Discovery Canyon — Attraction in Red Deer

Everything you read in other reviews of this place regarding kids getting hurt or the like...take heed...they are accurate. Every 5-10 minutes or so you'll see at least one child crying, bleeding, or limping. I will not be surprised if there is a drowning in the future. It was a fun idea, and I think this place has great potential...but it has not been carried out well at all. For starters, there is no lifeguard or any sort of regulation to control how many tubers go down at once. This means that after about 11am, there'll be a ton of people trying to go down at the same time. It's one thing for an adult to get another adult with his tube landing on top of him, forcing him briefly under the water...it's a whole different level of seriousness when this happens to your young children. Then there's the large amount of tubing traffic down the narrow stream...this causes grid-lock, which means that when a heavier person/adult on a tube comes barreling down and slams into your children's tubes, your children will flip over and get trapped underneath everyone else, usually slamming their bodies against the sharp rocks or sides (I am not exaggerating). There are also many dead spots on this tube ride. You could be stuck for quite some time before getting going again...very annoying. Oh, and unless you weigh under 10 pounds, you'll also get stuck multiple times throughout this trip, as your tube will consistently bottom out and stop before mostly every bump where the water then goes down a slight hill. You have to push yourself off the bottom with your hands or even stand sometimes in order to get over these...only to need to do this again 5 seconds later. The depth at these points seems to be only a few inches of water. I have 4 kids. Only one of them came out without being bloodied or bruised after a single afternoon there. I was also cut up. Also, they have signs that people re not to smoke or drink alcohol on these grounds...nobody follows this rule and nobody enforces anything...because nobody is around, apart from the shack at one end to take your money for tube rentals ($5 per tube...no bad,...

This place was an absolute blast. Me and my wife decided to give it a shot with my best friend. We are absolutely planning on coming back together with our whole family.

Current cost for whole day tube rentals is: $7 So cheap not worth buying your own and dealing with the hassle of blowing it up, keeping track of it and making sure no munchkins try and yoink it while your not looking. Support the park and just pay for the wristband.

First off you get used to the water quick. Once your going you forget about it and don't worry. If your a bigger person sometimes your butt/tube rubs on the river bed, slows you down and is a little annoying but is fine for kids and thinner folks. 3 different sizes of tubes offered. Adults take yellow(Biggest). You will know your tube is too small if your almost flipping over occasionally. The line to get in could take 30seconds - 2mins but If your moving and rushing to get in you will be fine. There are staff at key points of this lazy river keeping things moving along. If your in a group you can hold onto eachother and go together. Staff is very professional and well behaved and help with anything and everything. Kids rush in at the top and get in early. Don't worry it's quick to move, don't get fussy or annoyed, everything will be fine.

Adults have fun here take your time and enjoy. Great for younger kids.

Secondly there are tons of day use benches and tables to set up a BBQ/lunch spot. Arriving early is a good idea. Looks like park opens at 11:00am. Be early to get a great spot. Gazebo recommended but lots of areas shaded, not mandatory.

Great park, will be back with my whole family and wife's family....

We are big on taking our kids around Alberta and introducing them to stuff in other smaller cities. Think of it as a great deal of people don't appreciate what's on their own backyard.

My wife brought up an interesting point (my own cognitive dissonance); why is driving to Banff not a problem, being an hour and a half from home, yet driving to Red Deer too long and far, being an hour and a half from home?

So a new rule was made, if its 2 hours, one way, its close enough.

Off for a jaunt into the Red Deer Farmers market by Servus Arena, lunch at the city hall garden and Discovery Canyon lazy river.

Okay, on the advice of a local get there mid week, far less people. We were there Saturday, it was a zoo. 1 hour wait to get onto the lazy river. Also, no lifeguards, but a non issue since my 5 year old waded in water up to his knees.

That was the bad, the good was far better. Lots of room in shade, open spaces that were crowded but didn't feel crowded, and loads of sight lines to keep an eye on the kids. We bought donut rafts from Walmart, figuring for other floats it would be fun, and you can rent them at the rental place there.

If you do buy a donut raft, the only one they accept to float the lazy river, buy a high center one. We found our lower center ones got butt stuck in certain river parts.

That said a lovely afternoon. Time well spent doing a lot of nothing watching the kids...