Big Bear Gear River Tubing Center — Local services in Kingwood Township

Though the river itself was beautiful and relaxing, I found our experience with this particular company disappointing and won't be going back, nor would I recommend that others choose this company.

For starters, they nickel and dime you for items that should be inclusive to the total cost. In addition to the fee to rent a tube, they charge $7 for a "parking permit" in a lot that is private to the company, with signs all over indicating that only customers of Big Bear can park there. Why should customers pay to park in a lot that is exclusive for patrons? It just felt scummy, like we were being taken advantage of/scammed for more money. Furthermore, they charge you $4 for ropes to attach your tubes together. Really? $4?

Second, the "safety instructions" were mumbled to us by a staffer who seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

But it was the experience of offloading from the river that was the most indicative of this company's disregard for your time, money, and safety. While we were offloading, three employees stood on the steps staring at us -- they gave us halfhearted, confusing instructions about what to do with our tubes and life jackets. They did not offer to help us carry our tubes up the steps, but instead stood directly in our way, causing one woman in my party to almost trip up the steps. Then, once we got up the steps and onto the bank, there was a short path we were instructed to take our tubes up to catch the shuttle, and the path had an incline. Not a single one of these three employees offered to help us carry our tubes up to the shuttle waiting area. I am truly not sure why all three of them needed to be there if they were not even going to offer to help. And ironically, they made our offloading experience more difficult and dangerous by standing in our way on the steps.

While it was not necessarily an issue for my young and healthy group to carry our tubes up the inclined path to the shuttle bus stop, what really made me angry was watching these three employees neglect to offer help to the group behind us. This group consisted of two parents, a young boy, and an elderly woman walking with a cane. They left the mom to carry two tubes up the path while also trying to manage her young son; naturally, one tube rolled out of her control so I offered to help while the three employees sat there gossiping, completely negligent, eating snacks.

The older woman was unable to carry anything because of her cane and general difficulty walking, causing the father to have to make a second trip to the offloading site to get the rest of the life jackets and tubes. He asked the girls if he could leave the paddles behind, since his hands were almost full with the other tubes. One employee replied "well since you made the trip back you might as well try to take them."

I truly was astounded by these three girls' rudeness and laziness, and I couldn't help but think that their stingy attitude was emblematic of the tubing operation as a whole.

I would not...

Its not worth the price.

I hadnt been tubing since i was a teenager and in those days things were way more relaxed. I remember no life jacket, fun rapids, jumping in and out of tubes.

Like most fun things from the 80s and 90s, its been killed by rules for insurance purposes.

So i paid roughly $150 for 3 tubes and 2 tethers. But, there are additional costs to meet their requirements. My son and i did not have water shoes, so we had to buy some. Website made it sound pike you needed whistles. Bought those and were the only ones who had them. Had to buy a dry bag for snacks. But hey, now at least we have all that stuff for future camping, kayaaking, tubing, etc.

So parking was a bit weird. The free lots are a nice hike away and i wasnt sure if shuttles picked you up so i got took for parking.

The guy who gives you the safety talk was a funny guy. You got your worn out life jacket thats not supposed to raise above your ears when buckled. My wifes did. He gave her another. That one did too and he told her its fine.

Off we went to a shuttle bus. Get dropped off by the river and this is where things went down hill. I paid for a premium tub with no hole for my son. The most expensive tube. The pissy teenage boy kept trying to tell us we ordered the mesh bottom one.

I have no patience for such useless people so i took it andmoved on figuring on a refund later. My wife argued until he huffed and told the other guy to justgive her what she wanted.

We took our half deflated tubes and got in line to get in the water. It took quite a bit but that was more the people's faults though it was pretty annoying to see themhanding out frew tethers when i got charged $11 for my 2.

Once we got in the water it was a smooth 2.5 hour ride down river. Its pretty uncomfortable in the life jacket and they frown on you getting out of the tube. There werent any real bumpy areas which was disappointing.

The end is not clearly marked and easy to miss. They had boats bringing people back.

We get up to where the shuttles were and were standing in a group in the middle. The first bus drove by and stopped at the end. Makes sense. Filled up before we coukd get on. So we stood there. Next bus comes and stops at a group in the middle.

Eventually we get on a shuttle, get back, change in a spider infested little tent and head home.

All in all it was how i figured it would be. A nickle and diming company employing pissed of teenagers who dont want to be there providing subpar service yet charging top dollar.

Next year we'll try the other place nearby.

With a little actual leadership this...

I kept looking for reviews that mentioned anything about going with smaller children because I was worried about my kids and didn’t know if it was too much for them but they had a blast! They’re 7 and 8. We got closed tubes for them because we thought they wouldn’t have to deal with falling through the open tube and it was a great option (only thing I would do different is get them the mesh bottom on the tube instead so they can be more in the water). The rapids we hit weren’t crazy or anything, not sure if that’s because the river was really low but it was a really good experience for my family. I think next time we would want stronger rapids just because they know what to expect with the overall trip (but that all depends on nature anyways). But it was a nice calming and relaxing trip. We were all tied together and we had a cooler floatie so we had waters and juices in there. The workers did a great job explaining everything. As long as you listen to the directions and have common sense, there’s really no way you can have a bad experience. Honestly, everything was so clear and obvious. The exit point is easy to see and there was a worker who helped us get out also. While on the river, you don’t really see any of the workers but there were people on speedboats and I think they were just making sure we were okay, which was appreciated. We loved it so much, we want to go back before summer ends but with more of our family. I looked up so many companies beforehand and I really think this was the best option. Also they have a lot of great options for the tubes you use, which was great too. Side note: I really do believe, whoever you’re with matters too. My kids pretty much help with what they can, they carried our cooler floatie while we carried our floatie sand theirs. So if you’re not willing to carry your own tube for a couple steps. And if you’re not willing to get your feet dirty a little, because you have to walk to the river a couple of feet but it’s a little muddy, then maybe this isn’t for you. If you forget you’re in nature and nothing is clean and perfect, then another activity might be...