Kelli D.
Yelp
Basic words of advice are come early, bring plenty of money, and wear CLOSE TOED SHOES. I am severely under-impressed (and frankly quite frustrated) with this facility, management, and experience. I came for a birthday party, and our plan was to each purchase the $50 rafting, tubing, boarding, and movie floating deal... with the option to add zip lining for $10 more. We arrived at 4pm on a Friday, but all the rafting spots were sold out. We purchased a pass for tubing the rapids between 5pm-7pm for $21 (included floating and movie). Zipline was $19 on its own, but that side closes to new riders at 4pm -- so we missed that window. We were also informed spots on the rafts could be reserved in advance online for an additional $5 each. Summer all-inclusive passes are also available on the website for ~$160-ish per person.
A huge lack of information & communication between staff and patrons was a frustration for me and a complete let-down for a family of four that did not get the memo about the shoes. #YelpReviewsRock. The family actually had the news broken to them by a guy (maybe staff member?) walking a dog while they were in gear (life jackets & helmets) holding inter tubes. **Firstly, make sure to visit the front desk, sign the electronic safety waiver, and receive a wrist band for your purchase. Lockers are available and quite spacious to hold personal belongings, but you must get a token from the front desk each time you need to re-lock your locker. If everything is on time (rafts ran over 20+ minutes into the tubing session which delayed us from entering the water), you'll follow the crowd to grab a life jacket and helmet--- NOTE: I needed a kids helmet b/c the adult size slid over my eyes during the rapids. Once geared up and standing by the water, staff member noticed our puzzled faces and gave us the run down about grabbing a tube, walking across some bridges to get to the tubing entrance, and exiting the water right back where we were standing. He included safety notes: if you fall out of the tube, keep your toes up and do not try to stand in the rapids. Float to a calm spot and let the staff help you into the tube or out of the water.
My actual experience: carried the tube and entered the water just fine. Enjoyed the first stretch of rapids, then flipped on the big drop. No worries, it was fun! Staff member instructed me to swim to his side, stand, and jump back into my tube which he was holding for me. The next bit of rapids was also fun, but the river bend had so much dead current that I became trapped. I paddled a wall to attempt a push-off back into the flow, but in the end had to just let the current find me. Finally moving again, the last obstacle was a drop which just-so-happened to be half occupied by a stalled raft! I smacked into it, flipped out of the tube again, and swam (with water up my nose) the 80ft or so to the concrete bank to a chorus of staff members shouting "grab your tube!" I swam vigorously to my drifting tube and gave it a good push toward the bank, then realized the current was pulling me and the tube past the exit point. The staff threw me a rope and helped me out with an undertone of disappointment that I let my tube drift away. I FELT THE TUBE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY WELL BEING. But I'm tough and I paid for two hours of tubing so I got back in line with an attitude for improvement. On run #2 I still flipped out of my tube at the two drop-offs, accept this time the object occupying the second drop was a young girl on a stalled boogie-board. I crashed into her flipping us both into the water but recovered my tube and exited the water as the staff expected. Again, no "are you ok?" or "how was it?" or "great job!" from the staff... just the feel of running cattle and I was a heffer. This was the end of my tubing adventure by choice. I decided to sit on the patio with my drink and wait for the movie to start in anticipation of simply floating in the water.... but alas, the movie was cancelled per a forecast of rain that never actually fell.
Good points: The Water Grill was the highlight of my experience. Mic Ultras for $3, and they let me purchase some in advance and kept track of my tab which saved me from managing a bucket and/or running my credit card multiple times. The burger and fries basket ($8) was really tasty and plenty filling. The sound from the live band was good, so it'll be interesting to see what acts they can attract. We played a bit of corn hole (with abused bean bags) on some grass next to the patio. Guests could also freely walk around the river to get the best view of friends on the water.
I will repeat my disapproval in the communication for new comers to have a safe and informed enjoyable experience. I did not see any obvious manager walking around checking on guests. For the facility having been opened for a couple seasons now, I feel there are still significant kinks to work out. At this point, I can not say I will return.