Coasters to shed band names at Hard Rock Park

The two roller coasters named after Led Zeppelin and The Eagles at Hard Rock Park will be renamed for the 2009 season, an official with the park's new owners said Thursday, though he declined to say whether new names have been picked out for the rides, among the park's largest attractions.

The park's new owners also appeared to be backing away from a solely rock-'n'-roll theme for the park. John Stine,  the director of sales and marketing for FPI MB Entertainment, the company that purchased the park out of bankrupcty in February for $25 million, said the park will be music-themed, with only an emphasis on rock 'n' roll.

"We want to get the park right," Stine said. "We want to enhance a number of areas and create more fun, more value for guests coming into the park."

A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware ruled Monday that some of the park's previous owners still had intellectual property rights to the park's overall theme, design and layout. Steven Goodwin, the park's former CEO, had asked the new owners for licensing fees and a small cut of the profits.

Regardless of Monday's ruling, Stine said the park's owners had already decided to rebrand portions of the park. Since the new owners did not have any rights to the brand names of either The Eagles or Led Zeppelin, Monday's ruling did not impact the decision to change the names of those rides, Stine said.

"There were a number of things that we had in the works with our rebrand and the new creative direction we were taking it before the ruling," Stine said. "All this does is we continue to work harder, and we accelerate some things."

Stine, though, was mum on whether the park's themed areas, including a section devoted to British rock, would remain the same or would go through a massive overhaul. He also declined to say whether the park's two other big rides, a water ride named Slippery When Wet and another coaster called Maximum RPM!, would retain their names.

The new owners are especially focusing on making the park more family oriented, Stine said, but he declined to provide more details on which children's rides would be added to the park. The park's new owners have said they plan to add some children's rides.

"The rides will offer the opportunity for both parents and grandparents to enjoy the ride with their children," Stine said. "We want it to be more engaging. We want it to be more of a participatory ride so that grandparents are not sitting on a bench watching their kids ride."

Still up in the air is whether the park can retain the Hard Rock brand. The previous owners leased the brand from Hard Rock International for $2.5 million a year, but the new owners are still negotiating whether the name can be kept.

The park's Web site that sported the Hard Rock brand, www.hardrockpark.com, was recently taken down and now links to Hard Rock's main site.

Comments

[Donnie Boy]

It is HILAROUS. They talk about "getting it right". UM, two of the 'new' owners are THE OLD OWNERS!!!

They SCAMMED the system, buying the park for 8cents on the dollar after they bankrupted the original investors.

The feds are looking into this now.

[Joe]

Scheduled to open in less than two months, and they don't have names for the major rides yet? Anybody buying this bs??

[Ed]

I guess watching Steve Goodwin and his Merry Men, run Hard Rock into the ground in less than 6 months, putting 2000 people out of work, is preferable to the new owners trying to get it right. So what if they got the park for $25 million, it's still a risk and at least they have more experience than the last crew. Give them a chance, they're putting 750-1000 people back to work and trying to make it affordable and family friendly. That's what this area needs....jobs...not ill informed naysayers

[MBLocal76]

I'm on board with you Ed. We're in a economic crisis and people want to bicker over names?

If the Park is going to put people to work and be a benefit to Myrtle Beach to draw more tourists, it benefits us all economically.

I too say give them a chance!

[ttom]

Have they hired anyone yet?

[Ken]

Whats Hilarous is that considering that they are doing thier best to improve the park and do things right this time and all some can do is continue to badmouth every single move relating to the park,So f**king what that 2 of the owners are from the old crew?this does'nt mean that they have'nt seen thier miskaes and tring to get things done right this time,if that was the case they would'nt have contacted Baker Leisure to manage the park who has many years of theme park expeariance. I can't wait till the next big attraction comes to Myrtle Beach so all you naysayers can dump your ill thoughout opinions on it and give this park a break for a change.

[prefab sprout]

How hard can it be to name a ride? People come for the thrill-not what its called...

[THE INSIDER]

Baker Leisure to manage the park? Years of theme park experience? They crashed Cypress Gardens in less than a year and were then fired. Hell, Steven ran Hard Rock Park 3 times as long as those clowns at Baker ran Cypress. The new owners are nothing but a joke. They have less than two months until their "opening" day and they haven't hired anyone, haven't held their auditions, don't know what the rides are named, and don't even know what the heck to call the place. They don't even have a website. WHAT A FREAKING JOKE!!!!

[Nick]

I want to know who the two previous owners are that are now the "new" owners.

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200902/1058/

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/632917.html

"Steve Baker, president of FPI MB Entertainment, said in a statement."

[BigT]

Who really cares? The service people that surround the way over-priced entertainment at Myrtle Beach are RUDE and punkish.

The hype FAR outweighs the actual value of anything there.

I lived there, but the disgusting greed, from taxes to real estate, finally ran me out. I grew up in the area, and love the ocean, but I don't ever want or need to go back. And HRP is just an extension of all the other over-done trash that the beach has become. You can have it.

[Ken]

You can't compare Cypress Gardens with HRP, 2 different parks with 2 different layouts&concepts and it can't all be blamed on Baker,As far as not hiring, I have a friend who is a machanic who started back a few weeks ago, they need to get all the work regarding maintanince & rethemeimg out of the way before they bring in new employes for training, atleast for some who had such a gripe with the Hard Rock Name, you can be happy,I just saw a link saying the park will be renamed instaed of Hard Rock.