River's Edge Apple River Tubing & Camping — Hotel in Town of Star Prairie

I had high expectations for Apple River since I've heard so much about it over the years. Upon arriving, I was sadly disappointed by quite a few things.

PRICE. To start, I felt the experience was WAY overpriced. Typical campsites charge for the SITE - Apple River charges PER PERSON, at the excessive rate of $25 ... a night (with a maximum of 6 people per site, they bank $300 on ONE camp site).

Staying on the topic of price, while renting our tubes for the floating experienced, we noticed a sign for beer ............ $96 (yes ... ninety-six dollars) for a single CASE of beer ($48 for a 12 pack). Outrageous. I can understand marking it up for profit due to the convenience, but marking it up by 600% (using an average cost of $16/case) is just asinine.

NO PRIVACY. There was absolutely no privacy to the camp sites (your neighbors are in clear view, about 20 feet away at all times), and it was more-or-less a giant college party (which I did NOT expect). People walked through our camp site on a regular basis, and in our case, a random individual attempted to enter almost all of our campers/tents throughout the night (clearly she was intoxicated ... and lost). Not a pleasant wake-up for those of us that thought this trip would be a peaceful getaway.

UNSANITARY. Happy to have seen online that the camp site had "modern bathrooms", I wasn't too worried about the cleanliness of the facilities at the time. After having been there for a few hours, it was time to take a trip to the ladies' room. The first bathroom (a.k.a. 'outhouses') that I'll mention had clearly not been cleaned in MONTHS (spider webs, dirt up and down the walls, smelly). One of those ones that you felt obligated to "hover" over because they were so filthy. No sink - no mirror. Apparently hand sanitizer is the only form of cleanliness you have access to in this facility. Oh - and we ran out of toilet paper at the end of night one - wasn't restocked by the time we left. The second bathroom had NO locks on the doors, had also appeared to not have been cleaned in MONTHS and also made you feel obligated to "hover" over the toilet seat. This facility DID have a sink, but again ... not clean whatsoever.

The showers are quite another story. No doors, no curtains, no mirror, no place to set down your bathroom items, no place to dry off ... and only fits 3 people at a time. The only way you can really check if someone is in the shower is by poking your head in while they are showering ... that being said, I kept my swimsuit on to avoid the risk of a random person walking in on me. My shower was flooded (ankle-deep) with other peoples' shower water and quite the assortment of floating USED toiletries. One of the individuals that went with us said he entered his shower and someone decided to take a dump under the shower head. Oh! And to top it off, you have to PAY to take a shower. At the rate this place charges, I assumed a simple hygiene perk/necessity would be included. My boyfriend was the smart one and showered in the river.

Overall, I expected this facility to be a hell of a lot nicer than it was - very, very disappointing. I will not think...

Upon reservation, rented the full RV. Day of reservation received phone call from staff that they had accidentally overbooked the RV (new reservation system recently began and due to error - this was double booked). Staff said they had 1 camper left - thank goodness as we had already begin our drive for our stay. Staff advised the Springdale was the last available camper. Upon advising of this change by phone they said they would comp our parking passes for the inconvenience. As this was definitely an inconvenience, I asked that they reconsider just the parking pass and consider a discount on the stay as well. They advised they would talk with management and get back to us. Upon arrival - check in was smooth. They did also give us a discount for the inconvenience in addition to the parking pass. Got the keys to the Springdale and headed up to open it up. Initially, I thought it would be worse than what we walked into. Definitely had a “smell” but it was the god awful air freshener that they had in there. Camper was clean … albeit old and not very inviting. Not what we had signed up for … but we’ll give it a try. As we started to unpack we noticed that the A/C really wasn’t cooling the place down. Noticed the ceiling cover for the A/C was removed and we had exposed mechanicals. But assumed all would be fine. Had a bonfire with friends, came back to the RV for bed and it still hadn’t cooled down 4 hours later. It had been raining a bit as well and noticed there was a small amount of water on floor. As it was 10pm at night - we just needed some sleep. Went to bed and woke to a bigger puddle on the floor. We also woke to the refrigerator “defrosting” and water was all over our food - and had to toss the food as I have no idea what leaked all over it. Not the best way to wake up. Decided at that moment we would not be staying for the additional night that we had booked and checked out. I will say that staff was easy to work with upon check out and did take care of us and apologized. Advising they had no idea that the camper leaked. But for what they charge for the nightly experience the camper and grounds should be a TON better! Bathrooms were definitely lacking - not clean! The camper is old and definitely in need of repairs. The location is right on the highway and all you hear is traffic. There was live wires exposed in a couple areas. We sadly would never stay again. With some upgrades this could definitely be a great adventure - but with how it is … NOT worth the time or...

Ok, so here's how this went down. 86 and sunny late in the season (mid September) and we think hey! What a great way to spend the afternoon tubing down Apple River, check the website and it says they're open so away we go from just south of the cities. Get to the place and wouldn't you know, it's closed. We decide to pull in because it looks like someone is walking around. There we meet one of the employees that informs us the site hasn't been updated. We talk about the history of AR and how it has gotten a bit of a bad rep over the years. I used to come to the river back in the 90s and early 2000s and remember SO MUCH debauchery! Drinking, drugging, nudity! NOT a place for kids or families for sure! As with all of us, time changes everything. He lets us know that while the river does still have some people that can get "dumb" the river is nothing like it was back then! This was one of the kindest and most helpful people I've ever met! Knowing how far we drive and what he had available, he called another of the employees and set us up to still go tubing anyway! Over the years I have personally made it a point NOT to go to this location because of what I had seen (and somewhat regrettably participated in). Even recently this year, many cringed at the mere mention of "Apple River Tubing". After talking with the staff and seeing the passion they have for creating a safe and fun atmosphere for all, I will go nowhere else. If for no other reason but to bring others! This my friends is a perfect example of how we can all change. Apple River tubing has had a bad reputation for years, let's change that, let's go take part in the wonderful experience that this can be! I'm not saying we all have to be saints or something, but if you're going to partake in things that damage this rep, no judgement but please, please keep in mind what that does to the overall. I will be back, I will bring reinforcements, I will help to this bring this 60 year community business back to the glory of fun, safe family entertainment! Please join me in 2025 (after the season opens) to make...