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Goodbye Hard Rock Park? Maybe not - New Buyer update page 6

spicy

Giga Poster
$25 million, what a bargain. I can't believe they couldn't find a buyer at $35 million to be honest.

Still good news all round that the park may still survive!

Are the new buyers allowed to keep the Hard Rock franchise? Or will it be renamed?
 

SaiyanHajime

CF Legend
I never understood who this park was aimed at, from day one. Couldn't work it out, at all. The theme seemed too pigeon-holed.

I just couldn't see "Hard Rock Park" being something people would travel for, especially given it's rather meh location, and it seemed that this was a park trying to target a tourist audiance more than locals. Tourists that didn't exist. So what, it wanted to be the reason the tourists came?!

Insane ...and stupid.
 

marc

CF Legend
None of that has been anounced yet, I think the priority is just to get the park sold/bought rather than scrapped.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
You have to love the audacity of the new buyers: $25m and dropping until the sale finally goes through. It seems like a cruel game show tactic. DEAL!
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Wow. $25 mill, you can barely get a Maverick Clone for that. A full park for that price must be... well, it's basically the same as buying a wrecked Ferrari for the same price as, say a gearbox for an Audi, they're not exactly buying a money machine and it can't be compared to a coaster in another park.
But I think they'll be able to revive it. It has rides and potential tourists, and only the $10 mill they saved on waiting to buy it, could be turned into a sufficent marketing campaign.

Last, I wonder what happens to the Hard Rock name... the new buyers must get a ton of licenses to keep it like it was last year, and I wonder whether they want to cash out for that.
 

marc

CF Legend
As I said before that will probably be sorted out after the sale has gone through.

There prority is to get the sale done and get the park open, Hard Rock will probably give them a bit of a break for a month or two. They will get publicity anyway when its in the papers that the park has been sold. They probably got loads anyway when it went bust.
 

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
Well, at least there's hope now. cool)
The price is right & if the new owners are smart, they'll either drop the HRP name & replace it with something similar or negotiate cheaper licensing fees. At least they have a clear blueprint of what not to do. :wink:
How much money they'll have available for advertising will likely remain a mystery for some time, as I'm sure they'll have to pay off much of the debts owed by the former owners or risk losing most of their attractions. I'm sure they will be able to negotiate new deals with B&M and Vekoma, but I'm not sure it would be worth trying to make a new deal with Premier Rides for those beleaguered MaximumRPM! or Slippery When Wet coasters. They might just be better off replacing them with some decent flats.
One thing's for sure, I'll be there as soon as the opening date is confirmed. Maybe furie & I will have to rethink our plans for his visit. :lol:
 

marc

CF Legend
From what I read somewhere else Slippery When Wet was not a new coaster and they bought it from another park, so if this is true they own it.

For all we know that could have bought the other rides as well up front so maybe they dont owe the companies any money?

I think we will know more very soon but its a step in the right direction and by sounds of it they want to run it as a park which is good news.

I still have the feeling though that if you want to do the coasters go this year if it opens.
 

Snoo

The Legend
I doubt the Hard Rock name would stay.. which would make the park VERY interesting come next season.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
southend_marc said:
From what I read somewhere else Slippery When Wet was not a new coaster and they bought it from another park, so if this is true they own it.

For all we know that could have bought the other rides as well up front so maybe they dont owe the companies any money?

I think we will know more very soon but its a step in the right direction and by sounds of it they want to run it as a park which is good news.

I still have the feeling though that if you want to do the coasters go this year if it opens.
Really?

The management wants to run an amusement park as a park?

Here I thought they were going to treat it as a botanical garden. :roll:

Of course new management will treat it as a park, the old management treated it that way too. Old management was simply too short-sighted with their planning.

Yes, the coasters were original and new. This wonderful utility called RCDB will back that up.

For further proof, HRP did not pay for their coasters in full, holding back payments to Premier, which was the reason some coasters were remotely shut down and not able to operate last season.

Hard Rock Park will not scrap any attractions, regardless of management.

The attraction line up is not where the park lacked, it was in management style.

There is no need to spend even more money in ride replacement.
 

marc

CF Legend
What I meant was at least they are not buying it to sell off the rides to make a quick buck.

Yeah maybe I should have checked RCDB rather than what another site said.

I did not know they held off payments, thats why I said maybe :)
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Yup, those rides were originally bought for HRP.

HRP has the potential to be a great park. Let's hope this management will see it through.
 

wash

Mega Poster
My jaw just dropped to the floor...
$25 million- that's about as much as KI paid for Diamondback!
Only in my wildest dreams did I think that we'd see this park reopen! I am extremely excited about this and you can bet I'll be there this season if humanly possible!
Oh, I highly doubt that they'll get the HR license. If you'll recall, Hard Rock was pretty ticked with the way HRP panned out, and I doubt after the way they reacted they would just jump right back in- that's just not logical business. As for bands/songs license, the new owners will probably take note of what went wrong the last time around and opt for generic theming to cut expenses. So, here's to riding Plumbic Blimp: The Ride next year.
 

F.A.S.T.

Hyper Poster
$25 million- that's about as much as KI paid for Diamondback!
I know seriously!
Why build a single ride when you can buy the whole park!?!?! :lol:

Ok back to reality,
I really don't see them keeping the Hard Rock theme. (I the sale goes through) The contract was way to expensive in the first place. Why not name your own rides and not have to pay anyone. (I think the only way the Hard Rock theme would have worked is if they would have advertised more.)

But that's not really the important part.
The important part is that the park may be opening again!
 

Error

Strata Poster
Thank bloody God.

I was hoping they someone would buy the park. Some of the rides looks fairly nice, and worth a gander at.

The Hard Rock Park name will more then likely drop, making it easier for the new owners. Just wonder what rides will be named?

Led Zeppelin will be: Hindenburg
Slippery when wet will be: Caution: wet floor
Maximum RPM will be: Spinney go round
And Eagles will be: Birdy!
 

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
I hope that they choose a name that suits the theme of the park - i.e Rock 'N Roll Park or something to that effect.
As far as the licensing is concerned, I also hope that they keep the royalties license for Led Zep, as that is clearly what makes the coaster so exceptional. It's all built around 'Whole Lotta Love' and there is no way to replace it with some generic audio track.
Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane is a completely generic coaster, so I have no problem with any renaming/re-licensing that might occur. However I'm sure the new owners will have no problem get royalty license renewals at an affordable price as the record labels are in dire straights and will likely settle for much less, since they were looking at the prospect of getting nothing at all prior to these new owners stepping up to the plate.
Error said:
Slippery when wet will be: Caution: wet floor
Maximum RPM will be: Spinney go round
There is no need to rename either of those coasters Joe. Neither are intellectual properties of another company. MaximumRPM! was already using a generic fake radio audio track (skipping through the dial from one station to another) & Slippery When Wet didn't have audio.
 

Naemuti

Mega Poster
Oh my! I never thought I'd see this happen. Maybe I'll get to go to HRP after all. I can't believe they found a buyer after all.
 

carolinacoasterfreak

Roller Poster
I'm glad they found a buyer. The park was only open for one year and they went under, it says something about the choices made to run the park. Now at least I'll have a chance to go to the park under the new management, I didn't want to miss out on a new park not too far from me.
 

Echoes

Mega Poster
That's a lotta news for Hard Rock Park. Seeing this now kinda fazed me a bit, as I saw Led Zeppelin being constructed what feels like yesterday.

Well at any rate, glad to see it should be continuing on!
 
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