Loyd Park — Attraction in Grand Prairie

Are you a tent camper? Then this review may be helpful toward making your camping adventure at Loyd Park a good one.

When we camp, we like to stay for at least six to seven days. Three things are essential for such extended stays, shade, shade, shade.

Loyd park has lots of trees. but not every site is well shaded. This is because every site is designed to accommodate RV camping. That's not a criticism, RV's are expensive, and those who own them wish to use them often. Given the number of RV’s we saw during our recent visit (June 2018), I can conclude that RV campers are the money makers and must be accommodated. Just a fact, not a criticism.

So, I suggest you do one of two things first, either reconnoiter the park before you plan to camp and choose a spot with enough shade, then plan your trip around the availability of that site. Or plan your first trip to Loyd Park for Tuesday-Thursday and do your reconnoitering for future visits then.

In the middle of any week the park is mostly empty, giving you the freedom to explore sites. On the weekends however, beginning Thursday evening, the park fills up fast and stays that way till Monday afternoon. We've camped thrice at Loyd Park and, no matter what time of the year we camped, this is what we observed. The entry fee is $10/day, so if you reconnoiter before you camp, bring what you need to enjoy the beach for a day.

If you’re planning your adventure in the summer wear loose clothing or swimwear and keep yourself cool by frequently spraying down with the garden hose and nozzle you brought with you. If you're camping with your children, this is an excellent way to keep them entertained and cool at the same time. Water balloons. Squirt guns. Two hoses. Dad, are you reading this? Mom, are you playful?

Also, bring fan(s) for your tent (and long power cords) the more powerful the fan, the better.

Now, at the three sites we’ve camped, the picnic tables were not anchored to the concrete pad of the site's pavilion. This means that you can move it to suit your camp set up and a screen room, and I strongly recommend that you bring a screen room to put over your picnic table. But, before you set it up, do a search and destroy mission against wasps under the pavilion Hey, the park can't stop Mother Nature from doing her thing. Bugs, insects & WASPS, Oh, my!

I also recommend you bring your own BBQ grill. The common box grills are sufficient enough (provided you scrub it clean first....) to cook a thick steak, but burgs and dogs too easily fall through the gaps in the grate. Look, just don't risk it. Bring your own grill.

Loyd park is definitely a terrific place to explore; the beach is well maintained, they have a camp store and they offer lots of great activities like kayaking. However, know that they can't rent kayaks when the winds are gusting at 12 mph or higher. It's for your safety, after all not everyone is a Navy Seal.

With this review I give the park four stars instead of five because the bathroom facilities need improvement - which is being accomplished.

Fortunately, the facility at Loop A (sites 1-40), as of this writing, are upgraded. Use them for your nightly shower.

When the facilities are all upgraded, you can bet I'll give Loyd park five stars because one of the most significant things about this City of Grand Prairie park is that there is no law against enjoying adult beverages around your camp fire, a human thing to do that is forbidden by law at all Texas State parks. And don't you know Texas Peace Officers take the enforcement of Texas laws seriously?

Kudos to Grand Prairie for understanding what it means to be a human being seeking rest and relaxation with good company in the great outdoors and providing a place for people to do just that. May they remain profitable in this.

See you at Loyd park, fellow tent...

this park features a real nice man made beach area with nice sand and blocked off swimming area. The sand is real nice and clean , unlike almost all lakes you can walk out into the swimming area and feel nothing but comfortable sand in between your toes. no weeds no rocks or anything slimy or sharp or mysterious what so ever. Just straight up tan sandy beach, and it is equipped with a sand volley ball court and depending on the time of year they will play kids movies for free at night time down at the beach for the family to safely enjoy. nobody ever has gotten out of hand here atleast when i been here and i been camping at loyd park one weekend every summer for over 10 years straight. The camp lots are cheaply priced and they offer an optional camper with AC for an upcharge and its not very much more and its worth it unless you like the tent thing. the tent campsites are equipped with electricty and a campfire pit and a concreted covered picnic table that is really big and fits a large family . they have trashcans at the sites, showers are down the road a 3 minute walk at the most only cold water though. anywhere around this park aside from the swimming area or right next to the swimming area you can throw a pole in the water and fish will start biting instantly at all times of the day. The sites get reserved quickly and they do get booked fully all year long so book in advance. only downside i found is that if you have friends or family who come to chill and dont camp so they come back multiple different days or times is that some of the gaurds follow the rules like they have a stick up their butts and they charge like 10 or 20 every single time they wanna come in even if its the same day a guard tried to charge my sister and her two toddlers twice in 2hours when she came then left and came back after returning from the store. but on the flip side , one of the gaurds gave my buddy and his wife and kids an unlimited weekend pass with re entry allowed and he gave this to him for free, so its kinda inconsistent if your not the campers on the reservation, but just have some cash on you if you plan to come spend any amount of time here without camping which its totally cool and worth it to come here with your kids and spend a few hours and not sleep over in the camping areas. This park is the best lake camp site park for cheap that i know about with the cleanest and nicely done swimming area safe for little kids who cant swim and adults who wanna float a raft with a beer or just laying out by the water on the sandy beach and smoke a J , its all good , i will always camp here as i have been and my kids say they will continue the tradition with their kids as well....

Update: we were offered a half refund, changed stars to 3 because it was still a bad experience but they did honor our request.

We stayed in the new “glamping” yurt and it was a terrible experience. It’s made for 2 people, but when I called saying there’s a group of 4 girls they made it seem like it isn’t a big deal as long as we don’t hold a party and mess up the place. It’s a glamping experience, we should be their target market, yet the whole time we were there they made it clear we are not welcome and they want us gone. They literally told us they only want couples staying there, not us. So we were already super uncomfortable during our stay.

Next, there was no WiFi even though they clearly advertise WiFi. We specifically chose a place with WiFi so we could do some work. When we told them, they insinuated that we stole the router…why would we steal a router??! I think they never had one in the first place. They also never installed one while we were there, so I still think there is no router there and no WiFi and they don’t plan on putting one in. They tried to make up for it by giving us a key to a WiFi area, but then we ended up spending our entire vacation in the WiFi area and not the yurt. They told us they would “obviously give us a discount” the first day, and then refused to give us one the last day. We were trying to be flexible with them but they treated us so rudely and like we were so unwelcome, it was genuinely the worst park experience I’ve ever had and I’m not one to write bad reviews.

On top of that, there are bugs that burrow in the wood at the yurt and you can hear them crunching all night, and in the morning there is sawdust all over the floor from their chewing. We told them that and they said they know, and pretty much deal with it because we are in nature. I know we are, but don’t try to sell a glamping experience for $250 a night and also tell us to deal with the burrowing beetles while treating us unkindly and falsely advertise WiFi and expect us to just brush off the experience.

Their response was that there are not supposed to be 4 people so they won’t discount us as we were previously told. Well, they were being very ambiguous about it when we asked about the situation so it honestly felt like it was okay, and when we told them that they asked who we talked to in order to target the employee. It was so awkward and unkind and I felt such a terrible vibe from the management.

I’m just honestly so shocked at how we were treated, I genuinely never want to go there again and I wouldn’t recommend...