Resort is in a great location, lots of activity on the beach. Lots of water rentals available. Expect to pay for all the activity that you want to do on the beach. We stay in a studio cottage. It's small but we expect it to be small since it's a studio. As other has stated, all the site are very tight and no fire pit unless you want to rent it.

Con:
Check in process was painful. We arrive at 1:30pm, after waiting 20 minute with only 1 person ahead of me. The clerk inform me that check in is 3pm not 2pm as their website stated. She gave us our cabin number so we can park there but was not able to give me the key until cabin is ready. This is reasonable, not a big deal.
As I was parking, I see housekeeping leaving the cottage. I ask if they are done cleaning, she said yes cottage is ready. I went back to the front desk to ask for key, explain to them that housekeeping is done cleaning. Front desk girl explain to me that housekeeper has not radio in to them that cottage is ready so she cannot release my key. I ask if she can radio housekeeper to confirm. She check with a gentlemen behind the desk and he stated that they do not want to bother housekeeping because interrupting them will make it even longer for them to clean the cottage. He asks that I come back at 3pm. We rented bikes, play on the beach, ate ice cream, and then came back at 4:30 pm. Was again informed that cabin is not ready, housekeeping has not radio. I told them that it was way pass check in time and they need to contact housekeeping or give me another cottage that was ready. This time they radio, and housekeeper said it was clean. No apology or explanation, they just gave me my key. My guess is it was clean a long time ago but housekeeper forgot to radio. Since front desk is too stubborn with their procedure I wasn't able to get into my cottage until 4:30pm.

The campgrounds were very clean, staff was friendly and we had lots to do. We rented bikes and rode around the campground and back bay drive. We also brought our kayak and had the best time. My kids loved the waterpark and the pool. I haven't been camping in years and was pleasantly surprised. The campground is very close to Balboa Island, which is worth a trip to have lunch or dinner and shop or have an ice cream. We will definetly go back!

The spots are small, you could ask your neighbor to hand you some toilet paper if you needed some that is how close you are. The showers had no hot water. The movie on the beach changed 3 times and the screen looked as though my child spilled hot coco all over it. They ran out of life vests for the kids to play at the water park and they would not allow any child to play out there without their blue and yellow life vest. Poor kids were waiting for hours for another kid to turn in their vest. For the area and the price I would expect better.

We have to say that our stay at the Dunes was pretty flippin' awesome. Everyone was so nice to us.. Starting from the time we checked in and up until the time we left. The people at the store were just awesome. There was a little blond girl, an older lady (who was just a total sweethart) and a nice young man. Everyone was helpful and went out of their way to be nice. We never got hassled by the security staff (maybe because we weren't doing anything wrong or disruptive...Just sayin'...)

There are different size camp sites for RV's of different sizes. I wouldn't say they were too small or super hard to get into...I would say they were just right for our 33 footer. I have to say that the pool was clean, the game room was pretty good size and the restrooms were clean too.

It was a family atmosphere to say the least...Lots of kids running around..Mom's and Dad's having fun with the kids, firepits on the beach etc... You do have to be careful when driving...Kids everywhere!! At about 10 pm the park got pretty quiet and campfires lit up the night.. Some adult beverages came out and laughter could be heard. Our "Neighbors" were really nice and we had no complaints about the crowd.. Everyone was pretty nice...I think the price kept out most of the riff raff.

The bad...It is a lagoon.. So the water isn't the clean ocean water you would get on a beach...I think it was kinda crappy to have the water toys out in the lagoon where all of the kids could see them and then charge extra for the kids to play on them.. At almost $200.00. a night....You would think the water toys would be included. It was just a little too much "Nickel and dime you to death" for me.

Tips....Don't rent the Surry... It is heavy and you can't take it on the bridge... We traded it out for a golf cart.. Go with the golf cart...Way more fun. Bring your own fire pit...There are not very many on the beach.. I have to say that when we go back.. We will probably not get the waterfront site... The ones a little further away were way less expensive and only about 100 feet away.. The water front price was not worth the money.

That is about as honest as a review as I could give.