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Kid friendly, family campground with a great location by the river. However, it's on the expensive end, generally very crowded and management is very strict (to the level that it's annoying). You can see other reviews with the same trend... I will NOT be camping here again.
If you like being harassed by staff this is your place. If you want to be stuck in your campsite at dark come here... my husband is a vet and can't get around well, so we got a golf cart to go from our site to friends sites....well apparently they recently changed their policy to no one out at dark ....staff broke their own 7mph rule to speed up next to us to be beyond rude and say that we are constantly breaking the rules(which was our first time leaving at dark) excuse us for not reading ALL the rules after we waited an hour to get into the parking lot and were rushed thru check in. Weve been coming for years and have read all the rules before would have been nice to get the heads up that hey theres no rules.Trick or treating is a stampede mess and a lawsuit waiting to happen. Won't be coming back all our friends are camping at the place across the way from now on
First went to Casini ranch in August with our two kids (3 and 5 y.o.) and another family with 2 kids (10 and 5 y.o.) - Had a blast. The mixture of kids’ activities, swimming, etc and recreation on-site fit our recreation needs perfectly.
We had such a good time we decided to come back a month later (yesterday) with another family (also have a 5 and a 3 y.o.) to stay the weekend
One of our kids had a rough night on Friday - woke up once disoriented and took a few minutes to calm down and go back to sleep, then woke up again at ~5a after peeing through his diaper and needed a change (not a fun activity in the middle of the night when it’s ~40-50F outside, of course he cried for a few minutes).
All four kids woke up early (just shy of 7a) - we scrambled to get them around a screen to keep them from playing too loudly - and you do what you can 🤷♂️.
The folks staying on the site next to us were not shy about coming over and telling us they were going to call the sheriff and kick us out for ‘child neglect’ (at this point I haven’t even had coffee yet)
An hour or two later staff came by to tell us they got a few texts from campers about the noise (whether they were from one camp using a few phones or not was not entirely obvious). Long and the short of it they kicked us out with a refund for one night.
On one hand, I understand the decision - it’s a business, there’s quiet hours, guests come for an experience and kids crying isn’t quiet - nothing personal there. On the other hand, it’s place that advertises itself as being ‘Family Friendly,’ as long as your kids are 10+ maybe? One of the staff actually told us that it’s not a good place for kids that are that young…. 🤷♂️
We planned to return here more times in the coming year, due to the place’s proximity to where we live and due to how much our kids (and their friends/families) love camping (even though every once in a blue moon, they don’t have a great night). Easily another $2k+/yr in revenue in the coming year from one customer, but might have to think about going elsewhere now.
Refund for the 2nd night was swift tho!
***Update: I went back to Casini and while the 10pm rule is still enforced, their policy has changed on how they effectively handle communication with their guests. This new procedure is really welcoming and friendly and made my stay here very enjoyable. ***
Check in was simple, and the staff is very friendly during check in. The site we stayed at was very private and felt like we were secluded even thought our neighbors are very close.
Quiet time is 8am to 10pm. The 8am is not enforced but the 10pm is strongly enforced.
If you are not in your camper or tent by 10pm, you get a warning. My husband and I were hanging out, enjoying the fire and talking softly and had two warnings by 10:10pm. The park attendant literally sat at the edge of our campsite waiting for us to talk before giving us our second warning, it was a unique moment.
Due to the close proximity of each campsite I understand the need to be quiet, but this was a first time we had "the talk", and I have camped her many times before.
The store is awesome, fully stocked and its nice to be on the river.
Gone way downhill. Been staying here nearly 15 years. Around the COVID outbreak, when this was one of the few places you could camp in the area due to federal and state parks being closed, things changed at Casini Ranch. The prices really began to soar. My tent site was as much as a hotel room last 4th of July. Despite prices well over $100/night, the bathrooms were left very dirty. Also, most campsites are way too close in an effort to make as much money as possible.
As a new, rowdier crowd began showing up around 2020, instead of the majority of regulars, the park began to crack down due to complaints. I feel much of the "Hey we're still open despite COVID" advertzing led to tons more campers, many of whom were perceived as NOT being as respectful to eachother. That's likely what led to ridiculous rules put in place and over-enforced by the campground.
For the first time ever, I had a run-in with a rude group who were slowly walking repeatedly around campsites around 9:30pm and encouraging their very young child to play an super-loud whistle type musicali toy loudly. The group laughed and talked loudly, while sneering at anyone who shot them an annoyed look. They were quite menacing as a group of 5. .I had to go in search of someone to talk to but it was dark and the campsite is huge. It took forever to find someone, then I got lost on the way back to my camp so it kinda put a damper on our night.
It seems to me that GREED led to this campground's undoing and I won't be back.
