Snow Valley Aerial Park — Attraction in Riverbend

Took advantage of the twilight rate and went yesterday evening (that made it $60 cheaper for the six of us). Booked two days in advance and were able to secure a time slot that worked for us. They only take 10 people per slot. What an awesome place! We were two relatively-adventurous fifty-something adults and four teens between 15 and 18. All of us had a ball!

At first the "Click It" safety clasps on the harnesses seem a bit tricky to figure out but you'll get the hang of it quickly. The safety system is wonderful...it's pretty much impossible to not be clipped it with at least one end of your tether. I felt very confident that we were all extremely safe. The safety briefing and instructions at the start are thorough.

The tower is massive with three tiers and so many different challenges in each level. I think it would be impossible to cover them all in two hours unless you were an acrobat or a ninja. I worked through different areas steadily and probably only made it through a little more than half. Each challenge is coded by difficulty just like a ski run: green for easy, blue for medium and black for challenging. I tried all three but stuck mostly to blues. No matter where you go, there is at least a blue to get you back to the middle. On the lower two levels there are more greens. If you are courageous or crazy, try the 50 foot drop! You freefall for only about the first 7 feet but it's an insane feeling to step off the platform into thin air!!!

While you are not allowed to take phones or cameras on the tower, the guides will take as many pictures of you as you would like...you just have to ask. And they were very willing...not once did I sense an eye roll. I LOVE that the Aerial Park will send you the FREE photos of you doing your stuff! If you sign up when you check in, and provide an email or cell#, you will be sent pictures of the entire day that you were there. You have to sort through and find yours but then you can download and share as much as you like.

Our group started out climbing the same areas but pretty soon we were spread out all over the place. Yet the structure is such that you can still spot each other often even if you're on different levels.

The shortest in our group is 5'5". She sometimes had to stand on metal support bars to clip and unclip her harness. So when the website says that people under 4'7" would have trouble accessing certain sections, they really mean it. I, personally, think anyone under 5'1" would be challenged on tiers 2 and 3 for that reason unless they had a taller friend to help.

The guides (staff) were friendly, professional, helpful and fun. They would sometimes call out encouragement if they saw us on a particularly tough section. You can leave water bottles at the ground level and there are free little lockers for cell phones, jewelry, etc. They even provide neoprene straps to help keep your glasses on! One person in our party didn't use it and, sure enough, he lost his glasses! Thankfully they just landed in the wood chips on the ground floor.

We were all wiped by the time our two hours were up and we're all a bit sore today...but in a good way! :-) Would definitely recommend this as a super fun and different-than-usual activity. Well...

Took two of my teens here and they had a great time. We booked online the morning of and were able to get two spots in the 11am time slot. I would definitely book ahead and not just show up as some time slots were already sold out for the day. Course appears very challenging from the ground and I wasn't brave enough to try it myself (not for the price tag anyway). They played on the structure for about 1.5 hours in total. The safety briefing is about 20-25 minutes which doesn't start until your booked time. I didn't realize this (tho it does say on the website safety briefing is inclusive of your 3 hours you pay for) and thought that was why we needed to be there at least 30 minutes in advance. I made sure we were there 45 minutes ahead. As a result we sat around for about 55 minutes as safety briefing didn't start until 10 minutes after our booked time for some reason. In the future I would not arrive quite so early as the check in part only took about 2 minutes since I had filled in waivers online. There were some people in our time slot who didn't show up until 10 minutes before the booked time and it appeared to be no problem as they still ended up in my kids' group. They appear to keep the groups going on at the time slots small enough that the structure is never too busy to still enjoy it. The way that you are harnessed in and clipped to the lines I am not sure how the safety system would fail (as described by another reviewer) without human error contributing but then again roller coaster aren't supposed to fall off tracks either but I can say in our situation that I never felt my kids were in danger while they were there and I stayed to watch them the entire time. While this is a pricey day of play (I wish they had a family rate) it is unique and I am happy to see that we have something like this...

Snow Valley Aerial Park – Family Fun Meets Midlife Crisis We’re a family of six — kids ages 8–13 and two old-ass parents who haven’t climbed anything taller than a kitchen step stool in over 30 years. Naturally, we thought, “Sure, let’s suspend ourselves in mid-air and test the limits of gravity” and nothing says “quality family bonding” like strapping yourself into a harness and dangling in the wind while your children scurry overhead like caffeinated squirrels.

Tickets were easy to buy online, which is great because there’s no turning back once you hit “confirm.” The reminder email told us what shoes to wear — apparently they frown on flip-flops and Crocs when you’re dangling 50 feet up. Check-in was smooth, climb school was amazing, and the harnesses were so secure I’m confident I could’ve survived a hurricane in one. The staff gave top-tier instructions on how to navigate the obstacles.

One of our kids didn’t quite hit the 140cm mark, so some activities looked like scenes from a low-budget ninja movie — lots of jumping and dramatic arm-flailing. Another child channeled pure superhero energy and leapt from the top of the tower like it was nothing. Meanwhile, this old lady right here stuck to level one and the green obstacles, occasionally pretending to “supervise” while quietly catching her breath. I heroically conquered level one… twice. For morale purposes, obviously.

All in all — epic adventure. Highly recommend for adventurous teens and older adults who still want to feel young… but also value their hips. Nothing makes you feel alive like the smell of fresh air, the sound of your own panicked breathing, and realizing your kids have better upper body...