We had an absolutely fantastic time. Heather was our guide and we could not be happier with her! She was knowledgeable, personable, and highly skilled. Our family consists of a former marine, a mom with HIGH anxiety, a teenage girl, a preteen boy, and a preteen boy with some special needs and becomes quite overwhelmed quite easily. We can, admittedly, be a lot to handle for some people. We chose the family float because we thought it would be best suited for our skill level and experience level. This was the very first thing we did on our vacation, before even going to our cabin, and it has set a fantastic tone for our trip. We got to the river quite early and spent over an hour looking around the gift shop and just waiting for our time to go. Every employee we encountered was professional and kind. There was an older gentleman, I unfortunately did not get his name, who helped all my children get their straps on their sunglasses without asking. Our youngest asked them several questions about different things and they all treated him with kindness and respect, which is not always the case. Every single person seemed genuinely happy to be working there. They truly exceeded any expectations we may have had. We had some concerns going in about how our youngest would take to the experience. However, Heather was absolutely fantastic with him. He even decided to get out of the boat and float a couple times and eventually wanted to paddle (he started out too scared too). Heather kept us engaged, showed us the wildlife, gave us a little bit of history of the area and most importantly she kept us safe and always maintained control and professionalism. Heather handled my boyfriend's silly jokes, our daughter's dramatic screaming, and made me feel safe enough to relax and truly enjoy myself which is saying something!! We will definitely be back and would even consider doing the upper, provided we got Heather again. :)