TreeRunner Grand Rapids Adventure Park & Putt Forest — Attraction in Grand Rapids

I am a former GR resident and now live on the west coast. I twice visited this park last year with family, including my son, age 10 at the time, and my niece, age 4 at the time. Last year, after our second visit, I gave this business glowing reviews on FB and over the following weeks watched as several of my FB friends posted picture after picture of themselves and their kids being at the park. I regret doing that now because we went back again on 7/29 of this year....

First, the minimum age has increased and my niece, now 5, was not permitted to climb. In my opinion this is a missed opportunity for this business to give young kids an opportunity to learn the sport of climbing. The area set up for young climbers last year was fantastic and now it appears to just sit…empty.

Two, even though we were there two days last summer, the instructors made us go through the entire and somewhat non-efficient instructional walk-through. Nearly 15 wasted minutes.

Three, my son was not permitted to climb the black diamond or double black diamond courses, even though he successfully navigated both coursed last year… as a ten-year-old. And now he’s a year older and a more experienced climber. Last year’s staff gave my son the green light to do the difficult courses after watching him climb around the other courses and evaluating his skills. This year we were told that he could take a quiz “about the park” at the completion of the climb, and that he could do the diamond courses "next time."

In my opinion, this is an underhanded business practice designed to generate repeat business. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with capabilities of the individual and safety but rather everything to do with the bottom line of the business. Shame.

The minute my son was told he couldn’t do the challenging course; the wind came out of his sails. The diamond courses were essentially the reason we returned to the park. Other, similar aged kids, with their “blue wristbands”, could do those courses, but not a kid visiting for his third time in two years. What does a quiz about the park have to do with climbing ability? Disappointing business. Very disappointing afternoon. We won’t return. Period.

(P.S. Yes, I'm sure everything is on their website. The fact is they have changed their the way they do things and not for...

My four kids(teens) and I came for our first visit today. First of all, GRTTA was very understanding yesterday when we called to see if we could switch days because it was pouring rain, thundering & lightning the day we were scheduled to come. They were very accommodating and polite. When we got there today, we didn't really know what to expect. Whatever our expectations were, they were blown out of the water! The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable, and you can tell they all love their jobs! Everything is very well organized and safe! They run you through everything and make sure you are fully prepared before setting you loose. There are courses for every skill level. Yellow & green are the easiest courses, blue, purple are medium difficulty, and red & black are the hardest. Most of us in our group got through everything but red, and that was mostly because of time and how tired we were towards the end. They give you a cool colored bracelet for every course color you tackle, which is pretty cool! TIPS: Wear comfy clothes that breathe well because you will be working up a sweat, wear well broken in shoes, bring a water bottle (any kind that has a place to attach to a carrabenor or already has a carrabenor would be ideal) or money to buy water, plan on being there 3 hours instead of the 2 it says, a dry day would be much better then a wet one, it is ideal for ages 10+, make sure you eat a larger meal before coming because you will feel famished after from all the energy spent, use the gloves (I ended up with blisters because I didn't use gloves until the very end) and finally don't bring anything down the hill with you after you check in (there is no place to store anything that I know of, such as lockers or anything). You don't need to have any experience in ziplining, rock climbing or ropes courses before coming here -they will teach you everything you need to know! I would love to come back again! I can't wait...

They let you sign liability but do not make sure the place is secured . In the kiddo section there was no one to assistant so we had to help the poor kiddos (who were not ours). Eventually we had enough and needed to find staff that was no where to be seen to assist. The adults (age 10 and up or 9 with an adult) begin with 30 minutes of instructions. As you advance the course you get tired and the hight also affects how you remember the instructions . There are ineffective reminders as to which hooks to use and how to hook them (the side matters and there are 3 hooks of 2 kinds) . There is no staff available anywhere on the high decks (well. .except Jack that just sat by the net and declared that he was not responsible. Will get to him later). My son was hanging in the air with his fingers stuck in the hook for over 15 minutes due to staffs bad instructions on how to continue moving after he got stuck on the zip line. They then sent a girl that had no idea what to do. We had to observe our injured son hanging in the air while she was learning her new job and asking for instructions on how to connect the rope!!! I tried getting Jack's help but he sat there and laughed at my face explaining that his responsibility was only for people waiting on the deck. I tried getting other staffs help and was told she was busy talking. Only the manager was trained to rescue but as I was told "was far away". I observed them "assisting" other stuck people- they improvise as they go. Their help is mostly "you got this" "almost there" from the ground. Hire more people preferably competent people, have better signs on the high decks , have staff on decks where they are needed and not where the most convenient seat is. Do what you need to do to keep people safe. My two other kids are traumatized because they had to watch their brother hanging injured in the air crying for help and us trying to get someone to actually...