Hard Rock Park: merch & memories
Probably the most infamous theme park failure in modern times occurred in a relatively small seaside town in South Carolina. Hard Rock Park was first of its kind: first major theme park to be built from scratch in the U.S. in decades, first park themed entirely on music (with respects to Fiesta Texas, which came pretty close), first park with major artist collaboration (Eagles, Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin), and the first to crash and burn after only about five months of operation.
What went wrong? That’s a complicated story that’s well-documented at Theme Park University. I touch on it a bit in the regional park history book as well, but the gist is that it was probably built in the wrong location of the country, had overly optimistic hopes of who their potential demographic would be, and was vastly under-capitalized. A very entertaining interview with the awesome chief creative officer, Jon Binkowski, is not to be missed over at the Season Pass Podcast (episode 243).
At any rate, I’ve collected a few pieces of memorabilia from the park, including an original park map, Hard Rock’s book documenting the story behind the park, some opening day stuff, other merch, and an awesome sign that was in the queue of the Maximum RPM! coaster station. Enjoy!
