Dunn's River Falls-climbing optional?

[Tara619]

So many of the Jamaica excursions stop at DRF. Is it mandatory to climb or can you just observe?

I'm trying to find an excursion that's not physically demanding because I have a severe arthritis-like condition (only 33 years old). DH and DS could climb but I don't want to be left behind. I'm not sure how these things are set up.

For example, on the Sky Explorer and DRF from DCL, the description says "begin your optional climb up the 600 ft falls."

If you've done any DRF excursion, is there a place to sit and wait for the climbers to be done?

 

[wfdiaff]

Its been awhile since I was there. But when we went there was a staircase that you could go up and had platforms that could see your family members actually climb up the falls.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I climbed by river, my wife climbed by the steps, there side by side, she videoed me.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

My family and I stopped at Dunns rivers during our bobsled excursion. None of us climbed the falls

 

[islandsnoopy]

Had the same question as OP. Thanks for the responses.

 

[postalchick71]

I climbed Dunns River Falls. Slipped halfway up and broke my big toe. There are steps you can walk up. I should have stuck with that lol

 

[JP350Z]

I was just there this August climbing the falls and I'm a physical therapist by trade so I can say if your knee is that bad I would try something else. Yes there is a path next to the falls you can walk up without climbing the falls but..... There are ALOT of stairs, like climbing a tall building amount of stairs. I forget the vertical climb but it was many hundred feet in elevation change from the beach to the top. If you arrive by boat you could start at the base and just sit on the beach. Arriving by bus you have to walk down to the start and all the way back up. The middle of my video shows our climb if you would like to see it. Good Luck.

 

[scdak]

We call it Da.. River falls but yes, you can walk up the steps.........about 1/3 of the way up climbing in the water and I realized that was not cut out for any more water climbing so I exited the water and walked up as my friends stayed in the water and kept going............and was approached by a guy wanting me to "take home a Jamaican boyfriend, I make you very happy"..............we laugh about it to this day, I couldn't get rid of the guy so I ended up going into a bathroom and staying for about 15 minutes so he would leave me alone!

 

[DisneyGayl]

I was just there this August climbing the falls and I'm a physical therapist by trade so I can say if your knee is that bad I would try something else. Yes there is a path next to the falls you can walk up without climbing the falls but..... There are ALOT of stairs, like climbing a tall building amount of stairs. I forget the vertical climb but it was many hundred feet in elevation change from the beach to the top. If you arrive by boat you could start at the base and just sit on the beach. Arriving by bus you have to walk down to the start and all the way back up. The middle of my video shows our climb if you would like to see it. Good Luck.

Thanks for posting the video from your Jamaica trip! It looks like you had a fabulous time! We are doing the Chukka catamaran excursion to Dunn's River Falls in TWO weeks!! Can you tell I'm excited! I hope I can make it to the top of the Falls!

Gayl

 

[flyersfan1129]

We were just at Dunn's River Falls, and there are indeed stairs to the side. Having lost 60 pounds in a year, I decided to climb the actual Falls. It was pretty exhausting, but I did it. The scarier part was trying to get thru the locals AFTER the Falls.

 

[cwdefouw]

The scarier part was trying to get thru the locals AFTER the Falls.

Agreed. We will never go back there after the absolute nightmare of trying to get through the locals applying extreme pressure at the exit.

 

[JP350Z]

When exiting the top of the falls you will see 2 paths. The gentle left takes you straight through the craft market where you will no doubt get some high pressure sales. If you make a hard left and keep to the left the whole way back down you miss the craft market and won't have many locals approach you. Just keep walking. We were also there on a national holiday last month, so although crowded we didn't have any issues with vendors. Maybe they were more relaxed.