I remember landing for a connecting flight at the Ft. Lauderdale airport once. I looked out of the window and I swore I saw a roller coaster in the distance. I thought my hobby was finally getting out of hand and that I was seeing coaster mirages. At the time I hadn’t mapped out Southern Florida’s amusement parks and I wasn’t aware of Boomers.
No, I wasn’t hallucinating, that was the Stand Company-designed, Coaster Works-built woodie known as the Dania Beach Hurricane. According to this Sun Sentinel Article I found via CoasterBuzz, the park has closed the ride.
Will the Dania Beach Hurriane join my list of the Most Missed Defunct Roller Coasters? Let’s hope not. If it’s truly doomed at Boomers, hopefully another park picks it up. It looks pretty cool and from the comments on that CoasterBuzz thread it was a standout ride. Many more enthusiasts shared their thoughts on this ThemeParkReview thread.
Check out this POV video of the Dania Beach Hurricane:
What’s Your Take?
What do you think of the Dania Beach Hurricane’s closing? Leave a comment below. Image courtesy of CoasterImage.
May 2, 2011 at 03:59
I came on wednesday, the day after it closed…
May 2, 2011 at 14:15
That's gotta suck. The ride looked a bit shaky, but It also looks like a lot of fun.
May 6, 2011 at 15:35
I remember when I drove past this on a trip down to the Keys. It looked pretty cool but we didn't stop to ride it.
May 9, 2011 at 20:27
Being from Miami, I've ridden on it before during summer breaks from college. Not having ridden too many woodies (I think Gwazi was the only one I'd ridden) and being spoiled by Florida's B&M smoothness, I didn't think too much of it. Now after experiencing a few more woodies and looking at woodies that are viewed favorably by enthusiasts, I'd say in retrospect that the Hurricane was pretty good.
Miami's a real fickle town and with the competition from Central Florida, I'm not surprised that the ride didn't last. Boomers is more of a teenie-bopper type of place anyways and since it's pay-to-ride, the coaster didn't get nearly the support that it would at a general admission theme park. Wherever it moves to, it will be well received. Orlando could use a woodie, but I don't know where they'd put it. Sea World has the land, but don't know how a woodie would fit in there. In a dream world, Universal would buy it, enclose it, and make it a Gringott's themed Harry Potter ride.