Photo TR: Myrtle Beach Grand Prix

Although it was the smallest - and even at 30 years, the youngest of the current amusement parks in the Myrtle Beach region, it was still a very nice park, with a balance of rides and race cars. I can remember going to this park way back in the late 70s to hang out and play arcade games.

The Last Ride opens.

5 different race tracks, from small mini-cars to big Formula-1 style cars. This has always been one of the best racing car tracks, although they are probably getting some stiff competition from the NASCAR tracks at Broadway at the Beach, down the road in Myrtle Beach.

I got a lot of racing out of my system today.

These are the big Formula-1 cars. They are intense, and can hit some very respectable speeds.

Go on the green light!

You can put more than one photo in the same post...

This portable Crazy Mouse is much smoother than the Arrow version that the MB Pavilion has. And, the seat spins as it goes along the 2nd set of switchbacks, something the Pavilion version doesn't.

One of the attendants told me that there's a switch underneath that controls how it spins. He said that there is a setting where the seat can be continuously spinning for the whole ride, but they're not supposed to ever do that.

This ride has already been sold-- too bad, I wouldn't mind having it in my back yard.

Another ride on the Crazy Mouse.

Bumper boats, which were actually quite fun. The people who own the Grand Prix also own a much larger water park in Surfside Beach, just south of Myrtle Beach.

The only water-related ride in the park - bumper boats

They also had a big going-away party, with everyone who had ever been a part of the park. Lots of local officials came by, and it even made the local news on WPDE.

BBQ party!

Left to right: park owners Mark Lazarus, Robby Lazarus (manager), and Jack Lazarus, who started the park in 1977.

Time to hit those rides again!

The Rock & Roll, which is essentially just a redecorated Himalaya. They also have a Top Spin (intense ride), a Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl ($29K if anyone wants it), Bumper Cars, and a Tornado by Wisdom. Their Aladino, like the Pavilion's Rainbow, isn't functi

And more racing. I got one of these neat Last Ride t-shirts too.

More of the Crazy Mouse. I really like this small coaster.

Its getting late....

The last park customers to ride the Crazy Mouse at MB Grand Prix, ever, and hopefully the next generation of TPR members.

One last ride on the Crazy Mouse.

Its 11pm and closing time for the Last Ride.

...closely followed by the Crazy Mouse. Goodbye, Grand Prix, its been a lot of fun over the years.

A sad sight as the lights go out in the midway for the last time.

The weird thing about this park is that the Go Kart section was really nice and well kept. The rides part, though, looked like a parked carnival. I never got the Top Star Tour, but I got the mouse credit, and I'm glad it's sold and going elsewheres.

As much as I hate any park closing, this one I can see. It was never busy anymore and way past it's hey day. That section of Myrtle really needs some sprucing up, and so hopefully something decent will be put there.

I just wish they would have waited a couple more weeks, would have liked to do the Top Star tour and taken some other geeks to get their credits at the end of the month.

Yeah... Ill be there in 3 days.. Why couldnt the park hold out a bit longer...

I suspect that one reason it was held last weekend, was to avoid being at the same time as the Last Ride event at the MB Pavilion, on Sept. 30th. It wouldn't have made sense to do both at the same time.

They plan on starting the redevelopment on November 1st, so that gives them roughly 6 weeks to take everything down and clear anything of value off of the property. Unfortunately, its not going to be anything amusement-related. I spoke with Robby Lazarus' wife as I was leaving- she said that it would be something shopping-related, thats just the way the economics are right now. Except for a much-smaller park with some go-karts and miniature golf, there are essentially no amusement parks in the North Myrtle Beach area now; the old Sun Fun Amusement Park in Ocean Drive has been gone for many years.

A recent article said that a Bi-Lo store would be going in there. Maybe we should all show up there and ride their shopping carts one day.

Yeah... Ill be there in 3 days.. Why couldnt the park hold out a bit longer...

Oh well, guess I gots a park credit (and for now, coaster credit) that you don't .

Not to mention all those posts I'm rackin up while you can't get in to T&J

(okay, maybe that last part isn't true...)

That's really too bad. I didn't get out there during my Myrtle Beach visit in July, but I still remember going when I was a little kid and absolutely loving the place. It was one of my favorite memories from my childhood vacation to MB.

They used to have this attraction that was like a cross between bumper cars and bumper boats. The vehicles were round, like a bumper boat with the inflatable tube around it and were driven using two levers, but you drove them on the ground in an arena type area like bumper cars. They were freakin' sweet.

It's just kind of crazy that both it and the Pavilion are closing in the same year. It's really pretty sad. Oh well I guess. It's too bad, but I look forward to the new Hard Rock Park.