A ride featuring dead rock stars?
A musical theme park? Please, tell me no. I thought this was a parody when I stumbled upon it online, but sadly, it’s not. It’s hard to figure out exactly what Freestyle Music Park, located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is designed to be — some minotaur-like cross between an entertainment complex and a theme park, for certain — but what is the point? Many of the rides feature musical connections: for instance, “Monstars of Rock,” a “monsterific reunion concert with all your favorite dearly departed rock stars” (!); “Get Off of My Cloud,” where eight “festively colored balloon baskets” ascend to the heavens (perhaps with Stones to help you plummet back to earth?); and “Ring My Bell,” a collection of traditional midway games “with a unique musical twist.” Of course, there’s also a Guitar Hero Arcade.
The park features a denuded Memphis musical experience, Beale Street Theater (“a place where you can relax and listen to the common language of the world,” according to the website). For dining choices, the Beatles are shamelessly mined for Penny’s Lane Cafe and Strawberry Fields and Cream. I think I was most distressed, though, to read the description of “Round About,” a contraption in which motorcars are welded onto a ferris wheel that effectively desecrates a masterful song by Yes. Hendrix might be amused by “Kiss the Sky,” a pyrotechnical show in which fireworks and fountains synch with music, but I don’t know what he’d make of “Ice Cold Country,” with “top-notch skating professionals twirling, flipping and dancing on ice to some of the most popular country hits.”
Whoever said that truth is stranger than fiction must have had Freestyle Music Park in mind.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment