My review is based on the two places I visited at Santa's Land. A stop at Santa's Land on the way…read moreto Cherokee, NC of a family day trip. I've seen the signs for this place, but had never visited. We didn't go to in the park itself, but we did check out the gift shop, and Mrs. Claus's Kitchen. The gift shop was decorated with Christmas trees, and had every kind of ornament that you could imagine. The lady working check out was so friendly, and she told us about the different animals that she sees in her yard. Mrs. Claus's Kitchen was a stop for more fudge. It was a fun visit, Christmas in July.

This is a roadside zoo. My heart broke as soon as we walked in…read more My parents wanted to take my 2 year old daughter here while we are visiting them from Washington state. Apparently they brought me here as a toddler 30 years ago and thought it would be fun to recreate the memory. I had no idea what it was or I would have never agreed to come here. The animals are kept in small, dirty cages of packed dirt and gravel. No attempt made to recreate their natural habitat or provide any enrichment whatsoever. The two baby bear cubs were the most tragic, following tourists as they walked around their very small circular enclosure, begging for food (that can be purchase from a gum-ball machine and inserted into a chute that goes into the cage.) I asked an employee where the cubs come from. "A man in Missouri leases them to us." I then asked what happens to them when they aren't babies anymore and he takes them back. The employee didn't know. Then I said, "so this guy in Missouri is just breeding bears and then shipping the babies across the country to be rented to places like this?" And she said, verbatim, "yeah, I try not to think about that part." I am glad my two year old will have no memory of this place. If she was older we would be having a long, somber conversation about animal abuse and exploitation for profit. And how any zoo with captive animals should be committed to research, conservation, and betterment of the species. It is crazy to think that in 2023, places like this still exist. Even after multiple citations from the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. We know better now. We have to do better. To alleviate some of my guilt for unknowingly supporting an establishment like this, I will be making a donation to the Western North Carolina Nature Center. Please take your kids there, not here. **inhumane animal conditions aside, the park is old and rundown. My daughter did enjoy the train ride and some of the old fair-style mechanical rides (carousel, circular cars and boats) and most of the staff were friendly.**

What a great visit! Our tour guide Curtis was so great! He knew a lot and made us feel really…read morewelcome. The animals are friendly and so sweet! We had a great time at the farm!

We had the best time at Winchester Creek. Perfect stop for our whole party (grandparents, parents,…read moretoddler). Very clean and happy animals. Our toddler enjoyed feeding treats to quite a few different animals. They give you the option to purchase treats when buying tickets online - totally worth it. Our guide for the tour was so informative and you could tell she genuinely loved the farm & animals. Gift shop was adorable. They had different farm cheeses and eggs and we wished we would've had a cooler with us to travel with some cheese. Overall great stop!

Camped at Mason's last weekend and had a lovely time camping, mining and listening to the mini…read morewaterfall at the creek. Very helpful staff that went above and beyond, and the other people that come to mine tend to be salt of the earth - nice conversations while doing an enjoyable activity. We stayed a few nights in the cabin, had a campfire. Think of the cabin as more like a hard sided tent with bunks and a porch, but you need your own camp mats, water and lighting. Bathrooms for all campers have nice hot showers and are very clean. Friendly pets roam the campground and loved my daughter, which she enjoyed - truly a memorable weekend. Great value for money, and we brought home some rubies, too. Note the mining is only available Thursday through Saturday.

Great mine with great staff! Everyone is super helpful in getting you up and running and figuring…read moreout how to find those elusive sapphires. Once you know what you're looking for, it's pretty easy but still a lot of hard work! What I like most is that it's not salted (though that option is available and good for kids who just want to find anything). It's worth getting there early and spending the whole day there since it costs the same whether you mine for 1 hour or 6. Make sure to pack a lunch/snack, some cold drinks, and enjoy a dirty day here finding treasures!

I've been coming to the factory for a while now, and have loved it every single time. My only…read morecomplaint is that the bathrooms are FILTHY. When I pulled my pants down, it got the bottom of my pants wet! Please hire someone to clean the bathrooms daily! I would still say this is a really fun place though.

My dad and I came to Clayton, Ga to stay at our cabin and I looked up cool places and this was the…read morefirst to pop up and so we spent Father's day weekend here and had a blast. Some of the games were finicky which wasn't the best, but everything was a lot of fun otherwise. I highly recommend coming here for a quick little excursion!

Hello, I hope that this will be taken seriously, in hopes that this never happens to anyone else…read more Since Helene destroyed our local Canton park we wanted to give the Waynesville Recreation pool. I called the day prior to get all the information I could gather, checked the website since we have not been in over a decade. The receptionist gave me all the information, dates, times, pricing, and and temperature of the pool. I asked if there was still a kiddy pool working with buckets, slides, splash area etc. and I was told yes. The next day we were very excited and happily payed our fee to enter.As we walked passed the 1st life guard posted at the shallow end of the deep pool we smiled and found a spot near the slide as we knew that was what our son was going to be the most excited about. We got our son in his swim vest for safety and goggles and off he went down the slide. All of a sudden I see a young blonde lifeguard running around the Side of the slide saying "NO NO NO!". My husband and I smiled and said "Its ok we are right here and he's safe (Thinking she was worried he was alone since we didn't even see her from where she was sitting)". My son was already coming down the slide when she was yelling at him, (He's autistic and doesn't always understand things or respond to others well). He made it down no problem and was swimming to get out when she said "we do not allow swim vest or life jackets on the slide!" I asked "why?" And she responded with "because of the bolts on the slide they can get hung up and get hurt." I Replied " so there are bolts sticking out on a toddlers waterslide? I think you should be more concerned with that cutting and hurting someone if thats the case, not be concerned with a protective swimming vest." She replied "Well he's to small to ride" I was confused since I called asked and check the website and the slide is on the kiddie pool. I said "ok" as my husband is trying to regulate our son and explain things to him but he just wants to slide. By this point there are only 2 life guards for both pools and my son won't stop trying to slide. I carry him over to her hoping if he hears it from someone else that he's not allowed it will help. It did not! I then am very upset that was the whole reason for coming and anyone with autistic children or any kids understand if you tell them something fun your going to do but then have to tell them they can not its never fun. I ask the girl if I can sign a waiver or anything to allow him to slide, she says"no" I ask can he take of his vest and slide and ill be at the bottom to help catch him if he needs it ( He's a very good swimmer for his age) to which she responded "parents are not allowed to stand at the bottom and help there child". I was blown away buy this since we have been going to canton pool, and Dollywood splash country where kids can wear the life jackets, swim vest, or floats on any slide and parents were always at the bottom to help catch them as well since its all about safety when around water! Well, expect here at Waynesville rec. center. I was upset by this point and asked her what and where are these rules since I was not informed.?" She says "its on the back of the slide". Again I was upset and said " well that a horrible place for rules against a back wall on a slide that not every sees until your back here, also I was not told this and just so you know for the future maybe you all could post your rules on the website and tell them when they call so this doesn't happen to other special needs family and regular families to! I could tell she was uncomfortable so I simply asked what would happen if he did go down the slide (as he can be a runner)? She said " I would ask you to leave" I said "ok" and walked away. So for reference and refresh you can call and check the website where these rules are NOT posted or come in pay inside change enter at the opposite side of the pool area walk always to the back wall behind the side, and on the back said you see this weird outdated slide rules. By this time I was wondering why no one was on the slide and its because you have to be 48 inch tall but not over a certain weight, no parents are allowed on the slide, parents cannot catch kids at the bottom, and no life jackets or vest are allowed. These rules do the opposite of keeping kids in the kiddie pool safe. And again you can go to canton pool, Dollywood splash country or many other water parks or pools and they encourage you to put vests on your child and stay close to your child in water. By this point there are a good amount of ;little kids in the kiddie pool I would say about 10 to 15 and more kids in the bigger pool about 10 as well and only 2 life guards. I'm sorry but I'm not going to rely on a lifeguard to see everything in a pool. But none the less we kept trying to explain it to our son and play in the kiddie pool and enjoy the best we can. Our son was having a melt down and other parents in the pool understood what was happe

We just moved to the area and took a tour of the recreation center here. We will be joining the gym…read moreafter Covid issues get better. They have the main staples of indoor pool, workout equipment, racket ball courts. It clean and people are very friendly. We use the outdoor grounds a lot. Our main use is the dog park. There is a small dog park and a large dog park. We are in the small dog area. The disc golf court runs past the dog areas which is cool. There is a great skateboard park that lots of young people use, even on bikes. Lots of paved pathways. I love that the pathways attract older and young people. And, the path runs alongside The bold creek. It is more like a small river. It is filled with trout should you want to fish. Definitely a major asset to our town!

A fantastic option for a birthday party! Staff was very friendly and always willing to help.read more

Tons of family friendly fun and a nice patient staff…read more.. The only thing keeping me from giving 5 stars is the fact that it was a little on the expensive side.

Pretty cool trip! You turn up, get a shuttle to the lake, and the driver takes you out for a spin…read more Literally. Well worth it, it was cool to hear about the formation of the lake too - there is a town under there! I'm a fan

My husbeastie and I are up in Sapphire Valley, spending our week in my family's time share. The…read moreweather has been absolutely fabulous, so we decided to do something outdoorsy. As a teen, I would tube down this river so I offered this as an option to the man and he agreed. Given that he's a larger man, tubing was out, but a single person kayak, called a ducky, would be fine. I opted for the same thing. It was a touch more expensive vs opting for "Extreme tubing" but it was a lot more fun. We both got kitted out in our life vest, got our paddles and into the van and were driven to the Dillsboro drop off site, we were given pointers of where to go and what to look out for. The staff was great! The water was cool but not terribly cold, the river wasn't crowded for the height of summer and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was about 2 hours in the water from the time we put in until we took out. Yes, we did get stuck on a few rocks but we managed to get off of them without dumping ourselves into the drink. We certainly got an upper body workout from using our paddles!

We went on a Sunday morning. They don't do rafts on…read moreSunday. But they do tubes and kayak. We decided the way to go was tubing. The staff was sooooo friendly. We totally recommend this place. The water was a little low. But still it was enough for us to relax and float. And have a little fun at the drops. It took about 2 hrs. To go down the river. And at the stopping point, we didn't have to wait. Some one was there waiting for us to drive us back to our car. $15.00 per person for tubing.