Best RV Parks & Resorts near Dade City, FL

I have to admit, when I first discovered Mill Creek RV Resort on our smartphone’s GPS, I had nothing but low expectations and when navigating to get to this seemingly RV road stand, all of the traffic and commercial real estate surrounding this place was just begging me to turn around and hightail it out of here. That was, until we decided to check out this RV parking spot. And we were somewhat pleasantly surprised by what we found. While easily not a destination, if your aim is to simply find comfortable, affordable and safe accommodations to roll up your mobile living room for the night, then (especially for the price), you won’t be disappointed. 

To begin with, the community and neighbors you will meet are incredibly welcoming and the owners / management couldn’t be more hospitable. This place on the one hand has a small neighborhood feel (because it is partly carved out of a residential area) and on the other, feels like a semi-decent nature preserve where RV’s aren’t jam packed next to one another. Sure, it’s tight in a few places, but all-in-all, one feels safe and secure here and offered a number of pretty great and new amenities. And if you don’t have an RV, no worries, the good folks at Mill Creek RV Resort will rent you one of their newly built park models. 

Mill Creek RV Resort offers a number of amenities, including: complete RV hook-ups (20 / 30 / 50 electric amp, water and sewage lines) with pull-through and back-in flat concrete slab sites, picnic tables, heated in-ground pool complete with lounge chairs and umbrellas, recreation hall with ping pong tables, coin-operated laundry facilities, very clean restroom and shower facilities, kid’s playground w/ slide, doggie park (one for small and another for large), mail center, cable TV access, free WiFi access (near the office only though) as well as indoor and outdoor games (e.g. horse shoes, shuffle board, corn hole), propane refill station, LP gas, cable TV access and even sheds for extra storage. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a handful: (1) This location puts you within short driving distance to Walt Disney World, Universal, Seaworld and a bunch of other family-friendly entertainment options; (2) When you get tired of paying for overpriced amusement park food or can’t muster enough strength to plan your next meal from the confines of what might be available in your RV fridge, then venture out to one of these nearby eateries: Coqui Snacks, Sol de Borinquen Bakery Restaurant & Deli or Dolce Bakery and Café; and (3) If you brought a kayak or canoe, I highly recommend launching in nearby Kissimmee Lakefront Park, where if you go to the far eastern side, you can cast a line and catch some pretty good fish. 

Happy Camping!

There are more RVers here in the winter than I thought possible in one place not the Hershey or Tampa RV Show.  Lots of families, lots of older folks, overall a good mix of people.  

There are multiple sections here each with a completely different feel.  D section is old-school, Florida State Park-like camping.  You have that romantic, southern charm and foliage.  It's tight for big rigs, lacks internet and getting your Starlink out there can be a challenge.  T-Mobile and AT&T work great out there but, it depends on what you need.  The new section is immaculate with large grass sites, nice pads and easy back-in sites for even the biggest fifth-wheels.  This is the best place if you have a need to work from your camper.  If, like us, you like to work from a tent, you cannot put anything on that beautiful grass campsite.  This is why we stay in the older section.  It's run-down, crumbling concrete pads that need to be repoured, decent sized sites AND you can use the grass.

This is our third time here and we will keep coming back due to community and locality.  Not far from Disney though traffic makes it harder to get to the other parks.  Wawa and Publix are just outside the gate for your coffee and grocery needs.  

Get here at noon ON THE DOT if you want a new site.  D section I recommend 35 feet or under, and enjoy the parade on Saturdays and Sunday as 40-100 new rigs come in.  

STAY AWAY FROM THE SITES NEXT TO THE SEWER ACCESS, THEY STINK!

Allow me to begin by saying I have never been to a large RV campground… ever! This place is so huge that you won’t be surprised if you get lost in this place at least a couple of times before you find your slotted RV destination for the night. Also, I was amazed by how close to the concrete jungle you are at this place, but once you turn on the winding little lane that will bring you to this megalopolis RV circus – fitting given your proximity to all of themed amusement parks! – after crossing through the entry gates, you immediately lose sight of all the traffic, noise and business as you are swallowed up by the lush verdant trees of pines, palms and Ancient oaks. 

As for the campground itself, you’ll enter off the very busy 192 and head south on Scott Boulevard, where you’ll pass 3 intersecting lanes before arriving to Sherwood Forest RV Resort. There will be plenty of signage, so you shouldn’t get lost arriving here – it's another story once inside this massive compound. To navigate yourself to the proper location you have been assigned of the 514 potential overnight possibilities that exist, you’ll first want to stop off at the administration building, where they should give you a map – and if they don’t, be sure to ask for you, because you’re going to need it! Basically, this entire place is back-to-back RV’s parked at a diagonal with very little to no privacy whatsoever and given that Sherwood Forest is so heavily populated, you are going to encounter both a decent amount of traffic (the golf cart kind) and noise. And while I would normally encourage folks to get as close to the pool area as possible, I found this main congregating place to be quite jam packed and noisy. 

Amenities: Clubhouse / lounge, mini-golf, basketball, dog park, RV storage, restroom / shower facilities, horseshoe pit, WiFi (at a cost away from the main building), shuffleboard, darts, fitness center, in-ground heated swimming pool, nearby Tiki bar, LP gas refill station, laundr-O-mat, ballroom, mail room, library, banquet hall, catch-and-release lake fishing, marketplace store, playground, game room, billiards, whirlpool / spa / hot tub, picnic tables, pavilion areas, fire pits, BBQ grill, designated trash receptacles, trash compactor, cable TV / satellite and back-in / pull-through sites with full hook-ups (30/ 50 amp electric, water and sewage). In addition to all of the amenities, there’s also a ton of activities, including live music concerts, potluck dinners, BBQ cookouts, dance lessons, ice cream socials, craft-making classes, outdoor chess, mini-golf tournaments, church services, aerobic dancing, exercise classes, line dancing (yeehaw!), board game nights, Bingo, card playing as well as formal holiday dinners around Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) The best sites, in general, are all of the ones that are completely on the perimeter of Sherwood Forest RV Resort, specifically sites #1– 137 (you will note that there are a handful of cottages and cabins for rent in these slots as well); (2) When you get done staring down the inside of your cooler or mini-fridge and are looking for a place to sit down and eat for a change, then there are no shortage of food joints to have a look at, including: Krispy Kreme (my personal favorite), Cracker Barrel (my personal least favorite restaurant in the universe), Longhorn Steakhouse, Ichiban Buffet, Martin’s BBQ, Olive Garden and 192 Crab & Lobster Juicy Seafood & Bar;(3) If by chance you have forgotten anything, avoid paying double or triple the price at the on-site market by going to either Walmart or Publix, which are both about a mile and half away; and (4) If you would actually like to enjoy a bit of the outdoors while staying at this RV amusement park, go for a day trip to Lake Tohopekaliga, which has some pretty amazing bass fishing as well as a few choice places to drop your boat into, like Twin Oaks or Cherokee Point Conservation Areas (and if you don’t have your own kayak, canoe or boat, contact Wild Willys Airboat Tours and they’ll show you around). 

Happy Camping!

Whether there is 21 Palm trees here or not, I was not able to tabulate, but this off-the-beaten path RV reclusive respite is conveniently located in central Florida just off the I-4 corridor on Exit 58 and just a 3 mile drive east on highway 532. This location features 70 or so pull-through and back-in RV slots complete with outdated and heavily cracked concrete slabs for your parking pleasure. Half of the slots here looked as though they are occupied by year-on-year residents who have given up moving their RV any further than this place. There were a good dozen or so free spots to park your RV in when we passed through.


There’s a handful of amenities, although I will warn you, mostly everything here is fairly outdated. Here’s a line-up of what to expect: 30 / 50 amp electrical, water and waste hook-ups, laundr-O-mat, fitness center/ gym, a small lake for fishing, horsehoe pit, propane refill station, shuffleboard court, recreation hall, telephone hook-ups, small in-ground heated pool and surrounding patio with lounge chairs and a fairly decent lakeside view. This place is pet-friendly and aside from all of the dogs you’ll come across, you’ll see no shortage of long-necked cranes walking around as though they owned the place. Lovely. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) The small lake in front of 21 Palms is actually great for some lightweight kayaking, just beware of a few points where the water is shallow enough to get you stuck; (2) If you’re looking for something to do locally, check out Orland Tree Trek Adventure, which is an elevated outdoor obstacle course full of ropes, pulleys, suspended bridges and nets that will test your high altitude agility – tons of fun with the kiddos!; (3) If you are looking for a local restaurant, you will be pretty challenged to find much, but we did stumble across a spot called Reunion Café (www.reunion.cafe)) that ended up being quite a little Mediterranean culinary gem – be sure to order the chicken kebab, Shawarma and finish it off with the homemade Baklava! 

Happy Camping!

We stayed there during the Tampa Show. Last minute decision. Park has a lot of long term RV's and many of them older. Dog friendly and has a decent sized dog run. We had a pull thru spot that was plenty long enough to leave our dolly hooked up to our 33' class A, and still have plenty of room to park in front. Although it was very narrow and I was a little concerned about my leveling jacks sinking in when it rained due to it being all grass. Fortunately it didn't rain much. There were cable hook ups, but I couldn't get a signal. Not sure about wifi, because I just used my hot spot. Most, if not all, of the short term spaces had picknick tables. Overall just a fairly quiet place to park with hookups and not too far off the highway.

We enjoy this park a lot because it has so much to offer in the park, nearby, and we often see our friends here each winter. They have approximately 850 sites depending on the tortoises (sometimes they get a whole spot if their best is there). They are adding about 180 sites on the south side of the park. Full hook ups, generous yards, decent landscaping. There are some permanent structures, mostly rentals and the cabins. There are some personal sites as well. The park is about 2.63 miles all the way around the outer loop. Sometimes the cows from next door get loose and come visit. Sometimes there are alligators underneath RVs.

With so many guests they also have a gate guard shack thing and lots of staff members. They have dark green polos ride around on golf carts. They are super friendly. Most of them are RVers at the park as well.

They have many sections. A- Lots of pull throughs B- Giant Field where the kids play C-Not sure where this section is... D- Jungle, Secluded, Private, also with snakes but a lot more shade E/F/G- Normal RV Park in the grass, some shade in some parts. H- Residents of the park and some staff I- Residents and long term guests.

Getaway Cabins- they are adorable from the outside, they look massive compared to an RV.

Cell signals: This park is in Clermont, FL and it’s not a huge town but decent sized town. There isn’t great cell service. The park is further from a tower and there are so many RVers in the area that don’t count towards the population, it becomes a bandwidth issue. This park does have some kind of DSL for long term contracts. They have WiFi for a few throughout the park, and in the Club House they have better WiFi.

They have: 2 Pools 1 Hot Tub Mini Golf Tennis Courts Pickle Ball Courts Shuffle Board Club House Mail Room Camp Store A small Lake with Kayak rental Alligators Sand Hill Cranes Tortoises A Garden Basketball Kids play room and play area Arcade Gym Several pretty ponds and a giant lagoon

Most of all we come here repeatedly because we love to see our friends and being a member we can all stay for free.

We recorded several videos about Thousand Trails Orlando:

https://youtu.be/xiMkg_pDEoM

First, this is a really nice RV campground. It's new and has some nice amenities. That being said, I don't think full timers like us are their audience. Pros- nice big pull through sites, nice dog park, food trucks on weekend nights(at least while we were there), and a bar on site. Cons- it's very loud, not really close to any attractions, wifi was fast but frequently went out, highway noise, incessant loud construction noise every single weekday, you have to wear these bright green hospital type bracelets on the property, they charge$10 a visitor even if they are just going to your campsite to hang out and not use the amenities, they say they are family friendly but are okay with offensive political flags being flown. They played loud country music during the day most of the weekdays we were there. One day they started before 9 am. On Friday night, the music from the tiki bar area was so loud that we couldn't hear the movie we were trying to watch in our trailer with the windows up. It was the same the next night with a live band. I think this place is nice if you are looking for a place to party on the weekend, but not a relaxing resort like they advertise. For the price I paid I expect to not have construction noise every day. We likely won't be back. We camped at Cabana Club RV Resort in a Fifth Wheel.