Thousand Trails Lake Gaston — Hotel in Roanoke Rapids

Our arrival was very rocky, but after that things went well and we were glad to have a view of the lake for our 11 day stay.

Entry was rocky due to one arrogant, unhelpful, impatient employee. He's a young man who neglected to tell us, when instructing us to choose any "white" site, that the half of the park with sewage service was completely full. Because most of the roads aren't paved, there is a lot of dust. So, not only is it a disservice to us to have to drive our A-Class RV, car, and trailer through a busy and full campground, it's a disservice to those camping there because they're dealing with the dust we, and everyone else, kicks up while looking for a spot.

AND THEN! The same young man stopped me while we were driving through that section, effectively separating me from my husband who was driving the RV and looking for a space, to complain about how my husband entered the gate code upon entry. (Keeping in mind that there was no one at the front gate the entire time we were there.) I'm not sure he even had the right couple and said, basically, "We're in the gate now, so why are you bothering me and separating me from my party?" He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and drove off in his golf cart.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! Right after we finally settled on the fourth(!) completely uneven site we tried, my husband drove the trailer back to the storage lot and THE SAME GUY is immediately knocking on our RV door telling me to sign documents and that "they're just like the other Thousand Trails." 1) They're not; this is the first time we've needed a Honey Pot, stayed at a TT with boat slips or a boat launch, etc. 2) I'm a NC Certified Paralegal, but I'm no lawyer (and neither is he -- I asked; see NC's Unauthorized Practice of Law statutes TT attorneys), but it seems that in one of the documents you're ostensibly waiving TT's liability if there's damage caused to your rig by the Honey Wagon (that costs $20 each time: avail. 3x/week) -- which could be a big deal. 3) We have never had any other TT employee at any other park show up at our door - ever - or demand we sign paperwork without reading it.

I did take the time to read the documents. The impatient young man said, "Is there a problem?"

Yeah, I said. This is abnormal and the tour around half the park could have been avoided. That's when I asked if he was an attorney. I also asked if he'd ever traveled in or set up an RV. He said no, but he's tent camped and "it's the same." I told him it's not.

Long/short ... this dude should be fired, point blank. And never sign documents just because an arrogant guy is in a hurry.

The park itself is largely full of year-arounders. Paying for a Honey Pot when we already pay thousands of dollars for a membership is annoying. Some sites were lit up like Las Vegas at all hours, the Cafe only serves junk food, and weekends were party time for much of the park. And if you like being near a city with all of the city things available you'll be disappointed.

However, if you enjoy a rural setting, big foot museums and the like, historic sites, and murals you'll be okay. ... especially if you avoid the arrogant dude.

While we enjoyed the lake view, we didn't enjoy this park and can't recommend it. The only reason I'm giving two stars is this: Michael, the Honey Wagon driver, is very kind, does a good job, is patient, and appears to be the backbone of the park. He's a keeper. The ladies in the cafe/store were also very nice...

I really want to highlight how awesome the manager Jen is, over the top friendly and super accommodating and helpful! Absolutely the right person to be in charge! The entire park and its amenities are pretty much great. I made a small comment about a problem with our camp site and I was pleased to see it was followed up on by maintenance quickly. The grill and the ice cream are fairly priced except for the chicken tenders, 8$ for a 3 piece kids sized serving is a little too much, but the rest of the food and ice cream was super fair and reasonable! As awesome as everything was, my experience was unfortunately ruined by how angry I am about your pool and its policies. First off IMO you should NOT be closing your pool at 8 o'clock in the summertime, especially on the weekend! It doesn't get dark until 10pm, and some of us don't want to get burnt swimming while the sun is directly above and in our case the heat being in the upper 90's during a heat wave. I understand for you youre ready to end your work day and go home, but for your customers its our vacation and I don't appreciate your pool being closed as soon as the sun goes down behind the trees with the temps being much milder. Highly disappointed about that and it will probably be the sole reason we don't come back. Another thing about your pool, and I'm super glad it doesn't seem to be enforced is the super stupid policy that only "coast guard approved" life jackets be allowed in the pool. I mean I can understand why you don't want adults and kids to have a bunch of floats taking up all the space... but banning kids arm swimmys is absolutely ridiculous! If thats an insurance thing you need to get a better insurance provider. I dont even have children and that made me very angry. Again everyday I saw people using floats and I'm happy nobody came out to scold them. Last about the pool, please turn on your filtration, thats just gross. I was there for 5 nights and I never saw the jets circulate the water, and while I could feel something very very slight at the floor, it wasn't enough to filter that large of a pool properly. I also would like to express my dissatisfaction about you having a store full of junk to sell, but no food items. Ive visited many, many rv park stores and never seen one without milk, cheese, bread, buns, hotdogs, canned food, etc. Yours is more like a gift shop. I mean just the basics would be such an appreciated improvement. While I am still very bitter about the whole pool deal, after meeting Jen I would bet my expressed opinions here today matter to her, and I wouldn't be surprised if some action was taken. That in itself means a lot to me, so maybe I will come back after all... but not if the pool continues to close at 8! I do thank all the staff for being so friendly and helpful, you guys definitely...

I really want to highlight how awesome the manager Jen is, over the top friendly and super accommodating and helpful! Absolutely the right person to be in charge! The entire park and its amenities are pretty much great. I made a small comment about a problem with our camp site and I was pleased to see it was followed up on by maintenance quickly. The grill and the ice cream are fairly priced except for the chicken tenders, 8$ for a 3 piece kids sized serving is a little too much, but the rest of the food and ice cream was super fair and reasonable! As awesome as everything was, my experience was unfortunately ruined by how angry I am about your pool and its policies. First off IMO you should NOT be closing your pool at 8 o'clock in the summertime, especially on the weekend! It doesn't get dark until 10pm, and some of us don't want to get burnt swimming while the sun is directly above and in our case the heat being in the upper 90's during a heat wave. I understand for you youre ready to end your work day and go home, but for your customers its our vacation and I don't appreciate your pool being closed as soon as the sun goes down behind the trees with the temps being much milder. Highly disappointed about that and it will probably be the sole reason we don't come back. Another thing about your pool, and I'm super glad it doesn't seem to be enforced is the super stupid policy that only "coast guard approved" life jackets be allowed in the pool. I mean I can understand why you don't want adults and kids to have a bunch of floats taking up all the space... but banning kids arm swimmys is absolutely ridiculous! If thats an insurance thing you need to get a better insurance provider. I dont even have children and that made me very angry. Again everyday I saw people using floats and I'm happy nobody came out to scold them. Last about the pool, please turn on your filtration, thats just gross. I was there for 5 nights and I never saw the jets circulate the water, and while I could feel something very very slight at the floor, it wasn't enough to filter that large of a pool properly. I also would like to express my dissatisfaction about you having a store full of junk to sell, but no food items. Ive visited many, many rv park stores and never seen one without milk, cheese, bread, buns, hotdogs, canned food, etc. Yours is more like a gift shop. I mean just the basics would be such an appreciated improvement. While I am still very bitter about the whole pool deal, after meeting Jen I would bet my expressed opinions here today matter to her, and I wouldn't be surprised if some action was taken. That in itself means a lot to me, so maybe I will come back after all... but not if the pool continues to close at 8! I do thank all the staff for being so friendly and helpful, you guys definitely...