The Outpost RV Resort on Lake Mariana

Don’t get Catfished by the beautiful website. This is my first negative review of anything ever. I usually leave glowing reviews and enjoy promoting places I’ve been. This is by far the least nice campground I’ve been to which wouldn’t necessarily warrant a negative review if it weren’t such a gross contrast from what it advertised. What does call for a negative review is the hot headed, rude & incredibly unprofessional couple that work the front “office”. My premier water front site had been moved less than 24 hrs prior to my arrival to a tiny interior site & I was charged the same as they said “you can still see the lake”. My friends behind me were told that if I was not in front of them & the site was empty that they too would be charged top dollar. Mind you this is across the interior road & three sites in (#27). I asked the man from the office who walked up as I was looking at the site why I was moved & he said the people who got there before me “pitched such a fit & raised all kinds of hell” so they were moved to my reserved site but if I didn’t like it I could talk to the lady up front. I said ok as I had spoken to her on the phone on the way in & she assured me this was an equitable site & seemed relatively pleasant. As soon as I walked into the office, I was met by her yelling about another guest to the man I had been speaking to. She was quite loud about a guest being “stupid” & not listening about taking their dogs down by the water because of the gators that would surely get the dogs. (Confirmed by someone else who said it had happened there before) I was grateful for the info since I have dogs so it wasn’t what she said but her yelling & acting kind of crazy in front of a first time guest. I barely got any words out of my mouth about not liking the reassigned site before she cut me off and started yelling, “I don’t know why you’re all bitching about that site, you get put on sites of MY choosing, NOT YOURS! There’s nothing I can do about it!” Shocked at her aggressive reply & refusing to engage, I just put up my hand up and said fine, I’ll stay & went to walk out. She continued to go on & I just said, “Thanks, I’ll note that in my review.” This all occurred over probably less than one minute. This was supposed to be my birthday weekend and we were going to Smoke on the Water to cheer on a buddy who was competing. Not a great start. As I was almost back to my site, I look behind me & there’s the man again. As soon as he saw me turn around he shouted, “If you’re gonna leave a bad review JUST LEAVE.” (Which I have since seen in similar reviews about this couple, wow) I just said, “Fine” & kept walking to my truck. Mind you, I don’t live far so it’s no big deal & definitely not worth this level of harassment by staff. My friend & her husband walked out as the man continued on shouting about how I “wasn’t gonna talk to his wife like that & leave a bad review” which was funny because I barely got 10 words out to the lady before she went off & I never raised my voice or anything. I then added how it was ironic that their response to someone not being happy about their site being changed to a little interior site was to kick them out so they “couldn’t” leave a bad review. I said I would add being kicked out, thanks bye. He noticed my friend and her husband were with me & changed his tune. I wholeheartedly believe him chasing me back to my site and threatening to kick me out was an attempted intimidation tactic as I am a single female traveller. Fortunately, I remained unbothered & unimpressed. Loud stompy men don’t scare me & I would’ve been happy to leave. My friend’s husband responded to the man very politely explaining what had happened and the man said he’d refund me but my friend didn’t want me to leave. In the end, I stayed (mostly because I had a work conference call due in 2 minutes) but the man stayed and kept yelling and arguing for several minutes very unwilling to just let it go and walk away as nobody wanted to engage with him or his wife. He said they would do something about the price I was charged & adjust it down from a premier since my only lake view was between the huge busses in sites 15 & 16. That never happened & I was charged full price after being attacked. So, onto the park review. It’s very small and directly off of a noisy major road (US highway 92) & directly across from the Winter Haven Regional Airport. Both of which proved to be very noisy. I do see where they cater to aviators for whom I’m sure it’s very convenient. The wifi was nonexistent which, to be fair, isn’t entirely uncommon. There seem to be a lot of full timers there with crowded patios full of personal belongings which was my very close view out of my big window along with the very large electrical poles and meters directly behind me. I had to move some abandoned equipment (fresh water hose and what I believe was a wheel chock) before I could back in. I have probably the smallest grand design on the market & was lucky my truck just barely fit with my trailer. My friend and several others had to park in a separate junky area that was part grass lot, part old picnic table graveyard. We had good electric and water while we were there & the view from the dock is very nice but that’s credit to Florida’s natural landscape, not the campground. There is a trailer park directly to the side of the campground & at night you can hear fairly loud train horns from nearby tracks. The loud traffic, ambulances, small aircraft from the airport across the street etc made it impossible to sleep even over the tv trying to drown out the noise. There were a lot of smokers & “smokers” which I wasn’t sure if they were friendly neighborhood hippies or criminals since I read other reviews about drug dealing activity. I’m not a fan of brightly lit campgrounds but this is just the opposite. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face which is a safety issue for sure. I wouldn’t have known where to walk my dogs if not for the ambient light from people’s trailers. Speaking of dogs, I didn’t see one doggy station, no bags, no garbage cans but lots of abandoned poo piles. I just saved mine in their baggies overnight outside and tossed them in the 2 big dumpsters that are crammed directly between the “premier” sites on the lake (63 & 14 I think). There are no fire rings that I saw but there is a nice fire pit with chairs down by the East dock. The road that goes thru the campground is pretty tight & the curves would be challenging for larger rigs due to parked vehicles etc. The sites aren’t marked very well & I struggled to find my site. Later I did see numbers on most of the electric boxes but the spray painted numbers on the street side are very worn and mostly invisible on most sites. The plastic picnic tables were very sun rotted and my friend’s wasn’t just super cracked and brittle but had holes broken in the top. There is no security gate, no code needed to get in and the entrance is very poorly marked from the highway, easy to miss. People regularly cut thru & between sites to get where they need to. The best part of the stay was that the super professional office duo left the property when we arrived and said they wouldn’t be back until Monday. The lady texted my friend’s husband and said something like “I’m sorry your daughter is unhappy” which was pretty insulting because he is not that much older than me (I’m almost 50) and NOT my father lol. She never texted or apologized to me nor did her husband & I’m certain I’ll never see a dime of that price adjustment he promised. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have been back to this campground anyway but they sealed the deal. I have a LOT of camping friends and coworkers & I feel they deserve to be warned & get an honest & fair review. This campground may be good enough for some and from the reviews I’ve seen, the good ones never had to speak to the highly unqualified management and those who have left similar reviews.

WARNING - STAY AWAY! Campsite is on a MAJOR highway, has an airport across the street, construction directly behind the campground and a train track down the road; definitely NOT a quiet campground. The pictures posted on their site are photochopped and are from the "best" location at the park - which is NOT available! Wifi does not work - constant buffering. Prices are ridiculous for this location; and they are increasing 1/2022.

WATCH YOUR BILL - she overcharges; but be careful when you question her as she WILL attack you, instead of admit her mistakes. On record - initially overcharged $53 BEFORE check in, then had 1 guest stay 1 night and she tried to charge for 2 guests + 2 nights + 2 overnight vehicle fees (which there was no extra vehicle), then she tried to charge extra motorcycles fees. All in all, it was over $80 overcharge in 1 month; which would not have been caught or corrected without me questioning the charges! Her response, "You question EVERYTHING (screaming at me)" and in an email, "Just wondering if this is it??? Are you still going to change this again and again?" One overcharge is a mistake, twice MAY BE an accident; but 4 times? This is habitual. Something is NOT right here... I traveled 10,500 miles from 8/4/21 - 10/30/21 without one complaint or problem. This is BY FAR the WORST site I've stayed at with the WORST 'MANAGEMENT' (I use that term loosely) EVER! I would recommend searching nearby campgrounds, even if you have to travel a little farther; save yourself the DRAMA of the angry camp managers.

In reponse to Kathy's LIES: 1. The BAD happened when you verbally and physically threatened me on 12/1/21; I was out within 24 hours of YOUR aggressive and threatening behavior. This has been turned over to the sheriff's office as I am demanding a formal complaint against you and the Outpost be filed as there will undoubtedly be another instance of you threatening a guest. Furthermore, after leaving your office, you stillstried to charge extra motor cycle fees and I NEVER changed my mind on how many days my friend stayed - she WAS ALWAYS ONLY TO BE THERE 1 DAY. YOU ASSUMED and overcharged, now you're being called out on it. Please - Kathy's actions are not going to change until she is reported over and over again. 1 - contact POLK county sheriff's office if you are a victim of her threats and/or bullying. 2 - contact the OWNERS Andy & Sidney Pittman in Dade City.

We opted for a Premium space which supposedly was close to the lake. But the space #83 was actually across the road, then a strip of spaces for RV ‘s that are on the lake. Be clear of the distinction when you reserve. Also cleanliness of arriving at the space was questionable. The concrete slab hadn’t been swept for days, if not weeks. I saw other RV parks in the area that were similar but not noted on Campendium. So shop around.

This is a beautiful RV park on Lake Mariana. I would say calling it a resort is a “stretch” because there is nothing resort like other than the beautiful lake view. We stayed 10 days in September. Everyone here is friendly. There are tiny homes. The fire pit with chairs by lake is a very relaxing beautiful spot. FYI: Though bring your own chair or at least a cushion. The chairs provided look comfortable but after sitting any length of time you will find they are not. There are many sites that are very tight to get into, you are told not to drive on grass to get RV/TT in due to sprinkler system, there are very few pull thru spots, laundry/shower/community center is very nice & clean, and park is close to many, many things. The management is a very pleasant couple. The wife handles most communications. She is very friendly. The water is clear, you have sewer at ever site, and plenty of dumpsters for trash. The WiFi is not very good at times at some areas but if you go do laundry you are at the epicenter of it and can update your electronics. Maybe in future they will put booster at the office for spots at that end. AT&T service is 2 bars at 5G. There are no fire ants!!! This is personally huge because I spent two days somewhere else before here. I have scars from the experience. The Outpost had wonderful grass! Pet friendly with pet yard at front. If you read reviews on Google and see in map, yes next to a TINY airport. I never noticed the planes. The air strips are parallel with the park so they don’t take off and land over it!! If you have a spot at the front, road noise at certain times of day could be an issue. There are many parks right on top of interstates so this is MINOR!! Occasionally, I can actually hear a loud motorcycle in my trailer. While sitting outside it is more noticeable. On Friday nights and some Saturdays you can hear the band from the saloon down the street IF you are outside and the wind is blowing right. FREE ENTERTAINMENT!
Pros: CLEAN, friendly, W/S/E, daily/weekly/monthly rates, military discount, close to everywhere, pet friendly, nice lake view, lots right on the lake, showers, laundry, WiFi,
Cons: tight, some lots hard to get into if not a pro, road noise at times