WhoaZone at Heron Beach — Attraction in Groveland Township

My family and I made a trip to the WhoaZone, on Heron Lake, this past weekend. Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up a really nice set up and spot. I was pleasantly surprised and we all got even more excited for the outing. You do need a recreation pass, it is a $10/15 entry fee to the main park. Once at Heron lake, we found parking to be easy, and the lot seemed a good fit for the size of the beach. The property was really well maintained, and there are little cabanas and umbrellas, each with two chairs, all set along the beach for you to rent. Otherwise you simply stretch a towel out on the nice sandy beach, or set up at a nearby picnic table. They have paddle boards and kayaks available for rent (I think they were $20/hr) if you aren't down to sunbathe and would some more personal adventuring than you'd get on the obstacle course. The obstacle course was a blast! They have a huge clothing rack full of life vests to fit every size, water shoes are not required, and the lifeguards give everyone a quick announcement about the rules and safety, then you all swim out from shore. Personally I could touch the sandy bottom until about halfway out before having to fully swim (I'm 5'5"), but it all only took a minute or two overall. Once you get there, there are floating pedestals with steps to more easily get up. My husband (42), my kids (10 and 7), and I (40) had so much fun running around, jumping off "cliffs", sliding down almost vertical slides, climbing and slipping it was fantastic. After the hour I was exhausted, yet I still would have stayed out longer. When you are all tuckered out they have a small shop with beach toys, simple swim necessities, snacks, simple foods (hot dog, burger, pretzel...), icees and ice cream. There are also grills, lockers and restrooms all available mere steps from the sand. The restrooms weren't amazing to be honest, expect your basic cement beach/park bathrooms, but they would be my only slight complaint about the whole trip. Overall this is absolutely worth trying out, totally...

We had family visiting from out of town and wanted to take them somewhere fun so we went to Heron Beach. Upon arrival we rented two canoes for four people and four tickets to the splash obstacle course. In order to rent the canoes they asked for my License to hold on to. We headed directly to the canoes and shortly after we went to the splash obstacle course but we had no wristbands so we had to go back to the canoe rental that kept my receipt of purchase thankfully they still had the receipt and we headed back to the stand to get wrist bands for the splash obstacle course. We still had about 20 mins until our time but It started to rain and thunder so everyone was ordered out of the water. I went back to the line to see if we could be refunded for the splash obstacle course and they told me they could give me vouchers now or I could receive a full refund by calling a number on the website. We decided to call which was a voicemail line that wrote me a text saying they could not give me a refund because I had not purchased insurance. I texted them back saying no where at the park did it say you could purchase insurance nor was it offered at time of purchase as well as they had told me if I called I would get a full refund. They replied they would refund me. So after about a week I realized I never got back my License as many times as I had to go back to the stand I had forgot because it started to pour and thunder. I called no answer left a voicemail no one got back with me so I called again the day after and they said they no longer had my License that I could come look around the beach for it…. I then said why would I do that I didn’t lose my License they took it. I am so disappointed in this whole visit and want people to make sure they save receipts and don’t ever leave anything with the people in charge it will disappear. So unprofessional and...

Ran into some issues purchasing tickets online for the Holly, MI Heron Beach location for a slot on Memorial Day 2023 and made contact with Whoa Zone reps Ashton + Kylie via text. They were both very responsive. I submitted screenshots of what was happening during the steps of my transaction efforts to provide proof and understanding of what I was running into.

In the end, it turned out to be an unresolvable issue due to a merchant processing/fraud block, come to find out, when I tried using G-Pay as an alternate route to facilitate payment with the same card. Very disappointing as my youngest in particular had been talking about going back to Whoa Zone all winter since his first visit in 2022 and I was really trying to get ahead of the Memorial Day booking busyness.

Many companies would have apologized for the trouble and just left it at that, but not Whoa Zone. Kylie still made the magic happen and we indeed got our preferred slot to attend on Memorial Day, which was yesterday. We had a great time and Whoa Zone ensured consideration by our family for return visits in the future to this location and other sites (should we be in the neighborhood).

Thank you for the standout and incredible customer service, Whoa Zone and Kylie. It is...