Cactus Gardens 55+ RV Resort

Park is very clean.
There are full time permanent sites set up, but those are well maintained.
Nice long dog run for your dog.
Cell service is ATT - LTE at 1-2 bars at best.
Verizon is 4G at 3 bars.
Full hook-up 50 AMP.
Road noise from I-8.
MCAS flights.
Would stay again, but not when in need of data service.

I stayed here free as a Thousand Trails member. My site was clean and level, the park was very clean and attractive. There were lots of social activities and people walked and biked around a lot, or visited in each other’s campsites, and everyone always said hello. Traffic and train noise (no train whistles) were very muted, and other than laughter and cheerful talk from other campsites, the park was pretty quiet. The office staff were very friendly and helpful.

We stayed here in Jan/Feb and really enjoyed the sunny, warm weather and vibe at Cactus Gardens. The staff was friendly and there are lots of activities to do. There are 30/50 amp FHU sites and all are back-in. They are a little narrow, but a wide road for maneuvering. There is a pool, huge dog park, darts, shuffleboard, park, billiards, library, laundry, and community room. It is centrally located in Yuma and close to everything, including the Mexico border. We enjoyed our stay and would definitely come back. 👍🏻😬

For videos on this park and others, check out our YouTube channel: Jeff & Steff’s Excellent Adventure.

Review of RV Parks

1. Cactus Gardens RV Resort, Yuma, AZ
We arrived at 3:30, the afternoon of June 1st. Although we had checked in online & been assigned a spot, we thought we should stop by the office, say ‘hi’, let them know we were here & pick up the typical ‘welcome packet’ (park map, list of amenities- (laundry, dog park) and information regarding what’s closed, etc). The office was closed. A scribbled note on the door said if service is needed to come over to Desert Paradise RV Park (no phone number provided). We went to our assigned spot, F13. There was no power at the pole. Hubby looked up where Desert Paradise was located (next door), hopped in my car and drove there. It was 105-degrees. The man there directed us to spot F7- didn’t seem concerned that F13 had no power (hubby has the foresight to ask for an emergency contact number). Hubby drives back and we move to F7. After hooking up & ‘unpacking’ (you know the drill!), the circuit trips- no power. He flips it back on- 5 minutes later- it trips again and keeps doing so. The only thing we were running at this point was the A/C. We are a 32 ft Class C- 30amp. Hubby calls and was told we were pulling too much power- more than the 30amp shore power pole & we need a converter to hook up to the 50amp side. The lady who answered the phone directs him to go downtown & buy a 50 to 30amp converter & hook up to the other plug in. So, downtown he goes- comes back and there is NO 50 amp plug in at the shore power pole. He calls her again- she seems confused- has a brief conversation with someone in the office and tells us to move to F1 or F4. Mind you, it’s still 105 outside & we have pets we are traveling with. I’m upset- he’s hot & tried after driving 6.5 hours from Tucson. Before unhooking & packing up, he plugs into the pole in the spot next to ours, F8. Power works & stays on. I went online, cancelled our reservation for the next 3 days at Cactus Gardens and extended our reservation at Pio Pico RV Resort in Jamul, CA- our next stop. There are 2 sides to this park- one side is for annual/permanent residents and the other for RV’ers. On the day we arrived, there were 2 RV’s on the RV side; they appeared to be unoccupied based on the fact they were covered up. We were the only RV’ers there on this day (June 1st). The sites were gravel-fairly level. Many shared a small tree & there was some shade available (the 2 sites we were assigned to did not have tree shade, although all sites were empty). I couldn’t locate a dog park. In our walk around with the doggos, I did find a laundry and a library. The dumpsters were at the end of each row. Overall, there was lack of vegetation (bushes, grass, plants)- gravel sites, asphalt road & loose dirt. No sites had picnic tables, fire rings or bbq grills.
On a positive note, Cactus Gardens is right off the Interstate 8, not too much highway noise was noticed and local stores (Walmart, grocery, fast food restaurants, etc) were within 1.1 miles.
Overall, this was a very negative experience, both with the lack of staff concern/friendliness and with the park, itself. I would not recommend staying here. Management needs to address multiple issues, especially with the staff; their lack of concern regarding problems within the park and cordiality towards guests. We have been traveling for years and have never had a negative experience like this.

The park is conveniently located off the freeway but far enough off that it is very peaceful at night. The sites are spacious and have a concrete pad for putting out lawn chairs and such. There are two sides to this park, one side for RV's and one side for permanent park models. There is a huge pet area at the back of the park for you to let your furbaby run around and let go of some energy. The club house was large and had a nice pool area and the grounds were very clean and well kept. One thing that did surprise me though, is they were charging for the entertainment, there was a concert and they were charging a cover charge, this has never been my experience at a Thousand Trails park before, maybe it is normal for an Encore park to charge, not sure. There were plenty of washers and dryers in the laundry area compared to other parks I have visited. There is not a lot to do around this park but it is not too far from downtown Yuma.

Located adjacent to the KOFA Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, we stayed two weeks at the Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, Arizona. This snowbird destination is an Encore Resort, and is included with the Trails Collection available to members of Thousand Trails. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 19.3 Mbps download speed and 8.25 Mbps upload speed. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 31.0 download speed and 5.91 Mbps upload speed. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit at Cactus Garden RV Resort. Recommend the following day trips while visiting the Yuma area: Bike the Yuma waterfront along the Colorado River, make a pedestrian visit to Los Algodones, Mexico, tour Martha’s Gardens and Date Farm located a few miles away, and hike the ultra scenic 1.3 mile loop Painted Desert Trail within the Imperial Wildlife Management Area. If you are also interested in boondocking at scenic locations, a perk to staying at this resort was its proximity to the KOFA National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center located within walking distance of the resort.