Southern Palms RV Resort

The campground appears to be professionally run, lots of help to get into your space. The staff that I have worked with have been very nice, pleasant and helpful. Im not sure if I like the fact that the place is 95% full or not. The other RVers that I have met here have been very friendly and helpful. Doesnt appear to be any issues with that. I did learn something today that if youre with THOUSAND TRAILS, they only guarantee a 30 amp however, I was able to get a FHU with 50 Amp. One other thing on the side of the campground that we are in there is no pool you have to cross the highway. I would stay here again for sure.

TT helped us get into this park after another park didn't have a site big enough for our 37.5" 5th wheel. They helped us back into our site with two individuals from office and we understood why as it was "VERY" tight. When our neighbor and us had our slides out there was 1' of clearance. Unable to put our awnings out all the way, so we didn't touch our neighbors' rig. We've been in tight campgrounds before, but this one wins the prize. It was a place to stay and I am thankful for that aspect. Just be aware that you'll be close to your neighbors.

This Encore park is part of the Thousand Trails system and free to members. Located in Eustis, FL north of Orlando, it's up to an hour from the attractions.

The area itself has a more small-town/suburban feel and the sidewalk system makes it incredibly easy to get from point A to B on bike when there isn't a bike lane available.

The park has a pool, spa, shuffleboard, and other amenities along with a very large laundry that takes coins, cards, or the CSC app. The roads are paved and in decent repair. Sites range from tight fits to spacious and if you come outside of the January - March time frame, you'll probably really enjoy yourself. In that time frame and you might be squeezed into one of the narrower sites, so if that bothers you, be warned. Personally, we've been in a few of the narrow sites with our 42' fifth wheel and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

There's a couple of really nice dog parks within easy driving distance and one of the better pizza places we've found outside of NY City, called Double Take Pizza. The Crazy Gator is decent and there are several coffee spots in the area.

We used to live right next to the I-95/I-64 exchange, so when I say noise is not a problem, take that into consideration.

There is various WiFi offerings (CampLink and XFinity) which I've had some success using when the area was populated with thousands of streamers hogging the bandwidth, but this year it's not that bad. I suspect a lot of people have moved to 5G and that means 4G users now have better bandwidth. My expensive multi-antenna 4G router/hotspot died last summer and I replaced it with a $40 Orbic the size of a pack of cards and still get reasonably fast bandwidth on most days. Color me amazed.

5G is 4 bars, 4G is 3-4 bars.

All sites are full hookup and most are 30/50amp. While a lot of sites are grass covered, I've never seen or heard of anyone getting stuck (or even seen big muddy ruts) after a storm. Water pressure is more than acceptable and in some parts of the park you better have a pressure regulator.

Most sites are open for satellite use, but there are some trees to park under to get out of the hot Florida sunshine.

It has everything a camper needs, nearby. If you don't mind driving 45 - 75 minutes to visit Disney, Universal, the airport, IKEA, Sea World, or just about any other popular shopping/tourist icon, then this is the place for you.

One bonus for delivery is that Amazon/UPS/Fed Ex will drop your package off at your campsite if you add it to the delivery address. Also, being from VA, it's wonderful to be able to get Kroger deliveries.

Overall a decent campground to stay out, spaces are pretty good size, multiple laundry sites, and big enough for good walks. Few downsides, pool closes at 6pm, which kind of makes the hot tub irrelevant, no dog part, location is pretty far away from larger cities or points of interest. There's a small town right next to the campground that offers a Publix, lake for fishing, some restaurants, etc, but other than the necessities, everything else is about an hour away. Also, there's no security here or gate to protect against people coming in and stealing (which has happened to us)

We stayed through Thousand Trails. The park is very clean and everyone working there is friendly and helpful. It’s crowded but the sites aren’t really tight. We would recommend in fact we’re coming back for another two weeks. My Dora is nearby and a great place to walk, shop and eat.
Cell coverage is for Data SIM cards. We use a Pepwave router and roof Antenna and AT&T was really fast and Verizon was awful. I also have a Verizon jet pack with no booster and it was slower than the sim in the pepwave.

We were pleasantly surprised to learn there was a Thousand Trails/Encore RV Resort near Mount Dora, Florida. The campground is located in Eustis, FL. We have friends who recently moved to Mount Dora from Hawaii so the location was perfect for us.

The good:

1) easy in and out. Clearly marked sites, paved roads. Our rig also serves as our car so this is important to us.
2) you are escorted to your site.
3) sites are pre-assigned. No need to worry about someone snagging your site when out and about.
4) Level site.
5) Electric good. We needed to use our 50 AMP to 30 AMP adapter (make sure you have one of these!) since we were sharing an electric post with someone else who was using the 30 AMP receptacle.
6) Water pressure - good.
7) Everything you could need is nearby - Winn Dixie, Publix, CVS, Wal-Mart, restaurants, etc.
8) Internet was dependable and steady (averages 7-8 MB/sec). We have AT&T Very Blue Plan with Nomad Internet and a NetGear Nighthawk modem.
9) We also have Verizon cell phone service - speeds on our iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G’s was 100+ MB/sec!
10) Fast, clean toll roads to Orlando. We bought a Sun Pass sticker for the windshield and set up an online account - very easy to do.

The not so good:

1) Laundry room needs a deep cleaning and an upgrade. We decided to take our laundry to Spin City Laundry up the road. Open 24 hours and super clean. Plenty of free parking. New machines, too.
2) Noticeable red ant hills on the grass site, especially near water/electric receptacle. Fortunately, not an issue but we are watching closely.
3) Huge potholes near dumpsters fill with muddy water. We enter/exit the other way to avoid.

Part of Thousand Trails. With nearly 1000 spots, this place about doubled the size of anywhere else we have stayed. In many ways, it seemed like staying in a trailer court or apartment complex with your nearest neighbor only a few feet away on either side. That said, I still enjoyed the park, the people camping there, and the many big rigs to take a gander at. Though not really "in nature", one can drive to one of the many nearby lakes and take in some very pretty views. Also close to quaint shops in both Eustis and Mt. Dora--I'd especially recommend Barrel of Books and Games in Mt. Dora. In addition, not a bad drive to Orlando and surrounding areas.