Carolina Adventure World - Winnsboro, South Carolina

Jason Varney

READ ENTIRE REVIEW!!
We booked several months out from Thanksgiving weekend 2024, to be safe. Great idea, place was packed all weekend.

We rented Frog Haven cabin and Beaver Shack cabin, which on their map show individual cabins. They are not!! Each of these cabins are a split wall design, meaning they have a dividing wall with another cabin. You can literally hear the "neighbors" in the other cabin talking. NOT AS ADVERTISED to say the least. Frog Haven also has a terrible thumping noise from the plumbing due to the lift station being so close to the cabin.

The cabins were clean, none-the-less, but there isn't much room in these 4 cabins, so renters be-ware. Comfortable for 2 people, but not more than that IMO. Pay the extra $$ for a private cabin (only $25 on several cabins) and have plenty of room and privacy.

The maintenance man was phenomenal. Very knowledgeable and kind. The young blonde at the welcome center needs some customer service training! I'm sure she was the same one I spoke to on the phone several times. (A friendly personality and a smile goes a long way, which she lacks.)The other staff members were fairly pleasant, but I wouldn't say they are informed or educated on the park rules or any ongoings, other than their particular job. 2nd rate staff if I'm being honest!

This place also charges you for everything. From firewood, to water to rinse off your buggy at the end of the day. After paying for a cabin plus ride fees every day, they should, at minimum, allow you to clean your buggy for free. That is quite ridiculous IMO.

TRAILS: The trails were reasonable and marked appropriately, however, the paper map they provide is not accurate at all. I spoke with folks using several different mapping resources (on-x and live-maps), and they were just as confused as I was when asking questions on the trails.

If you are a go-fast rider, plan for one day. You can see every trail in 1 day. If you are a slower rider, 2 days will be fine. We went for 3 days and rode almost every trail twice, sometimes 3 times, and this was with lunch breaks and after breakfast which happened at 8:30-9.

The green trails and blue trails will accommodate almost any stock machine. There are a few blue trails that can be tricky, but are manageable. The double black diamond trails, which are only 3, are just that. Advanced riding only.

Service roads are fantastic and get you through the park at a good pace, and are good scenery also. They are all 2-way roads, all other trails are 1-way, which is fantastic.

Would we go back? YES we would, but we will cut the riding down to 2 days. We would also bring our own firewood, and definitely pay for the private cabin space, although the bed is smaller.

AS A NOTE: this was our first out of town ride. We plan to visit other places for comparison. So take this info and review as such. We enjoyed it very much with limited experience, even with the aggravating nuances.

The only reason it's a 3 instead of 5, is strictly due to the staff and false advertising of our cabin arrangement.

Lisa B

Full, Thorough Review ! Read it all if you’re a first timer.
We booked our stay at CAW for the weekend of Thanksgiving. We came in on Wednesday 11/27/24 and checked out Sunday 12/1/24.
The cabins: We rented Frog Haven and Beaver Shack cabins, and boy were we surprised. First, we came in at night and couldn't even find them because we were searching for single cabins (see the map provided) and these are not "private" cabins as shown. It's two separate rooms in one building. So, know this when booking. We never saw this advertised ! It’s quite deceiving.
The trails : Trails were great ! The views are lovely ! Weather was AMAZING. I'd say if you ride hard, you can ride this place in a day. If we ever come back, we will only do 2 days max. 3 days had us riding the same trails repeatedly. But, we did get to know the park really well. So for our first run, it was still enjoyable.
The only downside to the trails is the amount of trash in some places. This is no fault of the park, as it's the riders who trash the place. But, I really really hate that. So that's disappointing.
The maps: ehhh... the map wasn't entirely accurate but we managed to navigate once we had our bearings. But, I did appreciate the color coding system and clear trail markers as you're driving. Florida could take notes in this area.
The Amenities: ok, so here's the thing. When booking- You pay for your room ONLY. Nothing else. This includes the ability to WASH OFF YOUR EQUIPMENT!!!! They literally charge you extra for water, and firewood is $1 a stick. So, come prepared. We asked someone who was washing his 4wheeler and he said that it was $1 but that only turned on the water for about 1 minute ! So, $1/1min for washing time !?! That's ridiculous.
Also, there is a bar/restaurant on the property- this part was laughable. We were told that it's "open till 5pm" and had read online that it was open every single day. Well, I went in at lunch time, and some kid was in the kitchen area but even when I approached he didn’t even speaks, and no one was at the bar. Noted. After a long ride, my guys wanted to go have a drink and I said I'd just order something from the kitchen. It was 4:16pm. The blonde at the "service desk" informed us that the kitchen had closed at 4pm (nice- no idea they weren't planning to be open till 5:00 as advertised) and that the bar doesn't open until Friday (this was on Thursday) and Saturday nights at 6pm because they "give everyone time to get off of the trails"- while I totally understand this concept. Why do you advertise that it's open till 5:00 and open every day, when none of this is true. This place just didn't have very clear info on their hours. That's aggravating when you're wanting to come in and relax for a minute, have a drink and chill out. We never went back and wasted our money. We also didn't pay for water. But, we did buy a bit of firewood because I wasn't lugging 4 nights of it all the way from Florida. But, enjoying a fire every night was the perfect ending to our days.
Finally, The Staff: If I was basing this review off of the maintenance guy, 5 stars ! That guy is amazing. The blonde girl inside the bar/welcome center left much to be desired in her approaches to nearly anything. And the check-in/after hours shack was good when we came through but totally missed/ignored my cousin when he came in, which left him sitting at the gate for a few moments at 10pm because no one came out to help him. We went up there to meet him and find the check in guy. Basically, the staff left much to be desired - except the maintenance guy !!!. If they could have everyone be trained by the maintenance guy on how to engage customers, this staff would be AMAZING.
Over all- we had a wonderful time. Would we come back ? Sure. But, we will stay for a shorter stay and now we know which cabins to avoid (beaver shack, loblolly inn, frog haven and shady rest). If you're looking for a family friendly place to hang out, ride, and get away -this is a really nice park to consider.
While you’re here, definitely EAT AT THE FLOPEYE Diner !!!

Hope D Poulter

Were here now staying in a cabin which is amazing! It's clean, heat and ac works great, bed is comfy and mini fridge and microwave come in handy as well(we havent used the coffee pot but its nice one is in the cabin)! The bathroom in the cabin is perfect too! So nice to be able to enjoy the day riding and come back to shower and the cabin warm (it's in the 50's today so the heat is amazing). We enjoyed sitting by the fire behind our cabin and it was nice there were 2 rocking chairs and a picnic table by the fire pit. The staff have all been so friendly since getting here and antwan who runs the repair shop was so informative and nice. He explained they offer rentals if needed and what repair service they offer. We ate pizza for lunch at the restaurant and that was good! We drove 7 hours to get here and are staying until Sunday. We're already planning our next trip back! Everything is so organized and trails are well kept. The only thing my husband and I can suggest is better trail marking. The signs definitely need to be a little bigger or more visible. We purchased the onx offoad trail map and it is well worth the price! I saw reviews before we got here about the trails and cabins, but didn't find those reviews to be accurate thankfully. We also saw reviews about the price to ride etc, but we feel its well worth the price for whats offered here and how its maintained. We normally go to busco as it's only 3 hours from where we live, but we will definitely be driving the extra hours to come back here as well! Thanks CAW for making this vacation for us a blast ?

Adam Savadsky

Had an absolute blast! We rented quads and rode for 6 hours. It was awesome! So many trails to ride. All kinds of terrain. Definitely worth the trip to go.

Chris Salmen

We went out 4th of July weekend. Not to crowded at first but as the weekend grew closer so did the size of the crowds and the recklessness. Kind of alarming how many empty beer cans are out on the trails. The second night there someone was shot down by the creek.
It has potential to be such a nice place but lots of drunk people out riding kind of takes fun out of it when you always have to have your guard up.
A bit pricey to just to go ride.

Emaleigh Bryant

Awful experience! The Yurts roof was falling in. They did not care. The bathroom had sewer piling up in the floor. It was unsanitary and they did not care much to fix it. The information that we got from calling was completely wrong from what they told us in person. We couldn’t do the security deposit for our cabin because of the miscommunication. On top of that, the lady working the counter was UNBELIEVABLY RUDE. She popped off with an attitude and continued to be rude. She was blonde and a little chunky and called herself the “manager.” Her behavior almost made us leave had we not paid to ride for that day already. Overall, riding is cool but the customer service and conditions of the bathrooms and Yurt ruined our stay. We will NOT be coming back.

Andy Arce

This place is siiick! Highly recommend for great trail riding. Antwon (head service guy) really helped me out with my quad. Staff is super friendly and the cabins are really nice!

Ed

Rented 2 of the 4wheelers for a full day of riding and was not disappointed.

We went on a Sunday. We had no problem getting helmets, eye protection and also boots. Only 5 trails that needed grooming were off limits.

The machines were in pretty good shape. They were no more than 2 years old . My 4wheeler had some cracks in the front end from a previous rider but everything was recorded on the sheet before we left on the trails. I did loose a headlight due to the existing damage but the team acknowledged that it was not damaged by me-just a side effect of the original damage and was not charged. (honest people here- no one tried to nickel and dime me because of that)

We were able to ride from 8:15 to 3:45 with a full tank of gas on the 500cc 4wheelers; perfect timing for the all day ride. Depending on how hard you push the machines you might need to refill, but gas is also available.

Food was a little pricey but it was tasty and nice to have some options without having to head out of the park.

I would highly recommend CAW - from renting to riding, this place is guaranteed to be a great experience for newcomers and veterans alike. Staff are very friendly and welcoming.