While it was expected, it’s now become official; Hard Rock Park has been sold to FPI MB Entertainment. Just some updates as to what’s going on with HRP, or whatever the new name will be.
First off, they’ve slashed their season pass cost from $150 (holy crap!!) to a much more appropriate $75. They’re also going to cut the entrance cost from $50 to around $35. Ok, seriously, I had no idea that Hard Rock Park was that stupid expensive to go to. Fifty bucks just wasn’t worth it for what was there. Dropping $50 dollars for admission to a Disney park, okay, I can see that, but HRP wasn’t even close to Disney standards from what I’ve seen. As for the season pass, well, I can’t believe people actually bought it. The new owners apparently feel the same way and will allow 08 season pass holders to use the same pass in 2009.
The new owners have also lowered their hopeful attendance outlook for 2009; they hope to attract around 800,000 guests this season. That’s down from the, oh about 3,000,000 that the original owners thought! Jeez, wishful thinking much? How did they really expect three million visitors? It reminds me of when I launched the first version of this site on AOL Hometown in like 2001; I was expecting hundreds of visitors a day! I managed to get 50 visitors…IN ONE YEAR.
Finally, the new owners are going to hire 750 employees to staff the park; that’s down from 2,000 that originally worked there. Why they needed two thousand employees completely escapes me. I mean did they have 15 people running the rides at one time; one employee for each row of the coaster train maybe? While yes, this would mean that there are 1,250 less job openings in these economic times when finding a job is almost a crap shoot, it would also mean that the park could possibly stay open for more than two seasons.
Hard Rock Park…looking at how the place was run, it’s almost no wonder they closed up. Their expectations were so high that they dug themselves into a hole before the first guest stepped through the doors. Maybe with the new owners at the helm, this park could be more than two-hit wonder!
Sources: The Sun News, Orlando Sentinel