Best Cabin Camping near Sugar Creek, MO

Let's Share COVID and a campfire song. When we booked a tent site in the KOA we didn't expect much but assumed it would work for the night while driving across the USA.  Upon arrival we were a little put off by being stuck with several other tents in a field and noticed we were expected to share our fire ring with the tent next door... this was not ok with us and we left promptly and snagged a nice spot in the nearby Blue Springs Recreation Area. Traveling during summer 2020 has been interesting and to expect strangers to share a fire ring and be crammed very close during a pandemic is not only careless but not fun. UGH

This was an interesting stay at the Worlds of Fun campground. Located on the property there are RV sites and rental cabins. All RV sites were concrete with 50/30/20 amp, water and sewer. Back-in sites on rows 1 and 3 and pull through sites on row 2.

The theme park offered discounted tickets when staying at the campground and parking for the parks was included. Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun are internally connected, making it easy to walk between the two.

There is a pool, hot tub, laundry and clean bathrooms with showers. The campground did attempt to improve privacy with strategically placed trees and shrubs.

Row 1 (sites 1-20) is along a busy highway with semi truck noise 24 hours a day. I recommend either paying more for the pull-through (further from the road) or the back in sites 69-82 in row 3.

Security was disappointing, as there was no gate to the campground, nor a gate around it. So our campsite (site 2) that backed up to the road was 10 feet off the public sidewalk. Reviews of this campsite on other websites mentioned some petty theft, so we kept our outdoor compartments locked (nothing was stolen).

We have been camping at Basswood for several years, first with our children and now with our grandchildren. Basswood provides amenities that are great for entertaining children, includinga swimming pool and splash park, two playgrounds, a basketball goal, and fishing. Every weekend there are organized activities such as arts and crafts, fishing contests, duck races and frozen t-shirt contests in the pool, and a Saturday evening outdoor movie. There is a great little store with alcohol for the adults; ice cream treats, which we enjoy after a swim; and nearly any key item you might have forgotten to pack. Most roads throughout the campground are paved, and the campground is generally well-maintained. We appreciate the full-service RV spots, but there are very nice bathroom facilities, including showers, in two locations in the park.

We had a fun and relaxing time and loved the woodsy feel to it. We stayed here for a weekend in July 2020 and had a great time!  It is under new ownership and they are working to remodel and renovate all areas. I got to meet one of the owners and one of the owner's kids who works there and they were very nice and very helpful.  In fact, all staff I had contact with were! We had a nice full hookup RV site with a very woodsy feel.  Well shaded, grass and trees, view of water and nice space around us. Gravel site with picnic table and fire ring.  The pool is renovated and very nice. It is very large, zero entry, up to mostly around 5 ft deep with a small area that was 9ft; there is a children's area with a sprinkler. Roads throughout campground are gravel, not paved, if that makes a difference with kids bringing scooters or bikes.  We drove around to see the rest of the campground and saw lots of sites that I'd like to camp in when we come back. The cabins look nice, too. Waved at people sitting in front of them, but did not see inside them.  I'm looking forward to go here again and excited to see the updates they make over the next year!

Note: Included in your camp fee you get 2 free daily passes per night of camping to the pool and a discounted rate for any other swimmers; so for our family with 4 we had the free passes go to the parents and paid $3 each for the kids to swim & we did this two days.  As long as you have the wrist band on you can come and go all day to the pool.

Cons: quite a bit of poison oak around the fish cleaning area, shade at the pool is at a minimum, my phone (AT&T) could not get service there.

Most KOA campgrounds I have been to are exceptional with great sites for all types of camping. However, there are a couple of them that have one or two sites that leave you scratching your head. We were supposed to camp at site 18, but it was not level and had tire ruts all the way to the back of the site. There was nowhere to set up our tent without it being uncomfortable throughout the night. With that said, we moved over to site 19, which was level. The tent sites are small for the tenters and there is little to no shade. 

The good things about the sites are that they have water and electricity. There is even a night light and a place to charge your electronic devices. There is a fire ring but no lantern hanger. 

The bath house is modern and up to date; however, the shower dressing area has got to be the smallest I have EVER seen at a campground. I estimated the dressing area to be about 18” x 24”. I’m not a math whiz, but even I can figure out that an average sized person would have difficulty moving around in the dressing area. 

I might give it a higher rating if we were camping in an RV or even in our teardrop camper, but another problem was the noise. I was warned that there would be a train passing through, and the person I spoke to offered to throw in a pair of ear plugs and a night mask. Now I know why. There was a light from a nearby cabin lighting the whole tenting area, and the trains were one right behind the other… ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!! Every thirty minutes or so(could have been every twenty minutes, but I’m not sure), a train passed by. It wouldn’t be so bad, but it was LOUD!!!!!!! 

We were on our way to Colorado, and the next time we are passing through, I will make sure to skip this campground.