The Umauma Experience — Local services in Hawaii

We did the zip & dip combo. The zip lines were fun, some of them had amazing views that I will always remember. The staff was great, everyone was very helpful and upbeat. My family enjoyed the waterfall as well, and I am glad we added that on. The experience with the zip line and swim was 5 stars for sure. But I’m not giving Umauma 5 stars for a couple of reasons. First and foremost—my son has zip lined before in Maui and loved it. But the second zip line at Umauma was very high and he couldn’t do it. So he and my husband missed the entire experience, the guides didn’t really try to work with him and they were both just driven back to the main center, having to wait for 2 hours. What is worse is that you can’t get a refund if you can’t do it. What a lot of wasted money! We had another experience on the island cancelled due to Mother Nature, which in my experience you understandably don’t get a refund for. But the owner was so lovely and without any hassle gave us our money back. That I can get behind. But not the no refund policy at Umauma when kids are scared. Second, I have celiac disease which I noted online. When we arrived, it appeared they didn’t read my note. The staff chatted and decided they would make me a salad which then wasn’t included with the other lunches. One of the dip guides had to go back for it. And then what I received looked like toppings for the sandwiches except with cucumbers. That was my lunch. I left hungry and feeling like we had wasted a lot of money. Go for the zip lines, and the incredible staff (they are really wonderful). Just hope that no one has any dietary issues or a fear of heights (even if they have successfully gone on other zip lines).

Update as I can’t reply to Umauma’s reply. My husband and son were not offered the opportunity to skip line 2 and go to line 3. They were taken directly back to the visitor area and told to wait. They would have liked to rejoin at a less...

Of all the zip line tours on the Big Island, I definitely recommend the Umauma Falls Zipline! Not only are the views beautiful, but the staff was amazing and made the experience memorable! It didn’t go unnoticed that they made a conscious effort to learn everyone’s names to personalize the experience for each of us. I thought that was top tier service and want to call out each staff member by name, too. Lau greeted us with his great sense of humor making sure we had a laugh while he explained what to expect. Melody, our cashier, was so sweet and helpful even helping me settle on a cute hat to take home. Now for the zip line! Our guides, Maika’i, Sydney, and La’a, were the absolute best guides to have for this experience. I am terrified of heights so it took me at least 5-8 more seconds to let go on every line LOL but Maika’i was so patient. He took away the anxiety with his undeniable experience and quiet confidence. It made me feel safe while dangling hundreds of feet in the air LOL so big thanks to Maika’i!!! Sydney was so friendly and encouraging trying to make sure I was able to flip upside down before the end of the tour. It was cool to watch her “Spiderwoman” herself across a line at such great heights. I could never LOL! And last, but not least, La’a! He was so funny and brought a lot of energy to the tour. We now know everything that is grown on the land LOL Nothing but laughs and jokes along the way which allowed us all to really loosen up to enjoy the experience. On the last line, La’a helped me zip upside down LOL I lasted a whole 5 seconds but I did it! All 3 guides were awesome, flipping and zipping upside down showing all the cool tricks. Again, they were the best guides to have! WE HAD A BLAST! Special shout-out to Tanya for saving the day with the Go Pro. We have lots of photos to share when we get home. Overall, 10 out of 10! We will definitely come back and bring the...

Grew up in the South with a Polaris and whenever I travel I always try to do an ATV tour in local vacation area. This is #4 for me. We did the ATV experience for 1.5 hours (9a - 10:30a). 4 drivers and 1 passenger, 4 in a 4-seater and 1 single driver. Chandri and Chloe were excellent guides, very caring and so nice. Terrain was rugged and absolute blast. Waterfall and lake was very refreshing. The parts that did not make it 5 stars were a late start, questionable equipment & options, and a few trail delays. Didn’t get onto the experience until 9:11am, arriving at 8:15 as requested. As we began our ride, One rider from another group was not able to handle his single rider ATV well and had to jump into a 2-seater. We sat around waiting for him. In my group we had 4 squeeze into a 4-seater as there apparently were no more ATV’s available at 9am. So when this other rider left and his ATV became newly available on the trail, we made the request for one of our fully paid and waived and insured drivers to take it, where we were denied for “safety” reasons. Unsure what that meant and a real bummer as we drove away leaving the ATV on the side of the trail empty. Not a good decision IMO. And then later in the trail my ATV broke down due to a gear failure from the automatic drive. This wasn’t a totally big deal as one of the guides graciously let me drive theirs though. When we returned though there were several other ATV’s available (4 others) that were unused…it would have been nice to have them available for our 9am session as we would have absolutely let the 4 fully paid drivers drive their own machines instead of rotating in the 1 vehicle. All in all extremely fun still given the circumstances and would be okay to give Umauma another chance as today could have been just a simple series of...