Big Rivers Waterpark & Adventures — Attraction in Kingwood

This was our first visit and I had some problems. For starters when I arrived I was told they were out of handicap parking AND general parking due to 3 or 4 school being there for a field trip. I was told I would have to pay for VIP despite having an handicap placard. I figured I’d get it taken care of inside but instead I met the owner, Monty Galland, which was never my intention to begin with. I assumed a manager would realize the legal error and refund me my parking. Instead I got the owner who knows just a small amount of the law to think he knows what he’s talking about. Instead of hearing this and realizing the error I was told “why does IAH charge for handicap parking?” this would be because the law states that if you offer free parking and are out of disability parking and free park then you can NOT LEGALLY charge a disabled person for parking. IAH does not offer free parking they only have disabled veteran parking, specially veteran, that is how they are legally able to charge for handicap parking. That’s not the case with big rivers though. They were just out of general and handicap parking. The owner tried to justify his “knowledge” by telling me to Google it. Which I didn’t need too but I showed him the Attorney General and the Americans with disability act websites. Both government websites. One state, one federal. Yet again, instead of understanding this he told me that they passed their inspections which is irrelevant to the situation and then generically googled “do they charge for handicap parking at IAH” which again they can legally do because they don’t offer regular handicap parking or free parking. If you’re going to try to reference a law and a source for it, maybe know the actual law. When I told him it was the Attorney General‘s webpage, he then told me well then they can contact me. After the interaction with you you will be hearing from the Attorney General’s office because you are in violation of the ADA. You could’ve handled it like a mature adult but instead you acted like a child who was told they did something wrong when in fact you did and it was illegal. You were arrogant, disrespectful, and on top of that completely wrong. Then as I walked away from him, he then turned around and started complaining to another employee about what I was saying. Very loudly so I could hear. Extremely unprofessional. Poor excuse for a CEO, business owner, and quite frankly human being to sit there and try to justify breaking the law and discriminating against those with disabilities. Judging from other reviews this isn’t the first time you’ve had a problem with disabled guest.

Now that aside the park itself has so much to offer.The staff constantly walking around and picking up trash. I spoke with various employees for one reason or another including bringing a lost girl to the security guard. The staff was amazing and friendly, even when they were standing in line behind us waiting to get a drink on their lunch break. The owner aside his staff and his park are amazing and despite the issue with the handicap parking, my family had a great time. We were there for over five hours today and my kids can’t wait to go back. My family honestly can’t wait to go back. We had a great time overall. I would just be aware that they don’t know the full law regarding handicap parking so they don’t abide by it. Either come early to get a handicap spot or just be prepared to pay for VIP parking.

It’s honestly a shame that the experience with the owner was so poor, which is why I gave it three stars but overall, I would definitely come back and I would definitely recommend it because they have so much to offer and the staff was so amazing. Hopefully the owner will read this review, understand the error and just learn from it. But overall, it is a great place to take your family on a hot day. Don’t get stuck in one area and doing one thing just because your kids or you are enjoying it take full advantage to what the property has to offer because there is really so many things to do and the pricing is not...

My family and I really enjoyed our time at Big Rivers Waterpark & Adventures. We attended during the soft opening event last weekend when a few rides were not operational but there was still quite a lot to do! Not only were all of their staff extremely helpful and courteous, but they always had a smile on their face from everyone we interacted with.

My kids who are 7 & 9 literally ran straight to the Rio Grand River first which is a lazy river that circles the park and gives you an opportunity relax and essentially tour the waterslides and other parts of the park. There were a ton of rafts to float on so we never had a problem finding one and they are FREE to use.

They also really enjoyed Boca Chica Bay which is the wave pool there. Ample seating available and even though my kids didn't require them, there were lots of FREE life jackets for younger kids to use.

We took advantage of using a locker to keep our items safe and was amazed at how easy it was to use. I also like that you can store a lot of items if you have a large family. We are a family of four and purchased the large locker and with all of our towels, shoes, and changes of clothes there was still a lot of room available.

The food, oh boy, the food was phenomenal. I've been to multiple parks before that do not offer the quality of food that this place has to offer. Not only that, where else are you going to get a whole large pizza for $20 at a park, and this pizza was ginormous! They also had really great BBQ from what our friends said, since our family doesn't eat meat we took advantage of their BIG Pretzel with this beer cheese that is completely out of this world! There's also a BIG Baked potato that my wife says is the best baked potato she's ever had! They also had a burger stand that served burgers, chicken tenders, even donut holes!!! So there's something for everyone.

There are some things that are “pay to play” attractions that are add ons to your entry price which is expected of most big parks like this. For instance Zip Lines, Challenge Courses, Rock Wall Climbing and even this really cool free fall bungie thing called Vulture’s Dive that my daughter who is 7 LOVED! And some things like rock mining at a fun little place called Big Rock Mining where kids can buy little bags of sand that have rocks and fossils hidden inside that you run under the water tower through a sluice and pan for gem stones!

But there are so many FREE activities that I feel make up for that if you are on a budget. We took advantage of all the FREE things they have which included a whole other waterpark that is floating on a lake called WILD ISLE. Let me say this, I’ve never seen anything like it and I don’t know that there’s anything else within 50 miles that compares to this. Check out the pics I’ve added to see what I mean, but you really have to experience it in person, it is so much fun. Our kids would not leave that area which was fine because there’s a little bar area called The Dragonfly Biergarten which serves mix drinks, frozen margaritas, beer and also big Pizzas and Pretzels right next to it, so it was perfect.

But just when you think you have seen it all, there’s this giant outdoor maze called Mystic Forest Maze and you quite literally could get lost in there for a long time, don’t do that part after a few drinks LOL, but the kids had a blast. They give you a little card that you can punch in and punch out on a time clock at the entry and exit to see how fast you can solve the maze while searching for locations to punch your card inside the maze, it was really cool. That was FREE too.

And when you turn the corner you will find Pony’s to visit and other animals to pet at the petting zoo. There’s a live gator exhibit and even a fishing pier, all FREE to enjoy!

I really feel like this place has EVERYTHING and so close to home, I can’t wait to bring my...

I wanted to love this park, I really wanted to. They are way too inconsistent. Every employee makes their own rules it seems. NOT Disability/Handicap friendly. Now let's go back to the inconsistency, first visit before becoming a pass member I was told handicap can park in vip for free. There I go to purchase the memberships. Next visit they say it's only free if there's handicap spots available okay whatever I guess, there was a few on concrete and some on the dirt/mud area. Went a few times lucked out being able to be on concrete. Today I go they say there's no concrete im like I'll park on the mud. The first worker says "the concrete has to be full before anyone parks on mud" okay as we are talking I see parking get full and cars entering in mud area. "Manager" comes and says I can't park for free with my placard because they changed the rules because it's a "safety" concern for handicap. But yet would take my $20 for me to park there hmmmm.... No it's a reason to be greedy. I kept asking to talk to Monty they refused Whatever I paid the $20 because there's no way I can walk in my walker to the back oh where they have TONS of handicap but I'm sure I would need my wheelchair to even get to the front but I had four kids with me. Second issues just TODAY I'm not even getting into my last visit with how the teens workers were being rude about my mobility device for reference I'm 29, I didn't chose to have mobility issues for dang sure but here I am. I still want to have a life instead of being sad at home. ANYWAYS, my daughter went into heat exhaustion. Yes I had water before hand.(which they limit and you have to hope the water refill stations aren't packed) Medics told me to meet them at their office after I round up the rest of my kids with me. I walk over after I went to get my daughter some river rush a their version of Gatorade. Head over there nobody is there, I'm sweating bullets because I had to push her with her on top of my walker. Already exhausted, fatigued and hot. Another employee attempts to help and I said I would be waiting in the bbq place near the medic she said they would be there. We were there for 20 minutes nobody came. Luckily I had anti nausea meds because she had already thrown up twice at this point. I just made her drink a ton of the electrolyte drink and rest again nobody came. Any other place would of wheelchaired her for me especially seeing I have issues smh. It is what it is. I should of known the red flag was that they had the Christmas time for the pass member last year and didn't do it this year. So it's all greed in the end. I get it's a mom and pop business but nah I guess I'll stick to the bigger places like moody gardens, Seaworld I and places similar to that that have water parks that would care for you be extremely accessibility friendly. Heck I drive an hour to get here i don't mind driving for better treatment. Oh and if you don't like inconsistency cause that's what you...