Lack of RV Parks... Jimmy Buffet to the rescue!

[magicbus]

Jimmy Buffet and his growing RV Park Empire.

Dave

[pianotuna]

Well one can boondock. I use the trip planner at freecampsites.net a LOT.

My favourite camping locations are small town campsites that are usually inexpensive.

[ken56]

OK, I just toured Margaritaville RV park and lodge in Pigeon Forge. The lodge is very nice. Nice rooms and restaurant on site. Everything is spankin' new and clean. The staff is very friendly and service oriented and are eager to help you out with anything. They have a lower level with Duck pin Bowling, an arcade and TV's with ONLY sports channels on.....no CNN or Fox or other stuff. They are working on opening a Lazy River water feature and the outdoor pool is open. While Margaritaville is directed at the more adult crowd there were SOME children there. Not all that many really that I saw but it is still very family oriented and children are welcome

The RV part is established. The 'grass' is grown and sites are all level concrete slabs with ample room for rigs from toy haulers to Tiffin's to Tabs. It has no real trees for any shade. Some might call it a "parking lot" style of camping but I thought there was ample room between the sites with some green space for a modicum of privacy. I would stay there hands down in a heartbeat.

Look them up on the web for rates.

[Cecilt]

SuperBus wrote:
My apologies for waking up an old post.

Has anyone stayed at the Jimmy Buffet park in Pigeon Forge? I am considering it as back-up to another park in the area. The rates are competitive-ish considering all of those parks are charging near $100 /night. It appears to be further off the road than most and the amenities seem plenty to keep my pre-teens occupied. Being new isn't bad so long as it isn't unfinished. Nothing worse than seeing all of the things that WILL be fun in the future while the kiddos track the mud in from where the grass should be. The lack of pictures on their website leaves me a bit concerned to its current state of completion.

Thanks.

We drove through it a couple times when we visited over Memorial Day weekend. Nice resort. Grass is grown in and it does not look like a "work in progress" resort. The pool was smaller than I would have expected and the crowded Memorial Day weekend showed that. I would stay there but it is a little pricey at $120+/per night. Location is good.

[wowens79]

pbeverly wrote:

wowens79 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.

We stayed in Bryson City at a campground that had good reviews, but it was really sketchy. It the only time I've carried a gun to the bath house.

I will say it was probably a bad time to go, it was in February, and we had like 10 inches of rain while we were there, so it looked extra gloomy. We liked the quietness to Bryson, but did not see a good looking campground.

So what was the campground you stayed in so I can avoid it?

Ela Campground

[Veebyes]

Love his music but those are not my style & not my budget. On the rare occasion we might do $50 but have no use for the pools or the Disney 'perfect' CGs with their 'carpark' layouts for so called camping.

I'm sure that they will do well though.

[pbeverly]

wowens79 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.

We stayed in Bryson City at a campground that had good reviews, but it was really sketchy. It the only time I've carried a gun to the bath house.

I will say it was probably a bad time to go, it was in February, and we had like 10 inches of rain while we were there, so it looked extra gloomy. We liked the quietness to Bryson, but did not see a good looking campground.

So what was the campground you stayed in so I can avoid it?

[wowens79]

dodge guy wrote:
We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.

We stayed in Bryson City at a campground that had good reviews, but it was really sketchy. It the only time I've carried a gun to the bath house.

I will say it was probably a bad time to go, it was in February, and we had like 10 inches of rain while we were there, so it looked extra gloomy. We liked the quietness to Bryson, but did not see a good looking campground.

[JaxDad]

dodge guy wrote:

RetiredRealtorRick wrote:
"Starting" at $70 per night. Local motels such as the Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, and LaQuinta are posting rates in the $70-$79 category.

Please understand that I am NOT proposing that a motel stay would be a better choice by any means, but where is the justification to spend the same money for a slab of concrete as for a decent motel room, that probably comes with a free breakfast to boot!??

Seems as though the popularity of RVing has prompted enterprising entrepreneurs to take the Disney approach and keep raising prices until attendance starts to drop.

Just seems lop-sided to me, that's all.

Seems to me you are getting more than “a slab of concrete”. You are getting a very nice resort style experience! Let’s see that happen at the motel 6!

You get what you pay for!

The other huge portion of the pricing formula is the ‘economy of scale’, or in this case, LACK of economy of scale with a C/G.

It is horrendously land space inefficient, requires sparsely (compared to a motel) used utilities spread out over a huge area, utilities that in most cases are far higher than a motel user would require and that can’t be passed along, the list goes on & on.

[dodge_guy]

We just stayed at The Ridge RV Resort in Sevierville. Very nice place.

[pbeverly]

Diamond c wrote:
In our younger days,when the kids were young and camping with us. We might’ve thought about it for the kids experience. Now days we want pice and quiet. We love “ Up The Creek “ in Pigeon Forge, but the way it’s building up there we’re looking for somewhere else. Maybe Townsend or even Ashville, or even maybe Maggie Valley.

Up the Creek is in a very good location. If you want tourist trap stuff you have that. If you want to get into the National Park there are roads in that totally skip Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Spent a week at Up the Creek in May and it was probably the nicest campground we have stayed out.

That said, we are looking for a place on the NC side of the park, Bryson City area, to explore. Nothing so far looks comparable to Up The Creek.

[pbeverly]

bgum wrote:
At least someone is building RV parks.

We rode through the Pigeon Forge park in May and it is finished. Nice but expensive. Great location.

Check out Up The Creek in Pigeon Forge. No special RV Resort type stuff, but a beautiful park and very well maintained.

[Diamond_c]

In our younger days,when the kids were young and camping with us. We might’ve thought about it for the kids experience. Now days we want pice and quiet. We love “ Up The Creek “ in Pigeon Forge, but the way it’s building up there we’re looking for somewhere else. Maybe Townsend or even Ashville, or even maybe Maggie Valley.

[dodge_guy]

RetiredRealtorRick wrote:
"Starting" at $70 per night. Local motels such as the Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, and LaQuinta are posting rates in the $70-$79 category.

Please understand that I am NOT proposing that a motel stay would be a better choice by any means, but where is the justification to spend the same money for a slab of concrete as for a decent motel room, that probably comes with a free breakfast to boot!??

Seems as though the popularity of RVing has prompted enterprising entrepreneurs to take the Disney approach and keep raising prices until attendance starts to drop.

Just seems lop-sided to me, that's all.

Seems to me you are getting more than “a slab of concrete”. You are getting a very nice resort style experience! Let’s see that happen at the motel 6!

You get what you pay for!

[time2roll]

RetiredRealtorRick wrote:
"Starting" at $70 per night. Local motels such as the Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, and LaQuinta are posting rates in the $70-$79 category.

Please understand that I am NOT proposing that a motel stay would be a better choice by any means, but where is the justification to spend the same money for a slab of concrete as for a decent motel room, that probably comes with a free breakfast to boot!??

Seems as though the popularity of RVing has prompted enterprising entrepreneurs to take the Disney approach and keep raising prices until attendance starts to drop.

Just seems lop-sided to me, that's all.

Those low priced hotels are doing exactly the same thing. Except attendance is not improving.