Investors looking to build a major theme park at Fantasy Harbour could be on a risky ride, experts say.

But supporters say the Grand Strand is ripe for a theme park, which they say would extend the season and take the area to the next level.

"I think there is no question [the Grand Strand] is ready for it," said Shep Guyton, chairman of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "This market makes sense."

Park planner Jon Binkowski and a group of investors have proposed transforming part of Fantasy Harbour off U.S. 501 into a family theme park with rides and shows. The Horry County Planning Commission will consider a rezoning request, the first step in the building process, Aug. 6.

It's the latest in recurring talk of a theme park coming to the Grand Strand that dates back at least a decade. None of the proposals have gotten a shovel in the ground.

Since the latest park proposal in the mid-1990s, the Grand Strand has grown into more of a year-round destination.

But some analysts say it hasn't grown enough. The seasonal business and relatively small year-round population would make it tough for a 150-acre park to survive, they say.

And the lagging national economy has left folks with fewer dollars to spend on entertainment, which kept major new parks from opening, with the newest parks debuting in the late 1990s.

"Those are three huge barriers right now you would have to overcome," said Mark Bonn, a professor at Florida State University's Dedman School of Hospitality. "It's a huge risk."

Breaking through summer barrier

The Grand Strand's seasonality might pose the biggest challenge for the park.

Businesses live and die by the summer season, which has shrunk in recent years as May bike events and earlier school starts chopped off the ends. Some businesses close for the off-season, and those that stay open struggle to pay bills.

"There's a seasonality issue up there that concerns me," Bonn said.

Still, park supporters say the Grand Strand, with its theaters and shopping, is growing into a year-round destination. Coastal Grand Myrtle Beach mall, opening off U.S. 17 Bypass near Fantasy Harbour and the theme park site, should boost that off-season traffic even more.

"We're getting enough year-round amenities, year-round attractions here that they are going to sort of play off each other," said Taylor Damonte, director of Coastal Carolina University's Clay Brittain Jr. Center for Resort Tourism. "It's enough of a year-round destination to warrant capital investment."

Binkowski, who has operated theaters in Myrtle Beach, knows the havoc the seasonality can have on business. He remains undeterred, although the park might close during the area's two slowest months.

"January and February are still kind of tough," Binkowski said. "But the shoulder seasons are rounding out nicely."

Because of the chilly winter, the theme park must have some amusements indoors, experts say.

That could be a part of the park, Binkowski said, that would feature a mix of rides, shows and landscaping - something similar to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., he said.

A theme park done right, with big-name backing, could give the Grand Strand its ticket to ride to the next level, said Brad Dean, chief financial officer at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

"This market can and must grow," he said. "It's going to take leaps to do that."

Giving them something new

The theme park would have to feature something this area, and park-goers in general, haven't seen before.

"You would have to combine all the trends out there today," said Tim O'Brien, senior editor at Amusement Business, a trade publication. "This has to be very unique. It would have to be something very amazing."

So unique, experts say, it would lure additional visitors for the theme park itself.

The Grand Strand's annual number of visitors, which has stayed stagnant at about 13.7 million the past few years, wouldn't offer enough customers to make a park work, experts say. And the county's 202,000 year-round residents couldn't generate enough traffic, either. A park typically has to have at least 1 million area residents to draw from.

"You want to create a mini destination in itself," Bonn said.

Binkowski says a major park developer is waiting in the wings but declined to name it.

He compares the proposed development to Dollywood, but that company isn't looking at Myrtle Beach, said Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens.

"We would look to develop our own areas first," he said.

Dollywood, which operates the Dixie Stampede dinner theater in Myrtle Beach, is the only park developer to open a new park this year - the $40 million, seasonal Celebration City in Branson, Mo.

Park developers aren't in a building phase, as the economy has parks fighting for the fewer discretionary dollars.

"I seriously doubt that Paramount, Six Flags, Busch or even Disney would be building a major park right now. I'd put money on it," said O'Brien, who has followed the industry for 25 years. "I would be absolutely, totally surprised."

Luring vacationers to spend

The lagging economy throws in another hurdle.

Job loss has people skipping vacations or not spending as much if they do go on a trip.

Destinations, including the Grand Strand, have had to work harder to keep the current business, much less grow the market.

The theme park investors say they have done their homework and think the Grand Strand is poised for another growth spurt. And the time to act is now, while interest rates are low, Binkowski said.

"It is tough," he said. "They are not telling me something I don't know. We are trying to do it the right way. We are finding a nice, regional-sized application that would meld nicely with the mix of opportunities Myrtle Beach has."

If the Grand Strand was ready for a theme park, local amusement veteran Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. would be building it, some say. B&C, owner of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, NASCAR SpeedPark and other area attractions, has the available land and capital to build a theme park.

B&C almost got in the theme park business in the mid-'90s, outlining park plans to counter those floated by Timberland Properties Inc., the group that ended park hopes on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base when it declared bankruptcy.

B&C passed on the chance to be part of the Fantasy Harbour park because it is too busy with its own developments, including Grande Dunes, South Beach and Broadway at the Beach, B&C spokesman Pat Dowling said.

He wouldn't say whether the Grand Strand is ready for a theme park.

"That's up to [the developer] to decide," Dowling said, refusing to say whether B&C is working on its own theme park. "We wish them well."