When the new Camp Cedar campground near Kings Island was announced in late 2020, we were about as excited as one can get. Our family frequents the Kings Dominion KOA when visiting the park, and always have wanted to enjoy Kings Island from a camp ground perspective rather than always staying at various hotels.

We had originally scheduled to stay at Camp Cedar back in July 2021 for Coasterstock; however, a combination of issues delayed the opening of the park, and we were rebooked into a hotel.

When our family evaluated our 2021 Winterfest options, we opted to once again visit Kings Island. So we looked up rates for Camp Cedar and found them to be quite favorable for the shoulder season. We booked a combination Friday-Sunday stay (2 nights) to enjoy the park for a couple of nights.

We called ahead and found out there was no issues with checking in about an hour earlier than scheduled since the unit was vacant the night prior. Check-in was incredibly smooth and we were off to the cabin after checking out the lodge.

The lodge is quite large with a big open room for the customer service area. Beyond that is the store, which offers typical camping essentials and souvenirs. They also offer a small coffee shop (The Dry Bean) which includes gelato and quick bakery items. Beyond the store is a typical large lodge type room with comfy couches and a fireplace. At the far end, of the building is the Ironwood Grill & Tap. Here you can find a full service bar with a variety of limited menu items.

Outside of the lodge was the various pool complexes, which were closed for the season.

Kings Island Camp Cedar Cabins

We then proceeded to check out and get settled into our cabin. We choose a Hickory Cottage, which offered built in bunk beds for our kids, as well as a queen bed in the loft and a separate queen bed in the back room. A sleep sofa was also in the main sitting area for additional sleeping accommodations up to eight guests. We were assigned cabin 438 on the first loop past the lodge.

The first thing we noticed upon arriving in the area of the cabin is how they incorporated the terrain into the park, which we loved. Not entirely sure how much woods there was before, but there are also select trees that were left untouched, adding a nice scene, especially when it all grows in.

The downside was the campground in general, and our cabin specifically, is really close to the I-71. So all night long you hear the noise of trucks passing.

We then proceeded to check out the cabin. The entire unit had an overall whitewash décor and felt very new and beachy.

There was a small seating area with love seat/sleeper sofa and large flat screen TV. Adjacent was a kitchen complete with full size appliances. In the middle of our unit we had bunk beds built into the hall. Across from there was a bathroom with full shower surround. The back of the unit had a separate bedroom with queen size bed. Then in the upstairs loft was another queen bed.

While the cabins are new, we immediately started to notice some issues.

As a traveler, you do not typically bring hangers with you. None of the closets had any hangers, which means nothing could get hung up.

The biggest issue was the pocket door for the bathroom. It was difficult to even figure out how to get it out, and there was no way kids were going to be able to get it open tucked in the wall. Once the door was pulled out, then it did not align with the latch plate. The lock mechanism was also faulty and did not work well. There was even an instance where one of our kids did get it to lock, and then was trapped inside the bathroom and unable to get it unlatched because of the poor alignment of the door. If you did not lock the door, there was a large gap making it easy for anyone in the cabin walking by to see into the restroom.

The appliances and kitchen were very nice. It was great to have a cold drink in the fridge waiting for you after a long day in the park. The couple issues we had was they do not provide you with anything to make coffee besides a coffee maker. No filters. No coffee grounds. Nothing. This could be because of Covid protocols, but in todays age, we typically always find a complete coffee kit available at hotel rooms if they are not the pod style.

In addition, one of the things guests are supposed to do upon leaving is load and run the dishwasher. However, they do not give you any pods to be able to run the machine. It would also be nice if they included a broom and pan to clean up after ourselves and help the housekeeping.

Our first night at Camp Cedar, we opted to take the include shuttle over to Kings Island. Pickup was at the front lodge, and they drop you off in the Kings Island pickup/drop off area at the back of the parking lot near the Kings Island marquee sign. Not a big deal, and a relatively short walk to get to the front gates, but rather surprised the park did not give the shuttle access to drop-off near the gates like they do at Kings Dominion. The shuttle runs until 30 minutes after park closing, so keep that in mind with the additional walk and demand for the shuttle.

After our first night at Kings Island, and ride back to Camp Cedar, we had discovered that the entire block was without power. So we were unsure if our keycards would even work to get us access to our cabin. Before heading back to our cabin, we stopped at Guest Services to request some extra sheets and blankets knowing that there was a good possibility of no heat. However, the staff was rather unaccommodating and brushed us aside.

Upon arrival back to our cabin, we were quite surprised to see what appeared like all of the cabins were occupied, as earlier in the day it seemed like we might have the area to ourselves. Luckily, the keycards still gave us access to the cabin. At that point, we settled in for the night and called it a day. However, note, we had no heat (electric) and no hot water (electric) with the power out most of the night.

No one in the cabin got much rest the first night. Everyone on the first floor was extremely cold with very little in the way of bedding besides some thin sheets. For the two of us that stayed upstairs in the loft, we had the opposite effect. For some reason, even without heat in the cabin, it was extremely hot up there along the roofline. So much so that we had the window open to try and alleviate some of the heat. Note, we could not open both windows upstairs because of poor construction of the window latch that prevented it from sliding with the screws not being installed all the way.

Also keep in mind, windows open means you amplify the sounds coming from the adjacent freeway all night.

In addition, and this goes for all the beds in the cabin, they were extremely soft and unsupportive. We would have liked to see them include a higher end mattress lineup.

While we had hopes of possibly using our firepit one night, it was located on the opposite side of the cabin in an area that retained water. So it was completely unusable.

Fortunately the second night we arrived back at the cabin, we had power. While not the perfect scenario, we knew the technique to open the upstairs window to try and make sleeping in the loft a little more comfortable.

Pros

– Nice terrain with trees.
– Shuttle service to Kings Island.
– Beautiful interior to the cabins.
– Loved the covered front porch.
– Site includes a charcoal grill and separate fire pits if needed.
– Appears to have nice pool complex with adjacent food options.

Cons

– Close to freeway, which provides a lot of truck noise.
– Outside lights provide a lot of cast into the units, and with no blackout shades, keep the rooms pretty bright and hard to sleep.
– Closets did not have hangers.
– Shower had very low water pressure.
– Pocket doors were horrible. Difficult to open. Did not lock well and provided a gap.

Overall, the campground was nice, but one could tell it is still a work in progress. For example, at the concrete pads for trailers, they must have realized the pads were not wide enough. So they were going back and excavating to add in strips of brick on the sides of the pads.

We are curious to see how well the cabins hold up after a year or so worth of use. While beautiful, the materials seem like they will begin to show wear really quick.

We look forward to possibly trying out the campground maybe once in the summer to get the full experience, and maybe work out some more of the issues. However, if the rates tick up too much more, we would much rather stay at an adjacent hotel that we know has comfortable beds, which is imperative after being in the park all day.

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