Day at Boomers 2-20-2004

My significant other, Shannon, and I are down in Miami to start a cruise today. We flew down a few days early to check out Miami and of course so I could go get my credit on the Dania Beach Hurricane.

I want to start out with a few observations about Miami before I get to the part about Boomers. Every year I go to Florida in February. This year was different, however, because I didnt go to Tampa or Orlando, which is the norm. This time I decided I wanted to do something with my other casual hobby, diving, so I booked a cruise on Carnival for the Western Caribbean.

Miami is so different for Tampa and Orlando. It is like night and day. Miami has a different feel and not all of it is good. The good part is that everything seems more vibrant and colorful. We spent the last two nights down in South Beach and had the time of our lives checking out the wonderful Art Deco buildings and the brilliantly lighted buildings. On the other side of the coin, however, people in general here are more rude. Waitresses in restaurants dont seem to give a damn about their jobs or their customers for that matter. Driving here is a challenge because everyone seems to think they own the road. I felt like I was driving in Boston. As a contrast, people in Tampa/Orlando seem more laid back and easy going and very friendly. The roads are seldom congested if you find the right roads to get where you are going and most drivers are very courteous.

Anyways, enough of the rant. I ended up getting lost leaving the hotel and had to take an alternate route to I-95. I ended up going through a fairly rough neighborhood in my rental convertable which had the top down. Not a fun way to start the day. Anyways, we headed up I-95 and found Boomers really easily.

Boomers is a family fun center. They have go-karts, mini-golf, video games galore, a handful of other rides including a sky coaster and a sky scraper as well as the Dania Beach Hurricane. There is also a go-kart track across the street that looked totally insane. It was twisted in among itself in about a mile of track that was packed in to a very small area. Looked really fun.

I bought my 10 dollar pass and started riding the Hurricane. I found the 1-3 seat to be the money seat after trying several seats. I had several solo rides as I had arrived before the schools let out. A few kids that were on vacation were on a few of my early rides but for the most part I always had a choice of where I wanted to sit.

The ride ops were interesting to say the least. One guy was doing a crossword puzzle the entire day while the other spent the ENTIRE day on her cell phone. She couldnt even stop talking on it while she was checking restraints.

The ride was smoother than most wooden coasters I have been on. The money seat provides some pretty good air on several parts of the ride. I liked the double out and back layout of this ride. It provided enough turnarounds to make things interesting and had enough room to have some airtime producing hills.

They shut down the ride for lunch around 1pm and while they ate lunch so did we. We then played some DDR and then Shannon bought a ticket to try out the coaster. She is not a coaster person so she figured she would only ride once. She ended up loving the ride and wished she would have sprung for the all day pass. We finished the day with some mini golf. When I get home I will post my pics of the place. They allowed me to take my camera on with me as long as it was secured to my arm with the strap and I got a lot of good pics.

Well, gotta go. Got a boat to catch. Take care and talk to you all in a week! Time for some diving!

Thanks for the TR Bob!

I have only been in the Ft.L - Miami area once and that was last November. I really enjoyed Hurricane. I hadn't heard many reviews of the coaster so I didn't know what to think.

What a ride! For some reason, it kind of reminded me of Ghostrider. Not the layout. Maybe parts of the ride.

I didn't get to stay in the area very long so I didn't try anything else out but the McDonalds that is right across the street from Boomers had one of the rudest employess I have ever witnessed. We left because of how rude she was.

I hope you have fun on your cruise.

-Sean

I love the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. It's so vibrant and alive, especially at night. My favorite memories of Florida are in Ft. Lauderdale, walking down the beach late at night, with the massive hotels illuminating the sand and water. Anyways, glad you had fun, and enjoy the cruise!

Bob,

I'm glad you liked the Hurricane! It's probably my favorite coaster in Florida. It doesn't look like much, but once you ride you soon realize what this ride is capable of.

I'm sorry you encountereed the rudeness of Florida while on vacation. That was the determining factor of why I moved out of there. It was getting so bad that you couldn't go to the grocery store without someone giving you attitude.

Miami is definately the worst part of the state. The freeways are a nightmare there. Atlanta traffic is good in comparison. The only good time to go to Miami is during the Winter Music Conference - but that's only if you're ready to party for a week straight. Other than that, it's pretty much an infested hole of cokeheads, people with no money spending like their millionaires, and the rest of the bottom rungs of society. All my friends still there are dying to get out.

Glad to here that you had a great time on the Hurricane. I just rode it for the first time myself last week and definitely thought that it was one of smoothest woodies that I've ever been on. I also have to agree with you about the ride ops. The ones we had seemed to be preoccupied with everthing but their jobs as well.
Enjoy the cruise!

Cool. Just got my plane tickets today. I'll be checking out the DBH in about a month.

I'm just glad I lived on Miami Beach before it really made it's comeback. (1991-1993)

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...cokeheads, people with no money spending like their millionaires, and the rest of the bottom rungs of society

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Ok, maybe it wasn't so different back then.

Happy to hear that you and Shannon are having the time of your life so far. I hope you have fun on the cruise portion of your trip. I'm sure you will have a blast on the islands, I know I did when I took the exact same cruise (different cruise line though). You'll have to fill me in and catch up sometime when you get back.

The DBH remains one of the best wooden coasters I have ever ridden. Sean, I was feeling like you did- I hadn't heard too much about the coaster and didn't know what to expect. Luckily, I was surprised- it was FANTASTIC!

I can't quite put my finger on it... the Phoenix has better air, Twister has more laterals, GCII coasters have more "grace"... the ride just "worked" for me. Keep in mind, I'm not saying that the ride lacks airtime, laterals or grace, I'm just saying that it doesn't seem to excel in any one area like other coasters tend to do. We wound up riding the ride something like 40 times until midnight- there were moments when it was just us and a pair of teens that decided to spend the night on the coaster, too.

As I type this, we are preparing to head to Newark to fly down to Florida... we'll be on the DBH in approximately 72 hours, at the tail end of a long weekend trip!

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Kick The Sky said:
I felt like I was driving in Boston.

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Hey now, what's wrong with drivers in Baahston?

~ryan, who's job is driving in boston.

ps. - i'm glad you had a good time - I'm visiting Florida and plan to go to Miami, so I'll definitely stop by for a ride or two.

I would like to get some pics up of this trip. Anyone know of a good place to put the pics up on the internet so all can see?

Thanks.

Its a great coaster, I rode it for the first time last October. I havent really ridden any bad wooden coasters. Coming from England, all the wooden coasters here are great, the ones at Blackpool, Megafobia and the Ultimate at Light Water Valley is unlike anything else I've ridden. Stampedia was great as was Gwazi (little rough towards the back) and DBH.

I'd say I couldn't place my favourite though out of the DBH and Megafobia.

Still I'll be in California next week so I will be trying Ghostrider, the wooden coasters at SFMM and the woody at SFMW. Are they any good?

glad u had fun, it really is a good ride, hope u enjoy the rest of ur vacation! I share ur opinion with the Miami area, they're not really the best drivers out there, i guess some of the old people are colorblind and can't see that the light is RED (most of the people running the red lights were old people). I still have lots of fun when i go down every year, it's a fun place, i also went on this really interesting flat-ride called "Jump" in a church fair... it was fun. Once again, have fun on ur vacation!

Joe

It's nice to hear all the praise for the DBH. It really is a great coaster and deserves the recognition.

I live in Miami and I totally agree with your observations. We have been graded the worst drivers in the nation. Also, the people here are very rude and all pretend to have money. Most people that like it are latin because you don't even have to know English here in a lot of areas. I am latin but I don't like it at all. I'm moving next year to Orlando or the Stuart area.

Wow, I was in Miami last year and I *loved* it. I don't know, there was just a carefree attitude about the place that made it very relaxing. We had heard there was a lot of crime, but we drove all over the place in a convertible and never felt unsafe.

South Beach is by far the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. Miami's downtown is interesting and I did *not* find the driving to be bad at all. The signage was slightly confusing, but the drivers were not as bad as I've seen in Chicago, L.A., Pennsylvania and even Columbus.

I actually liked the fact that there were a lot of Latin folks around... made it feel like I was in another country. Some of my fondest memories come from the two weeks of my life I've spent in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Miami had the same exotic feel that city did (without the rampant poverty of course)...

This is what I use to host pictures.

http://www.pbase.com/

Looking forward to seeing them. *** Edited 3/1/2004 7:20:47 PM UTC by BullGuy***

Hey Bob remember me. I was there the same day and can attest to the complete lack of attention by the ride ops. Having lived in south Florida, I also agree with the rudeness and driving comments. It's brutal down there. Having said that, the ride itself is great. I had the extreme pleasure of taking my 6 year old with me. It was his first "adult" coaster, as he just reached the 48 inch height requirement (with a little help from thick soled shoes). He loved the coaster and is now looking forward to our June trip to Cedar Point.

Hope you had fun on the cruise.

-Brian

Hey Brian, I remember you. Just forgot your name otherwise I would have included it in my trip report. Glad to hear your family had a great time on your trip to Boomers.

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Still I'll be in California next week so I will be trying Ghostrider, the wooden coasters at SFMM and the woody at SFMW. Are they any good?

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Hey aflack, don't bother coming up to SFMW, park doesn't open till 3/20. But a great NorCal woodie alternative is the awesome Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz, open weekends.

Ghostrider rocks, ride Colossus backwards, and don't bother with Psyclone unless you desperately need the credit. Or to finally experience for yourself a bad woodie in every sense of the word.

California Wood, ranked by Moosh:

1. Giant Dipper, SCBB
2. Ghostrider, Knotts
3. Roar, SFMW
4. Giant Dipper, Belmont Park
5. Colossus, SFMM
6. Grizzly, PGA
7. Psyclone, SFMM

YMMV.

Of the wood I've ridden in the great state of California I would have to rank as follows...

1. Ghostrider
2. Giant Dipper, Belmont Park
3. Psyclone (yes it still sucks but not as bad as Colossus)
4. Colossus (could they make a wooden coaster any more boring?)

EDIT: Interesting how a thread about a coaster in Miami turned into a thread about coasters on the other side of the country. :) *** Edited 3/2/2004 7:38:32 PM UTC by Kick The Sky***