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Dropzone Database: North America: United States: Florida : Skydive DeLand : Reviews

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has contributed 67 reviews

Review Summary: Average Rating: Total Reviews: 67 Write a Review Show: All Ratings 5 Star Rated 4 Star Rated 3 Star Rated 2 Star Rated 1 Star Rated Sort by: Newest First Highest Rating First Most Useful First Display: 10 25 50 100

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(Review ID:5365)

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful: ZHills is worth the longer drive Rated by: timkug on 2009-09-07 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Close to Orlando Cons: Hidden Fees

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

We did our 1st AFF dive at ZHills because it was cheaper and we only planned on going once a year. After jumping, we decided to continue with certification and did our 2nd jump 1 week later at DeLand because it was much closer (Titusville wouldn't let us continue there). When we got there, they surprised us with a 5% fee for using a credit card ($10 each). We bought items in the shop, but surprise again, they were mismarked and cost more than the tag. Once we met our guy, he tried to get another $25 each from us (under the table) because our first jump was somewhere else (1 week earlier) - we didn't pay that. Aside from the fees, the jump was good. The landing area is not great and the instructors are not as good as ZHills. We may try a 3rd place and review it too, but between DeLand and ZHills, ZHills is definitely worth the extra 40 min. drive each way.

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(Review ID:5269)

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Best drop zone in the US, And I've been to many Rated by: captain1976 on 2009-07-20 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Great Aircraft, Well Organized, Nice People AAAAA++++++++ Cons: None

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I can't understand some of the negative reviews, but this is a world class skydiving facility and sometimes there is a short wait to get on a load in season which is understandable. I am an experienced Jumper and travel a couple times a month between Wisconsin and Deland. I usually come out by myself and don't have a lot of friends there as I am into canopy flying and usually go out at the lower altitudes. Never am I treated with disrespect or have experienced someone who is rude. Though they don't really know me, I get the usual waves and greetings from Staff Members as well as the other jumpers.
Observing the Staff assigned to Students, I noticed an outstanding relationship they have with these customers. Even with the Tandem Masters grueling schedule, they take the extra time to act the part of the professionals they are. Just look at some of their videos on youtube these Students post and see for yourself.
The landing facilities are perfect. There are lots of options if the main area gets a little tight with a big load in the air. The restaurant has the best food of any drop zone in the US. The Riggers are also great. Nobody ever mentions Pilots, but being one myself I can attest that they are probably the best team of Professional Pilots found anywhere.

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(Review ID:5110)

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Enjoyed my short visit Rated by: TankBuster on 2009-05-16 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Facilities, Professionalism Cons: None

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I was in the area for business and decided to take my rig to experience another DZ. I'm impressed! A Thursday, so not very busy, we flew the PAC 750 and I only got two jumps because weather rolled in for the afternoon. Every staff member I spoke to was friendly. My wife and I arrived Wednesday afternoon (they weren't jumping due to weather) and Mike, the DZO, went out of his way to speak to us in the bar and recommended some places to stay. It's a big DZ, with a wide variety of experience levels and instruction. Even if you go solo, I think it would be a great place to meet other upjumpers and learn new things. The layout and the restaurant (great food btw) are very nice. I'll definitely be back, most likely for some freefly coaching.

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(Review ID:5092)

5 of 12 people found the following review helpful: Boring jump if you don't have friends with you Rated by: rauenpc on 2009-05-07 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: PAC 750, big landing area, good facilities. Cons: People seemed to have their cliques and stuck to them.

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I went to DeLand on a Wednesday during a vacation from WI to FL. They have a great setup there as far as having a restaurant/bar, gear shop, and monitors set up to show upcoming loads. The plane looked great, flew good, got up to altitude real quick, and had a great spot each jump. However, there were 3 people that spoke to me. One person gave me the required orientation, and laughed when I asked if they had packing hooks. I was never trained to pack over the shoulder, only with hooks. His attitude at that question wasn't all that great, because I asked if hooks were available for a reason, not so that he would look at me and laugh saying that I'm tall enough to go without hooks. The next person that talked to me asked me if I had been in a PAC750 before. The third person to talk to me asked me when I'm pulling. That was the extent that I was spoken to the entire time I was there. I got two solo jumps in, and left out of boredom. If this is how the bigger dropzones are, I'll stick to my friendly anybody-talks-to-you small WI dropzones.

As a side note of my own personal annoyance, since I didn't have 100 jumps or more, I had to land across the taxiway from the PRO area. The size of their PRO area is bigger than the entire landing area of the dropzones I go to. This only added to the boredom - landing by myself away from everyone else.

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(Review ID:5028)

0 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Great Experience Rated by: ChristopherCK on 2009-03-17 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Very friendly staff, very comforting for first time jumper Cons: none

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Great staff made our first jump and my fiance's birthday a GREAT experience! They sparked my interest in AFF.

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(Review ID:4949)

1 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Great aircraft, plenty of landing room, good facilities Rated by: flipper3 on 2009-01-24 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Extremely well run drop zone for our event - great support Cons: Cold weather when we were there - not the DZ's fault!

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Was part of the SOS record team so I have been doing this for a while. Haven't been to Deland since the early '90's and saw that they had made a lot of good improvements to the facility. We were the for an event and the staff at Deland did an excellent job of hosting it for us. Everything went very smoothly, if there were problems we didn't know about them. The aircraft and pilots were excellent and we had no problem making our scheduled jumps - we even set a new world record and held it for close to 20 seconds. Sweet!
Thanks Bob and all your staff for making it happen.

Flip Hollstein
Hawaii



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(Review ID:4860)

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful: If you want to get training be careful of who you have as an instructor Rated by: LSkyWlkr on 2008-11-02 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Top Notch Skydivers(PD Factory Team does Training) Cons: Several Regular Staff Instructors have bad attitudes and do unprofessional things to students(Tandems)

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Pros: Local top manufacturers, top notch training from local instructors(Not DeLand staff).

Cons: Never has Boogies, Unprofessional staff(A few staff members not all), DZ stops jumping 1-2 hours before sunset regularly.

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(Review ID:4375)

2 of 14 people found the following review helpful: Super place to go Rated by: playgroundguy on 2008-02-29 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Great time! Cons: Weather was iffy

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Not sure what the previous review is all about. I'm a coach and took a student down. He needed five more jumps for his license. After DZ review and his currency jump we were well on our way. Invited by some others for different jumps. The staff was excellent! Organiation and everything was well run.

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(Review ID:4327)

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful: Great place to be if you want RW, CRW or Canopy training Rated by: sraja on 2008-01-28 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Great facilities for teams and training Cons: Vibe is dead - not an ideal location and fun jumping is non-existent

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I understand why Deland functions the way it does but having said that - you wont find me going back there unless I truly have no other choice. I am a fun jumper and I'd like to just go and goof off in the sky with my friends - there isnt much room for that at Deland. 2 hour waits between loads and lack of attention to fun jumpers didnt make it very exciting. However, if you are looking for top notch RW instruction and team facilities or just any facility in general this is place to be. There is a reason why PD, UPT and a host of several RW teams train here every year. If you are looking for fun and a great time with friends - go to Sebastian

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(Review ID:4100)

32 of 50 people found the following review helpful: This was one of the worst dropzones I have ever jumped at. Rated by: james309 on 2007-08-22 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Skydive DeLand   Pros: Excellent instruction through Freedom of Flight, and the Restaurant Cons: Instructors, Landing Areas, Facilities

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

My friend and I went to Skydive Deland for Scott Miller's essential canopy skills course. The course and Scott Miller were excellent, however the facilities and the instructors that work at Skydive Deland were atrocious and on more than one occasion extremely rude. On several occasions they over loaded the plane. On one instance I noticed the instructors lying down in the back of the plane, and when I asked them to sit up so everyone behind me could board the plane and find a seatbelt. I was told to sit the F*** down and mind my own business. We still had 8 people that needed to board the plane, and one of our classmates was the last person to board the plane. He was crammed into the door, and barely able to hold on. One of the instructors (who are clearly marked by their skydive Deland T-shirts) stopped the plane on the tarmac and started cursing at him until finally someone was able to share a seatbelt with him. While having a seatbelt is an important safety concern, there was no need to be that rude. This entire situation could have been avoided if the instructors had just stopped leaning back, and made room for others. The other problem I noticed is the student landing zone (which is where the class was supposed to land) is bordered on two sides by active runways. We made five jumps that day, and I had to deal with airplanes in the landing pattern as well as other jumpers. It’s not a lot of fun trying to avoid Cessna’s on downwind. The only other problem I noticed is that there is no shade anywhere, so on the truly hot summer days there is nowhere to hide from the heat. There are so many other excellent dropzones in Florida; I would recommend trying some of the others, especially if you are traveling a long distance to have fun!

Blue Skies!


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