Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Business is hopping
Facility features jump arena, dive pit, obstacle course
New indoor trampoline park in Sunrise jumps into fast-growing industry.
Goodbye boring balloons, clowns and cupcakes that look like puppets.
Indoor trampoline parks are springing up across the nation for kids who prefer to celebrate their birthdays by diving into a giant box of foam cubes, somersaulting across a room or jumping to the basketball rim like Michael Jordan.
The first local franchise of a Florida-based company called Rebounderz debuted over the weekend at 4545 N. Pine Island Road in Sunrise, offering 32,000 square feet of spongy, bouncy, cushioned fun for kids ages 2 to 100, according to its owners, Sebastien and Michaël Vorbe.
There’s lots to choose from at the center: a big open jump arena, a dive pit packed with foam cubes, a springy dodgeball court, a basketball zone that improves everyone’s jump shot, a high-dive, and a “Ninja Warrior” course patterned after obstacle course competitions from TV’s long-running American Ninja Warrior series.
After the center’s grand opening ceremony on Saturday, attendees were given two hours to romp for free. During regular hours, prices vary depending on chosen activities and amounts of time. Access to everything offered at the park for 90 minutes is $24.95.
South Florida is already home to several indoor trampoline parks, including Sky Zone Trampoline Park in Pompano Beach and Doral, Planet Air Sports in Deerfield Beach, Off the Wall Trampoline Fun Center in Coconut Creek, and Rockin’ Jump at Xtreme Action Park in Fort Lauderdale.
The Vorbes, natives of Haiti, say there’s plenty of room for more, and they have rights to open two more Rebounderz franchises in South Florida.
“There are fewer than 1,000 trampoline parks in the U.S.,” Michaël said. “It’s a new industry.”
Kids’ parties are the bread and butter of the indoor trampoline park business, but industry data shows few parents are willing to drive more than 10 or so miles to a birthday party, Michaël said. So a metro area as large and populated as South Florida can support numerous locations.
Rebounderz features five rooms for simultaneous birthday parties and offers package pricing that includes food, T-shirts, drinks, 2.5 hours of jump time and more.
Sebastien, a physical therapist who played for the Los Angeles Galaxy pro soccer team for a year in 2000, and Michaël, a commercial banker, were looking for a franchise opportunity when Rebounderz, founded in Central Florida, “made an extremely good impression on us,” Sebastien said.
They liked the themes of fitness and fun and “especially the strong focus the franchise has on safety,” he said.
Concerns about safety have increased as indoor trampoline parks have become popular, according to an August story in the Christian Science Monitor. The number of U.S. parks soared from about 25 in 2010 to 460 last year, the story said. Meanwhile, emergency room visits from trampoline park injuries increased from 581 in 2010 to 6,932 in 2014, according to a study published in the August issue of Pediatrics magazine.
Rebounderz maintains a “safer and better engineered system,” according to a spokeswoman. These include use of a double bed system to prevent anyone from puncturing a trampoline bed and hitting the ground, thicker foam padding than required by industry standards, double-backed catch netting behind every trampoline wall, and referees required to undergo a week of training to recognize dangerous behavior.
Also, all guests are required to wear special footwear with “grip pad” soles “similar to the type gymnasts use so their feet grab tightly to each trampoline mat when they jump,” the spokeswoman said. Rebounderz sells the footwear for $2 per pair, but guests can use them again on return visits.
And just so adults don’t think Rebounderz is only for kids, the company’s website promotes the park for corporate events “because who wouldn’t enjoy throwing a dodge ball at their boss?”
For more information about Rebounderz, go to rebounderzsunrise.com