KS Y.
Yelp
Highlights:
Terrible COVID-19 enforcement; beautiful grounds; friendly, accommodating staff; glamping; excellent baked goods; 3-star average buffet-style food; bad liquor and wine selections; and morally and ethically corrupt management that tried to make money off a personal tragedy (more below)
Overview:
Cedar Lakes Estate is set on a beautiful property with plenty of outdoor things to do. You can go swimming or boating in the small lake, hiking, or sit in an adult-sized pool that's 3 feet high and impossible for social distancing. If you're a family, you'll enjoy Cedar Lakes if you aren't worried about potentially catching COVID-19 as they absolutely do not manage it to the degree it should be managed. (More below)
Accommodations:
If you're expecting an all-inclusive 5-star resort experience, don't. The experience is luxury glamping if staying in the Sleepy Pines cottages due to the "filtered mountain water" that runs through all the taps. There's a consistent sulfurous/rotten egg smell that lingers in the cottages and can become overwhelming after a rainfall. The cottages' electrical design was also poorly thought out as there is not enough amperage to actually power all electronics in cottages that have a shared wall -- expect extremely dim, poor lighting if the cottage next to yours is occupied. Also expect to hear pretty much everything in the next cottage as the walls have no insulation between them.
Regardless of what their site says, DON'T expect to be housed next to max 2 people for the king sized rooms: we were stuck for a week next to a family with 2 children who would wake us up at night with their cries. CLE staff will be happy to provide you with ear plugs to manage this issue, but make sure to have your expectations managed more appropriately: NOT good for couples at all.
The space itself is beautifully designed but we found ourselves wishing for more storage space. No iron or ironing board nor steamer, so bring your own. Plenty of outlets throughout the room and a flat screen TV. They can provide you with a Roku if the room does not have one (ours didn't.)
The bed was wonderful with a soft, feather-down pillow and medium firm king sized mattress. If you sleep hot, you should request a blanket ahead of time as they provide a very thick feather-filled duvet.
The WiFi in the cottages is unbelievably slow and you definitely won't have any reception, so expect to have a lot of frustration if you're trying to stream or do any kind of WiFi-dependent work in your cottage.
COVID-19:
No matter what CLE says about their commitment to COVID-19 management, in practice, they actually do a really terrible job. We witnessed staff walking up to guests within 3 feet, have had to ask staff repeatedly to step back and provide 6 feet of social distancing. They do not ask guests to social distance. THEY DO NOT ASK GUESTS TO WEAR MASKS EVEN WHEN UNMASKED GUESTS ARE NEAR OTHER UNAFFILIATED GUESTS. They allow children to run around WITHOUT MASKS ON both inside and outside the Pavilion despite the fact that children are shown to be some of the largest super-spreaders.
Hand sanitizer is also only available in certain spots and missing in others - no hand sanitizer by the lakeside, pool, hammocks, picnic tables, or any communal chairs. The only hand sanitizers that we saw available were at the reception desk and the Pavilion.
At mealtimes, the staff also have to hand you your plate of food directly, which puts you within 3 feet of one another. NO social distancing.
If you, like us, booked a week at Cedar Lakes because you were under the impression that you'd be receiving breakfast delivered to your door, that apparently changed sometime between when we booked and when we arrived. Essentially, you are forced to go to the Pavilion for all meals, with picnic tables spaced 6 feet apart. (Note that the TABLETOPS are 6 feet apart - not the benches or the walkways between tables. There is NOT 6 feet between the benches, so they're expecting that you will not turn around without a mask on.)
NO staggered mealtimes or properly spacing people out. They maximized the amount of people they could cram into a space. The entire resort was also at FULL CAPACITY which is honestly staggeringly shocking.
Corrupt Management:
We lost an engagement ring. They told us we would need to pay $65/per hr per staff member to ask for help to look for it cuz they'd need to bring extra staff in. We found out from multiple staff that they make nowhere close to that. Essentially, management wanted to make money off our tragedy. Which frankly, is morally and ethically bankrupt and corrupt.
Activities:
Add-on private dinner and mountaintop experience were both amazing. Would recommend investing in those. We had a great server for the dinner. Mountaintop was beautiful, but didn't make up for the corrupt management who tried to make money off our loss.
P.S. The granola was amazing. Great staff. Terrible management.