Among the other areas are Cool Country, Born in the USA and even Rock and Roll Heaven, where the names of 350 musicians playing in that big concert hall in the sky are engraved bricks and stone as a memorial.

Visitors can see swimmers and divers perform in a show called "Malibu Beach Party," play arcade games such as Whack-A-Boys-Band — similar to Whac-a-Mole — and catch live musical performances throughout the park.

All the while, rock music from different eras plays seamlessly through the park's elaborate sound system.

"You can layer rock 'n' roll over a theme park. It's just a natural," Binkowski said. "Music makes a connection that a movie doesn't. Movies continually have to tap back into music to get their flavor and their soul."

Hard Rock is the first major new park built in the nation in a decade, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. There are about 400 amusement parks in the United States.

Hard Rock hopes to attract 30,000 visitors a day and about 3 million a year.

But industry consultant Dennis Speigel wonders if Hard Rock can make those numbers in a troubled economy and when the industry is saturated with attractions.

"It's a very hefty price at $400 million and the projections they have published are very ambitious," he said. "Very few theme parks, with the exception of a handful, and primarily the Disney and the Universal Parks, have ever opened exceeding 2 million people in the first year."

There's a theme park within a 2 1/2 hour drive of most major metropolitan areas, added Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services based in Cincinnati.

"The people coming to Myrtle Beach probably have a major theme park close to them, whether they are coming from Canada or coming from Charlotte," he said. "I don't know if there is anything there that absolutely tips the scales in favor of somebody saying 'I can't leave Myrtle Beach without going there."'

But for Chad Frisbie, of Rumford, Maine, who visited recently, Hard Rock was the reason for flying to Myrtle Beach.

"We looked online and saw this was a new theme park and that's what we based the vacation on," he said, as he got off the Led Zeppelin coaster. "This was the one thing I wanted to check out and I'm glad I did."

Binkowski said there will be plenty of potential guests.

"There are 14 million visitors who come to Myrtle Beach and 13 million of them are families," he said. After the family goes to the beach and eats out and plays miniature golf, they will want to spend the day at a theme park, he predicted. "We built this for the family."