TR: Freestyle Music Park 8/29/09

[Delirium_Guy]

First of all, here are some pictures that I took for those that prefer a more visual TR type experience

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42121481@N04/sets/

At the end of July, Busch Gardens Williamsburg made their announcement that Big Bad Wolf would be taking its final rides in September. I knew I had to make it up there to say goodbye. So a game plan was set in motion, but realizing that I'd be shooting up I-95 and that Myrtle Beach wasn't THAT far outta my way I decided that I'd finally make the trip over to the former Hard Rock Park....now known to us as Freestyle Music Park. I will admit, I've never understood this Park since its inception. I still believe that the location is all wrong and that the Park should have been built somewhere else. I questioned the lack of attractions that it was to open with initially. Then seeing the suffering attendance last summer, it seemed all suspicions were confirmed. Unfortunately, I was never able to make it up to visit while it was Hard Rock Park, but I was very glad to have the opportunity to visit Freestyle.

I pulled in the parking lot around 130PM, after nearly missing the Park on the way in. There are NO signs along Highway 501 stating where to exit. If it weren't for the fact that I saw Time Machine off to the right, I would have driven on by. Perhaps this is an issue that should be resolved soon? The first thing I notice is that the neighborhood, to me anyway, is somewhat shady. To be honest, I reminds me very much of Kentucky Kingdom. The Park itself is surrounded on all sides by less than desireable houses and such. Getting to the parking lot itself was a feat as any signage directing you there was incredibly small and difficult to read. Again, perhaps this too is part of the problem. Parking was $7 and I pulled into a decently filled lot, to my surprise. Freestyle is running a great promotion, Buy One Get One Free for $19.99. Getting my ticket, I found myself inside the Park very quickly.

The ticket plaza and front gate area I think was very nice. On the left a huge merchandise location takes up pretty much the entire left side. Being a merch guy at SeaWorld, I was very impressed. There wasn't a lot of Freestyle merchandise, mostly all rock merchandise that I'd assume was left from last season's abrupt end....Led Zeppelin, Beatles, and so on. There was a restaurant on the right, but to be honest I didn't pay attention to the prices or what was being served. I soon found myself at a crossroads, seeing the iconic guitar standing tall in the middle of the lake. I went to the left, heading towards Time Machine first. Along the way, I passed the family water play area, complete with the huge tipping bucket of course! Was very popular and very crowded.

The first thing I noticed was a lack of shade to be found in the park. Given the price tag that was supposedly dropped to build the Park, I would have thought that shade would have been included. Not the case. After a short walk, I found myself at the entrance to Time Machine, formerly Led Zeppelin: The Ride. The queue house is very large, with the outside now dawning symbols for the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s along the top. Beneath each symbol, all the way to the ground, are various album covers from said decade. It looked nice. The queue house itself was very large, indicative that they anticipated much larger crowds when they built the park. After zig zagging my way through, I was to the loading area....which was very weird. To put it simply, there are 5 different loading doors....again each sporting either 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s. Depending on the door you are lined up at, decides the soundtrack you will get on the ride. Behind each door are squares to fill the train. So essentially they are able to pre-load 5 trains at one time. Given the fact that only one train was in operation, my wait times ranged from super short to close to 30 minutes. My first ride was 60s my second ride was 00s. Both fun soundtracks.

Anyway, the doors open and you walk into the station to your corresponding number. Let me start by saying that I had no expectations for this ride. I hadn't heard anything all that glowing about it, I expected the norm from B&M now....forceless and uneventful. The ride begins with a steep lift, very similiar to that found on Diamondback, which always is fun to me for some reason Surprise #1, FANTASTIC airtime on the STEEP first drop in the back seat! Wow! The train speeds around the first tall vertical loop then heads into Surprise #2....a relatively forceful Cobra Roll. I was pleasantly surprised to find that "snap" through both inversions of it! Next up, zero-g roll which is by far the worse that they've come up with. Its a steep climb up to it, so the train loses a lot of speed. You just kinda get tossed lightly over it. With that said, due to the slow speed.....the forces that you do get are just wonky and actually are kinda fun! So not that bad. A second vertical loop ensues followed by a upward helix and dive up into the block brake. The brakes kick in somewhat hard at this point. The second half of the ride isn't as eventful as the first. A downward spiral out of the block brake is slow to pick up speed until the train suddenly dips down steeply into the flat spin. The ride finishes with an upward helix to hit the final brakes. The ride was a VERY pleasant and VERY VERY fun ride! Dare I say, I actually prefer it to Hulk. The onboard audio is GREAT, speakers were loud....so loud you could hear the soundtrack from the ground as the train passed by.

Next up I headed across the pond to what used to be the British Invasion area of the Park. While not specifically named anymore, its now filled with the sound of a lot of 80s music.....bad ass. First up was Roundabout, formerly Max RPM. This ride has intrigued me since they announced it, with the Ferris Wheel lift and all. A short 10 minute wait, thanks to them running 6 cars, and I was onboard. My first observation, the cars are essentially individual old Son of Beast cars....shocking since the ride is from Premier. They are 3 bench with the same god awful and cramped restraint system. Its not so much of an issue on Roundabout as its smooth and not the torture device we call SOB. The Ferris Wheel lift was unique, definitely. Things are very precise with it as any deviation near the locking points shut the ride down, which I witnessed a few times. The first drop is STEEP and fun, the rest of the ride was very short but I wasn't caring as I was singing along to Come On Eileen :-) Fun little ride.

I could see it off in the distance, I heard horriffic things about, it was now time to check out the darkride Monstars of Rock. I'm willing to excuse the mess, the Park had just a few short months to do ANYTHING with the ride and to remove the Nights In White Satin theme. Wow though. Just wow. There are worse dark rides than KI's very own Scooby Doo. The rooms that housed the scenes in Nights In White Satin are VERY big, with tall open ceilings. Essentially some cardboard cutouts were thrown in, a customized soundtrack added and thats about it. Hopefully they do a bit more over the offseason. Wow.

Next up, Iron Horse which as formerly Eagles: Life In The Fastlane. It now sports the soundtrack of Devil Went Down To Georgia. Built by Vekoma, its a very fun ride. The first half is pretty mild, but a second and taller lift hill leads to a pretty fun second half. No padding in the trains made it somewhat uncomfortable to ride but nothing too objectionable. The ending is hella cool with the fire guy After Iron Horse, I checked out Soaked! This was the suspended water coaster from Premier, similiar to defunct Super Saturator at Carowinds. Fun ride, I didn't get all that soaked as there weren't many bystanders below shooting the cannons at my car! I also took a spin on the Vekoma Roller Skater, I believe they call it Hang Ten.

At this point, I had made my way all the way around the loop. Lets see. The park is NICE, very nice. It was well thought out and designed. Theming I felt was very well done, not Disney or Universal quality persay, but nicely done. It was all very cohesive with the areas that were originally planned out in the Park and you can tell the stories all worked. I'll give Freestyle credit for maintaning that. Given the short period of time they had to open the Park, 3 months after they purchased it, they really seamlessly made the theme changes that they needed to without ruining any of the experiences. While there weren't a ton of attractions in the Park, I didn't find myself bored. The atmosphere was just a lot of fun, made mostly in part to the music I really believe. I really thought I was only going to need an hour to go in, ride the coasters and get out. I ended up spending 3 hours and really wanted to stay longer, if it weren't for the fact that I had to finish the drive to Williamsburg.

They have a GREAT product there, truly. There was a decent crowd, even though they are giving away the gate. I suppose at this point they just need PEOPLE in the park to experience what they hve to offer. Word of mouth goes along way, as anyone knows. People seemed to really be enjoying the Park and the rides. Marketing still seems to be an issue. On my 70 mile drive from I-95 to Myrtle Beach, I saw ZERO billboards for the Park. I only found one right outside the Park on 501. I wish them the best, I know that it is definitely on my list to revisit next season. I had a great time there, its a fantastic little park that has a lot of potential!

- Todd

[DaveStroem]

Thanks for the TR. We are headed down there this weekend.

[BoddaH1994]

I really wanted to visit Hard Rock Park and it definitely seems like Freestyle would be a great park to visit too.