Moore Haven KOA Holiday

This is now Moore Haven KOA. Great space to hit both coasts in about an hour.

Part of our expectation are consistency of amenities and friendly staff.

Neither hit the mark at this one.

We arrived early, yep, they charged us extra. We could have sat in their drive and waited, but the site was all ready to go. Our site was acceptable, but only after I purchased extra sewer hose. My 29 ft hose did cut it. Patio had some new furniture which looked nice, but the concrete patio had broken edges
Facilities, looked ok, most had a fresh coat of paint.

Laundry, well, by the time we left nothing worked. The on-site manager was trying to get the off-site owner to take care of it.

The day we left; we were told the county health department had just issued a boil water warning for the park. No offer to compensate for the inconvenience. Of course, I had just refilled my fresh water because they said they had good water. Fortunately, we didn't get sick.

Prices used to be good, but like everything else they are skyrocketing ($150/night for a “deluxe” site, which used to be basic and nothing was changed to improve it… only the name!). Had a basic site that they are now calling another deluxe. Full hook ups and that’s it, on grass, no fire pit, no grill, nothing else. Now they’re charging for every little thing. And since the snowbirds have left they keep a padlock on the pool for most of the day and if you try to contact anybody in office, the voicemail is full and no one is ever in. And the property manager, Wendy, acts like everybody is an inconvenience. No wi-fi unless you go thru state wi-fi & purchase (we tried and it never worked ). Laundry facilities hardly ever work (5 washers and dryer’s for a park with 300 spaces?), there’s never change in the machine, and don’t think to go to the office and ask for change. There’s nothing within a 40 minute drive of this place. I would tell everybody to stay away!!!! We could not get out of here fast enough! The only reason we stayed as long as we did was because we were having a house built and had no place else to park at the time. They do NOT do ANY refunds for any reason. It’s also right off the main highway artery with truck noise 24 seven. If I could give it zero stars I would. If you stay here, BEWARE!!!!!

Oh Lord, where do I begin…?
This KOA had the worse costumer service that I have ever experienced. There was a Class-A motor home that arrived while we were there. I noticed, after a short while, the motor home was leaving. Curiosity got the best of me and I had asked why they were not staying. Another witness said that “the driver of the camper was not able to get his rig in the campsite and he would not be able to get his slides out“. The employee at the KOA told him “if you don’t like it, you can leave.”
As long as they make their money, they could careless about the people camping. Moore Haven KOA is independently owned. This means that corporate (KOA) will not work with you or help you if there is a problem, especially if the issue is a fee or pricing problem.
If you reserve a stay one day shy of a month, they will charge you the daily rate for the days that you stay. Of course they won’t tell you that, nor will they fix the issue. It cost me $800.00 for one day.
We had the pleasure of seeing a previous employee of Moore Haven KOA (after we left). This person indicated that they were instructed NOT to tell the customer about the difference in the price.
Prices at the camp store were a bit higher then most other campgrounds. You might as well pay the camp-store prices because it’s going to cost you more in fuel if you have to go into town.
They have a designated area, in the back of the campground, to wash your vehicles. However, it is locked and you have to pay to use it, but they won’t tell you that. Yes, they “nickel and dime you“.
We were there for almost 4 weeks and the pool was cold the entire time. The website says that it is a heated pool…this was not the case during our stay.
For those campers who like the pool but are not able to be in the sun too long, there were no umbrellas available. If you look on their KOA website, it shows umbrellas on the pool deck. I think this campground is “boarder-line” false advertising.
This campground is surrounded by rundown-cattle ranches and farms. If you are “scent sensitive” and the wind is blowing, you may not be happy with the unpleasant odor.
The neighboring cattle ranch has two dogs which roam the campground freely. One dog has patches of hair missing on it. I have to wonder if the dog is “diseased”. It would probably be in your best interest to stay away from these dogs. Don’t leave your garbage bags outside or they will get into them.
Even though this campground is located in Florida, it’s a “far cry” from a tropical environment…it’s more like the plains or flat lands of Texas without the cactus. If you are looking for a tropical environment, this is not a campground for you.
The campground has cable T.V. available. There was a lot of “pixilation” and broken streams, especially on a windy day. It was so bad that we had to switch to the RV antenna to get decent reception for the rest of our stay.
They are short staffed and no one wants to work there. I asked a KOA worker “what about the locals“. Their response was “they say it’s too far to travel”.
There is a construction-type business that houses its employees in several campers and cabins at this campground. Their campsites were trashy and they didn’t cleanup after themselves…“what an eye sore“. I was walking my dog past those sites one evening, when my dog found chicken bones on the ground. I was not happy! Fortunately, my dog didn’t swallow any bones.
Eventually, a KOA worker had to take extra time to police those campsites…as if they aren’t short handed already.
The employees (from the construction-type business) tied up the showers in both of the bath houses after they got off work. I went to take a shower one evening and five of them were sitting on the floor waiting to use the shower. This occurred on several occasions.
It didn’t help that one of the three shower stalls was out of service the entire time that we were there.
I heard some of the campers say that they were going into town because there wasn’t a washer available. I noticed that there were ten combination washer and dryer units…six of them were “out of service”. I am sure that this was a big inconvenience for those campers. If you were lucky enough to use one of the washer and dryer units, they will take your money or not give you the appropriate amount of time. Again, the fees to use the washer and dryer units were a bit higher then most campgrounds that I have been to.
Try to keep your laundry off of the floor…there were roaches scampering about in the laundry room. I have never had roaches in my camper, or my home. Yes, you guest it…I now have roaches in my camper.
On certain designated campsites, you are not allowed to have a fire, even if you brought your own fire pit. Again, they won’t tell you that initially. Needless to say, our campsite was one of the “no burn” sites.
You are not allowed to have any canopy, EZ ups or like…they will make you take them down.
The ceiling in the clubhouse was falling down; presumably from water damage…I have to question whether there is asbestos or mold that may have affected past or present campers.
There weren’t many events for the children. They have an ice-cream social on Sundays but I think that was more oriented for the senior campers.
The electrical panel, that my camper was connected to, “fried” my surge protector. I immediately disconnected everything, changed all of my appliances over to propane, and replaced the surge protector. At this point, the only thing running (on the 30amp circuit) was the A/C unit and my T.V.
When we arrived at our next campground, I was able to continue using all of my electrical appliances, including the A/C, without any issues. I spoke with another camper that had been at Moore Haven KOA and he too had the same problem, except his damage was a lot worse.
I didn’t see many people fishing during my stay at the three ponds on the property. I guess they were afraid of the alligators. Use caution if you walk your pets near the waters edge.
The mailroom is open 24 hours a day. The door was unlocked at 1:00am on several occasions. The delivery services (UPS, USPS, FEDX, etc.) leave the packages on a table just inside the mail room door. That’s where you pick up your packages. This system of mail handling by the campground is not secure. I was fortunate not to have any of my packages missing during my stay. However, there were a few people that were not so lucky.
I know of ten families/campers that stayed there the same time that we did…they too will not be returning. As a matter of fact, they all left early.
I am an avid KOA camper and rewards member. I have been to many KOA’s over the years. This KOA was very disappointing.
It amazes me how KOA Corporate still allows this campground to use their name.
Please do your homework before you travel to this campground. There are nicer campgrounds around that are more “camper friendly”, less expensive, and not in the middle of “nowhere”. If nowhere is what you prefer, be careful of what you ask for.

This campground is the worse. Read my 1300-word review on Trip Advisor before you book your stay.