Freedom, NH -
That's Camping wrote this review on 07/19/09. Dates of Stay: July 11 - 18, 2009. Will You Return? Yes. What did you camp in? Travel Trailer - Size of Camping Unit: 26ft
What stood out? All in all, we were very pleased with our stay, until Saturday morning, check-out day.
Check-out is at 11am, but starting at 9am, the security guard drove by in his golf cart at least ten times. At least a half dozen of those visits, he stopped at the end of our drive, looking down into our site, or should I say STARING into our site for minutes at a time. Totally put us in a bad mood!
We paid for our week long vacation which didn't end until 11am! I don't mind that he felt the need to drive around checking on the progress of the sites, but come on! Stopping and staring when there is PLENTY of time before check out is just rude and unnecessary! We have a routine for packing up, as most do...and it works well. We don't usually check out late, especially in peak summer months, and there are even occasions that we are ahead of check out time...and this morning was no different. We made it to the front depot office before 11am with both of us in a bad mood! GRR! Really put a damper on our happy memories! Now I can empathize with other campers when they post reviews w/ complaints about pushy staff at check-out!
Owners and Staff: It feels a bit "different" at Danforth this season. A lot of the staff is new; Dawn has left for greener pastures, and Tim is over at Purity Springs. I didn't see Deana or her husband, but I did see Diane and Craig briefly. I missed seeing all the friendly happy faces! I didn't feel the normal "at home" friendly atmosphere that I usually feel, but I guess it's all relative.
Camp landscaping and surroundings: Gorgeous as usual! The grounds are always kept up nicely with flowers, green grass, etc.
Unfortunately, roads are very dusty, and with traveling cars and speeding golf carts, the dust gets kicked up a lot. Not great for walking, and we noticed a thick layer of dust on a lot of the vehicles parked on lower Main Street. I do realize how expensive it is to "coat" the roads, but it's too bad that it's so dusty in the busier areas of the campground. We didn't notice a problem up in the higher areas, probably because the traffic was less.
Good sites: So many great sites. Lovell, Squam, upper Main, Silver Lake Circle, Chocorua, Purity Point Bad sites: The sites closer to the Pavilion are a bit noisy and busy, especially on weekends.
Campsite hookups: electric, water, sewer, cable, wifi Campsite Descriptions: sunny and open, wooded, private, semi-private, large and spacious, close to the road, sandy bottom, picnic table, fire ring, group camping area. Most sites are spacious with decent privacy. They are now offering a rental RV trailer.
Cell Phone Service: Verizon was great, AT&T was pretty useless. Wifi worked perfectly from out campsite, so I was happy!
Seasonal Campers and Campsites: neat and orderly, friendly campers; the staff needs to re-enforce golf cart speed limits. I am assuming most of the offenders are seasonal campers, since the bulk of the golf carts are theirs.
Clean restrooms and showers? yes. Restrooms and showers need updating? no. Coin-metered showers. Are restrooms accessible from all sites? no. Additional comments on restrooms and showers: Didn't use bathrooms much this time, but they are cleaned by staff at least once a day, maybe twice. We didn't notice how often. Some sites have a little bit of a walk to the restroom.
pool, lake, swimming, fishing, boating, boat rentals, recreation hall, video games, live entertainment, bingo, tv or movies, playground, theme weekends, kids planned activities, camp store, ice cream, AM coffee, snack bar, pets allowed, laundry room, dumping station, security gate. The snack bar is back! They added a new covered table area by the pool/tennis courts.
What is nearby? restaurants, grocery stores, retail stores, ocean or lake, amusements, nature trails. North Conway is just north, as are all the White Mountain attractions.
Last comments: We had a very good week. Relaxing yet busy with day drives, kayaking, hiking, eating. It was a terrific week! We'll be back!
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Just a quick comment on the golf cart issue. Danforth Bay rents several golf carts now and many of the infractions (i.e. speeding, crazy driving, etc…) is the result of the rental golf carts and the golf carts that are brought in by non-seasonal campers.
Posted by CMS on 07/22/09
Yes, transient rentals might be adding to the situation, but the speeding problem has been an issue for years, before rentals.
Posted by That's Camping on 07/25/09
We too were at Danforth Bay July 10-17th they came and cleaned up our site before we had even pulled out of it. I also have to say about the golf carts going very fast as with cars going too fast in the campground. The security guard was all over the kids on their bikes for going thru the stop signs or going down the hill that leads to the store but I never saw them talking to the speeding cars or golf carts. This would be my complaint also from this year. However we did have a great stay and are going back again next year.
Posted by Joyce on 07/25/09
We’ll be back too, Joyce! Thanks for your comment!
PS I also noticed the security talking to some of the kids w/ bikes down by the ballfield. He told them that they were not allowed to drive them now that it was getting dark, and to walk them back to their campsites.
And I also agree, I didn’t see anyone in a car or cart get spoken to either.
Posted by That's Camping on 07/25/09
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