Timber Run Campground — Hotel in Carbon Township

I am ammending my review and now dropping it from 3 stars to 2 stars. On our last evening a severe storm hit about 6:00PM. The campground lost power. They use well water so there was no water, electricity or Internet for about 5 hours. Fortunately I always carry water and we have an onboard generator.

The camground still charged us $16 for our friends to come for dinner for a total of 3 hours when I had to supply my own water and electricity because of the storm. The owners clearly do not understand customer service.

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in the area (The Inn at Solvang and I would highly recommend) several years ago and they lost power overnight becuase of a storm. They comped us and our friends who stayed there with us for the entire weekend, even I though I told them it was not necessary and the storm was not their fault.

I would have assumed the owners of this KOA would have not charged us for our guests since they could not use anything in the campground... water, electric, bathrooms, pool, etc. during the storm.

It was a Sunday night and you would have thought they would have been happy to have someone staying there paying $95/night.

We have already booked a camground for July 2020 at the Raystown Lake Resort Campground. We got a bueatiful site with a concrete pad for $69/night. It is right at the lake and our friends can come to dinner everynight at no additional charge.

Original Review

We have stayed here a couple times now. We meet friends at Raystown Lake every year to go boating. We like the campground. It is close to the lake. It is clean and pet friendly. Fairly quiet and plenty of shade during hot summers. The sites are also fairly level. They cancelled their cable and improved their WiFi. I will say it is much better than previous years. Not blazing fast but I get 5 to 10Mbps when the campground is full.

My complaint this year is their price increases are a bit extreme. I also understand inflation is much higher now than the past several years.

Last year we paid $300 for four nights the same weekend. We paid $65/night for Thursday and Sunday and $75/night for Friday and Saturday, which was reasonable. The daily site fee increased 25% over last year.

What really is unreasonable is their Guest Fee. Our friends come over for dinner and drinks for about 3 hours after we boat all day. Last year the Guest Fee was $5 per person, which I thought was high but we were willing to pay it since the campground is nice and convenient for us.

We stay at many KOA's. Most have a $3 Guest Fee (some even with a pool) so the $5 Guest Fee last year was only slightly higher. This year the Guest Fee has increased 60% to $8 per person! I am a very reasonable person but that is completely out of line and price gouging..... especially given the increase in the site fees. Our friends sit at our campsite and don't use the pool or other amenities. It cost us $48 to have them come to dinner for three nights! Frankly, that is outrageous!

When my wife talked to the owner about possibly reducing the Guest Fee since we were having them over three nights and explained they only come for dinner, they don't use the pool, etc. and they only stay for 2 or 3 hours, she said "everyone charges for guests." When my wife said they are only here from 6pm - 9pm the owner said "well they could use the camp water or bathroom plus they can also stay until 10:30." We are in our 50's and are usually in bed before 10:00PM!!!! On top of that our friends use the bathroom in our coach. They don't walk down to the camp bathrooms. Plus of water use is the issue I can shut off the camp water and run off my water tank and not use the camp water!

This one is now priced like a high-end KOA, which it is not. When I pay $95 - $110 per night at a KOA we usually have a premium patio site with concrete patio, nice furniture, etc. and in somce cases even a concrete pad. I would consider staying here again next year for $95/night but the $8 per person Guest Fee combined with the higher site fee is enough to probably make us look...

This was our first time staying at this KOA. We stayed in a cabin. We've stayed in cabins in other KOAs, and this one ranked about middle out of all of them. Pros: It was really really quiet, some nights it felt like we were the only ones around, and that was great. All amenities were very close to our site, so we didn't have to walk far for anything. The atmosphere was great, the trees surrounding the area were nice, it was shaded and cool sitting outside. The cabin was clean and cozy. We had 4 adults, 2 kids, and a dog and it was big enough for all of us. We liked the little dog area we could let our dog off leash for a bit. The play area for the kids was amazing, they had a baby swing for our 20 month old and a ton of fun things for our 6 year old. While we were there they had a little tie dye event that we enjoyed. All of the employees were nice and enjoyed talking about the camp.

Cons: The game room was very disappointing. There was 1 pinball machine and 3 claw machines. Not sure if there was a separate arcade room or not, but we didn't see an air hockey table or anything else like advertised. Not a super big deal, but the jump pad and game room were only open on Friday and Saturday while we were there, the paper we got when arriving just said hours were 10-8. There were a few little things that could have made our stay better, one of 2 burners in the cabin didn't work. It would have been nice to have towels for the shower, all of the other KOAs we've stayed at had them. Luckily we brought some, but it's just one of those things that would have been nice to not have to pack. There also were no extra pillows for the pull out couch, again we luckily brought our own.

All in all it was a great time. Our kids loved it, and are already asking to go back. We would...

You pull into what looks like a small campground on the side of mountain and quickly you are pulled into what feels like the secret garden. Each camp spot is flat and very spacious. You feel like you’re completely alone surrounded by woods, it’s so quiet and private. We didn’t go inside the cabins but from the outside they look so cute! I definitely want to check them out next time. The BATHROOMS ARE SOOOO NICE! Normally I only use our camper bathroom but these ones were so nice I wanted to check them out! The playground.. A+, your kids will love it! The game room.. is Free!! How many places can you say that about?! The kids can spend hours in there laughing and making memories.. and the games.. are going to make all the dads happy! The bounce pad and pool.. definitely a win.. and the selfie areas are great for making memories. The store had everything I needed.. and things I didn’t but wanted to buy anyway. They give you an itinerary when you arrive.. it’s so cute, so well thought out. I loved it! The team definitely makes you feel welcome, kind and like family.

The activities made me not want to leave the campground bc I wanted to make sure my kids could participate in them all! I can not recommend this place enough.. don’t plan on many activities outside the campground bc you won’t want to miss a...