This is certainly a sad thing to hear. Dania Beach Hurricane, one of the few wooden coasters in the state of Florida, closed abrubtly this week. According to SunSentinel.com:
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“The wooden roller-coaster in Dania Beach visible from the Interstate-95 since its opening 11 years ago has closed, according to Boomers, the entertainment company that shared the property with the ride.
The click-clack of the Hurricane Roller Coaster stopped Tuesday after business hours, said Joe Tortorella, the general manager at Boomers in Dania Beach. He said owners informed him “a couple of days” earlier about plans to halt operations of what was billed as the tallest wooden coaster in Florida.
The up-and-down ride to a 100-foot peak is sure to be missed by some visitors including couple Richie Kearns, 40, and Sherry Blais, 39, who were married there on Valentine’s Day this year in the fifth wedding on the ride since its debut, according to coaster managers.
Still, Tortorella said he did not expect the coaster’s shutdown to hurt business at Boomers, which operates an indoor arcade and 12 rides of its own.
“We were here first,” Tortorella said, “and they were an add-on later.”
It’s really a shame that this ride is going away; my kids ask to go to Boomers for 2 reasons; the rollercoaster and the go-karts. The “manager” running the ride was a jerk, but the ride was great! I hope someone else comes in and takes it over….Hey Boomers! How bout you?
I’m 16 now, and an avid roller coaster enthusiast… I’ve lived in South Florida all my life now and there has only been one legitimately tall roller coaster, the Dania Beach Hurricane, within 1 hour of my house. I’ve wanted to ride it for a while, and just this month, 4/10/11, in fact, I got to ride it.
I would say that it was a great ride, although it seemed poorly maintained. The people who staffed the ride were really lazy and payed little attention to the riders whatsoever… They chatted for 15 minutes at a time while we were sitting idle in the train waiting to go. In fact, they completely disappeared for a good 10 minutes one time, leaving us wondering when they were going to return to start the ride.
Nevertheless, the ride itself was amazing. I can say that, I haven’t had more fun this whole year than on that ride. I went on it 8 times in different locations on the train, and each ride was as exciting as the last.
I am saddened to know that they’re tearing down the ride. Still, I’m glad that I got in my ride before they closed it. I was actually quite close; only 3 weeks after I rode it for my first and last 8 times, they decided to tear it down…
I seriously think that this will hurt Boomer’s business… the only thing that made that particular Arcade any better than the others was the roller coaster. Now they have nothing special to brag about. If only they cared more about maintenance…
me and my wife sherry were married on this ride on valetines 2/14/11 and it was amazing we had a great time sharing our vows and the happiest moment of our lifes together on the dania hurricane we will sadly miss it hope to find it some where sometime to ride it on our anniversary thanks andy for your hospitality richie and sherry