Excursions review in Riviera Maya: Hidden Worlds Cenotes

[northernflasher]

HIDDEN WORLDS 9/10

Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park Yucatan Mexico Riviera Maya

28th March 2010

 

We pre-booked the ultimate adventure wedding package online. This included return transport from our hotel, unlimited use of the ziplines and skycycle and 2 cenote tours, lunch, a personal photographer for our group and a cd each of 50 images. This was $85 each and required a min of 10 people.

We went on a Sunday which is usually a quiet day but was according to the staff unusually busy the day we went.

 

We loved it here. The only issue was that there had been an oversight when we made our booking due to the fact that the photographers dont usually work Sundays. We were gutted but the manager assured us he would organise a photographer asap as there should have been one included in the package we purchased. He was there in approx 90mins.

 

Definately pay the extra $3 for a wetsuit before you leave the main building, the water is cool.

 

The ride to the ziplines in the buggy through the jungle is thrilling, if you're health and safety conscious or have back/neck problems then it probably isnt for you!!!

 

The whole place has a kind of shabby, ramshackle feel, its a non profit venture and it shows in the upkeep and facilities but adds to its charm all the more.

 

We used everything except the rappel line which was closed but looked a bit tame. The ziplines are excellent, especially the cenote splashdown, you must do this! I am terrified of heights but forced myself to do it and I LOVED IT, our whole party went back and did this backwards! The new, rollercoaster zipline was still a work in progress whilst we were there but it looks cool, there are some videos of it on the site now.

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_4695.jpg

 

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_4804.jpg

 

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_4827.jpg

 

I also really enjoyed the skycycle, we didnt see much in the way of wildlife but the different perspective through the jungle was nice.

Be aware that the "dads" struggled with this due to their fitness levels. My suggestion is allow the least fittest people in your group to go last. This is because for safety reasons you have to keep the person in front of you to be two brackets ahead of you at all times, therefore if the person in front is slow it holds up everyone or makes it less enjoyable for them cos they feel they have to go faster for the sake of those behind.

http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_4631.jpg

 

Lunch was basic but adequate. Only thing available on the menu were the chicken fajitas and refried beans. The cooks said burgers were off the menu cos they had no burger buns left, poss cos it was busier than usual.

If you're looking for fancy cuisine in a sterile clean environment, this isn't it! The restaurant is a shack. It took a long time to get the cooks to understand what we wanted, even longer for our orders to be made, when they came they were plentiful but lukewarm and the "veggie" fajitas were full of bits of chicken where they had been cooked on the same grill! Like I say, the place is charming and we laughed it off.

 

If possible I would say to skip lunch (or dont pay for a package that includes it) and use the extra 90 mins or so to repeat your favourite activities. Although its an unlimited activity pass the transport didn't collect us from our hotel till 10am, by the time we have travelled, watched the safety demo video, been fitted for wetsuits and travelled to the activity site we only had time to do every activity once except the cenote splashdown which we did twice.

 

The cenote snorkel was a nice experience but not as visually impressive as I imagined. We were intending to return here the week after for a cenote dive but based on this experience we decided against it.

 

The staff are all friendly and up for a laugh, skinnyman is a legend on his own right!

 

We left with our picture cd's which we were happy with and our whole group really enjoyed the day and getting to do activities a bit different from the norm that we hadn't done before.

[Peach]

We did this in summer 2010. They laughed at us when we said we were from Canada; "Oh, they don't need wetsuits". We didn't get them and didn't miss them, so it is all your perspective and time of year - I am sure it being August contributed to a lot.

We loved the food; but there was only us (a group of 4) and one couple in the whole place; they were following us. Maybe that explains the good food? Luxury it is not, but the food fits the place.

And the cenote splashdown was AWESOME - especially backwards! Plus we also did the Avatar - the zipline rollercoaster. WOW! One member of our group had a recent wrist injury so skipped it, and I only did it once, but am really glad I did. The other two loved it. Crazy!

And we liked the skycycle - though I was slow. We saw some really cool birds especially.

The buggy was cool. If you do not was to be bouncing around, sit near the front.

There were 4 of us, plus 3 staff members... photographer, zipline leader, and snorkel leader. They were awesome. We ended up with 2 full cds of pictures, and they gave us a really good deal.

We swam more than snorkeled in the caves, but the caves themselves were really incredible.

I would love to go back!

PS - Also good to note, if you book before you leave home, you can change the specific day when you get to Mexico; just call a day or so early. This might only be in off-season, so keep in mind.