After looking at their website, we made a fairly last-minute decision to camp here for a weekend, early in the 2013 camping season. My kids were excited to see the new, modern playground when we pulled in to register - it looked great, and sadly, is the only positive thing I can say about Hidden Valley.
The woman who checked us in was indifferent to the point of rudeness. We were given nothing more than a map of the campsite, hang tags for the car and a receipt for our payment. No rules/policies, nothing about the snack bar, no schedule of events- something that's very odd from a place that boasts about a recreation director and full service grill in their rec hall, on the website. Further, her verbal directions to our site were incorrect - but that gave us a very good look at this campground - lot of poorly maintained seasonals occupied by poorly-maintained people who adore their golf carts.
Our site ended up being in what I would call a safari area - normally, I would hate this, but in the case of this place, I was happy to not be anywhere near the seasonal people. Unfortunately, we were within earshot of the rec hall/store. It has an outdoor patio with seating, and while we were setting up, a handful of grown men sat on the patio drinking beer, tossing around f-bombs and trash talking. Evidently they were just the early-birds - as the afternoon wore on, the group became bigger, more obnoxious and less sober. Turns out there is a bar inside the rec hall. And yes - a full service bar at a campground attracts exactly the kind of seasonal people you would expect - overgrown frat boys and standarless women who love that sort of thing. We listened to them party until midnight, when presumably the bar closed and most of the drunks were left to stumble to their golf carts and return to their sites. A couple stayed behind to vomit loudly before heading out of foot.
The following morning we ate breakfast, packed up and left despite the fact that we'd paid for two nights. We didn't even bother to ask for a refund, as it was pretty clear this wasn't the kind of place that wanted transient campers and our satisfaction wasn't on their list of priorities. My kids never set foot on the great playground - they were happy to leave, too. read more