six Flags, I don't know what is. Yes, strictly speaking you don't pay by the ride...but you pay even more to ride hardly anything...especially on a busy day. I can't imagine going to Six Flags Over Georgia or Six Flags Great Adventure on a busy day without buying a gold Q-Bot. So much for having a season pass. It's stunning how much a gold Q-Bot costs in those parks.

That being said, I could see Freestyle Music Park doing very well if the gate was virtually free and rides were $5 to $7 each....and the merchandise in the park was marked up very little compared to most parks. Having at least one world class restaurant there at reasonable prices would also help.

Will they do any of this? No. Why am I willing to post such things on the web? Because no one in modern days has tried this concept except a little place in Pennsylvania, which is quite successful with this business model. A place that gets talked about very little here...instead we hear of Holiday World (where the price of beverages and parking and inner tubes and sun tan oil is built into the admission price) and occasionally Kennywood (where there are no season passes).

^ You're right...Knoebels almost never gets talked about here. Of course, that may have something to do with the geography of most of the audience of this board, but still...

I totally agree that there is a lot of merit in pay-per-ride pricing. Especially now since the technology has changed so much to really improve the process. I've thought for a long time that a "stored value" type system (like how DisneyQuest worked) would do well in a traditional theme/amusement park environment. Since the stored value systems don't usually put units in monetary terms (instead using "points" or "credits"), it may also encourage people to spend more without realizing it. (For instance, the Arrowsmith coaster might cost "50 credits" that could equal $6 or so...) Most people would probably leave the park with some value left on their card, which would encourage them to return at a later time (reloading more value on their card in the process). And, of course there would be some people who bought cards (or who received them as gifts) who would never end up redeeming them. This type of system could also up stored value card sales at a huge number of outlets--much like how you can buy iTunes cards pretty much anywhere.

I think it's an interesting idea...I wonder if there have been any studies done to look at how something like that could affect a typical park's revenue?

Interesting news out of North Myrtle Beach, a Pavillion style park is slated to open by August 1st of this year. Guess they aren't sold on FMP.

NMBOnline

More on this planned pay by the ride park:

http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_...le_beach/44462/

While the name Freestyle Music Park is atrocious, I guess the Freestyle part is now somewhat explained. Freestyle like Six Flags or the old Paramount Parks is just a company name.(or an attempt at one. This Freestyle company is just now trying to form a chain) That being said, most of the Paramount and Six flags parks went/go by there name minus the prefix, AKA Magic mountain, Kings Island, Great Adventure... etc. These names are actually catchy. If this park were to go by its prefixless name, it would still be Music Park. Music Park, let that sink in. Doesn't that make you think of joyful things and a desirable location just like Kings Island or Magic Mountain?

In a word, no. Music Park makes me think of a performance hall or a ritzy real estate development...or worse, the All Star Music basic lodging at Disney.

Continuing their awesome naming, HRP errrr Freestyle Music Park has renamed Led Zepplin to.........

Drumroll Please.......

The Time Machine...

And the crowd scratches their head???

The Sun News

Read the article because there is some great info on their pricing strategy, I don't think they learned from the failure of HRP

That just doesn't sound appealing at all. I wonder what songs they are going to use.

Continuing their awesome naming, HRP errrr Freestyle Music Park has renamed Led Zepplin to.........

Drumroll Please.......

The Time Machine...

Even though I love Zepp to death, I gotta admit the concept for a giant time machine zeppelin with doodads and gadgets sounds awesome.

Let's just hope the music they choose matches the experience of the ride...

Will be interesting to see how it survives this year, but the prices are still a bit high - especially because the cutoff age for "children" is 10. What parent wants to pay full price for a 10-year-old?