Madison / Pittsburgh S.E. KOA Journey — Hotel in Sewickley Township

It’s been 2018 since our last visit. The place has really gone downhill. We’ve been to the Madison KOA at least 4 times. ||What they think is clean now a days is laughable.||||I usually cabin stay when staying at a branded campground, for $10-20 more a night makes it worth it not to lug my tent and usually tent sites are crap at these places and they have a couple just to say they have some (the ones here are grown over they claim to have 2, one is dug up) I camp at all 3 KOA brands, state parks, family campgrounds, and yogi bears etc. ||||Everything here is dated and it looks like they only have an interest in fixing things when they can’t avoid it anymore. Other places I’ve been have been putting in the upgrades left and right since camping has seen a serge these past couple of years. ||||Lake-never seen anyone fish at the lake until this past stay caught and they have a few small non motor boats no peddle boats or kayaks so don’t let that mislead you with “boat rental”. You do see things jump so I don’t doubt there’s fish and it’s really pretty in the backdrop. ||||If you HAVE KIDS young enough to have to keep an eye on the kabins facing the pillow ARE PRIME (kids wait for it to blow up every morning), play ground (basic-not toddler friendly, there’s a sand pit that’s not covered ||up at night where they HAD some toddler play stuff), and pool (small but does the job, the try to open it ASAP every year) all the activities are around there as well. If you DONT have kids or have a napper in the family, expect constant noise until quiet time. Get a white noise app or bring a sound machine, the TV you may get isn’t loud enough. Quiet and shade is on the backside of those Kabins in the pet friendly area. ||||Campstore is sparse, they need to bring it up date and offer more. ||Camp host family was awesome and usually the lower staff all are. ||They never had a gate, car hangers, or escorts||Activities have always been cheap and bare bones. There isn’t an activities director, the camp hosts run them. ||||Deals: they participate in Kid Care (May) and Camper Appreciation (September) weekend. Some KOAs don’t, claim they do but can’t actually use it when you try or pickings are slim. ||||Even with the deals I won’t be back. It’s not worth it. There is nothing new or upgraded and I’m not passing through or here for other things like some are. It’s ok for a weekend, don’t spend a week here with kids they’ll get bored. If you want to be within an hour from Pittsburgh and need some relaxation/recreation and willing to spend $50 per kid for their weekend activities pass I would recommend going to YB Kozy rest in Butler. ||||What tipped my scales from PROBABLY won’t be back to ABSOLUTELY WONT be back is….when I arrived my cabin was not clean, there was ultra crusty very dried up insect parts (its the woods, but…no one could have wiped that up? It’s obvious it’s been sitting there awhile) all over the top bunk, a flim/dust on the bed mats. I went to set up the beds and found several coins (from peoples pockets I assume) and an ear pod my toddler could have choked on if I hadn’t looked. A cleaning person should have found that. They sent the cleaning lady, she came in with a duster pad and went over our sleeping pads….no cleaners, towels, or shop vac. After she left, I swept the floor and LOTS of dirt came up. I broke out my sani wipes and did everything I could. I didn’t appreciate paying $90 a night for a tiny kabin to have to clean before my kids could settle in. ||||Also the door didn’t lock, I didn’t find this out until late in the second day when I went for bingo. She said I should have told them at check in, she knew exactly the problem I was talking about that maintenance would have come to fix it. Although I’ve always felt safe there…Non locking door, no security gate, electronic valuables, purse, medications and wife there alone with kids not ideal. Explained that to them, made it out to be no big deal. ||||The people were indignant and acted like I was imagining it. I was given a dirty kabin. They kept trying to minimize what I was telling them, tried to pass the buck ( she said only 1 coin, didn’t know about the air pod) , and said measures were taken that...

We stayed here for two weeks. Unless you're driving a class B, you want to approach the campground from the south (from I-70): it's a hard left on a downhill curve if you come from the north. After passing the entrance sign, watch for oncoming traffic before taking the left fork in the road to pull up to the office.

The campground is essentially a small valley. The office building, dumpsters, and propane refill station are on the west hill, the fishing lake occupies the bottom of the valley, and the rest of the campground is situated on the east hill. The long term sites are located in the northeast and southeast corners of the campground. The rest of the sites are arranged into 4 rows of pull-through sites and a half-row of pull-in sites (most of which were wide enough to get the towing vehicle out). The rows are divided by gravel roads, some of which are pretty narrow for two-way traffic. All of the sites have gravel pads with a mix of gravel and grass lawns, a picnic table, and fire ring. Many of the sites in the top third of the rows have one or two trees that provide some shade, while the lower sites have none. We stayed in site 68, which had two trees on the right side of the site that provided some early afternoon shade, and was fairly level.

The office building contains a large laundry room with change machine, a small lounge area with a pool table where they stack delivered packages, and a camp store with some convenience store items and souvenirs. The bathhouse on the east hill contains both bathroom and shower stalls. Next to the bathhouse is a large pavilion with several picnic tables and a large grill. Walking down the hill past that pavilion brings you to the communal fire pit area, then the pool area, and the playground. There is also a new jump pad (installed during our stay) and basketball hoop in that same area. On the east side of the lake is a short dock, an equipment shed, and two boats available to rent (a metal canoe and a rowboat).

There are two adjacent dog runs located at the base of the east hill next to the entrance road, with an airlock gate. They're not lit, but there is some light from the nearby street light. If the runs are both occupied, you can walk your dog around the lake or next to the grassy horseshoe pits adjacent to the runs.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna was 96 Mbps down and 60 up. However, there was a stretch of several days where I couldn't get any internet service...except for YouTube TV service on my laptop (YouTube TV didn't work via the Roku on our TV during this time). It was very strange: it started right after a brief power outage early one evening, then returned to normal several mornings later after a late night power outage. The campground WiFi was solid, with 14 Mbps down and 12 up (we were one site away from a repeater pole). The speed test I ran on my 5G AT&T smartphone showed 77 Mbps down and 3 up.

We would stay here again if we were...

The place was nice last year horrible this year. No bouncy pad, canoes are gone,sand box gone ,pool closes whenever they want to close it, store closes early when they feel like it. The management smoke in the pool area n drink even thou there's signs saying not to. Children 15 are supervising 10 year in the pool even thou it says adult supervision under 15. The 15 is not an adult our 17 was not permitted to watch her 6 year old sister in the pool. Rules seem to apply to only certain people. All the staff that has been there years quit or got fired. They talk about the staff that left. Definitely not friendly. You go in with a problem n are told if you have an attitude they aren't dealing with you. I was there 16 months I pulled my camper out n left a storage container I didn't have room in the camper for. I called to tell them I would be back for it only to find all my stuff thrown in the garbage. All the kids skate boards,scooter,helmets, basketball etc. Quiet time is at 10:00 but hear managers daughter n her friends talking loudly at 12:30. Pets are not allowed at other campers site unless you are the manager. They don't follow rules they make n if you break a rule you're out in 5 days no refund. The activity lady Casey who worked free quit, barely any activities now. Definitely not a good Koa should be renamed to Johns campground. Grass all high roads are terrible. Definitely running down Koa name. I've stayed at many n definitely different. I was told my camp site needed cleaned up when others have garbage, boats,toys n all...