Best Cabin Camping near Whiteman Air Force Base, 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

PLEASE NOTE THIS REVIEW IS FOR "RV" PARK ONLY. WE DID NOT USE THE EVENT CENTER AND BED & BREAKFAST. We pushed ourselves to stay 2 of our scheduled 3 nights. This is a trailer park with RVs. All hands off for reservations and parking. Stopped in at the office and they could have cared less. Parked us next to someone that yelled at everyone she was on the phone with and although dog had a leash on was loose. We like dogs but this one was not too interested in being friendly. Maybe construction at entrance is complete now but was a mess when we were there. Wifi stunk. So this 1 star is a 0 star.....first one I have ever given.

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.

Knob Noster State Park is close to Whiteman AFB and towns nearby for amenities. The park is clean and quiet. Weekends often mean a nearly full campground so make sure to reserve ahead! Weekdays there are few campers. The park is well shaded and it includes primitive and electric sites with water pumps within easy access to all sites. There are two sets of campground bathrooms—one is near the front and is brand new (2018); the other bathrooms are half way to the back of the campground. A dump station is at the front of the campground with a pull through drive. Ice, small grocery items and items are all available for purchase from the camp host. You can also rent kayaks either hourly or by the half or full day. There are lots of great trails for hiking, weekend park programs at the campground amphitheater, a playground and basketball courts. There is no WiFi in this park yet but I hear it’s coming soon. This is a great little park!!

We camped the last weekend in September picking a late reservation where kayaks were available for our first tent test run were our main goals, which the site met. Kayaking was wildly available, due to the small lake and difficult launch, we can see why, but still very enjoyable. Site was very sizable for our tent, as most are suitable for campers. Lots of even ground, with decent distance. Facilities could do with some updates, but there were a number of bathrooms on site, spaced so no site seemed far, including the vault toilet and a lot of people masking up while going into bathrooms as well, which was appreciated. Current host was super nice and helpful to first timers. The tiny market has a number of random items, including a collapsible fork which was the only thing we hadn't overpacked, and wasn't overpriced. Fire pits on our site were adjustable, making grilling food easier to control.

Our first camping weekend this year, only 1 mile from home. Testing our 24' Forrest River Salem Cruise Lite pull behind camper systems, support supplies and food supply inventory. It was a spectacular weekend with our of town and our of state family. Knob Noster State Park is a great park for the grandkids to ride their new bikes on the level smooth campground road in safety, and for the adults to catch up over some cold beverages. The campground host this year - 2018 is ran by a couple from Illinois, and although a stickler for all the established park and campground rules - parking on the grass - they did a great job patrolling and managing the campgrounds so everyone was safe and the parks integrity was preserved. The park honored our disability rating and gave us a discount - $22.00 for 3 days & 2 nights. If you require electrical hookups, it is getting to be more common to plan ahead and submit a reservation in state parks as more and more young people are catching on to the camping experience. We didn't reserve a spot and had to take one of the last 5 'non-electric back in sites as all the many electric sites were already reserved and filled up fast. But, we were ok, as we had onboard water, sewer and DC power for lights, radio, awning, and jacks, we just switched our refrigerator to LP. We had a wonderful time and cooked everything on a portable LP grill outdoors in the amazing weather. The park offered a brand new shower house this year. Water and sewage dump sites were always available and no waiting. Next to the campgrounds was a nice medium sized lake we took our 3 canoes on with all the kids and grandkids. The only downer was that the only trash dumpster the campgrounds had and centered in the campground was already full beyond capacity when we checked out on Sunday - we were forced to carry our trash back home to disposes of it properly.