I posted this same question about a year ago and had a few good suggestions but I figured this may be a good time of the year to ask again. Here is our scenario. My family and i live in Ohio and I really really....really hate the winters. The wife and I decided it may be a good idea if we take our trailer down to mid or south Florida and find a nice RV park to leave it at and her or I would get down to use it as often as possible. We would be looking to take it down in November of this year and leave it there through the end of March. The fact of the matter is we will be lucky to actually use the trailer more than 5 or 6 weeks total throughout the winter so I hate to pay what I consider to be a huge amount of money to basically store the camper for the majority of the time. Here is my question.....We are looking for recomendations for a nice quiet, family friendly Rv Resort or campground that can accommodate our 40ft 5th wheel. No 55 or over park. I think our $$ limit is around $700 a month. Another consideration that is very important to me is nice roads. I do a lot of bicycling and do not want to have to ride on highways. I know this is a lot to ask but I would love for you folks to recommend me some parks that you feel may fit our needs. I have seen a few resorts online that I really like around the Ocala area but I am a bit concerned about reliable warm weather that far north.

I'm not sure what you would consider warm weather. Ocala will see weeks with highs in the 50's and 60's between mid December and mid February most years. But there may be occasional cold spells with lows in the 20's and on very rare occasions in the teens. Some years will be warmer and some colder. I live a little north of Ocala and we had one cold spell with temps down near 20 and a couple of others where the temps dipped into the upper 20's. Lot's of highs in the 50's and 60's until mid March this year. Let me tell you a secret about the weather here, we get a lot more cloudy days than the tourist agency hints at. During the winter it is cloudy more often than not. As for bike riding, there are a lot of cg in the Ocala National Forest, many of those places are served by a single state road (SR40) which is a good two lane road but not one I'd want to bike on. So keep thatin mind when you look at cg in that area. Secondary roads in the ONF are mainly dirt/sand roads except in the couple of towns on 40.If you want to avoid freezes all together (most but not all the time) Then you'll have to be south of Orlando. And park prices go up the further south that you are and also with distance to a beach.

Check out Sanlan RV Park ( I think it's sanlan.com) in Lakeland. We stayed there for a couple days and they have lots of areas to bike. Across the road from the RV park is a paved trail, converted railroad track, that goes for miles. It's in South Lakeland near a beltway and easy access to Tampa and Orlando. We saw a lot of RVs there that looked like they were there for seasonal visitors.

I agree with your concerns about Ocala's winter WX and usually recommend staying south of Orlando for warm WX. Your bicycle comment changed this as on the north side of Orlando are some nice bicycle trails.We stay at Stage Stop CG on HWY 50 in Winter Garden... nothing fancy but big sites, some with Oak trees.

You will pay a premium for a campground in Florida in the winter. $800 a month seems low for Florida in prime season for a place you want to visit. Even at $800 a month you will be paying $4000 to park your RV. For 6 weeks that is $666 a week.I would estimate you will be closer to $1000 a month (or more) in Florida, which makes your price $5000 for the winter or over $800 a week. That's not including the cost of driving down and back. I would suggest you find a couple places you like, plan out your vacations and make reservations for a week at a time. It is MUCH cheaper to store your camper somewhere than to rent out a spot. Every time you leave, I would winterize. It can freeze in Florida.If it were me, I would take a month long vacation all at the same time and go down ONCE. Spend $1000 +/- for a nice place on the gulf and enjoy your 4 weeks vacation. If you were going to take 5 or 6 weeks vacation... why not clump it all together?

There are LOTS of parks under $700. Wekiva Falls near Orlando is $600. Grand Lake RV Resort with a golf course is $540 for a grass site $630 for paved. Most have electric meters. The farther south you go the more expensive and crowded it gets. I think Ocala has nice winters. I like putting on a sweater in the evening and it cool enough for fire.

Some Florida questions/recommendations 2015/2016

25 Replies

agesilaus
Explorer III
Mar 30, 2015
garysol wrote:
Thanks.... That was the same conclusion that I came to. Maybe eventually we will work our way south but maybe not. I do love the Glades so some winter I would love to somewhere around Everglade City.

Bears Den wrote:
From a native Chicagoan who has lived full time in Florida now for 31 snowbird seasons, 50 degrees is still better than 10 degrees. Stay where you can afford and do what you like. Don't get so hung up on the temperature south of Orlando, a nice fire at night once in awhile makes for a good evening. Good luck and by the way Ocala is a very nice area.

I understand they are rebuilding the CG at Collier-Seminole SP. That's what we usually use as a CG for the western glades, tho you can do Shark Valley easily from there.
garysol
Explorer
Mar 30, 2015
Thanks.... That was the same conclusion that I came to. Maybe eventually we will work our way south but maybe not. I do love the Glades so some winter I would love to somewhere around Everglade City.

Bears Den wrote:
From a native Chicagoan who has lived full time in Florida now for 31 snowbird seasons, 50 degrees is still better than 10 degrees. Stay where you can afford and do what you like. Don't get so hung up on the temperature south of Orlando, a nice fire at night once in awhile makes for a good evening. Good luck and by the way Ocala is a very nice area.
Bears_Den
Explorer
Mar 30, 2015
From a native Chicagoan who has lived full time in Florida now for 31 snowbird seasons, 50 degrees is still better than 10 degrees. Stay where you can afford and do what you like. Don't get so hung up on the temperature south of Orlando, a nice fire at night once in awhile makes for a good evening. Good luck and by the way Ocala is a very nice area.
2012Coleman
Explorer II
Mar 30, 2015
agesilaus wrote:
That is actually Silver Springs State Park: camping area at State Road 35 at 1425 NE 58th Avenue, Ocala FL 34470. I thought it used to be called Silver River SP but if so they changed it when they took back Silver Springs.
Your right - my bad. We stayed there just before the name change so the old name is stuck in my head I guess.
garysol
Explorer
Mar 25, 2015
I have been doing lots of internet homework on the area and we are so excited to get down there. So many cool things to do and see.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Mar 25, 2015
That is actually Silver Springs State Park: camping area at State Road 35 at 1425 NE 58th Avenue, Ocala FL 34470. I thought it used to be called Silver River SP but if so they changed it when they took back Silver Springs.
2012Coleman
Explorer II
Mar 25, 2015
While your there, check out Silver creek State park. You can rent a canoe and do some paddling on the silver river. The CG there has huge sites. Here is site # 34 - stayed here for a week. Not my rig, but you can see how huge it is. You can virtually drive through this CG with Google street view.
Big_Katuna
Explorer II
Mar 24, 2015
I forgot to mention Wilderness. It's a very nice. Stayed there many times.
garysol
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
The deed is done. After going back and forth I kept looking back at the Ocala / Silver Creek area because of all of the area activities and the country setting. I can always wear a jacket as needed :) I reserved a site at Wilderness RV Resort in Silver Creek for November through April 1st. The "resort" has excellent reviews and were quite nice on the phone. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!
garysol
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
JoeH wrote:
Look around Lake O -- Moorehaven and vicinity. A friend of ours styed there the last couple of winters and the prices were much more reasonable than I would have expected. It is sort of isolated, but the weather will be warmer than up north.

Thanks.... Looking now.