Hard Rock Park opens with Zeppelin coaster

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Hard Rock hopes to attract 30,000 visitors a day and about 3 million a year.

But industry consultant Dennis Speigel wonders if Hard Rock can make those numbers in a troubled economy and when the industry is saturated with attractions.

"It's a very hefty price at $400 million and the projections they have published are very ambitious," he said. "Very few theme parks, with the exception of a handful, and primarily the Disney and the Universal Parks, have ever opened exceeding 2 million people in the first year."

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There's a theme park within a 2 1/2 hour drive of most major metropolitan areas, added Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services based in Cincinnati.

"The people coming to Myrtle Beach probably have a major theme park close to them, whether they are coming from Canada or coming from Charlotte," he said. "I don't know if there is anything there that absolutely tips the scales in favor of somebody saying 'I can't leave Myrtle Beach without going there.'"

But for Chad Frisbie, of Rumford, Maine, who visited recently, Hard Rock was the reason for flying to Myrtle Beach.

"We looked online and saw this was a new theme park and that's what we based the vacation on," he said, as he got off the Led Zeppelin coaster. "This was the one thing I wanted to check out and I'm glad I did."

Binkowski said there will be plenty of potential guests.

"There are 14 million visitors who come to Myrtle Beach and 13 million of them are families," he said. After the family goes to the beach and eats out and plays miniature golf, they will want to spend the day at a theme park, he predicted. "We built this for the family."

Goodwin said he believes that Hard Rock may be more attractive to visitors than continuing south to Florida theme parks.

"We're 500 miles closer to the major population centers of the Northeast," he said. "At $3.50 a gallon, that's a big amount of money when you add it up. Plus there are a lot more affordable motels in Myrtle Beach."

Hard Rock opens about a year and a half after Myrtle Beach's oceanfront Pavilion amusement park closed. The roller coasters and arcades there were part of the fabric of this beach community for more than half a century.

Unlike the Pavilion, which usually closed around Labor Day, Hard Rock plans to open its gates during the spring and fall shoulder seasons.

"We'll do Rocktoberfest, we'll do Halloween and we're looking to do Christmas," Goodwin said. "I think between us working with Myrtle Beach and selling ourselves that time of year, we'll be able to bring people in."

Back at the Statue of Liberty, there's another attraction, one of the park employees. Brian Glenn with his purple-streaked shock of hair, seems to be having as much fun as the visitors.

"I can wear my tattoos out. I can wear my piercings. I just get to run around and be myself," he said. "I tell them why I'm here, they start getting into it and we have a blast."

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