While I normally enjoy watching these videos, especially for abandoned theme parks, seeing the discovery of blueprints and contracts and all kinds of other documents took it to a whole other level. It’s amazing that is all there. That all deserves to be preserved somewhere
My grandfather was an architect in NYC//NJ and brother is in the Midwest. Somebody worked long and hard to create on paper and reality someone's vision. Sad to see the effort has gone to waste. If it were me, I'd back up the car and haul the art and paperwork out. Finder's keepers.
@@MeMeDaVinci They got paid to do it. That was their reward. And they saw it get built. Things get created and destroyed all the time. Destruction is good. It paves the way for the new. We should destroy more old stuff and build more new stuff!
@@295g295 I know. He's amazing. There's guys like that producing TV quality material and Urbex smashcrews like us *completely busting the crap* out of any shit we can find! Oh well, it takes all sorts, I suppose.
He wouldn't've done the explorations south of the border without his very own valid passport. Exploration without the requirement is deemed somewhat similar to illegal immigration.
Jake, I FINALLY got the chance to rent your documentary! I'm in Japan, where, of course, it's not available, but I finally was able to get service going that would get me access to the US versions of all of the streaming sites, so I could finally see it! Yay! Fantastic work, I loved it! Keep up the pro magic, man! :)
I feel like the cost cutting and the lack of regard for all their history, property and IPs shed the light on how obvious it should have been that it would inevitably collapse and fail quickly. It shows strong neglect, lack of care and bad business ethic of those who owned and ran it. And the fact that even the next two ownership group chose to just leave all the history, IPs, and other property there to rot away proves they are no better with it. It is sad.
What I want to know is why did they leave all that concept art, blue prints, layouts, and agreements behind? I would have thought some executive would have taken it or managers or someone.
I took my family to Hard Rock Park shortly after it opened. It was a beautiful park with some cool attractions. The Moody Blues dark ride, and the Led Zeppelin Coaster were my favorites. It got killed by the recession. Everyone stopped traveling, there were way too few guests, and it closed. It wasn't even open for 6 months. It was pretty sad.
Love that you explore and we benefit from your adventures. As always, I'm saddened by the amount of physical and monetary waste some of these business ventures leave behind.
This is so cool! I just went to the medieval times right by there a few months before you did the abandoned episode. I was wondering what that entire area was, so interesting to hear about and then watch you guys explore. Your content is always awesome :)
This place didn't make it because of the prices. I went there once with my wife and 2 kids. And it was going to be almost 100 bucks just to get in. We didn't go, we went to the beach. That second part of that contract with the chapstick and weird stuff was the bands list of demands or what they call a Ryder.
This is kind a similar to when Fry's bought the 6 Incredible Universe stores. The flagship Incredible Universe store was such an odd shape that Fry's literally put a wall down the 1st third of the store and moved the entrance. When the store was opened up for liquidation, people got pictures of all the original Incredible Universe signage and logos in parts of the store which customers were deemed to never visit. Was really cools seeing the Incredible Universe logos still on the sliding doors from the original entrance, as well as some adverts, as well.
No kidding. If the Hard Rock Cafe was going to be a hit, you think Gibson would be paying the cafe to allow their name on guitar. Not the other way around.
Even the prices they were paying the performers seemed crazy! No wonder it closed so soon! Seems like there wasn't a lot of thought put into expenses...
@TheAnimeist You completely missed the point. That was a *sponsorship agreement* with Gibson paying $1m per year for 20 years for the exposure, i.e., advertising. Everything else he was reading spelled out exactly what Gibson would get for their $1m. Sponsors pay money for exposure. If HR Park was paying money to use the Gibson name, symbols, trademarks, etc., it would have been a licensing agreement not a sponsorship agreement.
This one hits different because I was there when it was open in 2008. It was a very well designed park but between the recession, location, and theme it was a disaster in the making. I remember being stunned with how empty the park was when I visited. It’s a shame the Knights in White Satin ride couldn’t be saved. Great video as always!
Y'all have LITERALLY... Hit the jackpot with aaaaallllll the information they left behind... information that most likely would have never ever been public otherwise.... My goodness well done!!!!
@@RNCHFND it's not really about the price that I see, a "jackpot" isn't always about money. Like those hand drawn pictures, hand drawn blueprints, all the color schemes, contracts, used and unused ideas... Things like that they've never had access to that the rest of the world probably would've never gotten from just... The internet lol the people who had it didn't value it, but for the concept of this video... It seems pretty priceless... But that's just am opinion 😌
@@RNCHFND actually, theme park drawings and especially ride vehicles to collectors are very valuable....even reprints go for 20 bucks on etsy. They make for great wall decor
the part i find absolutely insane is all those licensing agreements. i dont know why but that really sticks out to me. i can’t believe how much paperwork and concept was left behind and is likely now gone forever. even though that stuff may not have had major historical value in the wider culture, for hobbyist and enthusiasts of Hard Rock, of those bands, or of theme parks, they could have had major value.
I was thinking the same thing. With as many people that have broken in to vandalize the place they never looked to see there were things there they could have made big bucks on like blueprints! Of course only idiots are into vandalism so the wouldn't know how to read a blueprint to use it or know it's value!
As a historian, it would be so hard to explore and not try to save all of the things like architectural plans, photos, ephemera, and frankly it would have been hard not to snag those rid vehicles for some use later.
Absolutely love how excited Jake gets, going through the park. When creators are passionate about the stuff they cover, it always shows in the best possible way, and is infectious
The guys’ reaction to the lobster tail segment was absolutely hilarious and wholly unexpected… which adds to the absurdity in turn making it 10X more hilarious. Not sure whose idea that was or if it really was as unplanned as depicted but I got a kick out of it regardless so kudos either way. I love unexpected throwaway gags in otherwise non-comedic content
Hi everyone, I'm probably late but I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach this past week and thought I'd check out what was left of Hard Rock/Freestlye Music Park. Sad to say there was nothing there. Absolutely everything has been demolished. The only thing still standing is the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. I had no idea what to expect going into it but I was shocked to see nothing was left. No signs, buildings or anything. Thought I would share this. I remember going to Myrtle Beach previous years as a kid and always seeing that big white rollercoaster and I knew something was always off about that area because by then the place had already been abandoned but I just didn't know that as a young kid. This year is the first time in a while I've been down to Myrtle Beach and it's the first time I didn't see the rollercoaster on my way in. Sad to watch this video and learn everything. Hopefully one day it could make a return bigger and better than ever!
Yes! I was 12 or 13 when the park was built (didn’t get to go to it, but I know a few classmates who did), but even after it closed, my sister and I would always look for the rollercoaster when we’d go over the bridge going into Myrtle Beach. The most recent time, it was gone! I’ve been interested in abandoned places for years, yet I never heard anything about them preparing to demolish the park.
I live 3 miles from this site. My sons and I frequently visited and explored this abandoned theme park. We've been in every building and on the roofs of a few of the structures. Many great memories, souvenirs, and pictures! We were lucky to take one last tour of this place before they razed it about a year ago. In its place now stands new distribution warehouses. Sad story. Great video!
@@PreservationEnthusiast I take his silence as VicD probably committed a murder there. We should visit the site with cadaver dogs. Ive seen this on youtube a lot lately. Lots of murderers out there.
$400 million dollars for seven months. And a big pile of trash within 12 years. How many contractors never even got paid. What a collosal waste all around. Great video!
That corporate recklessness was a sign of the times. No one saw the real estate/housing collapse just around the corner. The good times stopped abruptly.
@@map3384 It was a terrible time to be in business. Our company (not real estate) was only four years old and we ended up putting our life savings into it to keep it going. We are still in business today but there were no bailouts for us so we will prob never retire.
Myrtle Beach got hit real hard during the recession. I know lots of places did to but it was just one of those cities that seemed to get hit harder than others. It's like starting restaurant months before Covid lock downs started. Just unlucky.
You do such incredible justice for the people who built, maintained, worked and planned these monuments. Moments and memories were created there, it’s awesome to see what’s left when all you have is the memory.
I remember crossing over the bridge at Waccamaw when Hardrock was being built and my parents saying that park will nvr make it. When you traveled to MB it seemed like one way in and one way out for miles with slow moving horrible traffic. My family visited MB several times a year. We nvr stopped at Waccamaw otw to Myrtle it was always otw home because traffic getting in and out was horrible and finding a parking spot took several laps. It wouldn't have mattered if my siblings and I cried , made promises to eat our greens, keep our rooms cleaned, stop fighting with one another or promise to keep our grades up. Lol there was absolutely no way our parents would have made that drive to and from Hardrock in all that traffic with one way in and out. If someone would have watched the traffic pattern closely they would have known it was a horrible idea.
The ceilings and roofs have fallen in, but the canvas awnings over the ticket booth are still intact! Incredible! All those records, artwork and plans should be preserved by someone, college library, museum, somewhere.
Why? If the owners of the place didn't care about preserving the records, why should any one else do the work? Preservation space is not free, the work to save (or digitize) the records has to be paid for. There are lots of people who think "stuff should be saved", but are they willing to pay for it?
@@fanatic26 with that attitude, why save history at all? Failures are history too, and we can look back at major corporate failures to learn lessons for the future. While I'm not sure a museum would be interested in most of the stuff there, I'm sure it has a home in private enthusiast collections, or scanned and put on archival sites.
27:22 "Look at the roof, it's completely gone! How does that even happen?" 27:46 "It's hard to believe that this amount of water damage is even possible." Jake seems to have forgotten that this is on the Atlantic coast, which is prone to hurricanes. I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that's a large factor: a few Cat 1s have gone over Myrtle Beach since this park's closing.
@Psittacosaurus Feel dumb bc I was wondering how bad the construction had to be for all that damage to happen just really since 2009--being from Mich I forgot abt all the storms that would have battered it over the years!
Sad thing is that the building codes for SC would normally take that into account. Myrtle Beach has definitely been hit by multiple hurricanes since the park closed, although I don't remember how badly the Grand Strand was affected by the 1000 Year Flood that wrecked the Midlands in the late 2010s (I know the Lowcountry came through it better than the Midlands, because we're used to it flooding when you sneeze in places).
@@mindwarp42 I lived less than a half mile from this park for a few years. We had a lot of hurricanes come through, but in particular, 2016's hurricane Matthew did a TON of damage to the area.
I can't believe that paperwork is so well-preserved considering that it was just left there with no consideration. I mean entropy will get it all in the end but y'all saw it in this in-between moment. Thanks for this amazing video
In a way it does seem amazing that paperwork somehow stays preserved like that. However, after watching many seasons of "Mysteries of the Abandoned" on cable, I am not surprised. There are so many locations around the world that were abandoned in the '50s or '60s, and items remain intact to this day despite being left exposed for decades.
@@Prof_Jeff it's because the buildings that are abandoned become tombs in a sense. Barring any damage to building integrity then most things will stay preserved due to lack of movement
I think about this story often. It actually made me really sad when I watched how much passion and effort was put into this for it to last so little. This story I think will permanently live in my brain.
Those "architectural drawings" at 13:25 are actually of Jurassic Park and a small portion of Toon lagoon in Islands of Adventure, though I'm not too certain why they would be here.
as a huge music nerd i probably would've Loved this park, and i'm devastated as an artist seeing all the passion and work that went into something like that and having it be so short lived. you did an amazing job documenting it
That section in the mall was indeed burned down by an unknown arsonist in 2019. I live near that area and believe me there was so much cooler stuff you missed in the burned down section, the entire dark ride was intact pre-burndown as well as more office space with more papers and even a shirt store with majority of the shirts still there. It was a shame that it did burn down, the rest of the park used to have cooler stuff as well but most of it has been stolen or destroyed over the years.
It's amazing how much money big businesses waste! The unsold items could have been donated. And it's amazing how many valuable documents were left behind! Some of the papers should be worth money.
This has got to be one of the most, if not the most amazing thing I've seen through this channel. I was absolutely dumbfounded to see how much was left behind, an absolute treasure trove for a park that never truly deserved its fate. I would've been so tempted to try and save something from that collection, especially the original art, but sharing it with us all is definitely the next best thing.
I’m here to let y’all know that they have officially torn down the whole park…. It kills me but I found an original grand opening tshirt and I also have one do the only dinasour cut outs from inside which I am turning into the one and only hard rock park dinosaur table on the whole planet.
I went there during the second week of August, very cool to explore. Also I took one of those bags with the Freestyle Music Park logo on it, I am going to wash it and frame it. Sorry guys I couldn't leave a piece of history there to rot Edit: Fellow coaster enthusiasts we need to raid this place and save all those documents. That all needs to go to the National Roller coaster museum to be preserved
I would love to be able to visit but it would break my heart. I was there in 2008 for an ACE event. The park was beautiful. But not enough to keep people busy the full day.
Dude... IK about the unwritten rules that urbex folk have/follow regarding not taking stuff, but all those plans, concept art pieces, photos, etc ... that shit needs to be preserved. For real.
Seriously when it comes to historic stuff like that all that stupid “don’t take anything from places you’re exploring” sh*t is obsolete. You cannot come across original concept artwork and just leave it to rot and wither away in an abandoned park!
Was there in 2009 with my boyfriend, now husband. He's from Myrtle Beach, and just seeing the entrance took me back. All I can remember is going on the roller coaster about six times in a row! So excited to see this video, how trippy.
I just got off a 11 hour shift and I sat and watched this entire video, worth every second. This is awesome, wish I had the chance to go there. Looks like it was awesome while it lasted.
This was a cool video to watch, because I was one of the few who went to Hard Rock Park. My family visited Myrtle Beach in late August 2008, and we went because we love amusement parks. While I get that the park wasn't popular, it's a shame it shut down, as it was a pretty great park. The flagship ride, the Led Zeppelin roller coaster, was amazing! While it certainly wasn't the first roller coaster to incorporate music on-board, the timing of it was amazing. The Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love" was playing and it was timed so the end of the bridge section where the guitar comes back in heavy started when the coaster got to the the top of the hill. So the music crescendoed as soon as you went downhill into the loops. That was amazing! The Eagles train coaster also had music and played "Life In The Fast Lane" as you were zooming fast around the track. But my favorite ride by far was the Night In White Satin ride, which was later changed to Monsters Of Rock when it became Freestyle Music Park. As it turns out, "Nights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues is my father's favorite song ever, and also one of mine. The whole ride was a dark ride with lights, moving scenery, and even a couple video elements all designed around the feel of the song. And you wore chroma 3D glasses while going through it, so the entire thing felt like what an acid trip is usually portrayed to be like (no personal experience). We rode that two or three times, I believe. The rest of the rides were cool, but nothing super spectacular. But what the park had going for itself was shows! There was a Bohemian Rhapsody nighttime fireworks and laser show that was utterly amazing! Also, there was a Rolling Stones cover band that played a set in the evening at one of the stages around the park and they were phenomenal. The lead singer literally had moves like Jagger, and a matching voice to go with it. If he weren't in his 20s, I might've believed it was Mick himself. There was a county rock themed ice show that was super fun. Amazing music was being played throughout the park the whole time. And the park employees had great uniforms suited to the areas. For example, in the British Invasion area, everyone looked like they walked right out of London in the 60s. My siblings (I was 25 at the time, and they ranged from 12 to 27) and my parents all had so much fun. I would've gone back had the park not closed. The Freestyle Music Park rebrand didn't appeal to me as much, unfortunately, so I never tried going back when it reopened. It's a shame the park closed, but I'm glad I have the memories from my own visit.
Sooo… is the irony of the Hard Rock Park having the life of rock star (living fast & dying hard; homeless and bankrupt) hitting anyone else here? …No, just me then??? Yeah, I didn’t think that’d fly. Don’t get me wrong, the 27 Club is no laughing matter. Amy, Brian, Janis, Jim, Jimi, Kurt, Robert, and far too many others; so much talent taken from the world far too soon. That a place built to celebrate the spirit that they helped create with their short time on this earth didn’t last is tragic indeed. That anyone expected it to, however; now that’s ironic. “Let them all play again, in some other way, and let them be happy.”
Most video being shot then was still in SD. HD was available, but MANY people still did not have HD TVs yet. SD didn't change very much from the late 70s until the late 2000s, so a LOT of it looks the same. Now that everyone is ingrained to watching HD, seeing SD from not that long ago seems like ancient history.
I visited here about 6 weeks after opening and I have to say it was fantastic. Led Zeppelin: The Ride was amazing as was The Trip. The whole atmosphere of the park was electric, everybody was happy and cheerful, the weather was glorious and there was a lot of fun to be had.
There we’re actually 3 mall buildings in the original “Outlet Park Shopping Center”. What killed the mall was the construction of the new bridge over the inter coastal waterway. It made it extremely difficult to get to theMall for over 3 years and tenants started leaving. I worked in the K.B Toys outlet store when it was just one of 4 stores left in one building. Even then it was both surreal and spooky being there.
It must have been so tempting to take some of those drawing and plans -- if only to preserve them and share them for the future. ...To be honest, it wouldn't actually surprise me if people did go to the park after this video and grab up some of the archives.
Thank you Jake, once again. I appreciate all the time and effort you put into the detailed historical descriptions of every aspect of the various locations.
Myrtle Beach native here as well, I remember the park opening up my Senior year of high school and wanting to go so badly, but those ticket prices were simply unattainable for a single mother keeping me and my brother fed, clothed, and sheltered. I remember hearing that it shut down so soon after opening and it blew my mind how such an amazing park could just crumble so quickly. And then Freestyle happened and the place had just lost its luster. What an absolute fucking shame.
@@shanesxe I mean it’s myrtle beach... I live an hour from there and haven’t been in YEARS because the whole area has turned into a dumpster fire that is completely unsafe and not family friendly at all... and Is in your own health and well being that you avoid south myrtle at all cost with all the gang violence and shootings that go on there... also really isn’t safe for anyone to walk around alone especially women (especially near the boulevard) and you definitely don’t do it at night with the amount of missing persons and kidnappings and attempted kidnappings that have gone on on a yearly basis and growing in number every year (odds are human/sex traffickers since myrtle beach is exactly halfway between Florida and New York which also explains the insane drug related crimes and issues the area has started having in the last decade along with a rice in gangs and gang crimes)
@@richardgrace4500 still living in Myrtle Beach, can confirm. This place was never designed for the amount of tourism they tout, the amount of transplants that have flooded the housing market here, the infrastructure that's been so desperately needed and seemingly overlooked for the past twenty years, and the fact that you cannot sustain a tourist based economy when nobody wants to visit here for four months out of the year.
Something very ironic about how well painted that Goofy is. It's also sad to see that all that concept art is just littered across the floor. We're so spoiled by the idea of Disney concept art and mock ups being well preserved and on display, and yet here's Hard Rock Park's entire history, rotting within it.
Jake this is absolutely incredible. I’ve been obsessed with HRP for a couple years now as I feel like it’s something I missed out on. I’ve read the history, watched the YT vids, purchased memorabilia on eBay, I even created a Spotify playlist based on what I heard in videos. I saw things in this video I’ve never seen before. Perhaps the thing I wondered the most was what remained inside of the old Nights in White Satin building. I got it here. Thank you for this, easily my favorite thing you’ve done. I think if you wanted to do another full length documentary, you’ve found your topic!
The most interesting thing to me is that the people who worked there, the people who designed it, most of them are still alive and could watch this video and say "There's my autograph on the wall! "There's my caricature!" "There's the pitch I spent months on, strewn all over the place like trash!"
I'd have taken as much of the paperwork as I could. I wouldn't view it as theft but rather preserving history. Hell, I may do just that. 😉 To quote Indiana Jones, "It belongs in a museum." As far as the countless boxes of cups? Yeah, I'd sell them and make a dime or two.
I’ve lived in Myrtle Beach for my entire life, and went to the park twice: once when it was Hard Rock, and once when it was Freestyle. I now work at Medieval Times, which is right beside the park. We have to worry about the many homeless people living in the former park when taking trash out during the evening. Quite a dangerous place nowadays ETA: Waccamaw Factory Outlets has also been demolished, as of the past month (January 2022) ETA: The entire park has also now been demolished. The FedEx facility is already well through construction (July 2022)
I was just about to comment about the demolition of the park, but I’ve stumbled where some homeless were living in there. Pretty sketch but it is gone now),:
Some people have pointed this out, and I rarely comment, but I need to tell you how important these videos are. We are all here for such a brief period of time but a lot of us try our best to make really cool stuff, and while it's sad that things like this become abandoned it's important to highlight the work all these people did together. They made something amazing. The art you found, all the concept work, it shows that someone put effort into their life to make someone else's day more enjoyable. For it to all just be sitting there is a unique and interesting look into a world that used to exist, but because of this video we're at least reminded that it did. Thank you for your hard work too!
I doubt they could afford the park's cost in that location, or get zoning for it. But yes, it would have been a better location indeed. Hard Rock only got this abandoned space because it was cheap, and they couldn't make a hit with it even then. I think theme parks are off the menu for a while in terms of new ones.
I worked in room service for a hotel casino and we handled all the "riders" as they are called which are food and beverage orders for bands and entertainment. Some of the stuff we had in house but so much else of it, we would have to shop around town ahead of time to find. It got pretty crazy with some of the requests too. We would often have to bring dinner to the entertainers after the show too. Best tipper for dinner I ever had was Engelbert Humperdinck of all people who gave me 150 bucks. The worst was Kenny Rogers who gave me a $5 bill for a $2k+ rider plus dinner from our steak house.
3:41 those old mall stores were used as warehouses, which is where i worked. honestly, besides all the boxes being strewn haphazardly it really isnt much different then when i worked there. it was part of a run down old mall so it was never in good shape to begin with. so surreal
@@oliverstemp9132 yeah it was. that section of the mall didnt even have plumbing/power anymore. we ran 3 extension cables to our warehouse to run a small fridge, fan, and radio. they were all run down but functional enough for the time. its not surprising to see it all falling apart, thats what happens from a combination of hurricanes and no repairs.
@@BrightSunFilms i would describe the mall as being in workable condition. It wasn't open to guests, and it needed and was getting repairs the entire time the park was open. no mold, as the mall was gutted prior to its use for HRP. this is the mall building that shares space for the dark ride. on one side of the mall the old units were used for storage and our park service warehouse. it had no power or plumbing, but was structurally sound. the other side of the mall building was used as the main administration hub for management and upper management. it had power/plumbing and was in much better condition. in the middle was the dark ride and some shops for guests, and the employee only area thrufare that had the costume designer room. let me know if you have any other questions, id be happy to answer them as best i can. i worked there from a few weeks before opening day until the day before final closure.
I just found this video and a flood of memories came rushing back. I was 11 years old when the park opened and I have, on my fridge, a picture of me and my family in front of a giant sand sculpture of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley that was at the entrance of the park. I remember very little about the park except for the names of the different sections of the park like "British Invasion" and the huge Led Zeppelin coaster. It's so sad thought that so much was left behind, and uncared for by the creators, but at least those papers are still intact!
How sad, I went to that park right after it happened with my mother and we had a great time. Even then, it was empty and wondering as a school kid how it would remain open.
It's hard to believe it's gone this far to ruins in such a small period of time. I used my 16th birthday trip to go the opening year, the park was special but had a ways to go. It had so much potential just opened the worst possible year it could of. I think if it had came five years sooner, or five later it would be a thriving park still open under the Hard Rock brand. It had so many cool things that rivaled Universal and Disney throughout. People blame the location, but honestly, I don't think it was it. It was a bit far from the beach, but that's also why something like this would of worked. The economy just destroyed them trying to start something new. The Knights in White Satin ride, Led Zeppelin, the staff and actors around the park. It was a hell of an experience, it was very, very cool. It didn't have the most rides and due to the small crowds we were in and out in four hours or so, but I wish I had spent some more time there. I was just expecting for them to expand with a few more things they had planned such as the Intamin coaster that was rumored I just had plan to go back in a few years. I still have some old merchandise from them and I find it ironic some of the merchandise I paid for is just sitting in old boxes in the mall. Freestyle Music Park just wasn't going to work, this only worked for Hard Rock IP and it was clear it was something that had a ton of care and creativity surrounding it into something that someone bought for cheap. This is the project that could of been, that could of changed the area it was in forever, but with bankruptcies happening to everyday people and a housing crisis. It died to poor luck and timing.
That was my impression. The amount of of just trashing the place vs damage by weather/neglect. Myrtle Beach weather is not severe enough for that much damage in 11 years.
It is mostly people who have been cheated by society. It's hard to see the historical value of a pile of corporate waste when the money spent on it could have saved your mom from treatable cancer and kept you and everyone you know in homes and not starving for a lifetime. It's different if you grew up rough. This isn't beautiful to people who've lost a lot for no good reason. And why should it be? They're right, it's a waste.
I really appreciate how you got clips from when it was open. I been going to myrtle beach every year for vacation my whole life and I never even knew about this. I got married in 2008 and we went to the beach the year before right after my wife and I met and also the year we met and we didn’t even know about it. I love how we can use videos and pictures to go back in time
I miss the place so much. I was fortunate to go under both Hard Rock Park and Freestyle Music Park. Hard Rock Park was doomed from the start. The cost to build, operating, and licensing cost were too high for it to have ever been successful even if the economy kept booming. Freestyle music park had a chance to be successful with the extremely low price which they acquired it and the stripping of all of the licensing. Ultimately, it failed too because of the greed of the original developers. In my opinion, the original developers were always only in it for a payday. They didn’t care if it was successful or a failure, they got their money either way.
So sad! I lived in SC in 2008 and would’ve loved to have gone there but never knew it existed. The place has been hit by many a hurricane since. I love how you show images of what it is like now and then what it was like then right afterwards. Great work! 😀👍
When I saw on your Instagram when you were exploring this and making a video, after making the video on the park, I got so excited because I knew this would be good. You've blown me away with Closed for Storm and now this one makes me excited too since it's like a mini Closed for Storm but on Hard Rock Theme Park. You're videos never cease to amaze me and this one makes me want to watch Closed for Storm again.
I followed the construction and development of HRP for two years. A coworker bought a condo near Myrtle and we planned our family vacation to stay there and visit this park the summer of 2008. We loved it - spent two days riding the rides over and over again (Maximum RPM had just opened - broke down frequently, but definitely the wildest ride system ever!) and enjoying the most creatively-themed park ever created - at least at the time. My now-17-year-old still remembers the "trippy ride", Nights in White Satin - loved it so much we rode it 4 times. And women's faces over the urinals, the cow fountain shooting water from its udders, the neon Great Meals/eat me Diner? None of this would fly anywhere else now - except maybe Vegas. I'm sickened and saddened by how this ended. So much potential lost to financial mismanagement, poor market research, and hubris. I'm sure someone has done their MBA dissertation about this.
While I normally enjoy watching these videos, especially for abandoned theme parks, seeing the discovery of blueprints and contracts and all kinds of other documents took it to a whole other level. It’s amazing that is all there. That all deserves to be preserved somewhere
My grandfather was an architect in NYC//NJ and brother is in the Midwest. Somebody worked long and hard to create on paper and reality someone's vision. Sad to see the effort has gone to waste. If it were me, I'd back up the car and haul the art and paperwork out. Finder's keepers.
@@MeMeDaVinci They got paid to do it. That was their reward. And they saw it get built. Things get created and destroyed all the time. Destruction is good. It paves the way for the new. We should destroy more old stuff and build more new stuff!
This guy isn't just another urban explorer, these are almost documentaries
That is because Bright Sun shares this with us Yt viewers.
@@295g295 I know. He's amazing. There's guys like that producing TV quality material and Urbex smashcrews like us *completely busting the crap* out of any shit we can find! Oh well, it takes all sorts, I suppose.
I'm still waiting for a collaboration between Bright Sun Films and The Proper People, that would be so awesome!
He wouldn't've done the explorations south of the border without his very own valid passport. Exploration without the requirement is deemed somewhat similar to illegal immigration.
The way you flip from present to back then on certain spots is amazing. Amazing work!!!!
Jake, I FINALLY got the chance to rent your documentary! I'm in Japan, where, of course, it's not available, but I finally was able to get service going that would get me access to the US versions of all of the streaming sites, so I could finally see it! Yay! Fantastic work, I loved it! Keep up the pro magic, man! :)
I’m in Japan too and I’ve been meaning to watch Closed for Storm for a while now. 😆
@@unispeck2853 I hope you get the chance to see it, it's pretty great! :)
I feel like the cost cutting and the lack of regard for all their history, property and IPs shed the light on how obvious it should have been that it would inevitably collapse and fail quickly. It shows strong neglect, lack of care and bad business ethic of those who owned and ran it. And the fact that even the next two ownership group chose to just leave all the history, IPs, and other property there to rot away proves they are no better with it. It is sad.
What I want to know is why did they leave all that concept art, blue prints, layouts, and agreements behind? I would have thought some executive would have taken it or managers or someone.
I took my family to Hard Rock Park shortly after it opened. It was a beautiful park with some cool attractions. The Moody Blues dark ride, and the Led Zeppelin Coaster were my favorites. It got killed by the recession. Everyone stopped traveling, there were way too few guests, and it closed. It wasn't even open for 6 months. It was pretty sad.
Really nicely put together, Jake! It's been amazing to watch over the years & to see your hard work paying off😊
Thank you so much!
Love that you explore and we benefit from your adventures. As always, I'm saddened by the amount of physical and monetary waste some of these business ventures leave behind.
This is so cool! I just went to the medieval times right by there a few months before you did the abandoned episode. I was wondering what that entire area was, so interesting to hear about and then watch you guys explore. Your content is always awesome :)
If I were designing a video game set in an abandoned theme park/mall I would 1000% have a level or area called “The Archives”
This place didn't make it because of the prices. I went there once with my wife and 2 kids. And it was going to be almost 100 bucks just to get in. We didn't go, we went to the beach. That second part of that contract with the chapstick and weird stuff was the bands list of demands or what they call a Ryder.
2 seasons between 2 companies. I've seen truly awful television shows last longer than that
This is kind a similar to when Fry's bought the 6 Incredible Universe stores. The flagship Incredible Universe store was such an odd shape that Fry's literally put a wall down the 1st third of the store and moved the entrance. When the store was opened up for liquidation, people got pictures of all the original Incredible Universe signage and logos in parts of the store which customers were deemed to never visit. Was really cools seeing the Incredible Universe logos still on the sliding doors from the original entrance, as well as some adverts, as well.
completely intact storefronts? Yeah, just like opening day for sure.
19:35 $1,000,000 and most didn’t even know it was a Gibson smh. That whole contract segment was absolutely incredible
No kidding. If the Hard Rock Cafe was going to be a hit, you think Gibson would be paying the cafe to allow their name on guitar. Not the other way around.
Even the prices they were paying the performers seemed crazy! No wonder it closed so soon! Seems like there wasn't a lot of thought put into expenses...
I miss your vid
@TheAnimeist You completely missed the point. That was a *sponsorship agreement* with Gibson paying $1m per year for 20 years for the exposure, i.e., advertising. Everything else he was reading spelled out exactly what Gibson would get for their $1m. Sponsors pay money for exposure. If HR Park was paying money to use the Gibson name, symbols, trademarks, etc., it would have been a licensing agreement not a sponsorship agreement.
I know you shouldn’t take from abandoned places, but that concept art needs to be saved
Vandals will just destroy it, I vote for taking it and preserving it.
@@zackschilling4376 agreed
Why not take the things that could get destroyed by vandals.
EVERYTHING in those archives deserves to be preserved!
This
This one hits different because I was there when it was open in 2008. It was a very well designed park but between the recession, location, and theme it was a disaster in the making. I remember being stunned with how empty the park was when I visited. It’s a shame the Knights in White Satin ride couldn’t be saved. Great video as always!
That place was a flop from the get go but the art work should be saved
That ride was great. We rode it so many times that day.
Y'all have LITERALLY... Hit the jackpot with aaaaallllll the information they left behind... information that most likely would have never ever been public otherwise.... My goodness well done!!!!
"Jackpot", why? I mean, it's interesting but not exactly valuable
@@RNCHFND it's not really about the price that I see, a "jackpot" isn't always about money. Like those hand drawn pictures, hand drawn blueprints, all the color schemes, contracts, used and unused ideas... Things like that they've never had access to that the rest of the world probably would've never gotten from just... The internet lol the people who had it didn't value it, but for the concept of this video... It seems pretty priceless... But that's just am opinion 😌
Oh yes. I could easily spend a week going through the place. Fascinating Jake. Love it. :)
BRUH ALL THE INFO SHOULD BE IN A MUSEUM SOMEWHERE
@@RNCHFND actually, theme park drawings and especially ride vehicles to collectors are very valuable....even reprints go for 20 bucks on etsy. They make for great wall decor
Scrappers: “Ooh, some copper here…”
Jake: “ZOMG CONTRACTS & BLUEPRINTS!!!”
Yes! 😁😁😁
it’s insane how many important documents are just….. sitting there 🤯
IK dude, man I am kicking myself for not going further into that mall. I would have spent HOURS in there looking at this stuff
I spent a lot of time with the video on pause reading as much as I could. Love seeing stuff like that.
Facts
The concept art is valuable. If it were Disney, it'd be worth thousands. Leaving this behind proves they just walked away from the responsibility.
the part i find absolutely insane is all those licensing agreements. i dont know why but that really sticks out to me. i can’t believe how much paperwork and concept was left behind and is likely now gone forever. even though that stuff may not have had major historical value in the wider culture, for hobbyist and enthusiasts of Hard Rock, of those bands, or of theme parks, they could have had major value.
You stumbled on a goldmine with all the architecture designs, conceptual art, contracts and photos.
Why goldmine? Its interesting but what can he do with it?
@@RNCHFND libraries would love it
Yes, seriously the one thing I kept saying while Jake was going over all those was "take it"
I was thinking the same thing. With as many people that have broken in to vandalize the place they never looked to see there were things there they could have made big bucks on like blueprints! Of course only idiots are into vandalism so the wouldn't know how to read a blueprint to use it or know it's value!
@@harrismd8005 It's confidential information which needs to be burned or otherwise destroyed.
As a historian, it would be so hard to explore and not try to save all of the things like architectural plans, photos, ephemera, and frankly it would have been hard not to snag those rid vehicles for some use later.
Time to plan a heist!
@@Ryyi23 It has all been demo'd. You should have gone in there and busted up some crap while the going was good.
Absolutely love how excited Jake gets, going through the park. When creators are passionate about the stuff they cover, it always shows in the best possible way, and is infectious
I’m sure in this video more than others you can tell how excited I was haha
I think it’s a little cringe
@@paisan8766 whatever dude.
yep, on par when they find one-eyed Willie's long-lost pirate ship in The Goonies. :)
Could not have said this better.
The guys’ reaction to the lobster tail segment was absolutely hilarious and wholly unexpected… which adds to the absurdity in turn making it 10X more hilarious. Not sure whose idea that was or if it really was as unplanned as depicted but I got a kick out of it regardless so kudos either way. I love unexpected throwaway gags in otherwise non-comedic content
Couldn't have said it better myself
Was it a reference to something? It felt like an inside joke I wasn’t privy to.
He is just pointing out the fact he has an eating disorder to all his friends. It's like a cry for help.
Yeah, the lobster gag set the tone. Great metaphor. Great episode.
It was soo good 😂
Hi everyone, I'm probably late but I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach this past week and thought I'd check out what was left of Hard Rock/Freestlye Music Park. Sad to say there was nothing there. Absolutely everything has been demolished. The only thing still standing is the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. I had no idea what to expect going into it but I was shocked to see nothing was left. No signs, buildings or anything. Thought I would share this. I remember going to Myrtle Beach previous years as a kid and always seeing that big white rollercoaster and I knew something was always off about that area because by then the place had already been abandoned but I just didn't know that as a young kid. This year is the first time in a while I've been down to Myrtle Beach and it's the first time I didn't see the rollercoaster on my way in. Sad to watch this video and learn everything. Hopefully one day it could make a return bigger and better than ever!
Yes! I was 12 or 13 when the park was built (didn’t get to go to it, but I know a few classmates who did), but even after it closed, my sister and I would always look for the rollercoaster when we’d go over the bridge going into Myrtle Beach. The most recent time, it was gone! I’ve been interested in abandoned places for years, yet I never heard anything about them preparing to demolish the park.
I believe they're turning it into a massive FedEx complex
Half of the land was purchased by FedEx to put in a brand new warehouse
@@bizarrelovesquare The roller coaster (which was super fun, by the way!) was sold to a Vietnamese amusement park.
The Nuka World DLC hits different
Word 🤙🏽💯
Less ghouls and raiders that expected. 6/10 need more ghouls
Couldn't have said it better myself!
Its interesting how accurate Nuka World decay looks.
@@baroncalamityplus For 20 years, sure. Not 200.
I live 3 miles from this site. My sons and I frequently visited and explored this abandoned theme park. We've been in every building and on the roofs of a few of the structures. Many great memories, souvenirs, and pictures! We were lucky to take one last tour of this place before they razed it about a year ago. In its place now stands new distribution warehouses. Sad story. Great video!
Did you smash up any crap while you were there? No harm done to have some fun before it gets demo'd
@@PreservationEnthusiast I take his silence as VicD probably committed a murder there. We should visit the site with cadaver dogs. Ive seen this on youtube a lot lately. Lots of murderers out there.
You did take some of the rare documents and photos right ?
$400 million dollars for seven months. And a big pile of trash within 12 years. How many contractors never even got paid. What a collosal waste all around. Great video!
Sadly you gotta blame corporate and the corrupt company that changes the name to freestyle.
That corporate recklessness was a sign of the times. No one saw the real estate/housing collapse just around the corner. The good times stopped abruptly.
@@map3384 It was a terrible time to be in business. Our company (not real estate) was only four years old and we ended up putting our life savings into it to keep it going. We are still in business today but there were no bailouts for us so we will prob never retire.
Myrtle Beach got hit real hard during the recession. I know lots of places did to but it was just one of those cities that seemed to get hit harder than others. It's like starting restaurant months before Covid lock downs started. Just unlucky.
You do such incredible justice for the people who built, maintained, worked and planned these monuments. Moments and memories were created there, it’s awesome to see what’s left when all you have is the memory.
That means a lot, thanks!
I remember crossing over the bridge at Waccamaw when Hardrock was being built and my parents saying that park will nvr make it. When you traveled to MB it seemed like one way in and one way out for miles with slow moving horrible traffic.
My family visited MB several times a year. We nvr stopped at Waccamaw otw to Myrtle it was always otw home because traffic getting in and out was horrible and finding a parking spot took several laps.
It wouldn't have mattered if my siblings and I cried , made promises to eat our greens, keep our rooms cleaned, stop fighting with one another or promise to keep our grades up. Lol there was absolutely no way our parents would have made that drive to and from Hardrock in all that traffic with one way in and out.
If someone would have watched the traffic pattern closely they would have known it was a horrible idea.
The ceilings and roofs have fallen in, but the canvas awnings over the ticket booth are still intact! Incredible! All those records, artwork and plans should be preserved by someone, college library, museum, somewhere.
I agree
Why? If the owners of the place didn't care about preserving the records, why should any one else do the work? Preservation space is not free, the work to save (or digitize) the records has to be paid for. There are lots of people who think "stuff should be saved", but are they willing to pay for it?
Why preserve a half a billion dollar mistake? There is nothing of historical value there it was just a failed theme park.
@@fanatic26 with that attitude, why save history at all? Failures are history too, and we can look back at major corporate failures to learn lessons for the future. While I'm not sure a museum would be interested in most of the stuff there, I'm sure it has a home in private enthusiast collections, or scanned and put on archival sites.
@@Pauleh123 Because we have finite resources to store things and a failed theme park is not culturally significant
27:22 "Look at the roof, it's completely gone! How does that even happen?"
27:46 "It's hard to believe that this amount of water damage is even possible."
Jake seems to have forgotten that this is on the Atlantic coast, which is prone to hurricanes. I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that's a large factor: a few Cat 1s have gone over Myrtle Beach since this park's closing.
@Psittacosaurus
Feel dumb bc I was wondering how bad the construction had to be for all that damage to happen just really since 2009--being from Mich I forgot abt all the storms that would have battered it over the years!
Sad thing is that the building codes for SC would normally take that into account. Myrtle Beach has definitely been hit by multiple hurricanes since the park closed, although I don't remember how badly the Grand Strand was affected by the 1000 Year Flood that wrecked the Midlands in the late 2010s (I know the Lowcountry came through it better than the Midlands, because we're used to it flooding when you sneeze in places).
@@mindwarp42 I lived less than a half mile from this park for a few years. We had a lot of hurricanes come through, but in particular, 2016's hurricane Matthew did a TON of damage to the area.
I can't believe that paperwork is so well-preserved considering that it was just left there with no consideration. I mean entropy will get it all in the end but y'all saw it in this in-between moment. Thanks for this amazing video
In a way it does seem amazing that paperwork somehow stays preserved like that. However, after watching many seasons of "Mysteries of the Abandoned" on cable, I am not surprised. There are so many locations around the world that were abandoned in the '50s or '60s, and items remain intact to this day despite being left exposed for decades.
@@Prof_Jeff it's because the buildings that are abandoned become tombs in a sense. Barring any damage to building integrity then most things will stay preserved due to lack of movement
I think about this story often. It actually made me really sad when I watched how much passion and effort was put into this for it to last so little. This story I think will permanently live in my brain.
Jake sounds like a giddy kid on Christmas day. During most of this video. Which is why I love his videos! 😄
Guys…..all of this stuff needs to be saved….it can’t just be left to rot and vandalized
Those "architectural drawings" at 13:25 are actually of Jurassic Park and a small portion of Toon lagoon in Islands of Adventure, though I'm not too certain why they would be here.
Oh wait WHAT! Haha how did I not notice that??
Probably the same company designed Jurassic Park.
@@someguy9778 probably why it ended up failing I mean if you can design a park for dinosaurs you probably can’t for humans
as a huge music nerd i probably would've Loved this park, and i'm devastated as an artist seeing all the passion and work that went into something like that and having it be so short lived. you did an amazing job documenting it
That section in the mall was indeed burned down by an unknown arsonist in 2019. I live near that area and believe me there was so much cooler stuff you missed in the burned down section, the entire dark ride was intact pre-burndown as well as more office space with more papers and even a shirt store with majority of the shirts still there. It was a shame that it did burn down, the rest of the park used to have cooler stuff as well but most of it has been stolen or destroyed over the years.
It's amazing how much money big businesses waste! The unsold items could have been donated. And it's amazing how many valuable documents were left behind! Some of the papers should be worth money.
This must be so cool to not only go through an old park BUT to also come across old documents detailing everything behind the scenes in development!
It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!
I really hope he saved them! So sad to think of stuff like that completely destroyed.
This has got to be one of the most, if not the most amazing thing I've seen through this channel. I was absolutely dumbfounded to see how much was left behind, an absolute treasure trove for a park that never truly deserved its fate. I would've been so tempted to try and save something from that collection, especially the original art, but sharing it with us all is definitely the next best thing.
I'm of the same thought. Let's meet up and go on an adventure.
Thanks for the timecodes but when it comes to your videos, there's never any skipping.
Thank you!
I’m here to let y’all know that they have officially torn down the whole park…. It kills me but I found an original grand opening tshirt and I also have one do the only dinasour cut outs from inside which I am turning into the one and only hard rock park dinosaur table on the whole planet.
I went there during the second week of August, very cool to explore. Also I took one of those bags with the Freestyle Music Park logo on it, I am going to wash it and frame it. Sorry guys I couldn't leave a piece of history there to rot
Edit: Fellow coaster enthusiasts we need to raid this place and save all those documents. That all needs to go to the National Roller coaster museum to be preserved
I agree.
I would love to be able to visit but it would break my heart. I was there in 2008 for an ACE event. The park was beautiful. But not enough to keep people busy the full day.
Adam Smith - How'd you get in?
Dude chowing down on the lobster tail he found sitting on a wall in an abandoned theme park is big goblin energy right there 😂
That had to have been staged, right?
@@lindsaytaylor4365 yes
@@lindsaytaylor4365 those guys looked genuinely shocked tho
It's so sad this park opened at the height of the recession because it really has some of the best themes and details I've ever seen
Dude... IK about the unwritten rules that urbex folk have/follow regarding not taking stuff, but all those plans, concept art pieces, photos, etc ... that shit needs to be preserved. For real.
Seriously when it comes to historic stuff like that all that stupid “don’t take anything from places you’re exploring” sh*t is obsolete. You cannot come across original concept artwork and just leave it to rot and wither away in an abandoned park!
The National Roller coaster museum would LOVE to get their hands on it.
The blueprints lasted longer then the actual buildings
Was there in 2009 with my boyfriend, now husband. He's from Myrtle Beach, and just seeing the entrance took me back. All I can remember is going on the roller coaster about six times in a row! So excited to see this video, how trippy.
Congratulations on your eventual marriage and continued successful marriage!!
I just got off a 11 hour shift and I sat and watched this entire video, worth every second. This is awesome, wish I had the chance to go there. Looks like it was awesome while it lasted.
Thank you so much! I know it’s not always easy to sit down and watch the entire video this long
@@BrightSunFilms LOVE the long videos!!!
This was a cool video to watch, because I was one of the few who went to Hard Rock Park. My family visited Myrtle Beach in late August 2008, and we went because we love amusement parks. While I get that the park wasn't popular, it's a shame it shut down, as it was a pretty great park. The flagship ride, the Led Zeppelin roller coaster, was amazing! While it certainly wasn't the first roller coaster to incorporate music on-board, the timing of it was amazing. The Zeppelin song "Whole Lotta Love" was playing and it was timed so the end of the bridge section where the guitar comes back in heavy started when the coaster got to the the top of the hill. So the music crescendoed as soon as you went downhill into the loops. That was amazing! The Eagles train coaster also had music and played "Life In The Fast Lane" as you were zooming fast around the track. But my favorite ride by far was the Night In White Satin ride, which was later changed to Monsters Of Rock when it became Freestyle Music Park. As it turns out, "Nights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues is my father's favorite song ever, and also one of mine. The whole ride was a dark ride with lights, moving scenery, and even a couple video elements all designed around the feel of the song. And you wore chroma 3D glasses while going through it, so the entire thing felt like what an acid trip is usually portrayed to be like (no personal experience). We rode that two or three times, I believe. The rest of the rides were cool, but nothing super spectacular. But what the park had going for itself was shows! There was a Bohemian Rhapsody nighttime fireworks and laser show that was utterly amazing! Also, there was a Rolling Stones cover band that played a set in the evening at one of the stages around the park and they were phenomenal. The lead singer literally had moves like Jagger, and a matching voice to go with it. If he weren't in his 20s, I might've believed it was Mick himself. There was a county rock themed ice show that was super fun. Amazing music was being played throughout the park the whole time. And the park employees had great uniforms suited to the areas. For example, in the British Invasion area, everyone looked like they walked right out of London in the 60s. My siblings (I was 25 at the time, and they ranged from 12 to 27) and my parents all had so much fun. I would've gone back had the park not closed. The Freestyle Music Park rebrand didn't appeal to me as much, unfortunately, so I never tried going back when it reopened. It's a shame the park closed, but I'm glad I have the memories from my own visit.
Sooo… is the irony of the Hard Rock Park having the life of rock star (living fast & dying hard; homeless and bankrupt) hitting anyone else here? …No, just me then??? Yeah, I didn’t think that’d fly.
Don’t get me wrong, the 27 Club is no laughing matter. Amy, Brian, Janis, Jim, Jimi, Kurt, Robert, and far too many others; so much talent taken from the world far too soon.
That a place built to celebrate the spirit that they helped create with their short time on this earth didn’t last is tragic indeed. That anyone expected it to, however; now that’s ironic.
“Let them all play again, in some other way, and let them be happy.”
Nah loco,you hit it right dude.
In my fictional world, this theme park never gets abandoned and still successful
The video at the beginning was taken only 13 years ago in 2008 so why does it look like it was videotaped in the 1970's?
Probably because no one bothered to bring something to properly record with.
Most video being shot then was still in SD. HD was available, but MANY people still did not have HD TVs yet. SD didn't change very much from the late 70s until the late 2000s, so a LOT of it looks the same. Now that everyone is ingrained to watching HD, seeing SD from not that long ago seems like ancient history.
This is why. They should of never closed down the pavilion thay was the heart of Myrtle beach
I visited here about 6 weeks after opening and I have to say it was fantastic. Led Zeppelin: The Ride was amazing as was The Trip. The whole atmosphere of the park was electric, everybody was happy and cheerful, the weather was glorious and there was a lot of fun to be had.
I wanted to ride r.p.m I think it was that 🎡 lift element intrigued me
Those two rides were great. I still have the video you could buy from the Zep ride.
I was there that summer. It was an awesome park.
There we’re actually 3 mall buildings in the original “Outlet Park Shopping Center”. What killed the mall was the construction of the new bridge over the inter coastal waterway. It made it extremely difficult to get to theMall for over 3 years and tenants started leaving. I worked in the K.B Toys outlet store when it was just one of 4 stores left in one building. Even then it was both surreal and spooky being there.
the part with all the cups makes me sad. humans are so excessive & wasteful
It must have been so tempting to take some of those drawing and plans -- if only to preserve them and share them for the future.
...To be honest, it wouldn't actually surprise me if people did go to the park after this video and grab up some of the archives.
Thank you Jake, once again. I appreciate all the time and effort you put into the detailed historical descriptions of every aspect of the various locations.
As someone who lives in Myrtle Beach, I can definitely confirm that this was awesome place that literally was a shameful waste on part of the city ;3;
Myrtle Beach native here as well, I remember the park opening up my Senior year of high school and wanting to go so badly, but those ticket prices were simply unattainable for a single mother keeping me and my brother fed, clothed, and sheltered. I remember hearing that it shut down so soon after opening and it blew my mind how such an amazing park could just crumble so quickly.
And then Freestyle happened and the place had just lost its luster. What an absolute fucking shame.
@@shanesxe I mean it’s myrtle beach... I live an hour from there and haven’t been in YEARS because the whole area has turned into a dumpster fire that is completely unsafe and not family friendly at all... and Is in your own health and well being that you avoid south myrtle at all cost with all the gang violence and shootings that go on there... also really isn’t safe for anyone to walk around alone especially women (especially near the boulevard) and you definitely don’t do it at night with the amount of missing persons and kidnappings and attempted kidnappings that have gone on on a yearly basis and growing in number every year (odds are human/sex traffickers since myrtle beach is exactly halfway between Florida and New York which also explains the insane drug related crimes and issues the area has started having in the last decade along with a rice in gangs and gang crimes)
@@richardgrace4500 still living in Myrtle Beach, can confirm. This place was never designed for the amount of tourism they tout, the amount of transplants that have flooded the housing market here, the infrastructure that's been so desperately needed and seemingly overlooked for the past twenty years, and the fact that you cannot sustain a tourist based economy when nobody wants to visit here for four months out of the year.
You're like a kid in a candy store looking at all the concept plans.
Something very ironic about how well painted that Goofy is. It's also sad to see that all that concept art is just littered across the floor. We're so spoiled by the idea of Disney concept art and mock ups being well preserved and on display, and yet here's Hard Rock Park's entire history, rotting within it.
Goofy??
This abandoned park: exists
Amazon: *casually approach child*
Wow, this is one of my favorite abandoned videos you’ve ever done! I am an architect so seeing the piles of drawings and CDs blows my mind.
Jake this is absolutely incredible.
I’ve been obsessed with HRP for a couple years now as I feel like it’s something I missed out on. I’ve read the history, watched the YT vids, purchased memorabilia on eBay, I even created a Spotify playlist based on what I heard in videos.
I saw things in this video I’ve never seen before. Perhaps the thing I wondered the most was what remained inside of the old Nights in White Satin building. I got it here.
Thank you for this, easily my favorite thing you’ve done. I think if you wanted to do another full length documentary, you’ve found your topic!
The fact they finished this whole park early and under budget still blows my mind. The people they had building this must have been absolute mad lads
The most interesting thing to me is that the people who worked there, the people who designed it, most of them are still alive and could watch this video and say "There's my autograph on the wall! "There's my caricature!" "There's the pitch I spent months on, strewn all over the place like trash!"
No need to give a skip menu…. Definitely watching the entire video.
It’s almost like turning a tourist trap restaurant chain into a theme park was a bad idea.
I can't believe they left all their files and contracts and stuff LMAO!!
I can as it saved money by not putting it in storage
I'd have taken as much of the paperwork as I could. I wouldn't view it as theft but rather preserving history. Hell, I may do just that. 😉
To quote Indiana Jones, "It belongs in a museum."
As far as the countless boxes of cups? Yeah, I'd sell them and make a dime or two.
I appreciate the time code links……not that I would skip even 1 second of one of your videos.
I’ve lived in Myrtle Beach for my entire life, and went to the park twice: once when it was Hard Rock, and once when it was Freestyle. I now work at Medieval Times, which is right beside the park. We have to worry about the many homeless people living in the former park when taking trash out during the evening. Quite a dangerous place nowadays
ETA: Waccamaw Factory Outlets has also been demolished, as of the past month (January 2022)
ETA: The entire park has also now been demolished. The FedEx facility is already well through construction (July 2022)
I was just about to comment about the demolition of the park, but I’ve stumbled where some homeless were living in there. Pretty sketch but it is gone now),:
Rocken’ and rolling into bankruptcy
Some people have pointed this out, and I rarely comment, but I need to tell you how important these videos are. We are all here for such a brief period of time but a lot of us try our best to make really cool stuff, and while it's sad that things like this become abandoned it's important to highlight the work all these people did together. They made something amazing. The art you found, all the concept work, it shows that someone put effort into their life to make someone else's day more enjoyable. For it to all just be sitting there is a unique and interesting look into a world that used to exist, but because of this video we're at least reminded that it did. Thank you for your hard work too!
The content that this channel creates is on another level. So great
If they redid this in Long Beach California it'd be a HUGE hit....
I doubt they could afford the park's cost in that location, or get zoning for it. But yes, it would have been a better location indeed. Hard Rock only got this abandoned space because it was cheap, and they couldn't make a hit with it even then. I think theme parks are off the menu for a while in terms of new ones.
This could've been a great place under different circumstances.
I worked in room service for a hotel casino and we handled all the "riders" as they are called which are food and beverage orders for bands and entertainment. Some of the stuff we had in house but so much else of it, we would have to shop around town ahead of time to find. It got pretty crazy with some of the requests too. We would often have to bring dinner to the entertainers after the show too. Best tipper for dinner I ever had was Engelbert Humperdinck of all people who gave me 150 bucks. The worst was Kenny Rogers who gave me a $5 bill for a $2k+ rider plus dinner from our steak house.
3:41 those old mall stores were used as warehouses, which is where i worked. honestly, besides all the boxes being strewn haphazardly it really isnt much different then when i worked there. it was part of a run down old mall so it was never in good shape to begin with. so surreal
Guessing it was always the plan to redevelop that area into a new ride or attraction very quickly. What a shame that never happened
@@oliverstemp9132 yeah it was. that section of the mall didnt even have plumbing/power anymore. we ran 3 extension cables to our warehouse to run a small fridge, fan, and radio. they were all run down but functional enough for the time. its not surprising to see it all falling apart, thats what happens from a combination of hurricanes and no repairs.
I was wondering about the condition of when the park was actually open. What is the mall in bad condition at the time as well, was there mold?
@@BrightSunFilms i would describe the mall as being in workable condition. It wasn't open to guests, and it needed and was getting repairs the entire time the park was open. no mold, as the mall was gutted prior to its use for HRP. this is the mall building that shares space for the dark ride. on one side of the mall the old units were used for storage and our park service warehouse. it had no power or plumbing, but was structurally sound. the other side of the mall building was used as the main administration hub for management and upper management. it had power/plumbing and was in much better condition. in the middle was the dark ride and some shops for guests, and the employee only area thrufare that had the costume designer room. let me know if you have any other questions, id be happy to answer them as best i can. i worked there from a few weeks before opening day until the day before final closure.
Bad feasibility study...sucks when a place you worked goes out of business.
I just found this video and a flood of memories came rushing back. I was 11 years old when the park opened and I have, on my fridge, a picture of me and my family in front of a giant sand sculpture of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Elvis Presley that was at the entrance of the park. I remember very little about the park except for the names of the different sections of the park like "British Invasion" and the huge Led Zeppelin coaster. It's so sad thought that so much was left behind, and uncared for by the creators, but at least those papers are still intact!
This park always fascinated me. The sign from the original walkway 'here we are now entertain us' always stuck in my brain for some reason.
Nirvana
@@wendyokoopa7048 oh I know...but the way the sign was on the building stuck with me
@@rabidsmiles yeah. I wanted to visit this as hard rock for the ferris wheel lift coaster.
The lobster tail killed me. Lol. I wasn't expecting that.
How sad, I went to that park right after it happened with my mother and we had a great time.
Even then, it was empty and wondering as a school kid how it would remain open.
It's hard to believe it's gone this far to ruins in such a small period of time. I used my 16th birthday trip to go the opening year, the park was special but had a ways to go. It had so much potential just opened the worst possible year it could of. I think if it had came five years sooner, or five later it would be a thriving park still open under the Hard Rock brand. It had so many cool things that rivaled Universal and Disney throughout. People blame the location, but honestly, I don't think it was it. It was a bit far from the beach, but that's also why something like this would of worked. The economy just destroyed them trying to start something new.
The Knights in White Satin ride, Led Zeppelin, the staff and actors around the park. It was a hell of an experience, it was very, very cool. It didn't have the most rides and due to the small crowds we were in and out in four hours or so, but I wish I had spent some more time there. I was just expecting for them to expand with a few more things they had planned such as the Intamin coaster that was rumored I just had plan to go back in a few years. I still have some old merchandise from them and I find it ironic some of the merchandise I paid for is just sitting in old boxes in the mall.
Freestyle Music Park just wasn't going to work, this only worked for Hard Rock IP and it was clear it was something that had a ton of care and creativity surrounding it into something that someone bought for cheap. This is the project that could of been, that could of changed the area it was in forever, but with bankruptcies happening to everyday people and a housing crisis. It died to poor luck and timing.
For no reason it seems a group of our society like to destroy things they do not own.
That was my impression. The amount of of just trashing the place vs damage by weather/neglect. Myrtle Beach weather is not severe enough for that much damage in 11 years.
It is mostly people who have been cheated by society. It's hard to see the historical value of a pile of corporate waste when the money spent on it could have saved your mom from treatable cancer and kept you and everyone you know in homes and not starving for a lifetime.
It's different if you grew up rough. This isn't beautiful to people who've lost a lot for no good reason. And why should it be? They're right, it's a waste.
@@RobinTheBot It's a lot dumber to destroy what could be sold.
I really appreciate how you got clips from when it was open. I been going to myrtle beach every year for vacation my whole life and I never even knew about this. I got married in 2008 and we went to the beach the year before right after my wife and I met and also the year we met and we didn’t even know about it. I love how we can use videos and pictures to go back in time
Kinda sad One Republic would've just gotten"gifts" from dollar tree in their contract agreement 🤣🤣🤣
Where they gifts or was that the bands rider?
@@gypsydust I think he mentioned tissue and gum in their gift bags for their contract lol
I miss the place so much. I was fortunate to go under both Hard Rock Park and Freestyle Music Park.
Hard Rock Park was doomed from the start. The cost to build, operating, and licensing cost were too high for it to have ever been successful even if the economy kept booming.
Freestyle music park had a chance to be successful with the extremely low price which they acquired it and the stripping of all of the licensing. Ultimately, it failed too because of the greed of the original developers.
In my opinion, the original developers were always only in it for a payday. They didn’t care if it was successful or a failure, they got their money either way.
The archive was an Amazing find!!! It absolutely needs to be further documented!
Architect handwriting is always so perfect. Those plans and drawings are incredibly cool🤯
These abandoned videos always seems to amaze me how these properties are never redeveloped into somethig different.
Fun Fact. As soon as this place closed trespassers started vandalizing the place. Myrtle Beach isn't what it used to be in the 90s.
Nothing is what it was in the 90s. Super times.
I always associate Myrtle Beach with the murder of Brittany Drexel.
So sad! I lived in SC in 2008 and would’ve loved to have gone there but never knew it existed. The place has been hit by many a hurricane since. I love how you show images of what it is like now and then what it was like then right afterwards. Great work! 😀👍
When I saw on your Instagram when you were exploring this and making a video, after making the video on the park, I got so excited because I knew this would be good. You've blown me away with Closed for Storm and now this one makes me excited too since it's like a mini Closed for Storm but on Hard Rock Theme Park. You're videos never cease to amaze me and this one makes me want to watch Closed for Storm again.
I followed the construction and development of HRP for two years. A coworker bought a condo near Myrtle and we planned our family vacation to stay there and visit this park the summer of 2008. We loved it - spent two days riding the rides over and over again (Maximum RPM had just opened - broke down frequently, but definitely the wildest ride system ever!) and enjoying the most creatively-themed park ever created - at least at the time. My now-17-year-old still remembers the "trippy ride", Nights in White Satin - loved it so much we rode it 4 times. And women's faces over the urinals, the cow fountain shooting water from its udders, the neon Great Meals/eat me Diner? None of this would fly anywhere else now - except maybe Vegas. I'm sickened and saddened by how this ended. So much potential lost to financial mismanagement, poor market research, and hubris. I'm sure someone has done their MBA dissertation about this.