This was our second stay here, and despite one major frustration, it definitely won't be our last…read more The park itself is outstanding. The grounds are immaculate, the owners are genuinely friendly, and it's obvious they take tremendous pride in maintaining the property. Everything is spotless, the sites are level and well-appointed, and the utility hookups are thoughtfully placed and easy to use. Since our last visit two years ago, they've added a fitness center and community room, both of which are great improvements. The location couldn't be better, right in the heart of Finger Lakes wine country and within walking distance of two wineries. It's hard to beat.
So why four stars instead of five?
The reservation system.
When you book, you don't actually reserve a specific site, you reserve a site type. If you want to guarantee the site you've been shown or assigned, you have to pay an additional "site lock" fee. Unfortunately, I didn't realize just how much that mattered.
We booked our stay in May for a July visit. For the next two months, every confirmation and piece of correspondence from the resort indicated we would be in Site 61. Naturally, we assumed that was our site. We arrived for the 2:00 p.m. check-in at 2:01, right behind another RV. To my surprise, they were given Site 61, and we were reassigned at the last second.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't care. A campsite is a campsite...unless the replacement site happens to be directly beside the dog park.
My wife and I are simply not dog people. We don't dislike responsible pet owners, but we prefer not to spend our vacation listening to constant barking. Instead, we were serenaded by barking throughout the day, barked at whenever we sat outside our RV, and awakened around 7:00 a.m. on most mornings by dogs in the park next door.
To the owners' credit, they did offer to move us after two days when another site became available. I genuinely appreciate that. But anyone who RVs knows that once you've spent the time leveling, setting up, connecting utilities, arranging the patio, and getting settled, the last thing you want to do is tear everything down just to move across the campground.
The whole experience felt a lot like flying these days: if you don't pay extra to choose your seat, you'll somehow end up in the middle seat, at the back of the plane, next to the bathroom. Technically you still got what you paid for, but not exactly the vacation experience you were expecting.
Going forward, I'll gladly pay the site lock fee because now I know how the system works. But I also think the campground could do a better job making it crystal clear that the site shown in your confirmations is not actually your reserved site unless you've paid to lock it in. That would save guests from the confusion and disappointment we experienced.
Despite this issue, this remains one of the nicest RV resorts we've visited, and we'll absolutely be back.
