Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes — Hotel in Menifee

UPDATED REVIEW, SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER INFORMATION**

OLD - 07/2023 - We stay here 3 weeks out of the month. The pool is always clean, they don't have an age limit on RVs, just a condition requirement, and they always have clean bathrooms. I love it here, and after our one week out where we had to visit a "luxury" RV park, we are anxious to get back here and have amenities that actually work and no time restrictions on bathrooms and showers by the pool. The spots are small here but you pick your own so you can pick what scenery you want to be near.

We are headed back today so I may update this review, but as long as there are no issues, I give it 5*.

UPDATED REVIEW: 01/21/24 - So, we've been doing this for several months now, about 6. I would not buy a membership here again if I knew then what I know now. Once you get a membership, you suddenly can't make a reservation for your 3 weeks in the park at one sitting, especially once the snowbirds start rolling in. You have to wake up at 6:30 am daily, and call multiple times a day to the corporate reservations number. There, they will give you 2-3 days here and there, and you can piece together your reservation using this method (depending on how far in advance) in about two weeks. Or be out of luck, exiting and entering the park every few days.

The rangers have their favorite members, and if you do anything that disagrees with an employee that has any sort of power... they all pretty much turn against you and extensions for filler days in your reservation become impossible, they look for every excuse to try and give you a violation, and with violations they can suspend your membership for 30 days with no real explanation, or even worse... cancel the membership. No one let's you know exactly what you did to violate the rules, and when you try and appeal the decision to corporate, they just back up the park, with still no explanation provided.

If you finance the membership loan and want to keep your credit in good standing, you are stuck paying on the loan and member dues, even if they cancel or suspend you.

If you paid the full amount upfront and they suspend or cancel you, from what I have read, they don't refund a dime of the 9k+ membership or the 700/yearly dues. It's something I didn't even know could happen without a serious, justified reason and the member being allowed to submit an actual appeal, evidence to back them up, and actually be heard by someone.

It's also a terrible place to be after a storm. The entire property washes out. And they have had 2 of the restroom facilities closed for months now, with no intention of opening them until spring. So if you are by a laundry bathroom in the back or middle, you actually have to travel to the next bathroom 3+ rows away to use the bathroom/showers if you don't like to use your RV for whatever reason.

Don't get me wrong, I love this place dearly. Our family calls it home and I didn't have a problem with any of the staff, (I actually liked a few of them) or this until I realized the staff had a clear personal issue with myself and my family. It actually gets to me, I tried my best to find out the issue and pledged if I truly did something, to make it right. I wouldn't want bad blood at the place my kids call home. But, it clearly doesn't matter, they've got it set in their mind to force us out without giving a clear reason.

So, if you buy a membership, be aware, you could lose all of your money, your investment, and they don't have to explain anything or listen...

After the rudeness displayed by the ranger staff tonight I will never look at this park the same again. I viewed a ranger being discourteous and juvenile tonight towards me with another guest. My partner and I were on our way into the pool when we noticed a guest heading in there with their German Shepard. As a rule, all TT parks do not allow PETS of ANY kind into the buildings, bath houses or pool areas. SIgns on every building and bulletin board, as well as in your check in packet. I called the ranger station and asked about this. I was informed by Donna that "We know about that. We believe the dog is a service animal and he has papers. He keeps it on a leash." When we entered the pool area the dog was not on a leash, and was sitting at the edge of the hot tub. Then the ranger walked into the pool area and talked with the guest, stating that they had gotten a complaint about the dog. (I did not complain. I asked what the policy was, as a member of my family is both Autistic and terrified of dogs and I wanted to be aware.) She then proceeded to tell him she had assured me the dog was on a leash (at which point the guest reached over and attached the leash to his dog) and asked if the family member of concern was going to be in the pool tonight, which I had told her No. "Then stop complaining, sheesh!" Donna told the guest. All three of them laughed about this. Excuse me? Donna then told this guest and his friend with him in the hot tub the following: "Sometimes we have a chihuahua in the ranger station. This guest came up and complained about it, saying she was allergic to dogs. The dog wasn't even there, whatever!" While this may be one of the few ELS/TT parks that is family themed in nature, it is not cared for and lately getting run by mouthy, rude, insensitive and intolerant rangers. An allergy to smoke or pets is just as real and potentially dangerous as a fear of certain animals. It doesn't matter the size of the creature, fear is fear. As to the pics on this listing, that is the Adult only pool that is only open in summer. That fountain does not exist here. Also, while there is a wealth of board games for the kids they must sit at one of the two tiny tables in the rental room to use them. Their game room (video and pool) is a pay as you go system, yet the same billiard tables in the adult lodge are free. Most of the sites are roomy, and none are the same in dimensions. 50 amp service is at some sites but 30 amp at all. No cookie cutters here, except for the sites that are reserved for annuals only. Why do they get the sites by the pool? Hello, this is SoCal with 110 Temps in the summer. Update already! The access road, interior park roads and cellular coverage are good, a blessing and rarity with any ELS park. Wifi...pay for it so you can check your email. Oh, wait, my phone is quicker... Even though the same wifi provider services multiple ELS/TT parks here in Cali, they do not want to let you pay for their service and use it at multiple parks. So you bought 1 month of service here? You can't use it at Pio Pico in San Diego. Location is close to freeway and services. The other reviews barking about FT residents are correct. Those people also get Incredibly...privledged in their thinking. This is not a retirement community, or a 55+ park only, but those FTers sure...

Wow....just WOW! This was our first stay at this Thousand Trails Resort and being members of TT I have to say that this park is one of our favorites. We are a couple (he, 51 and her 46) that recently chose to live in our RV full time for the adventure of travel but this park makes us want to stay put. The VERIZON signal was good enough to stream movies without being boosted. TV signals with our cheapo TV antenna pulled in quit a few local channels and while we do not have satellite TV our neighbors had no problem using their Tailgater system despite the beautiful shade trees. The sights are the biggest I have seen in any park I have ever stayed in although some sights are bigger than others I have not seen any site on the small side and we walked through the park daily. There is a quiet and heated adult pool with a hot tub and two showers as well a a HUGE family pool with two more hot tubs. The Family Pool is right next to the snack bar and family rec hall. There is also an adult rec hall near the adult pool. This park also has a gym with a weight machine, treadmills and elliptical machines. It is not a huge gym but it is as big if not bigger than most Hotel gyms. The normal Pickle Ball and Shuffle Board courts in really nice condition. Campers here seem to all be in a good mood and friendly. In our 3 weeks here we were invited to several cocktail hours and dinners just from hanging out at the pool or hot tub. We made great new friends here and can not wait to return. There is shopping of all kinds close by. There does seem to be a lot of flies around here but they are certainly not a show stopper. Also the water fowl will practically come up to your door and knock for a free hand out. We were here in the spring so the baby ducklings and geese were a lot of fun to have visit our site daily for their feeding. If you are a walker I have discovered that if you walk around the outside perimeter road (and don't cut corners) it is exactly 1.25 miles per lap. This lap will take you by both pools, the pickle ball and shuffle board courts, the country store (sells a little of everything from ice to fishing gear to beer to ice cream) the recreation halls, and of course the front gate. You can have mail sent to you here but it cost $2 dollars per package for a handling fee. UPS and FEDEX do NOT come to your spot. The packages will be dropped at the front gate and a message will be left on a message board to alert you of your package delivery by the park staff. You then must come to the front gate and hand over the 2 bucks per package. Kind of inconvenient but at least they do allow you to get mail there. Oh!....and you can only pick it up twice per day 10:00 to 11:00 am and 4:00 to 5:00 pm.....super stupid if you ask me but the guys were not to put out to help you out if you came in outside the hours if they were not to busy. All in all a awesome time here and I would highly recommend a visit to find out if you have as good of...