Birth of a Theme Park

Hard Rock Park bonds in rare position

Alarming numbers that came out last week about Hard Rock Park’s bonds should be seen as cause for further analysis - not a definitive warning sign, a researcher with Moody’s Analytics said Monday.

Last week, Reuters reported that some of the park’s bonds were trading at distressed levels with a high risk of default.

While the report is accurate, the data pool from which those risk levels were drawn is not big enough to make firm conclusions, said Tony Smith, senior director in Moody’s capital market research group from Moody’s Analytics, which analyzes bonds’ market performance against their ratings.

Over the past nine years, only 148 of the 200,000-plus observations of daily bond prices by Moody’s Analytics have been in the same situation as Hard Rock Park: They have had bonds rated as CAA2 while trading at C levels. Of those, 43 percent defaulted within the year, Smith said.

“We would not view that as a strong, statistically significant signal,” Smith said. “We’d use this more as a pointer for investors to look more deeply into the questions around this company than as a pure signal of an expectation of problems.”

TSN's Hard Rock Park page updated

Hey Hard Rock Park fans. Wanted to drop a note to say that I've updated our Hard Rock Park page with a history of the park/area, pictures and videos (downpage). On that page, you can already find all the latest news, maps and information. I'm thinking of adding more information, such as a FAQ section.

Now I'd like to hear from you. What do you think would be useful? What would you like to see on that page? Are there any pictures or articles you remember seeing that you can't find on our site? You can either comment below or e-mail me.

Here's the list of photo galleries and videos I put up there:

Video

April 15 | Auction winners on first Zeppelin ride (2 videos)
Jan. 24 | Scenes of construction
Jan. 24 | Building the Gibson guitar icon
Dec. 16 | Christening of Led Zeppelin coaster
Sept. 13 | Finishing the Eagles coaster
Preview center tour
Park's effect on local businesses
Park's effect on land values      

            Photo galleries

May 9 | Hard Rock Park's official opening
May 5 | Arlo Guthrie visits Hard Rock Park
April 11 | Hard Rock readies for soft opening
Oct. 31 | Moody Blues at Hard Rock Park
Oct. 24 | Lady Liberty rises
Oct. 6 | Hard Rock Park making progress
July 14 | Roller coaster milestone for Hard Rock Park

New British Invasion characters

Hard Rock Park has new themed characters: British guards stationed near the bridge at the entrance of the British Invasion zone of the park.

The duo debuted Friday, adding to other characters including beach babes from the Malibu Beach Party and disco girls from Lost in the `70s.

Shuttle gets its start

The Hard Rock Express carted more than 50 people between downtown Myrtle Beach and Hard Rock Park on its first day in operation Friday, said The Coast RTA's director of marketing and customer relations David Bodle.

The express is a public shuttle that charges $4 each way for adults and nothing for children under 17 with an adult.

Bodle said the shuttle hasn't been advertised much yet because The Coast RTA wants to make sure any possible kinks get worked out.

"We're kind of doing our own soft opening,'' he said. "I wanted to make sure that we've driven the route over and over, but we still were anticipating some traffic this weekend.''

He expects more than 200 riders per day during peak summer months, he said.

The buses have spots for 18 passengers and four people in wheelchairs and run every half hour from The Coast's transfer station across from City Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Led Zep fans journey far for ride

Tom and Beth Stegner of Long Island, N.Y., came to the park today with a purpose, and they dressed the part.

"We're big Led Zeppelin fans, and he wanted to go on the roller coaster," Beth Stegner said.

The two traveled to the beach to attend the park's opening, and both sported T-shirts with Led Zeppelin sprawled across them.

Tom Stegner said he's been an avid fan of the band for the past 25 years. He approved of the song choice -- "Whole Lotta Love'' -- that blasts through on-board speakers, saying it's a song that really gets you going.

"Excellent," he said about the ride. "Probably the best ride ever."

Visitors enjoy short lines opening morning

Crowds were sparse in the morning just after the park's grand opening, but that was a good thing for Darlene and Kevin Murray and their nine-year-old daughter Alexa.

The family, from Highpoint, N.C., was headed to ride the Led Zeppelin roller coaster for the third time because the lines were so short.

"We love it. We feel like have the whole park to ourselves," Darlene Murray said. "We're VIPs."

They were disappointed that Slippery When Wet wasn't open yet.

"We keep walking by to see if it's open. They said they were testing it," she said.

High gas prices, at $3.54 for a gallon of regular Friday in Myrtle Beach, did not hinder their roughly four-hour drive to get here.

Area tourism leaders are hoping people will spend money on trips this summer despite the slumping economy. They have said rebate checks should help, and that people might see Hard Rock Park as more affordable than driving down to Florida's theme parks.

Murray said there's no way they would have canceled their vacation.

"You work hard, you need to have fun,'' she said.

Bikers explore the park

Jerry Gardner and Elaine Smith of Conway were among the first people at the park for its grand opening.
Though they're motorcyclists, they left their bike at home for the morning because of the rain.

"It's kind of wet right now," Garder said as they waited for the gates to open. "We'll go back and get them."

Behind them in the parking lot were vendor tents set up for the bike rally that launched today, the first year the hub for the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally was at Hard Rock Park instead of the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Gardner and Smith came to the park to check out the park's rides and the food.

"You can eat just about anything you want to in there," Gardner said.

Park alters prices during bike rally

Hard Rock Park has waived the $10 parking fee and is offering a two-day ticket deal during the Harley-Davidson rally that runs from May 9 to May 18.

Certain tickets sold at the front gate for $75 can be used on any two days during the rally, park spokeswoman Megan Winnett said in an e-mail.

The park will host the official Harley-Davidson rally event in its parking lot. For directions, see our PDF map.

Also, the park is running a promotion on Pepsi cans: buy one day pass and get a second, consecutive day pass for half price through June.

Park opens with a smash

The Sun News' Jessica Foster reports:

Hard Rock Park kicked off its official season this morning with a smash.

County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland and the wife and a son of Gov. Mark Sanford attended the opening ceremony.

Park CEO Steven Goodwin and others bashed acoustic guitars onto the ground before the gates opened at 10 a.m.

The last time Goodwin smashed a guitar at an event, he used an electric guitar and had a bit of trouble. (See the video of the christening of the Led Zeppelin coaster.) “Everyone tells me it’s a lot easier to smash an acoustic guitar,” Goodwin said.

Reuters: Economy affecting entertainment biz

With prices across the board rising and fears of a consumer spending slowdown, entertainment, restaurant and casino businesses are hurting, according to a Reuters analysis published today.

The article included Hard Rock Park and other similar businesses. The article said:

Profit margins for these "bread and circus" industries are getting squeezed as food prices soar and consumers spend less on travel and entertainment. The health of sectors that rely on discretionary spending may offer insights into the behavior of consumers, a crucial factor in determining the severity of the U.S. and global economic slowdown.

HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings, for example, relied on debt to build Hard Rock Park, America's newest $400 million theme park, including a "Led Zeppelin" rock 'n' roll coaster. Hard Rock bonds, like those of Six Flags and Perkins, are among bonds now trading at the most distressed levels. A bond is considered distressed if it yields at least 10 percentage points more than Treasuries. When demand for a bond drops, its yield rises, indicating a higher perception of risk compared with investing in ultra-safe government bonds.

Hard Rock Park officials were unavailable for comment.