Decent RV Park

Site wasn't real level. It was difficult to navigate in, out, and around the park. The park is close and convenient to Wilmington and all it has to offer. The staff was friendly but not overly helpful.

We stayed here in a Class A Motorhome.

Good RV park

Nice facilities, nice layout. Pull thrus were easy in and out, paved and level. Views from our site were great! Staff are helpful and friendly. Good rates and family friendly.

We stayed here in a Class A Motorhome.

Good RV park close to SeaWorld

The park is well-maintained. It will be tight during busy times as the sites are close together. Management is strict on rules which can be good or bad depending on if you like following rules. It is very close to Sea World.

We stayed here in a Class A Motorhome.

Well-maintained RV park

This is a good place to stay if you are in the Dallas Metro area. Be aware that it is in the city limits of Arlington so you do have city traffic to deal with. It was quiet and well maintained, though, and easy enough on and off the interstate. There are a lot of things to do near by.

We stayed here in a Class A Motorhome.

Renovations under way

Cable was fuzzy, site hookups needed updating, sites were in decent shape. Campground has converted to KOA so expect more upgrades in the future. Numerous permanent sites among temporary sites but all the residents seemed nice.

We stayed here in a Class A Motorhome.

Easy interstate access

This is a good RV park with well maintained facilities. Cable, wi-fi and daily newspaper delivery are all included with your site fee. The streets are wide and easy to navigate. All the sites are back-in.

We stayed here in a Class C Motorhome.

Family friendly RV park

Interesting themed campground located adjacent to Holiday World Theme Park. (It's a tremendous family-friendly theme park). Sites were level, staff was cordial, and the facilities were well maintained. This a good family campground with lots of family friendly events. We came across half a dozen deer inside the campground on our early morning departure from the campground.

We stayed here in a Class C Motorhome.

Evolving campground

This campground continues to be improved upon with every visit we make here. The facilities are nice and well maintained, with level, roomy sites. During normal times, they keep campers spaced out, but you should make sure there isn't a major NASCAR race going on when you are visiting. Most of their sites revert to back-in sites and it will be cramped. Otherwise, the staff is friendly, the pizza from the office is good, and you can fill up your tank right at the office. There is a great playground, jumping pillow, and during Halloween, a haunted trail and house that you can do for a discount.

We stayed here in a Class C Motorhome.

Nice rustic atmosphere

Rustic campground, but few full hookups. Most of those are around the lake and nearly impossible to get with long term residents. They don't take reservations and this is mostly a campground for those who are travel resorts members. I would rate this higher if the expensive membership fees were used to upgrade the facilities, and if they took reservations. For the price, I expected all sites to be full hookup. The people who were staying here during our last visit were some of the friendliest RVers we have met so far in our adventures, though. You can come here one time for a free two night stay if you are willing to listen to their 60 minute sales presentation. They weren't overly pressuring with their sales spiel.

We stayed here in a Travel Trailer.

Nice rustic, affordable campground

This is a county owned park, and as such, the rates are very reasonable. The facilities are well maintained with paved interior roads, a lake, and a short walking trail to other facilities in the county park. This is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Charlotte metro area. Two night stays are required on weekends and you will need to make reservations well in advance of your stay since there aren't any other campgrounds in close proximity. Most visitors here are local residents.

We stayed here in a Class C Motorhome.

Free Entrance to National Parks

This weekend you can get free admission to all national parks that normally charge an entrance fee.

http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm

What are you waiting for? Get out there and explore the great National parks that we have in this country in your RV!

Re: Drinking Alcohol in the Campground

A lot of campgrounds in the south don't allow open alcohol in their campgrounds. We usually keep our alcohol inside with us. You will note in the south, especially in the Carolinas, they are still strict on alcohol. While you can buy beer in wine in many convenience and grocery stores, there are areas around us that still prohibit the sale in any store in their jurisdiction. Just last year, the loosened up a bit on hard alcoholic drinks, and we now have 2 more ABC stores in our county (for a total of 3).

As mentioned previously, most campgrounds will note it on their website.

Re: opossum encounter

LOL. Now you know where the expression 'playing possum' came from. That's really the only defense mechanism they have, to play (and smell) dead.

We came across armadillos during a trip out west and we found them strange since we're not used to them. I never did research them to see if they were harmless, but fortunately we never got close to any.

Re: Camping near the beach

Let me start by saying that traffic around the Charlotte area is almost as bad as traffic around Atlanta. You'll be best served to not come into town between 7-9 AM and 4-7 PM M-F. That's the peak of rush hour traffic, and you'll really feel it in a lot of areas. All the numbers I'm giving you are based on NOT attempting this during rush hour. When there is a race going on, you will note that over 150,000 people who normally aren't around the track show up. Traffic will be backed up for a few miles in all directions around the track during race day.

The Charlotte/Fort Mill KOA is a few miles across the border into South Carolina, south of Charlotte. You can make it from there to uptown Charlotte and the Nascar hall of fame in about 15 minutes. It's about 30-35 minutes to Charlotte Motor Speedway (I77N to I-85N to Bruton Smith Blvd). Once you get near Bruton Smith Blvd, it can be another 30-60 minutes to get to the track during race day, about 2 minutes any other time of the year. If it were me, on I-85N, I would get off on I-485 Inner Loop, then take the next exit (Hwy 29 I think it is) to the speedway. There are signs, and that road is configured with the overhead lane lights to maximize race traffic so it tends to move a bit quicker.

When NASCAR was at its heights before they ticked a bunch of its fans off and lost viewers and fans (like me), you really needed to make your reservations a year in advance to find a place. I would contact Charlotte KOA now to see if they had a space. If you don't want to deal with traffic, but don't mind paying a higher premium, there is a campground near the track and Tom Johnson RV center. They may be booked up by now, but are easy walking distance from the track. I wouldn't recommend trying any other camping around the track unless you want to pay a very high fee for just dry camping.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Re: opossum encounter

Opossums are relatively harmless. I say relatively, because they are still wild animals, but are usually more afraid of you than you are of them. When in the south, especially the coastal plains of North Carolina, you want to be more wary of the poisonous Copperhead snakes. If you see a black snake, or king snake, you can be pretty sure there are no copperheads nearby.

Re: opossum encounter

Opossums are relatively harmless. I say relatively, because they are still wild animals, but are usually more afraid of you than you are of them. When in the south, especially the coastal plains of North Carolina, you want to be more wary of the poisonous Copperhead snakes. If you see a black snake, or king snake, you can be pretty sure there are no copperheads nearby.

Re: Camping near the beach

We have lived here in North Carolina for many years. I got stationed here a long time ago, and we never wanted to leave. You can read about some of our travels in our travel blog, www.tarheelcamper.com. You should note that aside from the handful of bigger cities, large parts of North Carolina were mainly agricultural for many years, and it is easy to quickly get out in the middle of nowhere with all the rural areas across the state.

Where are you looking to go, specifically? What things interest you?

Once nice city to visit is Wilmington, NC. The KOA is nice there, although I don't know your preference on campgrounds. There is a lot to see and do around Wilmington, NC and it is a good home base to explore south eastern NC. As you go further north up the coast, it starts getting very rural and we haven't explored the area in our RV. If you are looking at the outer banks, expect to pay a premium price. We've never camped there because year round, the sites are way out of our budget regardless of any club discounts.

Charlotte, NC, is a nice place to visit, also. If you like NASCAR, the hall of fame is here, as well as over half of the garages of the race teams that you can visit, all within an hour or so of the city. There is also a quality amusement park if that is your thing. We've been happy with the Charlotte/Fort Mill KOA, if you don't mind a bit of a rustic campground.

Asheville, NC, is an interesting city with lots of artsy types there. We've stayed at both the Asheville East and West KOA campgrounds, and although we prefer the West one, the East one is closer to the city.

Cherokee is a unique place to go, and has a casino, if you like to part with your money that way. We have stayed at the Cherokee KOA numerous times, and always enjoy our times there. It's close to the entrance of the Blue Ridge Parkway as well as the Smoky Mountain National Park (that is always free). You can easily spend a week in that area and not run out of things to do, since it's a fun drive through GSMNP, over the mountain and into Gatlinburg, TN and Pigeon Forge TN. Our blogs have some of our ventures into those areas.

So, anyway, I can write a whole book on what to see and do in North Carolina, but it depends on what your interests are.

Re: South of the Border - Worth a Visit?

I agree with Damien. We went once, and the place was run down. It appears they spend all their money on billboards and not on the facilities. There are numerous touristy gift shops, but they all have the same thing in them.

We drove over to the campground to check it out, but it looked run down, too, so we've never been back.

Re: Feedback on Walt Disney's Ft. Wilderness

We were happy with the one time that we stayed there. We've been to Orlando a couple of times and only stayed at Ft Wilderness once. It is great if you are going to Disney as you get the same resort early and late park openings, and can charge things in the park to your 'room' so there is no need to carry all your stuff with you. We found our campsite well maintained, with a concrete pad and nice and level. We didn't particularly like some of the people staying around us, but you always take that chance when you camp, especially at a campground where the sites are in relatively close proximity.

The price was comparable to other campgrounds in the Orlando area, but it's a bit out of the way to get to if your main destination isn't Disney. In those cases, we prefer to stay somewhere else. For reference, we are coaster and amusement park enthusiasts, as well as rv enthusiasts, so we travel to more amusement/theme parks in a year than the average person.