Lake Pleasant RV resort, Bothell Wa

[mikeflys]

Just spent 3 days in this park. I checked it out on rvparkreviews before making reservations. Most of the reviews were good, but the few bad ones were very strong. So we took the chance, wont do that again. Just to be fair the experience was not all bad. The park is attractive, green and quiet. Calling the "Lake" anything more than a brown mud puddle is pretty much a lie. We have public parks here in Idaho that have bigger ponds than this lake. Most of the negative reviews were due to the grumpy managment, and they are both grumps. I should have caught a clue when I noticed the big "no refunds" sign on the check in desk. They asked me when I reserved my site if I could back my trailer. Wow folks the entry to my site was by far the most diffacult site I have ever backed into. The road into the park has a reatining wall way to close to the site entrance, even without my trailed hitched up it was a tight turn for a full size pickup. We were also suprised to find that the park does not have free wifi. I know for some that might not be a big deal, but in our opinion for the price they are charging they had better have outstanding amaties. Even if you could get a signal on your wifi device the servce was so slow that it was usless. TV was basic cable with only a few channels. Once again a minor detail but combined with all the other problems it becomes a major annoyance. Bottom line we will never return to this park.

[docj]

Rice wrote:
And at $35-40, you're getting into Motel 6 territory. In fact, down in South Padre Island (South Texas) in December a few years ago, during the week some motel rooms were cheaper than our RV space, and it was just an unpleasant FHU spot in a parking lot.

For the kind of motel you can get for that price, I'd much rather sleep in my own bed in my MH. I KNOW there are no bedbugs there!:B

[Rice]

And at $35-40, you're getting into Motel 6 territory. In fact, down in South Padre Island (South Texas) in December a few years ago, during the week some motel rooms were cheaper than our RV space, and it was just an unpleasant FHU spot in a parking lot.

$44 is pretty much what I'd expect the daily rate at Lake Pleasant to be these days. Paying a monthly rate is an exception for us because we like to be more flexible than that, but this was an exception because we were killing some time. And we had no idea they'd extend the stay at that rate for however many days we wanted until our month was almost up and we asked about the options.

But I just remembered that this was in the winter, and I vaguely recall that they may not offer monthly rates at all during the summer.

[docj]

Rice wrote:

mikeflys wrote:
We have noticed that the price of all RV parks are steadily rising, maybe $44 is not unreasonable any longer.

Yeah, $44 isn't really unreasonable any more, especially in a place like Seattle. I'm seeing a LOT of $35-$40 rates in places that have a lot less to offer than Seattle.

As full-timers who travel extensively, I can say, unequivocally, that $35-40 plus tax has pretty much become the standard for pleasant, full-hookup parks around the country regardless of where they are located. Near larger cities we have become accustomed to paying ~$50/day if we are forced to pay on a daily rate and not all that much less if we pay weekly.

The good news is that monthly rates in many destination places can be significantly less than that.

[Bigdog]

You could have gone to the KOA in Kent and then bashed that one instead. It is bashable, but only as an RV park, not a KOA..

[Rice]

mikeflys wrote:
We have noticed that the price of all RV parks are steadily rising, maybe $44 is not unreasonable any longer.

Yeah, $44 isn't really unreasonable any more, especially in a place like Seattle. I'm seeing a LOT of $35-$40 rates in places that have a lot less to offer than Seattle.

As for Lake Pleasant RV Park in particular, we stayed there several years ago and signed up for a month. When the month was over, we wanted to stay another week. Rather than charging us the daily rate or weekly rate for that extra time, they prorated the monthly rate. I was shocked.

[docj]

GMandJM wrote:
Glad you posted to RVParkReviews. Let us know if your less-than-favorable review gets "declined".

I have no idea what prompted this comment, but reviews on RVParkReviews don't get declined because they aren't positive. We have plenty of scathing reviews in our database. What do get sent back to the submitter are rants that devote the entire review to a single bad experience without offering any information useful to other users who might not encounter that same problem.

For example, if you had particularly noisy neighbors that is unfortunate, but it is unlikely they will still be there when the next RVParkReviews reader checks in, so unless you provide some other information your review will be of no value to them.

[GMandJM]

Glad you posted to RVParkReviews. Let us know if your less-than-favorable review gets "declined".

[mikeflys]

We have not been in the Seattle area for around 30 years. We had a specific goal for going there which we greatly enjoyed. We have noticed that the price of all RV parks are steadily rising, maybe $44 is not unreasonable any longer. Maybe we have just been lucky with the fact that the parks we frequent all have adequate free wifi. Maybe we are the oddballs who think if we are paying for a service which advertises cable TV that it should work and have more channels than I can get with my antenna. Maybe I should be satisfied with an unleveled trailer. I don't think so and I don't think my expectations are out of line. I'm glad we have no reason to return to Seattle for another 30 years. I choose Lake Pleasant because it had the best reviews on rvparks. If this is the best Seattle has to offer, we really have no reason to return. As far as my comments on Icicle River, you may want to read my review again. I did not mean to say we had a bad time there. We were disappointed by the space we were placed in. The park as a whole was nice, my intention was not to steer people away but just to clue them in to ask for a nicer spot when you make your reservations.

[Roy_Lynne]

Wow it appears from your posts that your going from bad to worst, you didn't like Icicle and now you don't like Lake Pleasant. And I wouldn't complain much about the lake, we are in a drought situation and all lakes and ponds are very low. The river by my house is barely a creek now. They certainly can't do a thing about that. Most folks complain about the WiFi, so much so that we have also just gotten our own hotspot so we don't have to use the park's. Enjoy the rest of your travels.

[rr2254545]

We have stayed there and loved it - best public park in the Seattle area. In both of their posts they mention high cost - I do not think I would call $44 a night high ever - that's a bargain in Seattle

First off they no where call themselves a Resort

When we were there the lake was nice

If OP is truly a frequent traveler - they should know that all Wifi in a campground does not work very well and cable is usually limited, that is why I have a Mifi and satellite for my travels

[obgraham]

I live in an area about the same population as OP. We're used to good friendly service, and value for dollars spent.

However, I've yet to find an urban RV park, like this one, which will provide those features. It's just the reality of trying to stay in a big city in an RV. The description of this park sounds like the majority of urban RV parks I've stayed at.

[mikeflys]

kknowlton wrote:
Sad to hear, as this park has had historically good reviews. Hope you have posted your review on rvparkreviews too, especially since you checked there ahead of time.

FYI, coastal Washington has been in a drought situation (worse than Idaho's) so that may account for the "mud puddle."

This lake (pond, puddle, whatever) is obviously artificial and was at full capacity. We spoke to a few locals who told us it is always brown.

[mikeflys]

romore wrote:
Sorry you were disappointed, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and found the staff most helpful. I would suggest you need to be a little more realistic regarding your expectations, rv parks are not 5 star resort hotels.

I have posted a review on rvparksreview. As to the above comment. We are not new to RV travel. We strated with our 1st RV in 1995 and have been traveling ever since. We have stayed in many differant RVparks, big, little, remote and more urban. We have spent far less money and recived far greater service in nearly every other one. About the only other park that has cost more was in Sisters Or. We were not to happy with the wifi and TV there either, but the park was so beautiful we did not care. Not the case here. One thing I forgot to meantion in my 1st post, the site we were placed in slopped so far down to the lake. I was unable to level my rig, with the tongue as far down as it would go the nose was still sticking up in the air.

[n7bsn]

Locally (and yes it's local) its called "That Pit"
No I wouldn't ever recommend anyone I know stay there