Rainbow Springs State Park Tubing — Attraction in Dunnellon

Went floating down the springs with a total of 15 family members, including 7 adults 8 kids(3, three year olds and a 7 month old). The float was beautiful, but the company in charge of tube rentals/tram was by far mediocre and made our experience less than pleasant. The entrance fee was extremely expensive, paying around $130 per vehicle. We were told conflicting information by pretty much every employee. The person working the entrance said the price was for all day, so we all went in thinking we had unlimited access to the tram, would explain the high cost right? Nope… that’s for one ride down the springs. We brought our own inflatable paddle board and kayak & loaded them into the cage ourselves, road the tram to the start and the not so lovely worker “Dana” decided to tell us once she dropped us off that the kayak isn’t allowed, but “she’ll let it go today”. So we floated down, took us about 1.5hrs.. We left our paddle board and kayak right behind the main building while we went back to our cars and had lunch. After lunch we all headed back to the loading area (all 15 of us), loaded all our stuff once again & got on the tram. No one checked for receipts/wristbands even though there were THREE workers on the tram. Once we got to the starting area of the float we were all shocked to find out that we needed to pay $12 per person to float again. Super confused to the high prices/misinformation from the worker at the entrance, and how come no one checked for receipts at the tram in the first place. They made two people ride all the way back to the start of the tram to pay meanwhile 5 of us stayed back with all the children in the 90 something heat. During this whole time we’re obviously flustered to all this miscommunication and the lack of professionalism from the employees running this operation. The women that road the tram with us were literally in the corner phoning the people at the main building snickering the whole time. I don’t see how any of this was funny. Having to sit on the tram for about 30 mins(waiting for them to load, then the ride to the start) and sitting in the heat waiting for the situation to be resolved for another 30+ minutes with small children isn’t a funny situation. On top of all that while we were waiting under the only shaded area we were ambushed by 3 employees that said “there’s a big group of people coming you need to move”. Like for real, you want us to move out of the shade because of your mess up?! No one wanted to take accountability for their screw up. If they would have asked for receipts when we were loading the tram we would’ve figured out we had to pay again. If they loaded the inflatables we would’ve known the kayak wasn’t allowed. I don’t understand how 15 people got on the tram while THREE workers were on it as well and no one decided to say anything until we made it all the way to the start of the float… Customer service was -10/10. They should’ve been like “sorry we messed up and didn’t realize yall hadn’t paid, float down now but you have to pay next time”. Instead to make us wait outside in the Florida heat for over 1.5hrs with 4 small children isn’t acceptable. Dana was definitely getting off to our suffering, victor was a nice a reasonable worker. If I were to visit again I would never go through...

Incredible experience! Spring-fed river means the water is ridiculously clear and you don't end up with that really sticky, gross feeling after being in ocean/saltwater (and your eyes don't sting). Tips/Info: Using the 'Rainbow Springs State Park Tube Rentals' entrance is really convenient - $11 if you bring your own tube, $20 if you need to rent a tube (EDIT, July 8, 2018: it's now always $20 per person! They say it's because people kept bringing weak tubes that break, then they're forced to give people tubes anyways...) You park, pay (Specify if you need tube or not), then wait for shuttle to take you upriver to launch. About 2 hours of drift time until the exit, which is right back where you started/parked. Using KP Hole - You launch around the same spot as the State Park Tube Rentals (other side of the river, I think), but you actually have to drift past the State Park Tube Rental exit, go on for an additional ~2 hours, and exit at the State Road 484 bridge take out. If you're doing this longer 4 hour total drift, I highly recommend bringing a cooler (or something similar), and a float for it. Tubes are fairly inexpensive - I bought an Intex River Run tube for $20, and Intex Mega Chill float for my lunch bag for $15 (both from Dick's Sporting Goods). So they pay for themselves after about 2 or 3 trips. Of course, the value in comfort they add to the tubing is already worth it, in my opinion. There is an air pump if you use the State Park Tube Rentals service, so you can conveniently air up just before launching (the Intex tubes' air fill valve isn't an exact match for the air compressor they provide you, but the valve on the tube is one-way and we got it to work just fine with some fiddling). Bring goggles and a snorkel! Looking at things underwater is really, really cool! It's so clear, and the reeds/weeds swaying is really gorgeous. And of course the cute fish swimming around. A whole other world down there! If you've got an underwater camera, this is perfect for that. Or, buy a waterproof smartphone bag that lets you touch the screen through the bag, and you can use your smartphone! (Picture quality may be a little blurry because of the bag, but you can still get some pretty great photos) Paying for the State Park Tube Rentals entrance also includes access to the official head springs area/State Park area where there is a little picnic area with grills, and a swimming area. Grills are occupied early and quickly, so if you have a portable grill, bring it! And of course some portable chairs and picnic blanket (and even a portable tent/shelter so you have shade from the sun).

Oh, and boats do travel along the river, so just be aware and keep an eye out when you're diving and...

TUBING EXPERIENCE: Took our family here on a Tuesday to go tubing around mid day. It was not too crowded, but I did have a little trouble finding a parking spot. It's $5 to get into park and then $15 per person for the tube and tram. NOTE: even if you bring your own tube you will still have to pay $15 per person.

NOT SECLUDED: Once we got into the water, which isn't too bad at 72 degrees, I was a little alarmed to find that we were floating down a spring with residents living on the other side of the bank. The whole way down spring there are houses and docks even boats are making their way past all the tubers at times, not too fast, but there were times we all had to paddle out of the way to make room. Needless to say, I didn't feel like I could relax much because I hasn't to keep an eye out for other water craft.

RUDE VISITORS: It's no fault of the park's, but when you get in the water you kind of wind up floating in packs. The pack that we got in with were maybe college students that were loud and cussing the whole time. I had kids with me, why can't people be more respectful of the people around them. I did manage to paddle my kids and I away only to come across more loud obnoxious teens along the way.

PARK RULES: No disposable things in the water. You can being a cup, but not a plastic water bottle. NOTE: no cup holders in tubes No plastic bags, no coolers etc I did, however, bring a waterproof bag to put our flip flops and phones (in plastic bags) in that I tied to the tube and no one said anything to me. There are apparently other tubing companies whose rules aren't as strict, because we saw others floating around with coolers.

NATURE: We saw a few turtles, birds and a few fish.

SWIMMING DOWN THE SPRING: I personally stayed in my tube the whole time. There is sea grass the whole way down and no clear spots (that I saw) to get out comfortably without touching any. I did see others enjoying their self in the water, but it was but for me!

TIME: They say 2 hours, but it took us a little less than that, maybe because we were paddling so much to get away from people. The current was pretty slow. I didn't notice any spring along the way that gave you an extra push. At one point we weren't moving at all and had to paddle just to get going.

OVERALL: The water is very clear and pretty. I think 2 hours is plenty of time. I liked not having to worry about bringing my own tube. I would probably go here again if we were in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way. If you're wanting to be surrounded by nature, this is NOT the place. I would maybe suggest looking into...