Best tubing experience nearish to Orlando?

[TheHughesCrew]

I'm vaguely trying to think about our days in Orlando next year. I've seen several people recommend tubing down a 'lazy river' but there appear to be many options!

Which ones have you been to?

TIA x

[surfer69]

Kelly rock is a great start for tubing newbies.
Shallow water and relatively short.
Lots of picnic areas, lots of people, a great introduction. $5 per car 2+ people.

Blue springs is shorter but absolutely gorgeous. $6 per car 2+ people.
Quiet & we got to see a manatee in just doing it's thing, fabulous.

Further afield we've been to Rainbow Springs/KP Hole, there's 2 lengths of tubing, one from the state park 2hrs (Rainbow Springs), and one 4 hrs from KP Hole.
We did the state park one, $2 entry only to find that the shuttle & tube rental, even if you'd brought your own tube , was $20 PP more.
Sneaky and bad form from a state park, we prefer to give our money to the state parks, but next time we'd certainly go from KP Hole & pay the $7+tax shuttle for the 4hr run.
Rainbow/KP is a real 'river' experience, huge wide river, private houses on one side and lots of people relaxing & doing their thing over the weekends.
Check out Swampys at the end of the run (KP Hole), it's fab to sit by the river and watch people float past whilst enjoying a beer. We drove down from the end of the Rainbow Springs exit.

Finally, my favourite, Ichetucknee Springs.
Desolate & serene, Anothe rreal river tubing experience.
Ridiculously quiet when we went, but absolutely gorgeous, if not a tad unnerving as it was only our second time tubing.
Probably totally different when it's busy, but we only saw 6 other people in 1.45hrs.
$6 per car and a small charge for the tram if you feel you need that. We walked back.

If you are going to tube more than once, invest in your own tube, believe me you'll be hooked.
Walmart & Dicks Sporting good have good deals.
For Kelly rock and Blue springs, you'll only need something to float with/on, a simple tube/lilo/pool float will do, but for the longer ones we upgraded to a river run tube with cup holder, headrest etc...
Enjoy & please post back your experiences.

[Simon & Suzann]

Originally Posted by surfer69

Kelly rock is a great start for tubing newbies.
Shallow water and relatively short.
Lots of picnic areas, lots of people, a great introduction. $5 per car 2+ people.

Blue springs is shorter but absolutely gorgeous. $6 per car 2+ people.
Quiet & we got to see a manatee in just doing it's thing, fabulous.

Further afield we've been to Rainbow Springs/KP Hole, there's 2 lengths of tubing, one from the state park 2hrs (Rainbow Springs), and one 4 hrs from KP Hole.
We did the state park one, $2 entry only to find that the shuttle & tube rental, even if you'd brought your own tube , was $20 PP more.
Sneaky and bad form from a state park, we prefer to give our money to the state parks, but next time we'd certainly go from KP Hole & pay the $7+tax shuttle for the 4hr run.
Rainbow/KP is a real 'river' experience, huge wide river, private houses on one side and lots of people relaxing & doing their thing over the weekends.
Check out Swampys at the end of the run (KP Hole), it's fab to sit by the river and watch people float past whilst enjoying a beer. We drove down from the end of the Rainbow Springs exit.

Finally, my favourite, Ichetucknee Springs.
Desolate & serene, Anothe rreal river tubing experience.
Ridiculously quiet when we went, but absolutely gorgeous, if not a tad unnerving as it was only our second time tubing.
Probably totally different when it's busy, but we only saw 6 other people in 1.45hrs.
$6 per car and a small charge for the tram if you feel you need that. We walked back.

If you are going to tube more than once, invest in your own tube, believe me you'll be hooked.
Walmart & Dicks Sporting good have good deals.
For Kelly rock and Blue springs, you'll only need something to float with/on, a simple tube/lilo/pool float will do, but for the longer ones we upgraded to a river run tube with cup holder, headrest etc...
Enjoy & please post back your experiences.

See more...

Perfect answer

[juless77]

love a state park x3

[TheHughesCrew]

Originally Posted by surfer69

Kelly rock is a great start for tubing newbies.
Shallow water and relatively short.
Lots of picnic areas, lots of people, a great introduction. $5 per car 2+ people.

Blue springs is shorter but absolutely gorgeous. $6 per car 2+ people.
Quiet & we got to see a manatee in just doing it's thing, fabulous.

Further afield we've been to Rainbow Springs/KP Hole, there's 2 lengths of tubing, one from the state park 2hrs (Rainbow Springs), and one 4 hrs from KP Hole.
We did the state park one, $2 entry only to find that the shuttle & tube rental, even if you'd brought your own tube , was $20 PP more.
Sneaky and bad form from a state park, we prefer to give our money to the state parks, but next time we'd certainly go from KP Hole & pay the $7+tax shuttle for the 4hr run.
Rainbow/KP is a real 'river' experience, huge wide river, private houses on one side and lots of people relaxing & doing their thing over the weekends.
Check out Swampys at the end of the run (KP Hole), it's fab to sit by the river and watch people float past whilst enjoying a beer. We drove down from the end of the Rainbow Springs exit.

Finally, my favourite, Ichetucknee Springs.
Desolate & serene, Anothe rreal river tubing experience.
Ridiculously quiet when we went, but absolutely gorgeous, if not a tad unnerving as it was only our second time tubing.
Probably totally different when it's busy, but we only saw 6 other people in 1.45hrs.
$6 per car and a small charge for the tram if you feel you need that. We walked back.

If you are going to tube more than once, invest in your own tube, believe me you'll be hooked.
Walmart & Dicks Sporting good have good deals.
For Kelly rock and Blue springs, you'll only need something to float with/on, a simple tube/lilo/pool float will do, but for the longer ones we upgraded to a river run tube with cup holder, headrest etc...
Enjoy & please post back your experiences.

See more...

Oh wow, what a fabulous, detailed answer! Thank you so much. I'm going to get my boys to Google each of these and try and get them involved in the decision making

[Steve Florida]

Originally Posted by surfer69

Kelly rock is a great start for tubing newbies.

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This sounds awesome and forgive me for asking because the fact it hasn't come up already makes me think its a daft questions but I am going to ask it anyway. Are there any gators?

[surfer69]

There could be gator in any standing water anywhere in Florida.
More likely on the big river springs, but they can be anywhere.
They'll want to stay away from you as much as you from them.
They should be reported and if necessary they close the parks down, but its usually not necessary.

[surfer69]

Originally Posted by TheHughesCrew

Oh wow, what a fabulous, detailed answer! Thank you so much. I'm going to get my boys to Google each of these and try and get them involved in the decision making

See more...

I think you can tell we're hooked on Tubing.
There are over 1000 cold springs in Florida.
We've only been tubing for 2 years but this year our luggage home was mainly tubes and coolers.
Aldi sometimes sell pool floats / tubes, we got some in September & they were cheaper than the US.
Enjoy...