Orange Blossom KOA

We stayed at this particular campground mainly because it was the closest option to Mount Dora, where we have family who we were visiting for the holidays. There are not a ton of other affordable monthly options in the area and we weren't keen on staying at a mobile park. So, we made our reservation for the end of November and the month of December.

The location was ideal for getting to and from Mount Dora, but it was directly along the 441 and our site backed up to the road with train tracks between. Road noise, passing trains, either a shooting range or a gun-friendly private residence nearby, and our neighbor's all-hours lit canopy lights made good sleep or any sort of quiet relaxation here impossible.

However, there were some positives during our stay; including friendly and helpful staff, a very clean campground, a dog park, shuffleboard and corn-hole games, level sites, and good working hook-ups.

Unfortunately, the things out of the staff and management's control were the negatives that would cause us not to stay here again.

Like our first stay we chose to stay at the Orange Blossom KOA for the location, availiblity, and price. We were in the Orlando area to see family visiting Universal from up north. We have stayed in the Kissimmee KOA. This is the quieter, nicer location. The less expensive option.

We have at least 2 sets of standards for campgrounds. Like apples and oranges public and private campgrounds should never be compared. This KOA ranks high in the private campground category. Exceptionally well cared for with clean restrooms. The friendly and helpful staff was outstanding. Like many KOAs there is some road noise but we are talking the Holiday Inn Express of RVing. Too far from the road does not fit this scenario.

We reserved a standard back in site described as being grassy. It was actually grass!! Better than dirt with the option for mud. We requested a site close to the restrooms as we are not self contained and our request was honored! Not always an option at KOAs. Many seem to see small rigs as second class citizens. Not here. For the Orlando Florida area in snowbird season the price seemed very reasonable.

The wi-fi worked extremely well. Proper setup to serve a campground.

We were nervous about staying at this KOA. We had never stayed at a “Journey” before. We typically stay several weeks at more remote state/county parks and then a week back at a KOA to catch up on mail and laundry. This was a very nice KOA. It is so close to many things to do, Mt Dora, Disney, Orland Science Museum and grocery stores. The owner lives on property and he was very friendly, as is all the staff. The laundry facilities were clean and the cost was $2 per load.
We had a back in grass site. It is a grass and sand mixture. We had several days of rain and there was no problem with flooding or mud.
We read some reviews about the traffic noise. There is noise from the road right next to the campground but it did not bother us at all, either while being inside or outside. We slept with our windows open several nights.
It is a quiet , clean campground. Our 2 weeks stay was over Christmas and New Years holiday and it was perfect. We felt safe to let our 9 year old ride her bike around the campground and ride to the playground. The pool is heated and well maintained. Cell service worked fine as well. My husband was able to work remotely everyday without a concern about service.

There is a small airport adjacent to the campground and there are some plane flying over during the day and early evening but again, nothing bothersome to us.

As far as a KOA / private campground goes, we did like this one a lot and we will be coming back.

Hi all. We made a last minute change in FL in the winter and we were happy to find a opening the nights we needed at this KOA. Be warned it’s quite a drive into Orlando. This KOA is well cared for. Not a lot of frills but clean, well maintained and decent amount of green space. Fit the bill for what we needed. The mosquitos were intense 2 days we were there ...be warned.

A KOA trying to be a resort? - this is the best summary I can come up with. Read on if you want to know why.

-1 Star for the harassment and lack of knowledge on vehicles.
-1 Star for giving me an anxiety attack after having driven from Atlanta to stay here for an entire week to relax and suddenly thinking my $$$$’s, drive down, and reservation notes were for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

The Bad:

Upon our arrival which was about 25 minutes before check-in, I pulled up to the front office in our Sportchassis truck, towing our 45’ triple axle 5th wheel. A detail that I specifically made note of in our reservation. A woman comes racing up alongside in a golf cart stating, “you can’t stay here, or bring that in here, it’s a commercial vehicle and that’s not allowed!” as I was getting out of the truck, to discover the office is closed from 1-2pm, check in is 2pm. I apologized first for being early and politely said, “ma’am this is not a commercial vehicle, it’s a special made luxury hauler with a heavy duty pick-up truck recreational vehicle registration for pulling our 5th wheel, there’s many of them out there”. It is also clearly marked “Private - Not for Hire” on both sides of the truck, there are no DOT or IFTA numbers on the truck either. She relented a bit and said “well you can’t park it here, maybe somewhere else, where would you park it anyway?” To that triple whammy, I said, “in front of our 5th wheel, just under it like I imagine anyone else would” with a shrug. I guess she realized her error, then she says, “well, ok I can see it’s not for commercial use, and I’m a new manager here” to which I again reinforced, that “I specifically made notes on our reservation stating exactly what we have, with special requests for site size, etc due to our length, and if there was any problem with it, you all should have immediately called me”. Having gotten past that and no apologies, we got our site, set-up and the rest of the stay was generally pleasant for a KOA, except…

It is really apparent when your neighbors and many others walking by to do the campground chatter thing all share their stories of the harassment level enforcement taking place. I truly understand wanting to keep the place nice and clean, those efforts are paying off, but this is NOT A RESORT. When you run around bothering everyone about no riding motorcycles, don’t leave that bag on the ground, don’t let your kids talk too loud, and on and on, you very quickly become weary of every little thing you do and that is NOT relaxing, or camping in my opinion, it’s as bad or worse than dealing with the wicked witch living down the street in your HOA neighborhood.

The Good:

It’s nice, clean, the mechanicals (hook-ups) are in excellent condition, our site was super long, and I have to admit the staff are at least polite.

In closure:

I do not come to KOA’s for resort level harassment. I come for an experience that is an easy, pleasant stay that is NOT ANXIETY INDUCING. This is exactly why I use KOA’s, for a set of standards and expectations. Are there poorly managed KOA’s out there that probably should not be KOA’s? Yes. This KOA isn’t one of those, but ownership should run in the middle of the rules because that’s the KOA expectation. Not trailer park trashy, yet you’re not a resort by any means and should be accepting - or perhaps better put: non-discriminatory.

10 year age rule on RV’s? That’s a RESORT type discriminatory rule, not a KOA rule and I have never, ever seen it at a KOA before now and I’ve been staying at KOA’s since the days of Family Circus (30 years or more now?). I usually refuse to stay anywhere with that rule, and we are clearly new enough - but that’s not the point, it’s about the discriminatory posture you present. No commercial vehicles, or tractors? Ok - but know your vehicles and you need to define it better - WHAT COMMERCIAL CLASS TRACTOR is not permitted (Class 8, 7)? My truck, a professionally converted Sportchassis (Class 5) is not a commercial tractor like over the road truck driver type rigs which is what I think you really mean to prevent.

This is a good stop. The staff was really helpful and friendly. Our site was directly across from the dog park, so it was little noisy. The pool is very nice.

Note: we were told the new managers took over in May 2021. They were very nice and accommodating.

We stayed for 4 nights visiting family. Well maintained facility. Wi-Fi was spotty though.

Would definitely stay again.

Fun for the whole family. Had back-in site up to a fence, across from the park, pool, laundry, showers and plenty of space.

We stayed here one night while travelling through the area. Site 49 was a pull through and level. The lady at the front desk was super personable and made our stay very pleasant. The road noise is fairly high but didn't bother us at all inside our camper.

Close to Mt Dora but in the middle of the not so nice part of town in Apopka. The park was decent but small. I booked online and we were parked on the grass and since we were a tag axle, they told us we were responsible to get ourselves out if we got stuck. So we had to work with them to get a pull through as rain was expected that week. It inconvenient us but we worked it out.