Thunder Valley Casino to allow RV parking (maybe)

By Chuck Woodbury
editor, RVtravel.com

A representative of the Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, Calif., told me Thursday that the casino will once again allow RVs in its parking lot during the day while the RVers are gambling, dining or enjoying other activities at the popular casino, one of California’s largest. It will not allow overnight stays in recreational vehicles.

However, an updated message on the casino’s website on Friday suggested otherwise. “Unfortunately we are unable to accommodate RV's or trailors during our construction phase,” it reads, and yes, the spelling of trailers is incorrect.

In early December, we ran a letter in this blog from a Washington state man who had driven his motorhome to the Sacramento-area casino but was informed by a security guard that RVs were not allowed in the parking lot unless they could fit into one space. He was told instead to park on the street. As expected, the letter brought a flood of mostly angry comments from RVtravel.com readers, most with promises to boycott the casino.

A representative of Thunder Valley told me that the casino had disallowed RVs in its parking lot primarily for space reasons. The casino is undergoing a huge expansion with a 23-story hotel, two ballrooms and a performing arts center that will connect to the present 200,000-square-foot casino. So during construction, parking space is limited.

“They have to think about having parking space for the 2,000 employees of the casino,” said Doug Elmets, whose public relations agency represents the casino.

Elmets said there had been some problems with some RVers in the past that had contributed to the casino’s decision to simply ban all motorhomes and trailers unless they could fit into one parking space.

But when I informed Elmets of the casino’s “No RVs allowed” statement (without offering a reason why) on its website’s front page and how that served as a slap in the face to the RV community, he called the casino manager to see what could be done. In banning all RVs, I don’t believe the casino had any idea of the size of the RV community and its potentially positive economic impact to its business. And I wondered if the casino's managers knew how virtually all other large casinos not only allow RVs in their parking lots, but go out of their way to welcome them.

Elmet called back a few hours later. “The casino will find a way to squeeze in RVs,” he said. I suggested that the casino change its front page “No RVs allowed” message to something more accommodating. Instead, a day later, the message was essentially the same, although it did add that RVs were not allowed “during our construction phase.”

So my suggestion is that for now RVers avoid going of their way to the Thunder Valley Casino until it removes the “No RV parking” message from its website or in some other way shows an interest in welcoming RVers. Or if they go, be ready to park on the street.

New Indian Casino, RV park coming to So. Calif.

The Twenty-Nine Palms (Calif.) Band of Mission Indians will unveil plans this month for the first phase of a multi-million dollar, multi-phased economic development project to be built entirely on and within its 160-acre reservation in Twentynine Palms that will include the the Nuwu Casino Resort & RV Park. Phase 1 of the development will include the approximately 60,000-square-foot casino, a state-of-the art KOA RV campground, and miles of dedicated hiking trails. The RV park will offer more than 100 RV, tent and cabins sites, along with a number of amenities. The park will be managed by the Tribe through a franchise agreement with Kampgrounds of America (KOA).

So many casinos, so little time....

Currently there are more than 800 casinos in the U.S., about half on Native American lands. Of these, more than 600 casino locations can be considered "RV-Friendly," that is they either have an RV Park/campground on property or they allow free overnight parking. So many casinos, so little time!

What about the other 200 or so that are "RV-UNFriendly?" They have issues that preclude allowing free overnight parking for RVs. For instance:

-- No room in the parking lot. The Hard Rock in Tampa is among these, especially during the winter months. They'd like to welcome RVs, but their parking is limited. Casinos in major metropolitan areas such as Detroit or New Orleans? Don't try to go there with your RV; it won't clear the parking garages.

--- No security during the night. There are a number of small casinos that don't stay open 24 hours. If they don't have security services for any portion of the time they're closed they will ask you not to stay overnight.

--No overnight parking by local ordinance. We know of only one so far and that's Atlantic City, NJ. A city ordinance in Atlantic City prohibits overnight parking in any parking lots, but this seems to be because of safety concerns rather than as a response to complaints from local campground owners (as we've seen with local laws passed in various parts of the country to try to ban overnight parking at Wal-Marts.)

--Construction and expansion decreased the availability of surface parking. Gulf Coast casinos are still working to rebuild after the recent hurricanes have less parking spaces now than pre-Katrina. In Danbury, Wisc., the Hole In The Wall casino recently closed its 35-site campground to make way for a new hotel. There are many others, including Thunder Valley in northern California.

Although we consider these casinos "RV-UNFriendly" they are not deliberately discriminating against RVers, nor are they being mean-spirited. Thunder Valley is in the RV-UNFriendly group. They say they do not permit RV's in the lot because construction and future expansion does not allow room for RV parking. Many of us have heard speculation and gossip about other reasons, but it's just that, gossip. Bottom line is, speculation about their rationale won't change the casino's business decision. There are plenty of other casinos in Central California that welcome RVs. For instance, we've stayed in the RV park at Feather Falls in Oroville a few times and they are generous with incentive coupons.

I try to look at the positive side...casinos that allow safe and secure overnight parking are a boon to the traveling RVer who needs a place to stop and rest overnight. For adult RV travelers who enjoy the gaming or the casino buffets, it's good to know that most casinos are friendly to us. Jack and I are full-time RVers and over the past eight years we've stayed at many casinos, in the lot or at the RV park. We've enjoyed casino-hopping from coast to coast.

The casino landscape is continuously changing and I try to provide current information on this blog that will be of interest and value to you. We very much appreciate your comments and input. A lot of RVers tell me they go to certain casinos for the great food. If you have any comments or recommendations about casino buffets, we'd love to hear about them.

Thunder Valley has issues

BLOG UPDATE (12-8-07) from the RVtravel.com editor: As you will see from the comments below, many readers have complained that the posting here does not go far enough to explain why the casino changed its policy from allowing RVers to park in its parking lot to banning the practice. I agree, and will talk to the casino management personally next week to get the true and complete story.

As y'all know researching RV-Friendly casinos for our Casino Camping guide book is an ongoing project for me.

Since Thunder Valley is the prime topic of conversation these days, I went back and checked my notes from earlier editions of the book. When we were gathering info for the first edition of Casino Camping in 2003 we visited many California casinos personally, including Thunder Valley...the management and marketing people were very hospitable at that time and they were delighted to be listed in the book. They wanted us to be sure and mention that they offered shuttle service from the parking lot for RVers. The first Casino Camping came out in July 2004 and Thunder Valley was lsited as RV-Friendly.

Our visit the following year was a different story. When we called on Thunder Valley they requested not to be listed in subsequent editions because they no longer allowed RVs in their parking lot. They would not say why, but they were quite adamant about it. So when the 2nd edition of Casino Camping was published in Nov 2006 a special note appeared in the California section to alert RVers not to go to Thunder Valley. I was perplexed (because they had been so hospitable the previous year and there surely is enough room in their parking lot) so I did some checking around. It appeared they had very good reasons for their decision to exclude RVs from the premises. Although when I asked them about what I'd heard they would not confirm or comment. So they join the ranks of the RV-UNFriendly casinos...and there are a number of them throughout the country for a variety of reasons. Some simply don't have room in the parking lots...some aren't open 24 hours and don't want RVers out there overnight when they can't provide security. Construction, expansions and unexpected events like hurricanes cause casinos to become temporarily or permanently UNfriendly to RVs.

But, like my friend & colleague Mac McClellen said, there are plenty of casinos that want us -- too many to worry about the few that don't! Central California has lots of very nice RV-Friendly casinos...check 'em out!

Please remember, when you go into a casino it's always a good idea to check in with Security or a member of management to verify their parking policy for RVs, especially if you plan to dry camp overnight in the parking lot.


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