Hershey Thousand Trails RV Resort

Enjoyed our stay at this park. The campground was clean, nice pool, big rig friendly and laundry on site. The internet was fast enough to stream. Verizon was better than TMobile. Approx 12 mbps down on Verizon. The sites were spacious and long enough for most rigs. Lots of geese and goose poo. Some potholes in the interior gravel roads.

Stayed here two nights and overall it’s a pretty nice campground. All staff were friendly and helpful. Sites are decent, some better than others. We stayed in F15 because it was secluded a little more and shaded. Site was ok, but a little closer to the neighbors than I would have liked. We had full services and no issues with any of them. Electric was fine despite the crowded campground and 91 degrees. There is a lot to do especially for smaller kids. Even my 17 and 16 year old enjoyed man hunt and other stuff to keep them busy. Cell service is very sparse for Verizon. I imagine it’s better with a booster because it’s 5 bars a mile down the road.

We loved this park. It has good infrastructure, a lovely lake, a nice pool, tennis/basketball courts and nice trees around. There is a good selection of FHU sites in most of the loops and appears to be some W/E sites in loop A at least.

Cell signal in loop H at the top of the hill left a lot to be desired. Inconsistent at best in terms of speed. Verizon could not get a speed test, and many times voice calls struggled without using wifi calling. AT&T barely could get a speed test, or sometimes could and sometimes couldn't and had very high packet loss. Calyx/Sprint/Tmobile had poor speeds and 94-99% packet loss within the first 24 horus of arrival. Very annoying at first. I think it connected to a better tower a day later because I was able to use my Calyx hotspot (which is Sprint that roams on Tmobile as needed) to stream Netflix all the next 11 days with nearly no issues. Calyx/Tmobile/Sprint was 7.5/1.5 on the day of checkout and that's about right for the other days.

I would NOT plan for the internet in Loop H to be consistent enough for absolutely mission critical stuff like road working with video calls and similar unless you buy the wifi. There are plenty of wifi repeaters all around.

The fastest speeds I could find driving around were in B and F loops (adjacent to each other) behind the lake, closest to the basketball court/entrance to both loops. There I had good signal on AT&T and Verizon (20+ mbps/3-8mbps).

In loop H we tried out the campground wifi for the first time at any TT park and found this one to be actually reliable and good enough. We paid for 30 days of 10mbps service for $35, with up to 4 devices that could each do 10mbps (or in our case 3 devices at 10mbps each directly into their wifi and our King wifi extender could login to their system and then we could put multiple devices sharing one 10 mbps tunnel across those).

Busy, full park with a lot of activities and events going on. It is close to Hershey, near enough to small towns and country markets to get the basics. They had root beer floats down by the pool on Labor Day and other activities around.

Despite the lack of cell signal in H, we really liked the H loop. Laundry is in the H loop bathhouse, it is treed and hilly. Despite this, in the future I would probably stay in F. Further from the laundry but still has the trees and the hills and it had very good cell service and a quiet feel to it because it's a small loop. Even the Friday before Labor Day weekend, it was not full, maybe half full in F. Probably by Saturday it was full but still, that would be where I would aim for in the future at Hershey.

Staff very friendly. Propane available near the guard gate from 10-10:30am and 2-2:30pm for refills, charged to the card on file. We are glad we got moved to Hershey after flooding at another nearby TT made us move here. We will be back.

Stayed here 5 nights and 6 days. It is a beautiful campground. One Saturday night they had a band playing at the lake pavilion. The pool is huge but you must register as they are keeping the occupancy low due to COVID. They have a large indoor hot tub that is very nice. Camp store has some stuff and fresh scooped ice cream. They have a large area for gatherings in the Lodge as well as a pool table, ping pong, and a library. the power was stable at 117v / 115v. Water pressure was high at 80 psi so be sure you have a water pressure regulator. Cell service was good for most but slow if you need to upload Sprint MiFi 36 Mbps down, 1.1 Mbps up. Verizon cell phone 36 Mbps down, 0.6 up. My site was pretty level but I have seen others that might be "nose down" for larger rigs. There were Canadian Geese there leaving their poo behind and on a daily basis the staff were washing it away to keep it as clean as they can. Quiet campground but still lots for families to do together or separate.

This is a beautiful campground right in the middle of rural Pennsylvania farmland. Though not a ding against it, do note that all of the smells associated with the many local dairy farms is noticeable. The park is about 30 minutes from Hershey attractions and 20 minutes to shopping in Lebanon.

We thoroughly enjoyed all of the green space as well as the views of the lakes and surrounding mountains from the H section. However, be aware that the climb up this section is steep - even more so than the rest of the park.Verizon and AT&T were suitable for work and streaming unboosted. There were several OTA channels. We did not use the bathhouses, but did use the laundry room and appreciated their credit card or pay-by-app system. They do take packages at the front gate.

Also be on the lookout for the Hershey Howl on Saturday nights. It's cute, but could be a little alarming if you aren't in the know. :)

We would stay again if in this area, but would suggest arriving on a weekday or Sunday since we barely found a suitable spot on a Saturday afternoon.

Campground Name: Hershey RV & Camping Resort
Location: Lebanon, PA
Overall Campground Rating (1-5): 4
Maneuverability*: No issues
Campground Notes: ‘B’ and ‘C’ loop are 30/50 amp but 50 amp has to be unlocked by a ranger for an additional fee. 50 amp is included in ‘H’ loop where we stayed. There is a big field that was fun to play wiffleball and fly kites.

Site #: H9 & H30
Site Rating (1-5): 3
Site Notes: Full hookups, 50 amp. We wanted to stay in H loop and the only available spot when we checked in was H9 so we took it. H9 is a back-in spot. Unfortunately, it was under a large, dead tree that was covered in grapevines. Living in the grapevines were Spotted Lanternflies which left sticky “honeydew” all over our trailer. When hurricane Laura threatened, we move to site H30 to be away from the dead tree. H30 is a long, pull-thru site. H30 has some low limbs which brushed the top of our 12’ trailer so if you have a tall rig you might want to avoid it. Both sites had a picnic table and fire ring that were in good condition.

Amenity Rating (1-5): 3
Amenity Notes: Due to Covid-19, laundry and bath houses in ‘H’ loop were closed. Main laundry was open but closed every two hours for 30 minutes for cleaning, so we went to a laundromat in town. Fishing in the pond was good, lots of sunfish and bass. Pool was nice, 3’-6” to 5’ deep. Mini-golf was open and clubs were available but you have to bring your own balls. They sometimes sold snacks by the pool. The playground was open and nice. There were paddleboats and an arcade but I’m not sure if they were open. There is no campground Wi-Fi.

Reason for camping here: to visit Hersheypark, about 25 minutes away
Miscellaneous Notes: there is a Giant and Walmart within 20 minutes. Sawasdee is a really good Thai restaurant. J&S Pizza was OK but not great.

Dates Stayed: 8/17-30/2020
Price Paid: $0, Thousand Trails membership
Weather: Highs in upper 70s to low 90s, very humid, some rain with hurricane Laura, mornings and evenings after sunset were pleasant
Verizon Cell Quality**: 1-2 bars on hotspot and sometimes got 3 with antenna, no signal on cellphones at site but 1-2 bars down by pool. Even when antenna pulled in an extra bar, speeds didn’t really improve. Signal was very inconsistent, issues with even calls being dropped. Sometimes could stream HD and sometimes YouTube wouldn’t even load a video. Averaged 4.93 down and 1.22 up during our stay.
Mail: Campground accepts packages. Paperwork says no USPS but we received a package. Ranger station holds packages. There was a USPS about 15 minutes away as well.

* For reference we are pulling a 33’ long Jayco travel trailer with a 2016 F350 Crew Cab Short Bed 4x4 which is 22’ with hitch giving us a total length of 55’.
**For reference we have two Google Pixel 2 XL on Verizon ‘Play More” unlimited data plans. For data we have an Inseego 8800L on Verizon’s expired prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. In areas of low signal we use a Netgear 6000450 MIMO antenna. Measurements are taken using the “Multi” test on Speedtest by Ookla.

A review by sdplusztravels, a fulltime family of three living on the road in a RV. This review is our opinion and we have not been sponsored or compensated by anyone. Follow us on Instagram (@sdplustravels) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SDplusZ/). YouTube coming soon!

The Hershey RV Thousand Trails campground is a nice, well maintained place. They charge an extra fee ($4/night) for 50 amp and if that allows them to keep the placed kept up, then I'll gladly pay it.

The campground is in a small valley so TV and cell reception starts and not great and trends towards non-existent, depending on where you're parked. We've were in the F loop on a previous trip and had very acceptable cell reception. Right now we're in B81 and the reception is marginal to acceptable for streaming, depending on time of day, weather, etc.

Verizon is 2 bars and OK to marginal for streaming, AT&T and Sprint are 1 bar and not suitable for streaming and sometimes not suitable for browsing.

If you need good cell service, bring a booster or park in the F loop with good equipment. If you're here to go to Hershey park or take in a relaxing atmosphere and chill, then find a great spot and enjoy!

It seems that several pedestals were replaced in the last few years and A loop's work is now done. The roads are better than we remember, though could still use a bit of work. In all, it appears that Thousand Trails has put some money into the park since we were here.

The Divine Swine is about 6 miles up the road and worth the visit for it's great BBQ. Hershey park is open, but with COVID still going strong, we've decided we'll wait a year or two to visit the park, again. The park could really use a paid WiFi vendor, but I understand that can be difficult to find if you want a reliable company.

In all, we really enjoy the park and the Hershey area. In order to go anywhere, you're literally traveling between cornfields and the area is full of small businesses and farm stands.

We've stayed at 20 Thousand Trails campgrounds this year, and this Hershey location is our favorite.

Full hookups (50amp, water, sewer). Excellent water pressure at 60psi.

Service was super friendly at the front desk. With their suggestion, we headed to section H to look for an available 50amp site and found site H5 on the hill looking over the lake.

We had lots of success at fishing, enjoyed the swimming pool, caught fireflies at night, watched the deer eating outside our back window, and took lots of photos of beautiful sunsets.

The only knock against the campground is the weak cell service. It was a bit hit or miss between our AT&T phones and Verizon hotspot. Sometimes it was good enough to stream, other times we couldn't even refresh a web page.

Stayed at this hershey TT park the first week of june. It was strange to go by the amusement park and no ride, no people, no cars around due to COVID-19.

The resort is actually outside the Hershey downtown by some 15 miles but it's a nice drive through rolling fields and farm land which is quite a beautiful route.

One word of about the location.. Make sure you are coming in off hwy 322 so when you head to the resort entrance you will turn to the right to get in.. coming the other direction is a narrow, twisty, hilly road that can be a hand full in a larger rig.

The sun in our site, B-16 came up on the curb side, went over head and set toward the front left corner behind the tree line around 3ish.. The site beside us b-18 was a perfect place. there was a nice tree on the street side that provided shade from around noon through the afternoon. Now later or earlier in the year the sun will be a bit different but that is still a good sun route.

Unfortunately all the resort amenities were close till the weekend right before we left and not every was "open" after that.

There is a nice looking pool and other activities area around the main family lodge area.

The area was nicely manicured on a weekly basis.

The only bath house open the whole time was in "A" section which is more used by tent and popup type campers.

Most of the roads are paved but a fair share of them are gravel as are the sites.. The water sewer and elec are on a pedestal. On our site the 30 amp was not working.. (breaker was bad) So we call and one of the rangers came out. At first the office people was talking about using the 50 amp at a additional charge. when the ranger came out I told him I only needed 30 amp and had a dog bone for the 50 to 30.. he unlocked it and we hooked up no extra charge.

going out and coming was handled by either someone in the guard shack or use of the keypad with code to open the gate.

there is a good grocery store close by and in lancaster a Costco that sell LP refills for 2.10 a gallon. it about a 30 min drive so make it worth while.

For the golfers I play a local course called Deer Valley with a guy in motorhome in site across the road. We liked it so much the first time we play again 2 days later.. The cost was $25 with cart, (senior rate) a deal for such a nice course.

We rode bikes around the resort which as a good deal as there are several good size hills so you get a nice work for sure.

Overall not a bad place but like other TT needs some attention to the small stuff to help make it just a bit better.

Snagged the perfect shady spot for our home on wheels. This Thousand Trails Campground has great amenities and our 50 amp, full hookup site was at no additional charge. Located just 25 minutes from Hershey’s Chocolate World, this RV resort is found within a pristine country setting. AT&T cell service with a booster clocked in at 27.2 Mbps download speed and 7.98 upload speed. Verizon clocked in at 15.2 Mbps download speed and.0.66 upload speed.