Adventure Park Sky Fox — Attraction in Općina Tar-Vabriga

tl;dr; Amazing park in general, BUT the upper zipline course is dangerous and the employees / owners (nor sure which) don‘t want to listen.

Long version: The kids course for the 5-10 year olds is amazing. It is really well made and caretakers can assist their kids from the ground. The climbing system used is also very practical and once locked into the steel rope you remain locked in (no switching of carabiners or such necessary). Staff was generally very nice with instructions and getting the kids into harnesses and such. So far everything is great. The park also looks nicely maintained, there is some shade by the trees (bring moskito spray) and two toilets in porta potties are available.

The orange course if the easiest course for adults. The course is on the longer side and there are some quite tricky elements that require upper body strength such as a bar you hang off of. There are definitely cool elements on this course with e.g. a bike you get to ride. Safety is good.

The black zip line course seems to have been added in the last 2 years (judging from photos in reviews) and that is where I got concerned. There are 2 levels of zipline courses. The lower one has shorter, slower ziplines and you start here. Everything was as usual. The landing platforms match the speed and it‘s super easy. We then went to the higher course. Here you have much longer ziplines that are way faster. The first zipline starts with the landing platform partially hidden by trees. So you set off, and come in really fast and hit the platform very low. I actually - for the first time in doing at least 50 ziplines - hit the platform on the very lowest edge and bounced back. (against what the owners claim I did ride the zipline correctly, facing forward, holding the roller with my hands, lifting my legs, but I weigh 95kg which made the zipline fast and hang lower, my husband who is lighter hit a little bit higher, but also suboptimal). Now being aware that the platforms were super short and being able to see the second one I set out to really lift my legs up even higher. Again I smashed into the second platform. The third zipline was fine because the landing platform is longer. The forth platform was again very short and this time I hit it with my feet and bounces forward with great speed, hitting my shoulder on the steel rope. This also happened to my husband.

After completing the course I told the employee on the tower that I found the ziplines to be dangerous (I explained). She went on to say that she is an employee and it isn‘t her business. Eventually she did tell another person, I assume it was the manager. That person then went on to tell me that I was at fault since I did not ride the zipline correctly (judge for yourself). There ensued a rather bad conversation and I eventually got so frustrated by them constantly saying I was at fault and it only happened to 1/100 people (seriously!) that I walked away from a conversation for the first time in my life.

After that I was waiting for my family and was watching the second platform and I could see two zipline riders that smashed into the platform just like I did. I took photos to add to this review. They both clearly ride in the way you are supposed to, but hit the platform super low. They both are catapulted forward and one person smashes onto the knee. Now imagine being heavier and thus faster...

The only thing I wanted to achieve is for them to say they‘ll reconsider the situations or at least seem to care. Instead I was accused and the point was stressed that their park was different from others (as if that is a good thing). I have ridden ziplines of this type in NZL, USA, CH, AUT and DE. Some were very long and fast, but they all had longer ramps and it was never a problem.

If you are especially tall (I am 168 and my husband 172cm) or heavy (I assume somewhere above 80kg it might get more dangerous) don‘t ride the upper ziplines.

P.S. No person rides in the position they mention, just look at their own...

First off, the rope park was in principle very nice. The different climbs are fun and interesting, and also the kids part is a lot of fun and diverse.

That being said, we really recommend against doing the higher up flying fox course. I think it's quite dangerous and has potential for injuries. While the lower flying foxes are good, the higher ones are too fast, and the platforms too short. Especially if you're a bit heavier, you come in too low, so that you crash into the lower edge of the landing platform with no chance of reaching the rope. You can injure yourself there (no telling what happens if you accidentally turn and hit your back to the edge), as well as when you try to stop or pull yourself to the platform afterwards when sliding backward again. Fortunately, we got away with only a few scrapes, mostly on shoulders and hands. The physics are just wrong for flying fox 1, 2 and 4 of the upper level. The landing platforms should be lower and longer, and/or the travel speed slower.

When we tried to talk to employees about it, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative, and we never got any kind of apology, or "we'll look into it" or the like. The first person just told us she's only an employee and it's not her fault. The other two people we talked to were mostly saying it was our fault, and we should have lifted our legs (which we did, a lot). My wife and me did flying foxes dozens of times in the past in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, New Zealand and other places (also longer and higher ones) and never had this problem, or felt it was unsafe. So I'm very sure the problem wasn't us (or is 100% avoidable with a better design). Also, they said this "only happens to 1 in 100 people." Which I think is also a super bad excuse. I don't think risking serious injury to 1 in 100 people is acceptable. Also, right when we were leaving, we also saw some other people crashing into the platform and clearly hurting themselves. It's quite sad that this experience of an otherwise very nice rope park was ruined with this one unsafe course and very defensive and unapologetic response of...

Review: Adventure Park Sky Fox Algemene indruk Adventure Park Sky Fox is een populair klimpark in de buurt van Porec, Kroatië, en wordt vooral gewaardeerd door gezinnen met jonge kinderen. Veel bezoekers, waaronder ouders met kinderen van 6 jaar, geven aan dat het park een geweldige ervaring biedt voor jong en oud. De activiteiten zijn leuk en uitdagend, en kinderen kunnen zich er ongeveer 1,5 tot 2 uur goed vermaken.

Pluspunten

Het park biedt verschillende parcours op verschillende niveaus, waardoor het geschikt is voor zowel jonge kinderen als oudere kinderen en volwassenen. Voor de jongsten zijn er aparte, eenvoudige routes, terwijl oudere kinderen en volwassenen meer uitdaging vinden op de hogere niveaus.

Het personeel wordt vaak omschreven als vriendelijk, behulpzaam en professioneel. Ze letten goed op de veiligheid en geven duidelijke instructies. Dit draagt bij aan een veilige en ontspannen sfeer, ook voor kinderen die misschien wat spanning ervaren.

De uitrusting en veiligheidsmaatregelen zijn in orde en worden als professioneel beoordeeld. Ouders voelen zich gerustgesteld dat hun kinderen veilig kunnen klimmen.

Er zijn leuke extra’s zoals een gratis trampoline waar kinderen na afloop nog even kunnen spelen.

Minpunten

Het park is niet heel groot en sommige bezoekers vinden de prijs aan de hoge kant in verhouding tot de omvang en het aantal parcours.

De begeleiding kan soms wat streng of minder enthousiast overkomen, vooral bij meer ervaren klimmers of oudere kinderen.

Een veelgehoord minpunt is het sanitair: de toiletten zijn dixies en worden als vies ervaren. Dit wordt door meerdere bezoekers als storend genoemd.

Sommige delen van het parcours zijn aan vervanging toe, al geldt dit niet voor de veiligheidsvoorzieningen zelf.

Samenvatting Adventure Park Sky Fox is een aanrader voor gezinnen met (jonge) kinderen die op zoek zijn naar een sportief uitje. Kinderen vinden het er geweldig en ouders waarderen de goede begeleiding en veiligheid. Houd wel rekening met beperkte sanitaire voorzieningen en een relatief klein park. Voor een ochtend of middag plezier is het echter een prima keuze, vooral als je met kinderen tot een jaar of 10...