Awesome experience! First let me say how kind and amazing Calley that answered the phone was. We are from out of town, camping in our 5th wheel 45 min. away with our 2 big dogs, and storms were headed to the area. We had a noon classic trip planned but we're concerned with the oncoming storms the power might go out while we were gone for over 3 hours, and it be life threatening heat to our dogs. She rescheduled us for a later time that day, and said we could call and check later to be sure it would work. It all worked out perfect. Then we had a very fun experience with our guide Leo. Would recommend this experience overall! read more

Bought a Groupon here for the classic ride for me and my children. It was their 1st time rafting and we had a blast!! Rafting through the middle of a town was a first for me. So that gave this rafting experience a whole other dimension I don't usually experience on the river. The guides were knowledgeable, skilled and entertaining. Everything you want, right? The trip was just the right amount of adventure for us, plenty of splashes and drops to pump the heart, but not so much that it ceases to be fun. Extra kudos to the staff for mailing back my daughter's necklace she accidentally left behind in the dry bag for safe keeping. I would recommend this company to anyone. read more

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Good trip to bring family or do something exciting for the weekend. But if you are expecting a thrill seeking adventure to get the adrenaline pumping, I would find another place. Friendly service, great guides, and they do offer military discount. I would give three stars but I have not experienced the high water trip yet read more

WhiteWaterExpress - Brochure of general information - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Phenix City, Alabama

We did both kayaking and zip lining this past weekend. We had a fantastic time. Staff was helpful and especially entertaining during the zip lining and tree top course. Look forward to doing it again with more family and friends. read more

WhiteWaterExpress is one of those things I've been meaning to do for years now... but it took a seven year old's birthday to get me to Columbus to make that happen. We didn't really know what to expect other than a few underwhelming comments from some people we knew; so I guess you could say our expectations were low. BUT I'm pleased to report our expectations were far beyond exceeded. The whole experience, from waiver to return was well done. We cannot recommend Conner enough; he was a fantastic guide. We all a ready to go back and tackle the "challenge" course! read more

WhiteWaterExpress - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Phenix City, Alabama

On April 9th, 2015 I took my daughter on the White Water Express (11AM "Classic Trip"). The rafting was fun, our guide was good and my daughter enjoyed it. HOWEVER, my 9 year old couldn't detect the poor level of service at the preceding safety brief and equipment distribution. Collectively, the staff of guides could've best been described as hung over and entitled frat boys. But again, on the river, our guide delivered - so whatever. What upsets me is the way I've been treated since completing the trip. You see, I purchased from them a CD that supposedly contained pictures of our trip. Afterwards, we went back to our campground (one hour away), put the CD in the laptop and discovered it was blank. I called the Out Post immediately. The man who answered owned up to the mistake and told me he'd make another for us. We were too far to drive back so we agreed to have it mailed "that day" to our home in Michigan. Well, 5 months later, it's now September. No CD, no refund, no nothing. The emails and phone calls I've traded with them cannot be counted. So I wanted to warn folks who want to engage in business with White Water Express: You'll probably get a good ride on the river - but once you've paid your hard earned money - they pretty much could care less about you. read more

We had a great time on the Classic Trip, 11am on a Saturday. It was low key with about 4 "rapids"...the rest of time was just paddling down river, which was okay because we were tired. However if you've ever been on the Ocoee in TN you will fall asleep on the Classic Trip LOL. Great for first timers and for when you only want a 20% chance of falling in the water lol. Added bonus was checking out Columbus, GA on a first Friday when they had concerts going on down the middle of Broadway the night before. read more

WhiteWaterExpress - Me and Michael in front of Whitewater Express on Bay Street in Columbus, GA. - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Phenix City, Alabama

My bff and I went. Have whitewatered before in TN and this was ok. Perfect for 1st timers. The water quiality was a bit concerning e coli warning north of us and 14 yr old boys who drown yesterday (unrelated to whitewater) body recovered right before we went. Half w ay you are forced to get in the river and float which was fun but water was iffy and smelled. Then back in boat to finish. Only about 1 1/2hour trip with 1/2 hour taken up by getting out to float in vests on natural lazy river. Enjoyed our guide Tater! read more

Came with a group on a Friday afternoon. We had a lot of fun! But you can tell these guys are college kids and lack a bit of professionalism. Nothing bad happened but our group missed the safety briefing because we were instructed to just "wait around" until the bus showed up. But know you will get wet people! The idea is to have fun so don't be surprised when your guide purposely flips the boat or gets your "surfing." I saw a lot of people with nice shoes and sunglasses that ended up lost or dirty. Overall, it's a good time. read more

Went here for the zip line course and honestly it wasn't even worth the money spent on Groupon. I was disappointed to see that there were only two lines to zip. The best line is the first taking you across the river into Alabama. The obstacle course is fun for younger kids but I'm not sure how many adults would find it fun. For the price paid you would expect to have more zip line courses available. This is probably a good starter course for beginners. I do recommend that the company look into issuing participants gloves. Although you can't control the zip line on this particular course, you do come in contact with the wires frequently as your negotiating the course. There is potential for one of the lines to have damage and cause injury to someone. I don't recommend this course if you've ever zip lined anywhere else with more than two lines. Even with the pass they offer it isn't worth it. read more

A perfect introduction for my 12 and 10 year old kids! Tony, aka Tan Dan, was a fantastic guide! He was fun and goofy, but seemed very knowledgeable and concerned with safety. My kids had a blast and have asked multiply times when we get to go again! Soon I hope!! read more

If you are looking for an intense, extended whitewater experience, this may not be the thing. But if you are looking for a great activity with friends or family, this is an awesome choice. They put you on a bus and drive you to a drop-off point where you get on a raft with a guide and 4-6 people. The first time they take you down on the Georgia side, where the final stretch is a level 4. Then once you have gotten down they let you see what the short level 5 stretch looks like on the Alabama side of the river, and you go back up and do it again - choosing which way you go down. We did it in the evening when the dam releases a lot of water. The flow was at its peak for the first run (13,000 cfs), then had dropped to 9,000 cpf for the second run, which actually makes the final "hole" most pronounced. Most of the rafts that tried to go through the level 5 flipped or lost most of their passengers. But that happens just before the final collecting pool so there is virtually no danger. Our guide, Casey, was very knowledgeable and we had a great time. At one point in a relatively calm stretch we all jumped in and floated along. Also after the second run we were allowed to jump off a rock into the fastest part of the rapids right at the bottom - quite a fun experience. read more

This was my first time whitewater rafting so I had no idea what to expect. Because we had my 7yo son with us we opted for the Classic trip which is a little milder and includes class I-III rapids only. The cool thing about this trip was that it is right through the heart of Columbus, GA and is MAN MADE. Yes, they actually engineered these rapids and control rock placement and water flow. They even removed some of the rocks and replaced them with sandbags to make this a safer experience. Now you would think this being man-made it would be lame but that is not the case. We met at the Phenix City shop at 9:30am to get geared up for our 10am trip. It was nice that it was just our group of three and another family of three so we all fit in one raft with a guide. We were each given a paddle, helmet and lift jacket. Ladies- I would suggest wearing athletic shorts over a bathing suit bottom and a swim type shirt over a bathing suit top. Also, you are going to want secure closed toed shoes- I wore old sneakers and they worked out just fine. They will not let you ride barefoot or in flip flops. Don't bring anything with you that is not secure or can't get wet. One lady in our boat lost her sunglasses when she fell out. You cannot leave things in the van. We rode in a 16 passenger van to a spot upriver where we put in. The riverwalk is new and is designed to accommodate rafting so putting in was a breeze. We started off with some quick, easy instruction. Our guide, Cassey, was laid back and easy going. We hit some light class II rapids to warm up. Then we got to jump out and float through the lazy river portion for a few minutes. Once back in we headed for some of the class III rapids. Because we were the only raft we had time to do the Wave Shaper rapid four times! We'd hit the rapid then paddle to the side where we could carry our raft up and over some rocks to put in above Wave Shaper and hit it again. The last two times the ladies on the boat took turns "Bull riding" through the rapid- sitting on the front of the raft while holding onto the rope. I got to do this last and it was a blast! Nothing like a wall of water as a little intimidation! Our last trip though we lost two riders and our guide briefly. Throughout it all I never felt unsafe and everyone was whooping and hollering. This was a great experience and a MUST DO while in Columbus. I am taking one star away for a couple of reasons- first the retail shop. While at the Phenix store we saw some items we wanted to buy but were told they were not set up for selling things from that location. We were told to go to the Columbus store, which (we were told) had more of a selection anyway. The Columbus store is right across the river but was super busy. Well, when we got there we saw that they did not have nearly as many women's shirts here as at the other location. They also have an awful selection in youth sizes. So we had to go back to the Phenix City shop and buy our items over the phone. Another thing- they rent GoPro cameras to riders for $35. What they SHOULD do is have every guide wear a camera. Because they sit in the back they would catch all the action. They could then sell passengers DVD copies for $10 apiece. I would have loved some photos or videos of our trip but their professional photographer did not take pictures on our trip. They are missing out on ways to make more money and on making customers even happier! (Plus think of the marketing they would get from people posting pictures and videos of their experiences!) **Also, search online for coupons when booking. I saved 20% with a back to school coupon I found. read more

We went on the classic trip for my little sister and her friend. It was a great first experience for them, and they love it. I would definitely come back to do the more advance trip sometime soon. My guide name was tator, and he was great. We did some surfing and we navigate through the rapid with ease. He even let me guide for the last surf, which I horrible fail at. Haha read more

While in Columbus revisited whitewater Express to do some white water rafting. Our guide Andrew was amazing he made the tour a lot of fun it was two hours it could have had more rapid but I don't think the other people in my raft could have handled it. No one fell out of the boat fortunately however there were a lot of people shaking up when we went through the class 4 rapid backwards. Overall I would highly recommend white water Express read more

My husband and I did the Full Adventure Zip Line package (zip line, ranger jump, aerial course) and we had so much fun. It was the best date we've had in a long time! All of the staff members were very nice and a few of them were so funny. The aerial course was a lot of fun and a pretty good workout, too! read more

We took a group here for zip lining and the staff was begin amazing. Very supportive amd patient, friendly and made us feel like we were hanging out with friends rather than at a business. The zip lining,ranger jump and obstacle course were what we did and it was a good time. Not a single person in our large group had a complaint-we would absolutely come back if in town! read more

Went here with my daughters Girl Scout troop. We had a blast! Our guide was so fun and did a great job entertaining us. The staff was friendly and we enjoyed the experience and can't wait to go back! read more

Purchased a groupon for ziplining. Upon making reservations per protocol, staff member answered and incompetently cursed twice after dropping the phone twice and eventually completed reservation. A lot of waiting around and not starting on time. Only 3 zip lines total which was a disappointment. The aerial/obstacle was great as well as the staff member driving boat back to store. Personally I would prefer other locations even if it means driving elsewhere. Management should better communicate with staff for better efficiency, also. read more

Fantastic crew at white water express: Fun, caring, and professional. Did the 9am low flow and 5pm high flow. Both were incredibly fun!! Go do this, you will not regret it!! read more

My family did the challenge trip on a Saturday afternoon during the highwater. My dad, and 12 and 13 year old sister and brother. (My mom and 8 year old sister did the classic trip earlier in the day, and had a blast.) We were put in a boat with another group of 3, and with our guide/instructor Seaver/Seever (not sure how it was spelled), who really knew what he was doing. The trip was incredibly fun, but Seaver definitely had a huge part in that. Our boat got the most out of the trip, because he continued to go back into the rapids until the time was up. He was also one of the most qualified guides there, and we were one of the only boats to not tip over (until we decided that we wanted to, for the fun of it.) He was great with my siblings, and we were completely safe. If you're going to go, definitely request Seaver! read more

Even watching is fun!! Worth a shot if you're in the city they also have zip lining near by if you care to test your luck even more. Overall downtown Columbus is just a cool place to visit read more

Great time had by everyone in the group! First time for each of us and couldn't have been happier with the experience. We did the Challenger trip and was not disapointed. Our guide, Liam, was the best, great rafter and semi-good comedian! Would recommed this trip to anyone! read more

To start off, I would like to mention our guide who went by the name of 'AK' was excellent. She made the most out of a poor situation that we were put in, unfortunately. One week prior to our trip we called, originally wanting to have a classic whitewater rafting trip in the regular large raft that held 6 people plus our guide. The representative on the line proceeded to heavily recommend the "ducky" boats for my 2 children age 13 and 9 plus me. Duckys are individual self guided smaller boats. I was very hesitant and asked several questions about the safety of them, considering our inexperience guiding ourselves through a whitewater trip. He continued to convince me that the ducky boats were a better way to go because they were much more "exciting" to go down on through the rapids because at 1 pm there was a slower water flow out of the dam. I was trusting of him since I was confident that he had our safety in mind, especially my children, of course. I booked the trip. Two days before the trip, I was reconsidering due to my worries about getting separated and our paddling ability. He again spent about several minutes assuring me it would be safe and simple to do. I accepted and confirmed. The day of the trip, we were told for my 13 year old daughter and I to go in one ducky, but the guide hopped in with my 9 year old. I was still hesitant about whether my daughter and I could handle this, as there are high class 3 rapids on this course. There was no staff available to guide us individually. Me and my daughter went together anyways. This was a big mistake, the second we got on the river it was almost impossible to get our raft straight and couldn't follow, control, or stay together with my 9 year old daughter! IT WAS NOT ENJOYABLE. After about 15 minutes of struggling and crashing into the rocks on the side of the river, we decided to stops and, thank goddess, two young boys helped us out and gave us their spots on the 6 seater raft just before the largest rapid! My 9 year old also came on the raft with us, as we wanted to keep the family together. This was also very lucky. We watched as the boy's ducky completely flipped over on the middle of the rapid. How could this person on the phone recommend this tiny, unsafe ducky to my 55 pound 9 year old and the rest of us who are completely inexperienced in whitewater all together. Every person in ducky fell out 2 more times, how could this be possibly be excusable? Falling out of the raft could have been dangerous and at the very least terrifying. Again, this was NOT FUN. Especially for the the price of $140 for a trip that they claim was 2 hours, but in actuality we only rafted for 1 hour, as the briefing, riding there on the bus, and walking back took almost an hour alone. We shouldn't have to PAY for time taken up by anything other than time on the water. $140 is an exorbitant amount of money for 3 people to raft for 1 hour. I told the manager about our bad experience, which was not my fault since him or his employ convinced me twice that the ducky trip would be safe, fun, and simple. It was neither of these, and I was disappointed when I was denied any sort of refund whatsoever for a very stressful, unhappy afternoon. read more

Had a great time. Went on the class 5 trip. some of the staff/guides were young and not so professional,but some were really good we had a good one thank goodness. If you like to surf the rapids there is a chance you will fall out,but you can always tell your guide you don't want to. Most important thing is to listen to your guide and the paddle strokes they tell you to get the most out of your trip and not fall out. I would go back for sure. But I still love the ocoee in TN better. read more

What a great experience! I'm a retired educator, no "spring chicken", and have never done anything like this. Our guide, Stu, was great at explaining what to expect and the jokes and stories helped take my mind off "what's next?". Did the classic ride, and that's enough excitement for me. Didn't expect the lazy river, but loved it. Would gladly do it again! read more

We thought the experience was great for families and "first timers". Our guide was very good, the trip was safety oriented, we would participate again. However, we thought they were very poorly organized-we spent 3 hrs. with the group for 1 1/2 hr. trip down the river. Lots of waiting and standing around (requested to be there 30 min. ahead and didn't leave for at least 1 hr.). It was mostly a slow float with a few good, safe rapids. read more

we had great time rafting, we did the challenge course and had a great guide. they let you get out and swim down a "lazy river" if you want as well as giving you options to doing the "surfing" or harder Rapids. we had Jodi as or guide and he was awesome! very funny and definitely knew what he was doing. kept us laughing the whole time and didn't make us paddle till our arms fell off, a couple of us fell out of the boat and he stayed calm got us back in, very fun would recommend to anyone even beginners read more

The rafting was average for the Southeast, I have no complaints to make about that. My problem is with the organization and our guide. First of all, we arrived and there was no direction, just a large crowd milling with no employees providing information. Anyone could have walked into the alley, grabbed gear, and gotten on the bus without even signing a waiver. As for our guide, "Coconut" was a real problem. He greeted us by telling us that he had gotten 30 minutes of sleep the night before, then tried to nap on top of the raft before we took off. He gave no safety instructions and minimal instructions on how to even paddle. Also, he invited a girl (who we assume was his girlfriend) onto our raft, but didn't make her paddle, which unbalanced the raft. To top this off, the trip ended with him yelling across to a guide in another boat to discuss how he had hit a median the night before while drunk driving. I called to complain about "Coconut" and the manager didn't seem overly concerned about his unprofessional guide, offering only to not make him my guide if I ever returned. read more

Just got back from our very first ever whitewater experience. We chose Whitewater Express Columbus because of the great reviews, safety record, and outstanding guides. We were not disappointed! Easy to get to from Atlanta, easy to find once there. Simple check in process and on you go to orientation. Short and to the point. You then load onto the vans and, a short ride later, you get to the launching site and are assigned a guide. There are several great reviews about individual guides in here, so take your pick. We lucked out when Zigg was assigner to our four-person party. Excellent attitude, lots of energy, very professional, made the experience fun and entertaining, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day. We chose the Classic Trip for this first time and may do the Challenge Trip later on this summer, as well as zip lining. Clean facilities, locker room and showers to get cleaned up afterward and very close to Downtown Columbus for lots of nice restaurants, pizzerias, sandwich shops, etc. Definitely will come back. Thanks Zigg and Whitewater Express!! read more