My 3-Day Experience At Split Rock Resort in PA

A few months ago I won a giveaway from mommypoppins.com for a 2-night, 3-day stay in the Galleria at Split Rock Resort at Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania. I was so happy (Thank you Mommy Poppins!) that I finally won a much needed mini vacation being that we didn’t do much all summer because of our busy schedule.

During this past summer, I was trying to think which week would be perfect for our mini vacation. I opted to leave it for the last few days of August to say a nice farewell to Summer. Since my hubby could not go (because of work) and my son didn’t want to go (crazy, huh?) I invited my good friend and her daughter to come along with my girls and I.  We called it our “Girls Getaway Trip.”  I could not wait!

The day of our trip, we left my house around 2pm and finally got to the resort at 4:30.  The ride to PA was great. We didn’t hit any traffic and we didn’t get lost thanks to my VZ Navigator on my Samsung Reality phone.  We also did not make any bathroom stops which was amazing being that there were 5 girls in the car (lol)

Upon arriving to the resort, I noticed a sign that said $1.00. My friend and I were puzzled. We said what is that for.  So we drove up to the security guard and he said it was $1.00 to enter the resort but to make sure we saved the receipt because we can use that $1 for any purchases in the resort.  I thought why would any resort do that.  It just doesn’t make sense to me.  We have reservations so why charge people $1 each time they enter the resort.  That to me was just nonsense but of course we paid and didn’t give the guard any trouble (or some New York attitude, lol)  and just drove off.  In the resort area, we also noticed the area was very residential.  It was not just the resort – people actually live there.  Anyway, we drove about 4 miles until we saw a sign for The Galleria – the main resort where we would be staying at for 3 days.

We all immediately saw the indoor water park H2 Ooohh from the road because of the slides that protrude out of the building.  The girls were super excited!  They could not wait to play in the water park.  My friend and I could not wait to actually relax after checking in.  We were tired.

I parked the car in front of the resort and we all got out to stretch our legs.  As soon as we entered the building, I felt I was entering a time warp.  It was like stepping into a resort from the late 70’s – early 80’s.  I said to my friend, wow, this place needs some serious updating.  She said no kidding.

We made our way to the check-in line and waited a few minutes.  When it was my turn, I showed them the certificate and my ID.  They could not find my reservations.  I thought oh no, I hope they find it because I am not going anywhere.  After some confusion, they found it.  Someone didn’t write out the check-ins for that day (they do a lot of paperwork the old fashioned way which is odd).

So after checking all of my necessary paper work  they told me that our two adjoining rooms were ready  and they gave me 3 keys (keys?? Are you serious? Aren’t we in 2010? LOL).  I took the keys, thanked her and off I went but then I thought “two adjoining rooms?” What happened to my 2-bedroom suite? I thought that was very weird because my certificate specifically said “suite“, not “adjoining rooms.”  Oh well.  Moving on.

Off to the side of the elevator was an indoor pool that looked green and grimy from the outside.  We were hoping it was the glass that made it look that way but later found out that was not the case.

When we got to our rooms, we immediately saw that the room was a decent size with a full kitchen with stove, microwave, oven, full-sized dishwasher, a dining area with a full size table with 6 chairs, a bathroom and a bedroom with two twin size beds and a door with no knob.  I walked out to open the other room and opened the adjoining door.  In the second room, there was a small sink & tiny fridge behind the front door and a queen size bed with a small closet and a bathroom with a shower.  We decided to leave the knob-less door opened to make it seemed like a 2-bedroom suite.

I don’t know about you but in my opinion, I wouldn’t say “suite” because it is NOT a suite – it is indeed two adjoining rooms.  When I think of a 2-bedroom suite, it is like small 2 bedroom apartment, right?

That was something I didn’t like. It was like they were giving us false advertisement.  Oh well, what to do?

After we unloaded the cart, and put our luggage in the room and put our
food away, we decided to take a look around The Galleria to check things out.
We went downstairs to the first floor and walked over to check out the pool.  Remember what I said about the pool being green and grimy pool? Well it was not the glass that made it look like that.  The pool was indeed disgusting looking and the bottom was green with algae or something.  Don’t be fooled –  It does NOT look  like the picture on the web site! I’m sorry but the staff really need to take a few days to empty out that pool to scrub and disinfect the entire pool and bottom because it is gross.

The girls wanted to go in but my friend and I were really hesitant.  After we left the pool area, we walked over to the indoor water park called H2Ooohh.

The water park is the best part of the resort.  It was clean, new, and the temperature was about 80 degrees. It was perfect. It had lots of fun things to do for both adults and kids.  We couldn’t wait to go but we decided to wait until the next day so we can make it an all-day event.

After checking out the resort, we went upstairs and the girls kept asking to go into the pool.  Like I said before, my friend and I were both hesitant but we changed into our bathing suits anyway and went downstairs.  We sat down on the side table and really thought about going in the pool.  The girls wanted to go in and we were both like I don’t know so I checked the pool up close and noticed that the pool water wasn’t dirty, it was the bottom that needed a good scrubbing so *gulp* we went in.  I don’t know why we did but to make the girls happy, we did the deed. My daughter and I kept our water shoes on because I was not going in if I had nothing on my feet – NO WAY! We were in there for about an hour and ended up leaving soon after.  But before leaving, we had to wait almost 30 minutes for towels because they ran out of towels. The pool guy said they were waiting for the “towel truck“.  I was kind of frustrated because we were told that the resort provided towels for the guests so why did we have to wait so long.

On top of the waiting, I had to walk through the lobby to take my daughter to the bathroom because they didn’t have a bathroom in the pool area.  I had no choice other than walk through the lobby dripping wet to go to the bathroom near the restaurant.  We were freezing, wet and embarrassed because people were giving us dirty looks.  I was getting aggravated by this time and when we got back to the pool area, the towels were finally there.  I asked for 5 towels for the 5 of us and could not believe my eyes.

They were the smallest towels ever!

I think an adult would need at least 3 towels just to get dried.  My friend and I looked at each other and said what the heck is this and just laughed it off. After drying up, we went upstairs to our room, took showers and gave the girls dinner. Our first day there wasn’t too bad but we saw lots of things that were in need of a major update and improvements.

The next day, we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast and we put on our swimsuits to head to the place we were all waiting for – H2Ohhh water park.  Our girls were so happy.  The first thing we did was hit the wave pool.  It’s
small but fortunately there weren’t a lot of people so it seemed just fine.  The water slides were a huge hit with the girls. They wanted to keep going but those stairs to go up to the slide were tiring so we were in the wave pool for awhile. The kids loved every minute of  it.

Just so you know, the water park is not that big and a bit pricey.  Even if you go in as a spectator, you still have to pay and it ain’t cheap.

After a couple of hours of playtime, we hit the snack bar for some grub.  We got some burgers, fries, soda, ice cream and funnel cake fries.  The burgers were really good – nice and juicy. The fries were not great but the funnel cake fries tasted sinfully good. Yes they were greasy but oh so yummy.

After our lunch, we hit the basketball area in the pool which was a major spot for tweens.  It was a lot of fun. My friend and I each took a small break to the hot tub (they have two) which was hidden from the water park so that a was really nice feature for the moms and dads.  The hot tub had a massaging jet inside that hit my back in all the right places. It was a great and much needed massage.

Around 6pm, my friend and I were getting tired. The girls on the other hand had so much energy but we knew we didn’t have much time because we had to check out the next day at 11am.  So we ordered a large pizza pie from the pizzeria in the lobby and watched TV until it time for bed (pizza was ok — for PA pizza)

On our last day here, we got all ready and packed up to go by 10:30 and was out the door by 10:45am.  Check out was a breeze.  It was simple and easy.

Overall, our mini-getaway was nice but I have to say, I was thrilled to go home.  I would recommend Split Rock Resort for a quick getaway but just note there are some things you may not like (like algae pool).

Would I come again?

Maybe — If they give the indoor pool a nice scrubbing with lots of disinfectant, then YES!! LOL

Another thanks to Mommy Poppins for hosting the giveaway on her site and for Split Rock Resort — You made the ending of Summer memorable.

Comments

  1. Just WOW!
    that’s all I can say LOL

  2. What a nice mini-vacay! Haha @ the pool being a little murky. Did you all end up getting in, or no?

    The resort looks so peaceful and relaxing. You lucky duck! 🙂

  3. Thanks a lot Lisa for the detailed description of the place because it is hard to find that on the Split Rock website. I am another New Yorker and I am going there in March. I hope the pool will be cleaned by then!! =)

    Lauren

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