(I did not take many photos on this trip, so there are not many visuals for this post. But you can check out the campground's website here )
(All opinions stated in this post are my own)
As we all know, the world became a very different place in March of 2020. Cancelations are very common nowadays, and so it has become very easy to roll with the punches life throws.
In September, a group of friends and I planned to go to Bonnaroo (2021)
Bonnaroo is a multi-day camping music festival held in Manchester Tennessee.
We spend months prepping and planning and had all of our stuff packed up and ready to go the day before we planned to leave.
But nature had other ideas.
That same week we were prepping to leave. A hurricane went through, leaving the farm it is held on flooded, and completely unusable.
So they had to cancel.
The four of us in the group I planned to go with decided we all still wanted to do something, and we chose that we still wanted to go camping since we spent so much getting things we needed to camp at the festival that would no longer be happening.
One of the big outcomes of the festival being canceled is that there were thousands of people flying in to attend, and they all planned to camp there. Meaning they were left for four days with nowhere to stay and no flight home until the following week.
So we knew that we did not want to drive to Tennessee or Northern Georgia to prevent taking a hotel room or campground from someone who did not have any other options of where to go.
Instead, we decided to head south.
After some discussion at around 10 PM on the floor of my friend's bedroom, we booked two-day tickets to Walt Disney World in Orlando and found a campground to stay in for three nights. And a hotel room to stay in for one day to have an extra day to relax and recover before heading home.
Why We Chose KOA Kissimmee
After looking, we decided that due to price, and location, the Koa Kissimmee campground would be the best for our brief visit.
The weekend after we left was Labor day weekend, and since we went on the weekdays instead we missed out on all of the crowds at both the parks, and the campground.
It was also a very affordable option, in total it only cost me $68. We stayed for three nights, and four of us went which helped it be less than $100 a person. Whereas hotels in the same area around Disney would have cost us probably close to $150-200 each.
It was also only a 20-minute drive to Magic Kingdom, putting it in a very good location where it was still close, but not right in the middle of all of the chaos of Disney’s side of Orlando.
First Impression
The campground was very well maintained. It was a mix of RVs, cabins, and tent sites. Some people there were staying for a few days like we were, but there were also several RVs of people who lived there a full time/ for weeks at a time!
We didn’t see many people using the cabins, but the photos they had online looked nice! They just would have cost us more than we wanted to spend, and we really wanted to go tent camping :)
The bathrooms and shower rooms were always clean, the doors to the stalls in the women's room were kind of strange, they hung from the ceiling so sometimes they didn't lock all the way, but there was not really anyone ever in there.
They also had wall outlets in the bathroom, and a tv in the corner hanging on the wall.
I can’t really speak about the men's rooms, since none of us on the trip were men.
What Was A Part Of Our Camp Site?
There were only a total of four campsites, each one coming with a gravel patch for the tent to go on of course.
As well as a concrete slab where we had a table and four chairs, as well as a bench next to a fire pit.
Each tent site also came with electricity and a sink with more outlets and a light!
If we go back in the future we are going to have to use these more. Since we prepared to camp at Bonnaroo where there is no running water or electricity in the campgrounds, there were many things that we did not bring that we probably should have for that type of camping.
Because we did not bring any kind of extension cord, it was very nice to have extra outlets next to the sink so we could plug our phones and portable chargers in there and leave them on the counter instead of dangling from the electric boxes.
Strange Biker Man
The only weird thing that happened during our stay was that a man on a Motorcycle rolled into the spot next to us at about 2 am one night.
His bike was very loud, and we heard him come in, and he was only there for about an hour because someone came out and told him that he needed to leave.
The next day the code for the bathrooms and showers was changed. While we are not entirely sure of what happened. We think that the man came often, and would try to sleep in the showers instead of buying a camping pass for the night. So security chased him away.
It was all handled very well and very quickly. He did not come back at all while we were there.
Bathrooms
One of the nicest parts of this campground was that it was mainly for people who were staying in RVs, meaning that most of the people staying there had their own bathrooms and showers already.
So we were almost always the only people using the bathhouses.
There was only one other time that there was another site with tent campers, and we were both only there for one night at the same time, and we never really saw each other outside of the tents being next to one another.
Pool
There is a pool on the property! We did go one time, and there was one other family there.
They were super nice and we actually all chatted for a little bit before it was time for us to pack up our stuff up and leave since we went in the morning of our last day there.
It was well maintained, and there was a shaded area for people to sit if they chose or many sun chairs to choose from as well.
There was also a hot tub, you had to turn it on to get the jets going but it was not hard to figure out.
The hot tub was a nice way to relax the sore muscles after walking so much in the parks the two previous days!
Employees and the Shop
While our interaction with the employees there was limited, they still were all very nice and courteous! Any time we had a question for them they knew the answer and were very friendly.
The grounds had a shop where you could buy souvenirs, as well as last-minute things for camping that you may have forgotten at home.
They also had a station with a Keurig and hot water where you could make coffee or tea, and it only cost $1 to use, so we definitely used that a couple of times.
Another thing they had for sale was firewood, but we did not buy any because it was very rainy when we went so it would not have been possible to use it for long.
In Review
I highly recommend looking into the campground if you are wanting to camp on your next trip to Orlando!
It was affordable, and in a very good location with easy access to tons of places! I would definitely stay there again in the future!