TR: XPLOR, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

[KevinM]

I wish this could be a photo TR, but only waterproof cameras are allowed, which I don't have.

 

I'm not really the kind of person who gets any enjoyment from lying on a tropical beach all day, so I was not looking forward to our family trip to Mexico. But our family did visit a place that blew away our expectations and made the trip worthwhile, XPLOR. Xplor is a new park (less than a year old) operated by a company that owns two other Playa del Carmen resorts, Xcaret and Xel-Ha. Xplor is an adventure park set in underground caves amidst the Mayan jungle. There are only four activites (plus a buffet lunch) and the admission is a steep $99/person, but it's unbelievably worth it.

 

Upon entering the park you are given a rock climbing helmet with a number and an RFID tag inside. The RFID tag is really cool because as you go through all the adventures, they will take a lot of photos of you, and you can view them just by stepping in front of a TV screen. It's pretty awesome and high-tech feeling. They'll also sell you the whole pack for $50.

 

So after a lengthy walk through the cave, you reach a giant beating "heart", which is the center of the park. (Heart of the park... get it?) It makes navigating the park dead simple. Go to the heart, find the arrow to which activity you want to do, and go. You can not get lost. Lockers are included, which is nice and definitely a break from $14 lockers at Six Flags. Once you're ready to go, there are four options: Underground River Rafting, Underground River Swimming, Amphibious Vehicles, and the best part-- Zip Lines.

 

We didn't do river swim, but I assume it's quite similar to the rafting. You get a fake wooden raft and two paddles that attach to your hands. There are solo rafts and two-person rafts. The river runs through the underground caves where there many many stalactites and stalagmites to see. The path is lighted, but still pretty dark. If you follow the lights, you'll be find, but there are several places where people make wrong turns (which don't take you far off course, you just have to turn around). The first half of the run was not fun because we kept getting stuck behind people who do not understand how to steer a raft. Once we passed them, it was fun, but not all that exciting. There are two circuits that you can take, each is about a half of a kilometer.

 

The rule at XPLOR is that you may only take each circuit once. At the popular attractions (zipline and amphibious) they will mark your wristband to enforce this. The underwater attractions were not popular enough for them to care. After being cooled down by the subterranean river, we went for the amphibious vehicles, as the ziplines were too busy at the time. There are again two circuits for the amfibios (the Spanish word) and each one is 5 kilometers long. The vehicles are John Deere brand and let off tons of gas fumes. They can get going pretty fast, but as we discovered, if the staff catch you "speeding" (there's no speedometer) they will actually cut in front of you and drive slow. I was not going that fast, but my brother did and ruined it for all of us. The trails run mostly through the trees (and there's not much to see) but they also go underground and in the water, as the name implies. The scariest, but most fun part is the bridge. The bridge has NO CENTER. But it's just an illusion of danger, as guard rails to the side will prevent you from falling in the middle. While you are peeing your pants at this bridge, they snap one of the many photos of you.

 

After our runs on the amfibios the wait for zip lines had disappeared. This was the attraction that I was looking forward to most, by far. After a safety briefing they get you into your harness, which is just a simple rock climbing harness (Petzl brand). I've spent a lot of time with these harnesses so I feel really safe in them, but for the first-timers they can seem frightfully minimal. After passing the safety check, you have to climb a really tall tower to get to your first line. Just like the other activities, there are two circuits to choose. They are named "Jaguar" and "Deer". You get to make your choice at the top of tower one, as they both begin there. Deer is comprised of 6 shorter lines with fast acceleration. Two of them feature "water landings" into a natural pool, and there's also a water slide in the middle just for fun. If you're fully clothed, get ready to have soggy clothes the rest of the day, as there is NO escaping the water. I was in a t-shirt and bathing suit, which wasn't too bad. Jaguar has only 5 lines with only one water landing (and no slide) but in my opinion it's the more enjoyable course. The lines are longer and feature the two longest, tallest, and fastest ones. Although they are the fastest, the acceleration is slower than Deer because Jaguar is intended to be the more scenic run. The longest/tallest/fastest one is 45 meters high, over 700 m long, and tops out at 32 kph if I recall correctly. It takes over a minute to finish, which leads to a little bit of a line at this tower. It's the longest wait of the day, which is no more than 15 minutes. I slammed into the stopping blocks at the end of this one (which are hooked up to a bungee cord for a smooth landing) and nearly took out the operator.

 

We did Deer first and Jaguar immediately after. In the scope of about an hour and a half I think I climbed as many stairs (and ramps) as the average person probably climbs in a month, at least. It was the most fun I've had without coasters, but it nearly knocked me out as I don't stay in shape. Luckily there was a buffet lunch waiting for us after the zip lines, included with admission. We couldn't believe it, but this was the best. meal. period. of our stay in Mexico. They had a full salad bar (lettuce is hard to find in Mexico, at least in the all-inclusives) huge burgers and seasoned fries (which were in my opinion as good or better than TGI Friday's or Applebee's) as well as typical Mexican fare (not really my thing). We couldn't believe that an adventure park had that could blow away our several-thousand-dollar all-inclusive (which served mediocre food at best).

 

We only had about six hours in the park, but it was an incredible day and I already want to go back. I haven't done ziplines anywhere else, but I would go as far to say they have one of the best courses out there, if not the best. If you ever find yourself in or around Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, do yourself a favor and GO TO XPLOR. You won't regret it.

 

Check it out at xplor.travel or their facebook page.

Tower 7, the longest, tallest, and fastest zip line at Xplor. (Photo credit to Xplor)

One of the "water landings" in progress. The caves you see in the back are real and run all over the park. (Photo credit to Xplor)

[the ghost]

I wanna say I've dont the one as Xcaret but I am not sure. It must have been about ten years ago, but there was an awesome underground river thing as well as a regular river, both were for snorkeling and both had a current. I have little memory cause I got lost there and was flipping out since I know very little spanish and was lost in a foreign country. That was a cool TR though, I cruise probably once every three years or so with my family, so it is good to get TRs like this for future refrence.