Wow, summer went by fast! It seems like only three months ago that our very own Sway was ditching the Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love" roller coaster in favor of a kiddie choo-choo ride at the brand-new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

On Wednesday, word broke that the first rock-and-roll theme park had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and is closing its doors for the rest of the year. (Guess that means no Rocktoberfest parties there, damn!)

Since it opened in April, the 55-acre, seven-years-in-the-planning, $400 million park apparently performed way below expectations, despite the undeniable attraction of that Eagles "Life in the Fast Lane" ride. Projections of 30,000 visitors a day and 3 million for the year didn't pan out, and the park cut its operating hours in August.
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There's nothing more exciting than a day at the amusement park. Even as an adult, you still get those butterflies in your stomach thinking about the possibility of riding the marquee roller-coaster.

That roller-coaster for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Hard Rock Park would be "Led Zeppelin: The Ride," and let's just say it's one of the most state-of-the-art rides in the business. The other attractions include a music museum and the British Invasion side of the park, which has a London theme and plenty of rock paraphernalia.

I have to say, though, one of my favorites is the Rock and Roll Museum, where you can find plenty of music trivia, celebrity mementos and historical facts as well. I was very fortunate to be escorted through the park by Steve Goodwin, which meant I found out everything there is to know about building an amusement park.

The night I was there ended perfectly with rock legends the Eagles playing one of my all time favorites, "Hotel California"! If you ever get a chance and you are a music lover, make sure you visit.

(by MTV News Production Manager Adam Stewart)

Earlier this week, Sway, producer Nick Neofitidis and myself journeyed down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the grand opening of Hard Rock Park the world's first rock-and-roll-themed theme park! One thing we didn't know before we went on our trip was that Sway and thrill rides mix about as well as oil and water. Here's what happened ...

Hard Rock features a smooth steel coaster called "Led Zeppelin: The Ride," and I can truly say that this ride ROCKS — literally. Each seat on the coaster is equipped with a thumping 12-inch woofer and 2-inch tweeter wailing out "Whole Lotta Love" as the ride swoops, twists and inverts six times after its initial 155-foot, white-knuckle drop, topping out at 65 mph — all choreographed to the wailing tones of Zeppelin! It was intense, but surely not too intense for Sway — right?

Well, Sway did graciously pass the face-time over to super-producer Nick to boldly go where no MTV'er had gone before (on the job, anyway). After coordinating with the ride technicians to mount a special camera to the coaster (and getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the bowels of a thrill ride — VERY cool!), Nick was ready to go. After a test run and two actual runs with the cameras rolling, Nick was about ready to lose his lunch (which I believe was a park hamburger and fries). Anyway, I finally joined the fun and gave it a whirl myself, and did it ever live up to expectations! We both waved to (well, taunted, actually) Sway as he sat on the sidelines and watched. We rode again and even purchased the screaming face on the ride picture in the gift shop, which I'm sure will be my new default Facebook picture within the next week.

Later that day, during a behind-the-scenes tour of the park by Steve Goodwin (although his last name should be GREATwin — he was really born for this kind of thing). This Brit eats, sleeps and drinks everything that is rock and roll. You should have seen his face when we gave him an MTV T-shirt — he later confessed that it has always been his dream to be an MTV VJ!

He even managed to get Sway to finally get over his apprehension and hop on a rollercoaster — well, sort of: it was a kiddie choo-choo train ride that went about 6.2107 miles per hour on a track that was no larger than half a regulation basketball court.

But to Sway's credit, he did look cool riding it!

(We'll have more on our visit to Hard Rock Park soon!)