© Ryan Peake All-Access Entry Plaza: Hard Rock Park's entryway provides a view of the 70-foot-tall guitar that's quickly become a landmark of the park.

COASTER-net: Hey, I’m Ryan Peake for COASTER-net and I’m here with Jon Binkowski, the chief creative officer here at Hard Rock Park and we’ll be asking him some questions to get information about the park and let you decide if you want to check it out. First off, what do you want to say most to our viewers?

Jon: What I want to say to the subscribers of COASTER-net is that you’ve got to come out to Hard Rock Park because you’ve never experienced rock and roll layering over onto a theme park. You’ve gotta do it here. I’ve been involved for many, many years in the theme park industry. I was born for this when I was born in 1958 – okay, I’m an old fart – I was born in ’58 and I lived with Beatles, and Elton John, and Nirvana, and all the way to today and this thing encompasses all of it, so come check it out.

COASTER-net: So what are three things that set this park apart from the rest?

Jon: All right, the three things that set this park apart, first of all, is that we feel we’re going to have a place that rock stars are going to want to come and hang out. We’ve got Kid Rock coming; we’ve got Bowling for Soup, Charlie Daniels, KC and the Sunshine Band… I mean, we have an eclectic group from emerging artists all the way up. And for that, we’ve kind of created an environment where you’ll be hanging with them. Having said that, we also have a couple of really “smell-me” areas like this which is where the rock stars can come up with their whole gang, relax, go out, see the fireworks show at night, and then they can go down into the park and have at it with the fans, so that’s one thing.

© Ryan Peake Partying Like a Rock Star: The park's VIP lounge, where touring bands can relax, provides stunning views of the lake and surrounding rides.

The next thing is that we have surprises throughout the whole park. Where else but Hard Rock Park would you run into a statue of a cow that squirts you with his udders and talks a little bit like Elvis and go into a bathroom where the mirror is broken and sloped where you see yourself moving at a different speed.

The third thing is that we have something for everybody. You know, Mick Jagger is a senior citizen and this is rock and roll through the ages, for everybody down to the toddlers. We’ve got the toddlers happy, we’ve got mom happy, we’ve got the teens taken care of, and the seniors as well so they can relive those moments that… they can’t remember.

COASTER-net: How many concerts are you planning on having each year? How many major bands and small bands?

Jon: Well, you know, we just started – just started – because it was very difficult to talk to anyone when you didn’t have a facility. We’ve got a great shed that can play to 8,000 people, but even if you have 8,000 people, you’re only about a hundred feet away from the stage. It’s an awesome facility.

The great thing about all of the bands that are coming is that they’re all included in the park. As you come into the park, you pay fifty bucks and if Kid Rock’s in that day, you get Kid Rock as part of your admission price. For anybody who is anywhere within driving distance of the park, getting an annual pass for a hundred and fifty bucks and being able to see one, two, three, four concerts, you’ve already had your pass pay for itself. We’ve got Sister Hazel coming for the Fourth of July. It’s an awesome thing. It’s all included and you can come to it and then go out and ride the coasters, ride the rides. This is going to be the place to be for coasters and concerts. There’s nothing like a theme park where you can go see something like that because it’s included in the price of admission. You can’t beat that.

© Ryan Peake Rockin' Night Life: A nightly fireworks display is synchronized to Queen's hit song "Bohemian Rhapsody."

COASTER-net: The next question is why Myrtle Beach?

Jon: Hey man, why not Myrtle Beach? Myrtle Beach is a music town. It’s perfect. Actually, to be a little analytical here: in the continental US, there’s probably one place that could be able to accommodate a major destination theme park that hasn’t done so already – that’s Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. You’ve got 13-million visitors that just come to the beach to hang out and have fun, and they stay for an entire week. So, it’s unlike Orlando where their average length of stay is about a day and a half – less than Myrtle Beach. They go to the beach and then we want to give them another alternative. It is the music town; music falls in naturally to it.

But also, it’s a party town. People want to come here and have a great time. When I came here to scope it out back in 1999, I went to the Hard Rock Café at 11:00 at night, and at 11:00 at night, there was a line out the door, and it was everybody; it was teens, it was young adults; it was strollers, walkers; the whole family was there at 11:00 at night. They’re partying till 1 in the morning because we’ve got the beach. You can party all night long, then show up in the morning and you’ve got the whole beach to just kind of relax until 3:00, so the people have a wonderful time here.

COASTER-net: What would you say to the coaster fanatics who are—

Jon: To your viewers?

COASTER-net: Yeah; to them; people who may be kind of skeptical about coming to the park because they say, “Hey, it’s only got five coasters and only one or two of them are big coasters.” What do you say to them?

© Ryan Peake With Flying Colors: Hard Rock Park hopes that it's tapping the last major untapped market in the US for a destination theme park.

Jon: All right, listen here. I’m talking to you, COASTER-net. Listen to me. What we’ve got going on here, first off, is a park that could be enjoyed by a bunch of different people, so if you come, if you are a major coaster fanatic, we have laid down for you Led Zeppelin: the Ride; we feel that that will give you your adrenaline rush that you’re looking for. But you’ll also be able to come with either your own family or your friends or people who may not be as intense as you and they will have an awesome time as well.

We have built in for you, specifically, make-out areas throughout the park just for you to be able to hang out at night. We’re expecting that you are going to be creating new generations of people to come to our park. So, not only do we have awesome coaster rides, but we have live shows that are hysterical; some of them are very action-packed, and there’ll be something for you and your friends to be able to come to so they won’t just be sitting there going, “Okay, so, like, we need to get off the rides.” You will have something to be able to do with them and they will be happy as well. And when they’re happy, you’re happy; when you’re happy, I’m happy.

COASTER-net: With Hard Rock Park being a music-themed park, could you just describe how you merged music and rides, and how they come together?

Jon: Well, you know, technology today has allowed us to be able to do that, which makes it great, and you’re going to be seeing this happening more and more in theme parks. We’re just taking it to the next step. It’s been like polar opposites with some of our rides.

With Led Zeppelin: the Ride, Led Zeppelin wanted us to have the entire five-and-a-half-minute song “Whole Lotta Love” set to an experience, so the first part of the ride is in the theater, the next part is in a loading platform, and you continue on into the ride, and you ride the last part. So we kind of had a twist of metal for the B&M coaster to be able to do it because that’s what they handed us and wanted us to work with.

Now, the Eagles for another exact opposite was we have the existing ride. It’s a mine-train coaster; it banks and turns, it’s two minutes long and we wanted to set it to “Life in the Fast Lane” and so did the Eagles, but it’s only two minutes, so they went back in the studio and they re-recorded it to match the ride.

© Ryan Peake Rocking, Rolling, and Coasting: 'Led Zeppelin: the Ride', the new theme park's signature coaster, features the entire five-and-a-half-minute-long song by the band "Whole Lotta Love."

So, in that particular case, the music was scored to the ride, and with Led Zeppelin, the ride was twisted to the music. And that is what made it layering so nicely. And it is. It’s very cool not only for roller coasters, but also, dark rides. Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin: the Trip was done where they re-scored the music for this so you could have a psychedelic experience. And that was specifically made kind of for the older people. You know, for a guy who would love to go on Led Zeppelin, but his back’s bad, but he still wants to rock, he can go on that and relive those moments he can’t remember

COASTER-net: Is there anything else you would like to say to our viewers?

Jon: I would. I would like to say to COASTER-net that, first of all, you’re pretty much all experts in your own right with what you do, and with Hard Rock Park, in the fact that we are a family market and everything, the one thing we knew we couldn’t do, realistically, you know, really, is that we couldn’t be in an arms race with coasters. We can’t do the biggest, tallest, fastest roller coaster. It’s not going to appeal to grandparents and things like that. Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, I bow to them. They’ve got some adrenaline-rush rides.

What we can do, is we can try to provide the coolest rides, and I liken it, very much, to Jimmy Page with his guitar, or Eric Clapton. Jimmy Page doesn’t have the biggest guitar, or the loudest guitar; he played it the coolest. And that’s what we’re trying to do with our rides. With the layering of the music; you know, theming and everything that we’re doing and the vibe that we’re trying to create, we’re trying to create the coolest rides. Will they be the fastest? Probably not. Will they be the highest? Probably not. But, they’ll be the coolest. I guarantee it. That’s about it. And thank you very much for visiting Hard Rock Park with these guys.