Ever heard of Hard Rock Park? Possibly not, which is why they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hard Rock Park announced on its website that it is closed for the season “to allow management to focus on restructuring efforts.” The announcement says the park will reopen in 2009. The closure will help the park reduce debt and ensure it can stay around. HRP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which will allow the park to stay open and try to cut back on its debt.
The park opened its doors for the first time this past spring with high attendance expectations: 3 million projected the first year. That didn’t happen. Not even close. Poor planning did this park in. The rides had surprising low capacity (not that that’s mattered thus far). The lack of a proper water ride was a big mistake. They had a water play structure with a dumping bucket that you find at most water parks, which was a poor choice to put into a dry rides park. And the ticket pricing was probably too high for what the park had to offer.
The pricing versus the perception is one of the major problems of this failed park. Visitors go expecting a bunch of spectacular rides and leave disappointed and feeling ripped off. There were a few good rides but not very many, plus the park is definitely lacking attractions the entire family can enjoy together. When the only major ride that families can experience together is the “Acid Trip Ride” I’m not sure that’s going to go over too well! Hard Rock Park is an amusement park but it’s focused on the whole “experience” and it’s not just about the rides. The question is how do you market that?
HRP must have had some amount of operating capital or they would’ve closed in June. One could guess that the original game plan was that they hoped to make enough money to operate year-round, even if it was at a net-loss for the first few years. It would seem to me that marketing would be even more important than any one attraction, so I wonder why the plan didn’t include one less big attraction and a boat load of cash to sell the park to the world. What probably really happened is that they spent way too much operating the park and made way too little, a bad combination of poor marketing and a perfect storm of economic suckage.
Hard Rock Park has potential, it just needs a more thought out business plan. Management needs to make some changes in order to be a viable entertainment option in their market, but it could work if the right balance of price vs. product is reached. This park has a lot of potential as it’s in a great location where families are already going for vacation, and I think there is too much invested for it to go away. I hope they’ll get their act together next year.
Written by Nick Weisenberger
Recent Discussion