We also were surprised to find this campground had openings during the peak fall season when no other area campground had a site available for just a Friday night. The reasons became obvious once we got there. The campground was 90% empty. No credit cards, only cash. A recent heavy rain left the campground with a lot of standing water and mud. The pool was partially drained and the water that remained had a nice green color. The cable TV at the site we picked was not working. We did find cables run between trees split numerous times ending with a bundle of cable hanging from a tree at the next site over that we could connect to. Needless to say the picture quality was not great. The real excitement started once we were setup and ready to catch the trolley into Gatlinburg. The manager/owner of the campground was threatening to beat-up and kill an elderly man who was giving him some sort of trouble. A minute later the police pulled in and got involved. We watched this all unfold as we were waiting for the trolley and wondered if we dared to leave our RV there unattended or even to spend the night there. Being the slightly adventurous types we decided to stay. Our sleep was interrupted a couple times with sirens stopping in front of the campground and what sounded like a gunshot later on. The reviews we've read on this forum have been very helpful and pretty accurate. If we had checked this campground out before our stay we could have avoided paying the going rate for a one night stay in a run down and scary campground.

We stayed 4 nights and enjoyed every minute. The only negative was the Internet service could be slow or unresponsive at times because it was satellite (DirecWay) into the campground versus DSL or cable. The only other issue was when we tried to extend our stay, the office didn't seem able to or didn't try very hard to accommodate us but this was our fault and not the campground. We will definitely be back.

The campground is located adjacent to and behind a somewhat run-down looking motel. Most of the RV sites close to the entrance appeared to be seasonals. For our one night stay we were escorted by golf cart around some pretty tight corners and trees for our 35' rig to an area well away from the road behind the motel. This looked to be a recently cleared area of about 8 sites for the shorter stays. The full hook-up utilities appeared new and in good shape. That was until we plugged in our electric cord to the pedestal and our voltage monitor showed that there was no ground connection. I called the front office and they sent someone out to check the wiring. Once the pedestal was opened I could see that the ground wires from the 30-amp outlets were connected to the electrical box but the box was not grounded to anything! I explained that this was a safety issue and did not meet electric code but the employee insisted because nobody else had complained that it was not a problem. I called the front office and spoke to who I believe was the owner. He insisted the electric hook-up met code and that the problem was with our RV. I explained that without a proper ground, if anything in our rig shorted out, or the rig that shared our electric pedestal, that our whole RV would become electrified. After getting nowhere I requested a refund and was told "there are no campground refunds". At that point I told him that we were pulling out rather than risk being electrocuted. I also told him I was going to dispute the charge on my credit card and report the issue to the local building inspector. At this point he began yelling at and threatening me. I did speak to the inspector after they had a chance to investigate the problem. It is my understanding that the electrical hook-ups did not meet code and that the work had been done without the required permits and inspections. He also stated the campground was now working to correct the problem. In the end I came to appreciate my voltage monitor and the other campground personnel I've dealt with that still understand customer service. Unfortunately this is severely lacking at Surf Motel.