Skydive Space Center — Attraction in Titusville

This place makes dealing with cable companies feel like shopping at Publix.

I have never left anything other than 5-star reviews. I wish I could give this place negative stars. It was the single worst experience I've ever had with any company, ever. See below for the full story and a "too lazy, didn't read" version of it.

tl;dr: After driving 2.5 hours, we arrived at 7:55 for our 8 am reservation. Because we chose to do the 8,000 ft jump and didn't concede to the numerous upselling pitches the staff gave, every other person got to skydive that day except for us. At 12:30, we were eventually told that the weather was too bad and we couldn't skydive, despite the fact that people who had reservations hours after ours were able to. This place has high reviews because it's great if you're willing to do the most expensive packages. If you're on a tight budget though, expect to be treated like garbage.

Full story: Myself and two others made reservations for the 8,000 foot jump that their website boasts as the "World's cheapest jump!!!" (see attached picture). After driving 2.5 hours to get there on Saturday morning, we arrived at 7:55. At 8, the doors opened and we went into a room where we filled out all the usual disclaimers signing your life away.

After most people were done with the paperwork, a staff member played a video that I thought was going to an info video telling us about what to do skydiving. That was the process when I did a tandem jump in Palatka. Instead, the video was the start of what would become relentless upselling. The video marginalized the lower-level jumps, and made numerous points about why the higher (and thus more expensive) jumps were what you really needed to do. I would find out later that there were other waiting rooms. The one I was in was all the low-altitude jumpers, 8k and 11k feet. I'm assuming that the higher altitudes did not have to watch this video or suffer through the ensuing sales pitches.

Once the video finished, a staff member reiterated all the points that the video made and then asked if anybody would like to upgrade to a better jump. Everybody else except for us did so. Here is a non-comprehensive list of the points they use to manipulate you into spending more money there:

If you don't do a higher jump, you might not get to skydive because at all because the higher-altitude jumps go before you. My response: This is a reprehensible business model. We had reservations for 8 am. We should have jumped before people that were scheduled for 9 or 10. The excuse that the staff gave for this was that they wanted us there at 8 am so they can let us know how great the higher dives are and then upgrade to a better one. One staff member literally told me to my face that I'm "uneducated" about skydiving and didn't know what I wanted. I have gone before, and knew exactly what I was doing with 8k jump. Since my group were the only ones who didn't give in to the sales pitch, all others that came that day got to dive except us.

"The lower-level jumps are fun, but if you want the time of your life you really need to go at 15k or 18k." My response: This was repeated to us so many times that I have the line memorized. The 8k and 11k jumpers were treated like second-rate dives that would barely be fun. We knew beforehand that at 8k feet there would be little freefall before the parachute deployed. It would still be extremely fun for those that have only jumped once, or not at all.

"I don't get extra money if you do a higher jump or not." My response: This was told to us by one of the staff members whose primary job is to persuade people to spend wayyyy more money. For us to upgrade, it would have doubled the cost of our trip from $100 each to $200 each. Also, they refused to let us upgrade to 11k feet. When asked why, they gave the non-answer of, "we just don't do that because the best jumps are at 15k and 18k." Translation: Give us more money.

At the character limit now. I could go on for another five pages about the other terrible things about this place. Do...

I'd like to start off by saying my instructor Uwe was incredible and did a fantastic job. He had a great sense of humor and was very knowledgeable about the 12,000 ft jump. The administration on the other-hand was a bit less than perfect.

My first experience skydiving was with SSC through the highest ($240) jump they offer at 18,000 ft. I had a good time so when I saw the 12,000 ft jump on sale for $76 (plus $9 at time of reservation) I couldn't pass it up.

When we arrived at 8 am I expected a similar experience I had with the 18k ft checkin where we spent about an hour filling out a bunch of paper work yet most of the time was spent listening to a up-selling speech where we were told that we should upgrade to the higher jumps for a better experience. The points brought up were:

You will likely only jump once so you might as well go all the way to get the full experience. (fair point but personally I feel that after about 10 seconds of free fall I have had a good experience)

The plane designated to lower level jumps is far worse to jump out of and uncomfortable. We were also told that we would have to perform acrobatic like maneuvers around the wheels to avoid hitting the rear wing which was likely a comedic exaggeration.

(It is much sketchier than the larger plane but I bought the ticket to jump out of the plane not to fly for hours. I did have to bend my knees a bit more but I honestly prefer the small plane as it has a better view and a step-off to jump out of the plane)

We will be going after all the higher altitude jumps and the plane ride up to 12,000 ft will be about 45 minutes.

(It is fair to have us go after everyone that paid more but we also got there an hour before everyone that paid more just to listen to a sales pitch.)

You might not get to jump today because they close at sundown.

(We were done by 2:00 pm, it was busy but not that busy.)

Out of the 10 to 15 people my group of 3 were the only ones that chose not to upgrade to the higher jump so the sales pitch was very effective. The guy running operations did not seem very happy at all that we chose to not upgrade and again reiterated that we will be jumping last.

When it came time for our turn the smaller janky plane that was set to fly wouldn't start as the cold weather and lack of use caused a dead battery that was eventually fixed after around 20 minutes of charging. In that time my instructor informed us that if the plane doesn't start we wouldn't be jumping and that he was just the messenger for that info.

At the end of the day, I got a cheap jump in a plane by myself (felt a bit premium tbh) that was even more fun than the expensive jump for 18,000 ft that I had previously done. My instructor was perfect and everything went smoothly. If I jump again it will be through SSC because their prices can't be beat and I now know what to expect. The jump I did likely cost the company money as they had to pay for a plane, pilot, and instructor for only me going up.

TLDR: Get the 12,000 ft jump for less than half the price of the premium jump and schedule it on a weekday for less of a wait. Expect to sit through the sales pitch but don't give in and you'll still have an amazing time at a cheap price. The Groupon for $76 is the absolute cheapest you can find when its on sale.

I see the lower level jumps as the Costco chicken set at a break-even or slight-loss price to get people in the door because they expect you...

I rarely write reviews but felt compelled for this one.

Short version: This place is a total scam. They use all tactics to pressure you and upsell you for a higher jump for more than double the price. Stuff are rude and mean. Do not go. Spend an extra $100 somewhere else and get a wonderful experience instead being treated like garbage at this place.

Long version: We bought the 12k ft jump on Groupon and made our reservation. When making reservation, we were told the only available slot was 8am. And it will be a 4 to 6 hours wait. I felt it a little weird about the length of waiting time for a jump, since we used to do it at other places multiple times and never waited that long.

So we drove there in the morning. I had to admit we were late for 13 minutes and arrived at 8:13. The lady called me while I was on my way, the first question she asked: What's your ETA, I said in about 9 minutes, which would make the arrival time 8:13, then she proceeded to say: our cutoff time is 8:10, if you arrive after that, we'll have to reschedule you, or you can upgrade to a higher jump for extra money. (later on after reading their response to other negative reviews, they said their cutoff time is 8:15. So they will make up random cutoff time right before your ETA so they can pressure you into upgrading to a higher jump for more money).

The lady called me a second time while we are right around the corner, we can literally see their building. Then she said, we are after the cutoff time and tried again upselling. Then she kept dropping B.S. like our ground school is only done once a day and it's already over. I told her we are pulling into the parking lot as we speak and will talk to you in person in a second. And the parking lot had no cars. We are obviously the first to arrive, how come you have finish your ground school while there was nobody? So we went in, and a guy was waiting for us, appeared to be upset. He said the same thing and tried to make us upgrade, or will have to reschedule us since we were 3 minutes after their "made-up" cutoff time. If not, they will have to reschedule us to another day but it will have to be 8am only and 4-6 hours waiting.

Both the lady and the guy were rude and mean when talked to us, and apparently they are very familiar with their tactics since they do it numerous times every day to the low altitude customers. It was obvious they did not want to take us on the jump since there were only two of us, unless we pay the extra for higher jumps. They said I can request a refund from Groupon. I know they wanted us to cancel so they don't spend all their operation costs just for two of us, especially we are not paying extra for the upgrade.

At this point, we just felt frustrated and decided not to do it. They are just taking advantage of people with their little schemes. Most people who come to jump are probably visitors to Orlando or NASA, so to those people, they came a long way and it is really a once in a lifetime chance for them, and most of them are willing to pay the extra just so they don't ruin the day, and this place knows it very well and takes advantage of those visitors.

In conclusion, do not go to this place, instead, go to nearby places and pay a little extra to have a wonderful day. For us, we went ahead to Kennedy Space Center and enjoyed our day instead of falling victim...