Address: 9750 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
‎Telephone: 1-408-463-8400

Dates Stayed: 06/02/2017 – 06/09/2017

Rate: $85.00 per night (including taxes and fees)

Rating:
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Location

This campground sits within the very scenic Coyote Valley, hence the name. It is not hard to get to as long as you take the exit south of the RV park. Monterey Road has a concrete barrier leading nearly its entire length, so although making a U-turn is possible if you happen to take the exit north, it may be tough depending on your rig. As I mentioned, Coyote Valley sits in a very scenic area with hiking trails and mountains behind and in front of it. By far the biggest drawback to this RV park is its proximity to Monterey Road. It is a very busy road and road noise is nearly constant. Next to Monterey road is a CalTrain line. Yes, train tracks. You know when a train is coming from not only the noise, but the blaring horn. The trains start nice and early in the morning and go pretty late at night. If you are looking for a peaceful, quiet RV park near San Jose, this RV park is NOT it and you can stop reading now.

Check-In

Checking in was fairly straight forward. Amber was driving, so she pulled Irving in front of the office while Christopher and I checked in. They were in and out in about 10 minutes, but we did have to wait for someone to escort us to the site. The roads are pretty wide and we paid for a premium site which is extra wide, so backing in was pretty easy.

Camp Site

I went through our pictures and realized that we didn’t take a picture of our campsite. I am pretty disappointed, but we are still a little new to this.

The site is back in and it was not hard to get in the camp site. The camp site (20) is very level concrete and our automatic leveling jacks had no problem leveling quickly.

The services included at the site are 30/50amp electric, fresh water (2 spigots) and sewer. There is cable TV, but we found the stations were few and came in poorly on our TV. We tried our luck with what we could pick up from our over the air (OTA) antenna, but it wasn’t much better. We saw a lot of RVs in this park with satellite dishes and we understood why. You are pretty much on your own for TV.

There is no picnic table or grill at the campsite, it is literally a concrete pad and nothing else. You can have a picnic table delivered to you site for $5 for your stay, but we paid for a premium site and almost all the campgrounds we have visited, even cheaper ones, had picnic tables on each site. All premium site really means at this RV park is that it is much wider than the rest. In addition, the premium sites are closest to the road, so you have to pay more for more noise. Nice touch.

Office Staff

I had to call the office because of loud noise that was occurring during quiet hours. Quiet hours for this campground are from 10pm to 8am. At 7:30am on Saturday, a mobile detailing business was pressure washing the 5th wheel in the site next to us. We were already up when it started so it didn’t wake us up, but I wondered how any people that worked all week and were counting on Saturday to sleep late felt about it. I called the office to just to let them know. Unfortunately, the office doesn’t open until 8am, when quiet hours are over. The response? “I’m not sure what I can do about it now. Is it bothering you?” It wasn’t until I mentioned quiet hours that she said “I’ll send someone out to talk to them.” She did and I saw them talk to the mobile detailing team. The result was what I expected, but the initial conversation was not.

WiFi & Cellular

I was working on the way from Marina, CA, so I needed to finish up after we got to our site. The WiFi seemed decent enough when we got there, but as the weekend started it became dismal. Tons of disconnections and very slow speeds made it unusable. I fired up my Verizon hotspot and it had full signal strength, so we used that and it worked great. For a so called resort, I expected much better WiFi. We have stayed at much smaller and cheaper RV parks that had much better WiFi. WiFi Grade: F, Cellular Grade: A

Facilities

There are buildings that we assumed were shower and bathroom facilities, but we didn’t use them this trip. We can’t comment on their cleanliness.

Conclusion

Although the park itself is in a very nice location and very well kept, we would not recommend it to anyone and we will certainly not stay here again unless we have to. For what we paid, we expected much more for what we got. The noise is horrendous, the WiFi is terrible and the TV is non-existent, big sticking points for us.

Even though we were upset with our stay here, the proximity to San Jose and San Francisco cannot be ignored. It is in a good location and that may mean a lot to someone.

Address: 23500 Pinellas Bayway, South Tierra Verde, Fl, 33715
‎Telephone: 1-727-582-2267

Dates Stayed: 12/27/2016 – 12/29/2016

Rate: $41.81 per night (including taxes and fees)

Location

This campground sits within beautiful Ft. DeSoto Park, a Pinellas County park. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and, as expected, there wasn’t much traffic, so we got to the campground pretty quickly, which is right off the main road running into the park.

Check-In

Since we do not currently tow our car, Amber and Christopher followed in our car while I drove Irving the 30 miles to the campground. Checking in was a pretty quick. I pulled Irving in front of the office while Amber and Christopher checked in. They were in and out in about 10 minutes. Amber drove the car to the campsite while I navigated to it, but finding my way to the campsite was a hair raising experience. The map was a little confusing and I ended up driving our 36.5 ft. motorhome to the south end of the campground, which is for vans, pop-ups, and tent camping only…no RVs permitted. I could not believe that I made it through that end of the park since the roads were extremely narrow, but I finally made it to the north end of the campground and our campsite.

Camp Site

The site is back in and with the incredibly narrow roads, it was pretty difficult to get in the camp site. The camp site (223) is very level gravel and our automatic leveling jacks had no problem leveling quickly.

The services included at the site are 30/50amp electric and fresh water (1 spigot). For dumping, there is a dump station, but no sewer connections at the campsite. There is no cable TV, so you will have to rely on what you pick up from your over the air (OTA) antenna, if you have one. The county parks we have researched in Florida are pretty much no frills and this was no different. It is all about getting away here.

There is a picnic table and a grill at the campsite. We brought charcoal so we could cook hot dogs and s’mores and it was great to have the heat of the fire since the nights were cool while we were there. There was not a lot of light pollution and we could see the stars very well.

WiFi & Cellular

I was on vacation during the Christmas holidays, so I didn’t need to work during this trip. There is no public WiFi in Ft. DeSoto, so your only option is cellular. We have AT&T cell service and we could get a signal, but it wasn’t very strong. This is definitely a good place to get away from technology and spend time with nature. If you absolutely need WiFi, there are plenty of businesses outside the park, close by to poach from.

Facilities

Ft. DeSoto has beaches, kayaking and canoeing, bike trails, a historic fort and much more. There is more to see in the Tampa Bay area, but this campground could be a destination in itself. We were told a few times that this park was amazing for camping and it was true. If you’ve never been to Ft. DeSoto, it is an absolutely must camping destination.

There are buildings that we assumed were shower and bathroom facilities, but we didn’t use them this trip. We can’t comment on their cleanliness.

Conclusion

We very much enjoyed our stay at Ft. DeSoto Campground. Our campsite was tucked among mangroves and palm trees and great views of the Gulf of Mexico. It is very close to home and we would definitely stay there again.

Address: 3520 North Fort Wilderness Trail, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Dates Stayed: 08/25/2016 – 08/28/2016

Rate (Premium, Florida Resident): Thursday $70.50, Friday $70.50, Saturday $86, Average: $75.67

Location

This campground is on Disney property in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. To get there we went through the far right lane of the toll booth at the Magic Kingdom and then an immediate right onto the service road that led to the campground. If you haven’t been to Disney World, it is an enormous chunk of land with mature trees and lots of greenery. The campground is no exception, with tall trees and lots of grass. When we think about camping, this is the landscape we think of.

Check-In

Checking in was a breeze. The first stop is a guard shack to present photo ID and then on to the chck-in station. We didn’t have to get out of our coach to check-in, all Amber had to do was open the driver’s side window. The Disney cast members requested that we turn off our engine, if we could, which we happily did. However, our generator was running to keep the coach’s house cool during the drive, which we kept on through check-in. We were handed a map and given directions to our camp site and off we went.

Camp Site

It was a bit of a challenge to back into the camp site. The road is pretty narrow and there are trees on either side of the road that made it hard to back in, but Amber did it pretty well. The camp site (1315) is a very level pad and our automatic leveling jacks had no problem leveling quickly.

The services included at the site are 30/50amp electric, fresh water (2 spigots), cable TV and sewer. The two spigots was nice for keeping the fresh water hooked up while cleaning the black water tank via the other spigot. There is cable television at this site and when we scanned for channels, we were able to receive numerous digital stations, including Disney stations, of course.

There is a grill and a picnic table at the campsite. Unfortunately, we were unable to use the grill this trip. We planned on grilling Saturday night and it rained, so Amber just cooked our steaks inside the coach.

WiFi & Cellular

Since we arrived during my work lunch break, I needed to finish working for the day. The WiFi is very strong and fast. As with any WiFi, the more people who are on it, the slower it gets and this is no exception. I noticed several disconnections and reconnections during internet sessions, but I did not have to use cell service at any time during the trip. When we have stayed in Disney hotels recently, we have had great WiFi and this was no exception.

Facilities

As you can expect, Disney does family activities right. There are lots of things to do at Fort Wilderness. We feel the campground itself can be a destination and, in fact, we plan on returning during our annual pass blackout period to simply enjoy all the campground has to offer.

Being so close to Magic Kingdom, there is boat service directly from the campground to the park. That is not the only transportation, however. Since the campground is so big, there are buses that will take you to various stops in the campground itself, as well as to the front entrance where you can get a bus to other places on Disney property. Some trips are not direct routes and you have to go to one place and switch buses. We found Fort Wilderness to be very centrally located, so trips to Disney Springs and Epcot were very quick bus rides.

Just before we checked out of our camp site and I was cleaning our gray and black tanks, Christopher had to go to the bathroom. Amber took him to the comfort station just a quick walk from our site and she reported it to be very clean and in great condition.

Disney does a great job with pools for kids of all ages. Fort Wilderness has a large pool with winding slide and a smaller kids splash area. Life vests are provided for kids who are not strong swimmers, this allowed Christopher and I to go down the slide separately without Amber having to be at the bottom of the slide to help him swim to the side.

There is a general store with various groceries and Disney items. As usual, prices are high, but they have things that everyone needs. Driving off property to save a few dollars is a tough sell since it would be a hike with traffic.

As far as activities go, there are quite a few. We went to the nightly fire lighting where you could roast marshmallows and make S’mores. We stayed at the Contemporary Resort and they provided marshmallows, but Fort Wilderness does not. We learned when we got there that we had to bring our own or buy a S’more kit at the store. Needless to say, Christopher was pretty upset. There are more activities available. If you are planning on staying at Fort Wilderness, check out what is being offered during your stay.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, Fort Wilderness Campground is what we see in our minds when we think of camping. Christopher struck up a conversation with a family from Canada and they mentioned that it was a very economical way to stay at Disney and we’d have to agree. For what it offers, Fort Wilderness is a great value.

If Disney is your destination, this campground makes a lot of sense. We looked at other campgrounds in the area and they are nearly as expensive and offer none of the activities. There are much cheaper campgrounds that offer nothing but a place to park. If you do stay offsite and plan on going to the Disney theme parks, you will have to drive, park and take a tram to the gate. At the Magic Kingdom, you have to take the tram to the transportation and ticket center, then take more transportation to the gate. Getting around is much less stressful when you stay at Fort Wilderness. If you really want to take a vacation and avoid the stress of getting to and from theme parks, Fort Wilderness is for you.

If your destination is not Disney World, then it may be cheaper staying at another campground. However, you will still have to drive to other areas of interest. We have done this many times with hotels and if you know the area, it’s not that bad, except at time with heavy traffic or rain storms.