Ruby Falls, Chattanooga

We were very disappointed in the tour. Below is a letter I wrote to Ruby Falls. To Whom It May Concern: My wife and I (from Pennsylvania) just recently took a vacation and met our Son and Daughter-in-Law (from Knoxville) at a campground near Chattanooga. One of our plans for sightseeing was to see Ruby Falls. We arrived there the morning of April 28th and purchased the double package for Ruby Falls and Rock City. We boarded the elevator and when we got off we met our guide Chris. Since we were the last elevator load for that group, of about 40, Chris gave my son a flashlight with a red lens and told him he was the caboose and when he called his name he was to shine the flashlight so he would know all of the group was still with him. Not a problem, we made our track down the cavern to Ruby Falls. Being the CABOOSE we had to be the last to leave. All the people in front of us took pictures of them and their families at the falls. Chris and the group had started to leave the area when it was our turn. My wife and I went up front next to the falls and my son got ready to take the picture, at that point the lights went out. Apparently the lights are on a timer, which we were not told. Needless to say you had 4 VERY DISSAPPOINTED customers. The main reason to be there and we have no photos to show us being there!!!!!! After this experience we felt like factory workers where we were just pushed through the assembly line so you can make the money! When the group was returned to the Gift Shop, Chris thanked everyone. At that time my Daughter-in-Law told him of our experience and he showed no concern for what happened. I immediately went to where we purchased our tickets and asked the sales clerk to speak to management. He asked what the problem was and I explained what had happened and requested a refund. He said he was sorry for our bad experience and he could give us complimentary tickets or a refund. We told him that since we were from PA we most likely would not be returning and we would like the refund. He kept trying to push the complimentary tickets but we told him as far as my wife and I we WOULD NOT be back but could not speak for our son and daughter-in-law. He then credited our credit card. When my son and daughter-in-law came to talk to him he also tried for push the complimentary tickets. My daughter-in-law told him “even though we live in Knoxville we would never come back and we would not recommend the place”, at which time he credited their credit card. We see 3 main problems here that we think you need to address to prevent what happened in the future. 1. Reduce the size of the group. 2. Let the guide control the lights and not on a timer. 3. Make sure the guide instructs the tour group that there is a limited amount of time that can be spent at the falls. Thank you.

Okay, so I recently just went to Ruby Falls at the end of April and seeing the waterfall was absolutely beautiful and my tour guide was hilarious. However, now it is summertime and my friends and I wanted to do something a little different on a beautiful day. So we decided that we would go to Ruby Falls Zipstream. Now, I am afraid of heights but decided to conquer that fear with going on this little journey. There is absolutely nothing negative I can say about our experience. We were taught the safety how to climb and our tour guide was great. Families appeared to have a good time as well on this little outdoor event. You do have to be a certain height to get to go on it though due to the height of some of the obstacles. So that may be a damper for someone with small children. However, going 40 feet in the air was actually one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. The obstacles were not too physically challenging (which is good for this weakling) and the two physically fit fellas that went with me truly thought that it was well put together. All in all, I recommend everyone (tall enough of course) try it! It's definitely something that can help you overcome your fear of heights and have a great time in the meantime. Request Hunter as your guide and you'll get a couple laughs too!

Our tourguide (DAN) was great and the staff were nice but we did have to wait FOREVER on a weekday to get into the cave an FOREVER to get to the waterfall, then FOREVER at the line for the elevator. Our guide kept us pretty upbeat though about the waiting situation but there were a lot of people there. Like someone previously stated this is not a place for the claustrophobic or the impatient. I stopped and asked a manager why was no one could tell me upfront that there was a lot of waiting around. She was extremely rude to me about it, I think she was on her way to a cigarette break and I interrupted her. (JAI GREER was what her name tag said, if you have a problem don't ask her for help, pre warning you).

The trip through the cave is so much fun when you have a great guide like the one we had. Bill- you made it all so worthwhile. The falls were unbelievably fabulous!!

We visited Ruby Falls in June 2010, previously it had been about 15 years. It is much nicer, you can now hear the guide with a PA system, and the trail to get to the falls is better, with some formations named and is well lit, plus now they have ZipStream Aerial Adventure. It still remains in Top 7 Natural Attraction in the U.S.

I visted Ruby Falls in 1994 I see nothing has changed about the tours. Now that I'm married I thougth about taking my 10 year old to see the falls, but after reading the reviews I quickly changed my mind. Thanks.

ruby falls was amazzzing it waz like so cool and me and my girl loved it

My family and I went to Ruby Falls while we were up there for our family reunion. We absolutely loved the falls and the tour was really well described and everything overall was just amazing!

To tell you the truth,it was pretty cool.The water fall and atmosphere around it was so pretty.i'll say to take a trip there!

I liked it until we got to the end Likes: -The wait was not long. -We had a great tour guide with a great sense of humor. -The outside was beautiful and the views were breathtaking. - Staff were very friendly and helpful. Dislikes: -A couple of times we had to move to the side (which was very narrow) to let the other huge groups through, which I thought was rude and time consuming. -I was disappointed at seeing the falls. It wasn't like how they represented on their website. -Our tour seemed rushed I don't know if I would go back. Maybe for the breathtaking views, but not for the tour.