This used to be our family summer vacation spot. Fantastic lake and great beach. So many memories and pics from childhood. We stayed 3 nights ... and never again. Marty is a nightmare. So many rules. Beds uncomfortable and comforters dirty. Kitchens dirty too. Air conditioner in cabin sounds like heavy machinery. Bathroom showers don't drain. Marty made someone move their truck for being 3 inches off on grass. He walked into our cabin without knocking to plug in a CO2 detector. When we called for the wifi password (which should be in the binder in each cabin) he said "it's the same it's been for several years"... it's over priced, uncomfortable physically and socially, would not recommend to anyone. Too bad the ownership is not familiar w customer service...will try again if under new management. read more

We were a large family group of 32 people who stayed for the second time here. There are so many wonderful things about Shing Wako Resort such as the very friendly female owner, the close proximity of the cabins to the lake, the nice sandy beach area, and the crystal clear lake. I literally filled a clear water bottle up with lake water and it was complete clean water! The depth of the water is very shallow in that we could almost walk all the way out to the end of the dock in the water and still be touching, which is awesome! Shing Wako provides several adult and kid sized paddle boards, kayaks and life jackets. The cabins are in nice condition with top notch pots and pans, pretty much all utensils you need, etc. Now for the not such a charm: the male owner! He was a miserable human being! Absolutely rude and lacking all adult communication skills. One of the nights the family reunion cabin became extremely hot. We couldn't figure out how or why the air wasn't working. The next morning the male owner told our group that he "pulled the air conditioner to make it stop because someone had opened a window upstairs!" So instead of knocking on the door and letting us know there was a window open, he just pulled the plug! What the heck!?! Who does something like that!?! His verbal communication on several other instances were enough to make me not want to return. If they want Shing Wako to continue being a great place, I'm thinking it's time for him to hang up his boots and not be on the property when guests are around! The other issue is the twin beds upstairs are by far the worst, most uncomfortable bed I have ever had to sleep in! I was counting down the days until I could sleep in my own bed! Please replace them for visitors comfort!! read more

We stayed in Cabin 1 over the 4th of July (2020). Within an hour one small child and one adult were stung by bees coming out of the siding of our cabin. The second day we found mouse droppings on the counter and inside the pull out bed along with a dead June Bug. We left the third day after waking up with DOZENS of bed bug bites. The owner Marty did not act surprised and said bed bugs "are not a big deal" and a good wash of the sheets will get rid of them. When we asked to have our money returned for the unused days due to bed bugs we were told "there is nothing he can do about that" and were still charged over $600. This clearly is not the first report of bed bugs as Marty did not seem shocked, try to deny it, or even enter the cabin to see the evidence. Terrible customer service. BEWARE! read more

Our family (4 families total, all related) stayed at Shing Wako Resort two consecutive summers. The first time, we chose to stay there - the second time, we waited a bit too long to find vacation reservations in/around the Brainerd area, & Shing Wako was the only place that had four cabins available-three 2-bedrooms & one 3-bedroom. ~THE BAD~ I'll start the review right off by saying the 2-bedroom cabins are NOT what I'd call two actual bedrooms, but rather one bedroom & one screened-in porch with heavy wooden windows you pull up and latch during the day and that 'bedroom' can get awfully cold at night because those windows do NOT provide insulation whatsoever. That so-called second bedroom on the porch has a full-size bed & a pull-out couch, while the actual bedroom has only a full-size bed, too, whereas one may expect at least a queen bed. NOPE. Not EVEN. The cabins seemed to have been fully decorated with garage sale purchases. Ok, thrift store at best. I saw paintings I think my great-great Aunt Mae had in the mid-70's. The carpet was industrial and thus very cheap, the shower was your very basic less-than-$200-at-Home Depot job (it was just gross....), no tub, natch & had almost ZERO water pressure, the mirror above the (also super duper cheap) sink was probably $10. The bathroom DID have decent enough storage for towels, toiletries, etc. so points for that. The kitchen was TINY. THINK: NYC studio apartment tiny. You're asked to separate your recycling & haul your cans to the recycle bin yourself (other places we've been to pick all that up with a golf cart or the like, each day). There's cable TV but no movie channels;the reception was decent. The front doors of the 2-bedrooms are locked by using-I'M even embarrassed to admit this-a tiny padlock!, while the back door (facing the lake) has an AMAZING locking system-haha, ready for it? It's killer. You shut the door, then move a small piece of wood on the door frame from a vertical to a horizontal position. Your cabin alarm system is now set. I KNOW, right? Whenever we left the grounds, we had to bring anything expensive/didn't want to lose (computers, cell phones, the kids' gaming systems, etc. ). That's just not right. IMPORTANT: the 2-bedroom cabins? NO air-conditioning. BOOOOO. The 3-bedroom cabin: has air conditioning, waaaaay newer decor than the 2-bedroom jobs, but still can't EVEN justify the $1350 cost of the MINI vacation stay of 3-4 nights (we'll just call it four). My father-in-law & mother-in-law are up there in age, so AC & a bath tub were necessities. Now, the free WiFi? I don't know if the owners have increased the speed since we were last there in July of 2013, but the upload speed was hovering right around 0.5, and the download speed was a sloth-like 2.0-2.5 AT BEST, so essentially, they offer a read-only internet connection. We ended up using cell phones as hot spots and having to suck up the extra data charges on our plan. If you want to pay for your stay with a credit card (or even debit card), be prepared to add 3%. The resort is using YOU to pay the surcharge they pay to your credit card company & yes, it's all nice & perfectly legal, On top of an average N. MN 6.875% sales tax + 3% 'lodging' tax, that extra 3% tax brings a 4-night cabin stay charge of $675 way up to around $741.62 when all's said & done & if my math is right.... ~THE PLUSES~ I know, you're all, FINALLY!, huh. Well, wait one sec, though, ok? This resort is located on Lake Edward & their beach is pretty dang great, not to mention the playground on site as well as is a cool old-school stand-alone swing set and a great wooden swing. Plastic beach chairs are plentiful, as well as water toys (kept near the front office) to goof around with. The dock is nice & long. A BIG draw to the beach area is that the water remains relative shallow even when it looks like you're quite a ways out, which is great for the kiddos. HOWEVER... ~ominous music plays~ The first time we were here, the majority of our group-the ones who went swimming-came down with... freakin' chiggers! Prior to this, I really had no clue what a chigger was, never heard of them despite being on dozens up dozens of beaches/lakes in MN & beyond. It was only when we went to the front office looking for calamine or cortizone did the female owner tell us, "oh, you got the chiggers, huh. should have told you folks, you can prevent these by drying off as soon as you're out of the water' (i.e, not air drying). I was all, 'that might have been useful to us YESTERDAAAAAY!!!' which was met with a blank thousand yard stare..... duh.... OVERALL: cool beach, crappy cabins w/bad 'security', 'ok' staff, clean grounds, very family-oriented so if your group laughs too loud, prepare to get 'shuuuushed' a lot, 20-25 mins to nearest (Cub) grocery store, 10 mins to gas station, feel it's overpriced, freakin' chiggers, & toads everywhere at night that won't shut up, lots and I mean LOTS of bugs. Other than THAT.... read more

I have concerns about the first review about Shing Wako, since my family has stayed there for about 10 years. Most important, that reviewer complained that the rustic cabins didn't have modern comforts. The resort has more modern cabins and lodges than rustic cabins. The first reviewer complained that the rustic cabins had old fashioned decorations, no queen size bed, and no air conditioning. The rustic cabins date back to the 1930s, and at that time, there was no air conditioning and almost no queen sized beds. Basically, the first review strongly criticized the rustic cabins because they were not modern. The rustic cabins are for people who want an old-world experience. Shing Wako Resort also has modern cabins and lodges, and they have everything that the previous reviewer wanted from the rustic cabins--like large bedrooms, queen sized beds, a/c, and wifi. The cabins are smaller and less expensive. The lodges are huge, to accommodate a large family or group. They have everything the modern cabins have and more. The lodges have even larger rooms, a larger living room, and a sleep-number bed in the master bedroom. I'll pick on the first reviewer one more time. That person carried on for over a page of text. I'll just suggest you check out the website for Shing Wako and judge for yourself, since there are pictures of the modern cabins and condos. I'll move on to some cons. Shing Wako does not have some comforts that I enjoy, like a sauna or whirlpool. Speaking of pools, there's not a swimming pool at the resort either, but the beach is great. That's one thing I agree with from the first reviewer. I also agree with the first reviewer that Shing Wako has clear rules, like making noise after 10pm and having pets in the cabins. If you like whirlpools, swimming pools, and staying up late laughing around a campfire, Shing Wako is probably not for you. The owners will enforce the rules. At first, they will be friendly, but when they need to be, I've seen the owners be more firm when enforcing the rules. I guess the most important thing I want to say is that Shing Wako has a few types of cabins to choose from. A few are old and rustic. Several are modern cabins, and there are some modern and large lodges. There's also a great beach, fishing, and a playground. I personally like the owners. They are friendly, helpful, keep the place clean all the time and quiet at night. read more

We love Shing Wako Resort. Sue & Marty are very gracious hosts. Resort is very clean & well kept. Beach & lake are beautiful! Fishing is great. read more

Nice resort, but "wako" owner. *Note - i posted this on Trip Advisor as well where the owner responded and lied, saying a noise complaint came in at 11:45pm about us and the person threatened to never come back. Not possible! After the Marty run in, once we had collected ourselves from the shock, we were all back in our cabins by 11:30pm. So my guess is she lied about the complaint also. I think Marty drives around looking to argue with people as I witnessed it during the day. My review: This is a nice resort property with so much potential to be great under a new owner. You could tell from the minute you checked in that ownership was very particular about their property and also about the property of the guests. It contains beautiful cabins, nice grounds, a great beach, great common area, and one very rude owner. Sue was lovely; Marty may want to rethink his career choice. We had a large group and while having a lovely time after 10pm we were laughing too loud around the fire, unfortunately. Marty, the owner showed up and while standing very close to us, yelled at us to "go to bed right now" over and over, with fists clenched and was shaking. Exactly the same as Kelsey E's review. This was the first warning any of us that were around the fire had received. I actually felt somewhat threatened as he seemed he would hit someone, he was so angry, sadly I am not exaggerating. I asked him to calm down and he threatened to call the cops. This experience put a damper on the remainder of the trip, and wasn't the only run-in with Marty throughout the weekend. There was one other family at the resort that night; we apologized to them if we were too loud, as we are a reasonable bunch. They kindly informed us they could not hear us, which we believe as members of our own group did not hear us form inside as well. We are absolutely fine being told we need to bring it indoors and feel terrible about being too loud, and had the owner taken a different approach and not come off as so aggressive it would not have been an issue. He seemed miserable the whole weekend, yelling at other guests about how they parked their trailers, the direction boats faced, and how much slack on the lines tying the boats to the dock, about the paddle boat parking, etc. At one point he turned around our friends boats without their consent to be touched. I agree with other reviews, Marty may want to hang up his boots as this doesn't seem like the right business for him. Great resort if your group is quiet and goes to bed at 10pm. Larger, louder groups with children, this is not the place to spend your money! read more

My family and I have been staying at Shing Wako for the last 16 years. We have stayed in at least one of every unit. Our favorite is the vacation condos which are more than roomy for the whole family and we were able to utilize both sides of the condos, doubling our space. At Shing Wako we feel safe and secure, I dont have to worry if the kids run ahead of me to the playground or if they go play volleyball, or just plain old roam freely. The owners know us by name and by stories and by pictures on their wall in the office under catch of the day. We look forward to beating our previous years catch and to see a new fish pic put up before we depart. The negative, the grass is maintained so well that I avoid walking on it for fear I'll ruin it!!!!! All in all I would highly recommend Shing Wako to others looking for a nice family resort. read more