Visit Dezerland Park this summer - a gamer’s paradise.
Published: April 29, 2019
There’ll be lots of kids fighting the zombie apocalypse in Miami this summer. And saving the world from unimaginable monsters. And racing through space, hitting the slopes and experiencing just about any other thrill you can think of — all the while safe from the South Florida sun.
They’ll be doing it all in Florida’s largest virtual reality park, just one dimension of the new and seemingly ever-expanding galaxy of fun known as Dezerland Park. Opened last summer in North Miami, the entertainment center has grown into the largest indoor theme park in the area, with nearly 250,000 square feet of games, events and activities — and a new vision.
“We call ourselves a community center and a family entertainment center. It’s a hybrid,” general manager Cutari Cotton said soon after the park’s opening. “It’s a new concept we are trying to bring to families to do their weekday activities… and their weekend activities.”
Recently expanded to 20,000 square feet, the Virtual Reality Park presents about 40 different challenges, plunging players into the cutting-edge technology’s uniquely immersive experiences in different virtual worlds.There are 20 individual VR machines and over 50 state-of-the-art 5D games and rides, including multi-player games. In the Virtual Arena and Virtual Escape Room, games last 45 minutes to an hour.
Virtual or not, Dezerland Park is a gamer’s paradise. Its Arcade Miami boasts over 200 new and classic games, including ticket-redemption games and an extensive collection of pinball machines. It also features race-car simulators and a bowling alley.
There’s much more to Dezerland than games, though. The list of current and planned activities and adventures is a fun-lover’s dream, including electric go-karts, bumper cars, mini golf, a 300-foot zip line, a 70-foot rock climbing wall, a ropes course, both outdoor and paintless paintball, a trampoline park, an adult ninja warrior obstacle course, indoor skydiving, a circus studio, a parkour obstacle course and an Olympic-level gymnastics training facility. Also available are a range of classes from dance to karate, an after-school program, a summer camp and spaces for events and parties.
The park’s creator is Michael Dezer, an Israeli-American real estate developer and car collector.
“I’m a kid at heart,” Dezer said. “When I was born at Israel, we didn’t have these kinds of parks and arcades. I am making up for what I didn’t do when I was a young kid.”
Dezerland Park is at 14401 NE 19 Ave. For information on prices and hours, call 786-590-5000 or visit http://www.dezerlandpark.com
