San Marcos Lions Club Tube Rental — Attraction in San Marcos

We picked this place because of the star rating & was highly disappointed. #1 was charged $14+ a person for only a 30ish minute ride.. SO not worth it. Prices are WAY too high. The experience we had was no worth what we spent. It might’ve been worth it if at least half of the following issues didn’t happen.. #2 there are SO many turns with SEVERAL cautions of Texas wild rice preservations.. which you guessed it: we hit almost every single one making us stuck and trying to get out of it. This becoming the most unrelaxing river trip we have ever experienced. When you’re on a tube with kids tied to your tube, it makes it pretty hard to navigate already. #3 because we got stuck so many times, we had to get out of our tube a lot to get unstuck & the bottom of this river is mucky, mushy & your feet almost get stuck which makes it even harder to get back in the tube. It’s almost a sinking mud with every step you take. #4 Along with the Texas wild rice, they also have another type of weed in the river that feels like a plastic fishnet of sorts that you get caught up in when trying to swim the river if you can’t get back in your tube... 😑 (yes I couldn’t get back in my tube) which has resulted in several bug bites up and down my legs. #5 trees & branches also are very low in portions of the river adding to the complexity of navigating the river along with the wild rice. I really think this river is only good for stuff like kayaks.. NOT tubing! #6 their bathrooms were disgusting and out of toilet paper & hand soap. #7 lady at the counter for rentals told us we HAD to rent a life jacket from them & could not bring our own for kids under 8 years of age. Rented a life jacket that was the most simplified contraption that could have easily accidentally fallen off our little 6 year olds body upon worst cast scenario of him falling off his tube at any point. MEANWHILE we had a perfectly capable and much more snug life jacket we were told we couldn’t use. #8 this is located right next to Texas State & wouldn’t have said this was much of a kid friendly place. Way too many pre-adults if you get my drift. 🙄 there is a few bridges above this river that college kids were jumping off of and into the river with people floating by. got on the shuttle bus back with a bunch of entitled college kids who continued to drink & be loud.. cussing, loud music, and threatened to fight people all in front of our kids. & quite honestly this one might not have bothered me so much if it wasn’t the icing on the cake of an already horrible experience. All in all, not a good experience at all & definitely not...

I have done my share of tubing in New Braunfels over the years but this is my first time tubing in San Marcos at the Lion Club Tube Rental. My daughter’s friends had gone here over the 4th of July weekend and said the water level wasn’t too low. My daughter looked online and said it looked more established than the other places we had been. I think I would just say it wasn’t as rugged.

We made our reservations the night before and filled out all the waiver forms ahead of time. They open at 10 and it was recommended we get there early. Our reservation was for 10:30 and we got there about 10:20. They have several lines to check in or reserve. Not sure what the issue was but there were some parties ahead of us that took 4-5 times as long as it did for us. They do have an area with a shop that you can purchase items like float bags for your phone, water shoes, tubes, sunblock, etc. I got two float bags for our phones to go around our neck. We forgot ours but these were better than what we have. Ours were only water proof. These floated and I was able to use my phone through the bag without any problems. Even most of my photos looked great and clear through the plastic. I digress…

They were very efficient and have the process down. We got our tubes, jumped in the water and floated about an hour. There were areas the water was very slow and we didn’t move too quickly. We got tubes that had a bottom. Lots of people tied their tubes together. We didn’t bring role to do that but my kids are older now. That would be higher priority if our kids were still little. Everyone kept talking about rapids at the end. We seemed to have completed the route and still had not seen rapids. They are actually located at the end end. Some people get out before the little section of rapids. There were 3 “slides” you go down. The first is the fastest. We really enjoyed the rapid section and did it several times. There were people there who just hung out there for hours. Lots of picnics and there was a restaurant near there so it was very crowded there but fun. You could honestly just hang out here most of tge day and get your money’s worth.

We have lots of nieces and nephews. Will definitely recommend this place if we ever go...

If you want to experience tubing in the Rio Vista Park you will have to go on their website to pay for your reservation.I found it by opening my Google maps and you will see it in the map Lions club tube rental..... the page will give you the website and also any other information you need but it's strictly an online process that you pay. I went on a Wednesday and the cost was 16 per person for all day (the last time you can ride is at 6:30 p.m.) per tube plus a $25 hold per tube in case there's a damage to the tube which is refundable after you turn in the green tokens that are given to you when you turn in the tubes at the end of the a ride. The website tells you to leave all personal belongings in your vehicle the only thing to take is a ziplock bag with your face mask that you will need to ride the shuttle bus in case you park in the Rio Vista Park. However if you park in the San Marcos Lions club tube location which is where the right starts there you will see that they actually sell waterproof bags that you can take your phone because I was not able to capture the experience because I had to leave my phone/credit card in my vehicle just so I wouldn't get it wet. If you come with children they can enjoy a tube on their own if they're old enough mine are eight and six and they were fine the girl at the register told me I could buy a rope to keep us all together however I didn't have my card and she was not able to charge it to my bill on file, but then she suggested that we could tie the tubes with a bag that's hanging from the tube and that helped. The right was pleasant but one time was enough for me and my family and by the way the...