Grand Experiences

We took the self guide drafting for group of 9 people. Booking was easy and they fitted us pretty well. It was unfortunate that there was no convenient parking because we could not park at the parking lot right at the outfitter. Their store is on the busy street but their starting point is out back. The people were friendly enough and fitted us with paddles, dirty and stinky life jackets. There were a couple of new life jackets but the guy in charge didn’t let us use them because «it was too new.»?! They were nice enough to give our 3 year old paddler a short paddle. That was very sweet.
the river was extremely calm and it was very hard work. We thought there would be more of a current but it was only at certain sections. It was fun overall. The water wasn’t as clean as we would have liked because we wanted to jump into the water to swim. There was a few spots with tiny waterfalls where people stopped to take pictures but you would need to know where they are to stop. It’s nice to see other people also out on canoes and tubes paddling alongside us. People also had fishing rods out but we didn’t. Their estimate time was pretty accurate as it took us 3.5 hrs to paddle this route. Pretty fun for our first run but next time we may take the cable to make the trip faster.

Thia ia Not for the totally inexperienced /​expect a very independent tour with minimal assistance/​explanations. On the phone we were uncertain about which kayak tour we should select due to lack of information even when prompted, but decided that when we arrived perhaps we might get better information when we asked in person.
The store appears to be manned by disinterested 16-​year-​olds must assume that you kayaked before (luckily we had) and that customers know everything you need to know about the trip without being provided with any information (we didnt). The river conditions were not accurately described. Do not expect kayaking tips, maps, proper lifejacket fitting, kayak pedal adjustment assistance (pedals were jammed or non adjustable), accurate river conditions, or information as to where the drop off point will be.
We chose a self guided mellow, easy tour which was supposed to have a soft easy paddle with the current. For those who may not have much kayaking experience this mellow easy trip eneded up with hundreds of rocks, (many that were hidden) and at times that we actually got stuck and almost tipped our kayaks over. This was on the trip described as extremely calm mellow waters? The rest of the river was so slow and non moving that we ended up doing about 3 miles of hard paddling to make it to the pick up point in time for the van to pick us up. We were exhausted.
The area we were to be picked up area was a bit confusing we are uncertain we had arrived at the right place as it was not the same sign they showed us at the store when we inquired about how to recognize the end of the trip. However the pick up van did show up on time. When we departed our kayaks were left on the riverbank with the assurance that they would be picked up separately in a couple of hours. This made me nervous since they have my credit card and no one was watching the kayaks.
The pick up minivan was in poor shape and came with three unexpected passengers-​three 10 yr old boys who took up the middle row. We (the paying customers) were required to ride in the van in the very very back row behind the row of summer camp kids. The van stunk of dead crawdads.
The other company, Grandriver kayaks sure seems like the better choice!

I will try to remain calm as I write this review… TRY being the key word. We drove about an hour and a half to arrive in Paris, ON for a «guided» rafting tour. When I contacted Grand Experiences, they stated that the only rafting time they had for Groupon holders was 11AM.
We arrived slightly after 11AM, and were then surprised with a «transportation» fee of $ 5 per person to the rafting site. That’s a bit steep considering we were just transported on a minivan. That is probably one of the most expensive trips I’ve taken.
You first meet up at their shop on Grand River Street which sells kayaks and other paddling gear. You then drive to what will end up as your END point when you finish your rafting tour, park there, and are driven to the START point of the rafting tour.
1) When we arrived at the END point, we waited a good 30 – 45 minutes before the «transportation» arrived to pick us up.
2) We were then dropped off at the START point, and the driver left us to go back and pick up more kayaks etcetera, and told us that other customers would be joining us and would be dropped off by a bus. 1 hour, yes, 1 hour later, the bus arrived with an array of kayakers and the remaining lot of rafters.
The rafting tour that was supposed to start at 11AM, didn’t take off until 1PM. We were provided with life jackets (wet suits will cost you extra to rent), and seeing as we weren’t doing any extreme rafting we opted to go without. We were a group of 5 + another group of 4 to make up a 9-(wo)man raft. Our guide would kayak alongside us.
We were given verbal instructions at the beginning of the tour. The tour itself was nothing exciting, and I got fatigued quite early because it was basically myself, William T, and another fellow rafter who paddled the whole time. Everyone else really took the notion of «scenic rafting» to heart and sat and chatted.
Even though I went on a Groupon ($ 16), I felt that the experience was horrible. The waiting without explanation thinking «Maybe they left us and went to lunch» was really annoying. I woke up at 7:30AM just to make sure we had enough time to drive up only to find out that I could’ve slept in a few more hours.
I think I’ll probably go with the competition (Grand River Rafting) next time if I want to do some paddling.
Stay away from these guys.