Mt. Gretna Lake & Beach — Attraction in South Londonderry Township

Last year this was my place to go and relax. It was a very nice place to come. This year I decided to get a season pass for myself and grandson. Not sure what is going on here lately but after an incident this past week for me and an experience for my daughter this weekend I surely will not be renewing my pass for next year and not sure how many more visits this year I will make if any. Let me explain. I was sitting on my chair watching granson play when a bunch of kids directly in front of me starting throwing sand towards me. I asked them to please stop doing that when one of the boys gave a smart reply and on going. A staff member of this bunch came down and told them to stop and then said "You need to relax, everyone needs to relax.' FIRST of all I was relaxing! My daughter had sand thrown at her when she was 3 and 1 small grain of sand....again 1 small grain of sand stuck onto the cornea of her eye and she had to have eye surgery.... so I prefer NOT to have sand thrown at me! With all the sand at this place these kids(camp kids) remained in front. I went down into the lake with my grandson and when I returned these kids who are NOT supervised had thrown shovels(they had camping shovels) of sand all over my blanket, cloth ice chest, phone, watch, towels, blankets, etc. PLUS they put shovels of sand in my wagon which was parked on the side next to my chairs. I am talking 2-3 inches of sand all over. I asked them who had done this that it wasnt kind and they all stood stupid looking. Down from the pavilion comes a staff member and when I tried to tell her what was going on she kept cutting me off. Said to the boys come on we are leaving anyhow!!! No apologies from anyone. It was such a mess that a man who was sitting near by came over and offered to help clean up!!! I reported this to the older lady on the deck and she listened stating she would talk to the camp manager but seem uninterested. Destroying/ Messing with someones PERSONAL property is illegal! My daughter went up today Saturday with her husband and my grandson and said she will never return. While my grandson was playing in the sand a child unsupervised, she says about 4 years came over and wanted my grandsons toys. My daughter said a firm no! This child went over a kicked down a sand castle that her husband had built then walked away. WTH??? An older lady sitting next to my daughter said she has been coming to Mt Gretna for years but will not be returning next year either. My daughter said people across from her were smoking weed, you could smell it strongly. She also said that the pavilion that was rented out had their music blaring and was very distracting! People around her were not happy. Not eveyone wants to hear spanish music. Seems like no one is monitoring behaviors. While grandson and his dad were in the lake adults in tubes were pushing kids out of the way using the tubes. This was the area before rope. Womans bathrooms were absolutely a mess! Toilet paper, etc. all over. Such a shame. I guess like everything else its all...

We were coming from an hour away so we thoroughly looked at website to make sure there were not any surprises upon arrival. Mainly wanted to make sure we could bring our own umbrella and tubes but also noted that Un-assisted capable swimmers only were allowed in the areas beyond the ropes. This area includes the high dive and the swing. My kids have been swimming strongly on their own for years. My youngest who is 8 has been swimming unassisted meaning without a floatation device since she was 5. She was singled out and had to do a swim test. There is no mention on the site that you can be asked to perform a swim test at any point that a lifeguard thinks you cannot swim. They need to put this on the homepage and describe what the test entails. You must tread water for 45 seconds in the middle of the lake and then swim freestyle for a considerable length which I myself at 47 would take some time to complete. My daughter completed this but took her time and wasn’t free style swimming. Which I don’t even do. She failed her. Later I asked another lifeguard about the test and he said you don’t have to freestyle swim to pass and you can take your time. So since we came from an hour away we had to make the most of it and my other two were free to swim beyond the ropes and jump off the fun things while my other just stood and watched from the baby section. She was humiliated, as were we, and in the meantime kids are jumping off the high dive one right after the other without even letting kids at bottom clear and no whistle was blown. We even watched as two Lifeguards on the dock between the jump and swing, kissed. Another was on a paddleboard doing handstands. We also watched other kids who probably needed a swim test, ignored. It was strange. My daughter takes her time doing everything including swimming but this doesn’t mean she isn’t strong. We felt very discriminated against and my strong independent girl was crushed. Plus my husband and I were in the water next to all of them the whole time. I understand lifeguards have an important job but it seemed odd that she singled out my daughter. A few hours later she got up courage and asked to have another swim test and was told you only get one shot. Please post how intense the swim test is on your homepage and what exactly they have to do so that families are aware their kid can be singled out for it at any time. I never would have thought my kids would need one but here we are. It’s the one reason we won’t go back and I can’t recommend for my friends with little kids who are good swimmers but may not pass the intense test. The cost for a child not allowed to go beyond the ropes should be...

IGNORANT RUDE STAFF. Singled my 9.5 son out and would not let him go past ropes b/c “his stroke wasn’t strong enough” EVEN THOUGH he swam back just fine unassisted with no struggle AND we were here over a year ago when he was only 8yrs old and jumped off the same platform 10+ times with 0 issues and not a problem from any of the dozen life guards (I have multiple videos to prove this). Also, there were many small kids out there and they did not require any of other kids to take the test. Our son was the only child SINGLED OUT. When he literally did the same swim/jump when he was 1 year younger here safely many times AND as parents we were watching and more than ok with him doing it, there is no reason for them to ruin his day and keep him from hanging out with his brothers and cousin. The staff here are INCOMPETENT and IGNORANT, including the snarky manager Julia!!! Just BE WARNED that they can single a child out arbitrarily and pass/fail them on a whim from teenage staff even after you pay and ruin your child’s day!

Since your response was spin and avoided all FACTS!!! Here are some questions that you IGNORED…

Mt. Gretna Lake and Beach why was my son “safe” to multiple lifeguards a year prior who allowed him to go past the rope many times and do the jump? (I have video evidence) Were they not doing their job???

Why was my son the only child targets by the lifeguards and made to do the test? There were many children that day his size or smaller.

That included a boy who was terrified to jump and paced the dive for nearly 10min holding on for dear life. More importantly, the boy could not swim at all and his parents had to bring him a tube to drag him back. My son swam unassisted last year and on Sunday. Not a single lifeguard whistled or said a thing to the terrified boy and his parents and they even allowed him to go past the rope after that whole incident. I also have video footage of this. What do you have to say about this incident that went on for 10min and was obvious to anyone there that day?

Your staff is incompetent, unprofessional, and unreasonable. You targeted my family and let other major safety concerns slide. I was/am furious and will spread her word. Good thing everything on here in FACT and I can prove with videos unlike your biased spin!

I’d love your answers to the above...