If you’re going to Hard Rock Park this summer, don’t plan on sitting in traffic or waiting in long lines to ride the rides.

This isn’t the news that the park’s owners expected to announce last week. “It is a really tough summer,” said Steven Goodwin, CEO of the $400 million Hard Rock Park. “We’re seeing people cutting their vacations from seven days to five days to three days, spending less money.”

The park has reacted by cutting back operating hours and lowering ticket prices, including an extension of its $45 price for adults and $30 for children (age 4 to 9) through Labor Day.  Locals (residents of North and South Carolina) can get in on Saturdays and Sundays for $39.

Before the park opened in April, officials expected to remain open until at least 1 a.m. But the park has been closing at 11 p.m. since at least mid-July, and now plans to close at 10 p.m. this month and 7 p.m. after Labor Day.

Original plans were to remain open five days a week during the off season, but those plans have been scaled back to four days a week, with aspirations to remain open all week long… eventually.

This item has been modified from its original publication in the Myrtle Beach Sun News.

Hard Rock Park, the first full-size theme park to open in the United States in a decade (and where else but Myrtle Beach?) announced a number of ways to get ticket discounts, including:

Family discounts:

• One-day tickets for families of four or more are $40 each.
• Two-day tickets are $50
• Seven-day tickets are $65

The Ch..Ch..Check it out! Guarantee
This must be a first in theme park guarantees. Check out Hard Rock Park for half an hour. Don’t like it? Return to Guest Services within 30 minutes and get your money back!

Locals Only:
Through the end of June, residents of North and South Carolina can buy one-day tickets for $39 with proof of residency.

Advance online tickets (at least two days prior) are now available for purchase online for $45.

All Hail Freedom!
Hard Rock Park salutes our active and retired military with $40 tickets.

Let’s Do It Again! And Again!
Season Passes are available for $150 each.

“One man’s loss is another man’s gain.”

From Will Rogers, “…out here I had been putting what little money I had in [waterfrontage], for the sole reason that there was only so much of it and no more, and that they wasn’t making any more…”

So those two quotes may be overused, but there’s no better way to introduce this property…

A pre-development community, The Boardwalk on the Waterway was initially offered in late 2004.  This community is located directly on the Intracoastal Waterway, on the west side (the mainland) of the Waterway, and is tucked away behind the new Hard Rock Park. 

The infrastructure has been installed, and the “boardwalk” (a 6′ walkway traversing the entire water frontage of the community) has been constructed over the protective seawall.  A waterway gazebo, entrance gate and gatehouse have been constructed, and the road paving is completed.

The waterfront homesites were initially offered to the public at $272,880, and sold for as much as $399,880.

At this moment, you can acquire one of these DIRECT INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY homesites for just $229,900. Remember, one man’s loss is another man’s gain…

If you’ve considered purchasing waterfront real estate in Myrtle Beach, it does not get any better than this.  The community is located in the HEART of town, close to shops, entertainment, restaurants, golf courses and more.  It’s so easy to get around using the new highways, bridges and the airport (just a few miles down the road).  You can even WALK to Hard Rock Park.  There is no time frame in which you must build, and you can select your own builder.

If you are interested in one of these incredible deals, don’t wait.  Contact Price & Company Realty today!

Remember Alice’s Restaurant? Back in the 1960’s, it was a wildly popular song, then turned into a movie. Today you can actually get a table at the famed “Alice’s Restaurant” when it opens at Hard Rock Park just in time for the June 2nd Grand Opening.

Folk legend Arlo Guthrie stopped in last week to see how things were going, as the restuarant continues to take shape.

Hard Rock Park - committed to celebrating the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll - is the perfect venue to honor Guthrie and his world-famous 18 minute long musical monologue. The restaurant will be park’s only table-service restaurant (”sit down, sit in, you’ve got time”), offerring guests props and reminders of Thanksgiving Day 1965, including the “Group W Bench” and what will be the most popular table in the house: the reservations-only Arlo Table, a psychedelic trip featuring 60 artists that influenced Guthrie, or were influenced by him.

Surrounded by acoustic and folk music from the last four decades, the comfort food menu (created in part by Guthrie himself) will offer a complete selection of entrees, soups, salads and, of course, desserts. Many have names that will bring back memories, including Officer Obie’s Pan Fried Pork Chops to the inevitable Thanksgiving Dinner. “It is an attraction in its own right,” said Steven Goodwin, Hard Rock Park’s CEO.

The long-awaited Hard Rock Park soft-opens today. As Myrtle Beach’s first full-scale theme park, excitement is high and the park expects to draw more than 40,000 visitors each day. It’s sure to make the top five list of what to do in Myrtle Beach for many returning and new visitors to this beachfront town.

But there is another option in Myrtle Beach that should not be forgotten with all of the hoopla surrounding the “New Kid” in town. Our area is also home to a seaside gem, Family Kingdom.

More than 40 years ago, when Family Kingdom was built, seaside amusement parks were commonplace and virtually every beachfront resort town from Maine to Florida had one. But today there are fewer than twenty oceanside parks along the entire East Coast, making Family Kingdom all the more special. Its oceanfront location is unique; its wholesome atmosphere is appealing to families, and its status as Trip Advisor’s “#5 Amusement Park” in the country (outside Orlando) distinguishes it from all other coastal attractions between Virginia and Florida.

Family Kingdom offers attractions that parents will remember well, and that today’s kids should absolutely experience: the legendary Swamp Fox wooden roller coaster, the largest Ferris wheel in the state of South Carolina, and more than thirty other rides and attractions. It offers a complete amusement park experience with midway games, family entertainment and traditional park temptations such as funnel cakes, cotton candy and corndogs.

For some, Hard Rock’s $50 admission fee will be hard to swallow. Family Kingdom’s “no general admission” is a budget-friendly policy that enables families to stroll the midway affordably, buying tickets by the ride or purchasing unlimited-ride wristbands.

Family Kingdom is taking advantage of Hard Rock’s opening by using a new tagline for this summer: “Nothing Rocks Like Family!” Now, now. We say that there’s room in this town for both of you!

Visit them both at Hard Rock Park and Family Kingdom.