San Diego RV Resort — Local services in La Mesa

My son and I spent the weekend here last weekend. The parking spaces are tightly placed one after another. Some are hard to get to due to facing opposite directions. I was a late check-in, 10pm. Most resorts have packets but mine was missing. In fact, there were no packets in the spot where packets were suppose to be. I figured I was the only one checking in and they didn't have one since we spoke on the phone.

As I pulled into the resort, my space was immediately to my right facing the opposite direction and it was a back-in. I had to turn around at night with minimal knowledge of the resort, found out not much space to do so, had no map of the place. As I was in the middle of a 12 point turn at the first t-intersection I was greeted by a security guard who had no knowledge of me checking in that night. Which made me feel a little weary of him even though he was wearing a security gaurd outfit. When I reserved the space, I informed them I was a late check-in and was given my code and space number over the phone.

The night guard took a picture of my reservation from my phone and assisted me in backing my 16ft travel trailer into space three. It was a tight fit due to the neighbor's vehicle took up a good amount of the opening to my space (refer to photos, my space was the one closest, blue truck and wulf pup trailer, the neighbor had left that morning, hopefully not over my late check-in). The front of their vehicle was perpendicular to the front of my truck.

Luckily, I been towing for over 30 years and had a lot of experience. The guard realized this and made a comment. We both chuckled over my manuevering skills as I park the trailer perfectly in my space around the neighbor's SUV. Coming about a few inches away, so close, I could smell the burnt bugs on its front grill even though it's been parked for awhile.

I was a little disappointed about my experiences of having a very tight spot to back into. I took note for this review. Now here I am posting one. Not much they can do with the limited space they have but they were able to utilize as much space as they could. I was really surprised on the size of the resort and how they intertwined each space. My son, 8, and I took a morning stroll through the park the next morning.

It was fenced in completely and had an awesome view of the passenger train passing by at the rear of the resort. My son wanted to ride it. Sadly we didn't have time to do so. It was right off I-8, you can hear the cars passing by on the freeway. It had a side street paralleled to the freeway that you could take to get to the park.

As my son and I walked about, I realized how nice the resort truly is. Only issue they have is the parking spaces but other then that, I was amazed on how well the park was maintained and organized.

The staff were very friendly, and I had to finish checking-in at the front office at 8am when they open. So my son and I stopped by the pool area, the billards room, and the spa area. We walked from end-to-end and actually enjoyed the views of different RV's and different vehicles parked. We saw another area with more RV's but didn't see a way to access it. It was more spacious then the one we were in. Might be for their larger RV's.

I then realized why they charge extra for guests to park and visit. Parking space is very limited and only designed for paying guests and maybe one other vehicle; as each visitor who had two vehicles had to tightly park their vehicles into their spaces.

The staff gave my son a Sunland pin and granted him the title of an Officer of the Sunland Community, even took his picture with it pinned to the collar of his little tan coat. He was so proud to be commissioned. I was a proud father. Thank you!

This resort is amazing to see in daylight, even if parking is tight. It's a must visit to experience! I give it a 5 star. They were able to utilize the maximum potential of the space to fit: a billards/tv room, multiple laundry rooms with bathrooms, a pool and spa with a ping pong table!

A must...

I gave 3 stars because this could be a nice place.

I don't normally right reviews but this "resort" could be very nice despite the noise.

Overall impression Pretty to look at, clean, neat and tidy, friendly. Inconsistent pricing, I over paid compared to others that week.

Deep dive.... The premium plus sites are not longer. I Had to squeeze a 33.5 ft motorhome and tow vehicle into a 40 foot long spot.  Cars MUST be parked parrallel to your camper. Not across the bow.

We met a couple that paid half what we paid for the same week. I thought we booked a special. Apparently, we didn't get the really good special.  Just charge a fair price and people will return. We won't.

Additionally, there was a fee to park my toad which was towed by my motorhome $5/day plus taxes. This fee was NOT disclosed at the time of booking. When I questioned it, the gal asked....if we had a camper or Moho.  Apparently it makes a difference.  If in a camper or 5th wheel, a huge dually truck would be free.  a car behind a motorhome is charged $. I also had an undisclosed pet fee at time of booking. It showed up on my final bill. $42 for 2 dogs for 1 week. my dogs and I are clean freaks. So much they we would not use the dog park due to it being all black dirt and no way for disease to be cleaned off. Upon arrival my site had piles of "small dog" poop. I'm  not sure why the fee if they aren't going to clean the poop left by the previous campers. I had to clean it.  BTW, out of respect I hosed off my concrete pad and gravel before I left.

The pool is beautiful, but I would not call 78-79 degrees heated in the winter.  The pool and hot tub both had worn patchy concrete.  The hot tub was so abbrasive my new swim suit became "pilled" on the seat of it.  The pool bath was clean visually but stunk like mold and was old. I did not use it.

If you are in the east section, I think they called it premium plus. I would not say I had a premium lot. Most did. There were no bushes between me and my neighbor like the web photos show. In fact there was a whole row of no bush sites. We were put in the end slot up to the entrance brick wall and gate, I guess that was a blessing.  Only a peeping tom neighbor on one side and across the road. No privacy as one might expect based on the web photos. And I guess I was fortunate because I was not in a "buddy" section. They have a lot of buddy sites.

A rather huge issue from the east lot, you cannot access the pool or any amenities without driving (then nowhere to park by the pool) or walking along the main road outside the park gate. Why they don't have a walking bridge between the two areas is a mystery. There is plenty of room for a walking bridge. If you want to walk at night for exercise you have to lap the small east side or venture out on the main highway to access the west section and pray there is not a car coming at you.

The noise as others have mentioned is crazy loud when you are backed to the I-8 freeway. Almost deafening. These should be pull in sites or offered at a deep discount.

The girl at the desk checking me in was very friendly.  The groundskeeper was diligent and did a nice job. I'm sure his hands are tied by some budgeting corporate person and cannot just fix or update stuff at will.

I paid $700. for 1 week (home for the holiday "special discount" for what should have been $450 like the couple we ran into who coincidentally was at the previous campground we were at. The value was not there for me. This is a 50-60/night value at the moment based on my experience at...

So the resort itself is not bad. They do events on weekends (most of them there is something going on). Pool is nice and pretty well maintained. Hot tub isn't bad and when I was able to use it was good. The dog park is small and is only dirt. The river the resort is along is dry majority of the year (unless you get rain). The staff when first arriving in January was good (Josh and Claire were amazing). Now for the not so great side. Wife and I were going to stay long term, but ended up leaving due to the manager (Jennifer). Few issues to make note of: The manager (Jennifer) contradicted herself on several occasions to my wife and I (this wouldn't be as big of a problem if it was a one time thing, however, from parking issues (being told one thing, then the contrary), having double standards for parking (the specific instance was the manager told my wife and I that we had to have our parking passes displayed at all times, or our vehicles would be towed). On several occasions, truck would park by our trailer with no parking pass anywhere visible. Brought this to Jennifer's attention and gave her the plate number-she looked up the plate in front of me and informed me that the vehicle wasn't registered to be in the resort. Well common sense says that if the rule is parking pass visible at all times or be towed, and the vehicle wasn't registered to be in the resort, get rid of it. Few weeks later, the manager changes her story and tells me that is registered and that she was not going to enforce the parking pass rule on this vehicle (several vehicles didn't show/display parking passes), yet my wife and I were told we would be towed if we didn't display them=selective enforcement.

The manager contradicted herself on so many occasions that she even went to the extent to tell me that her boss (her district manager) directed her to have my wife and I leave the resort after nearly 9 months.

Shortly after my wife and I departed, we got in touch with the district manager (very nice guy and very easy, and pleasant to work with) he informed us that he had never spoken to Jennifer about the parking situation, or the fact that he never told/directed Jennifer to have us leave.

My wife had several conversations with the manager, where she admitted that she had "misspoken" or wasn't correct. This created headaches and unnecessary stress that was very easily avoidable.

Bottom line is the manager, Jennifer, is a liar and selectively enforces rules on tenants and visitors-not good for business.

Typically, I would recommend other people to stay at this resort and enjoy their time here, however, with the absolute subpar management that the manager displays and simple fact that she cannot stick to one story (lies), I do not recommend anyone to do business at this specific resort, at least until better, more trustworthy management is...