Holbrook / Petrified Forest KOA Journey — Attraction in Holbrook

We stayed here for a week. The campground is on the northeast end of Holbrook. There are two parallel one-way entrances lanes to the campground: use the right lane to pull up next to the office and check in.

Except for four back-in sites that seem to belong to longer-term residents, all of the RV sites are pull-throughs with gravel pads, gravel yards and picnic tables. Most sites have full-hookups as well as cable connections: a very few have just water and electric (and cable), while the sites marked on the map as being extra long might not have cable. Individual site amenities vary a great deal. Some sites have waist-high pine trees along the border, some have fences between sites, and some have adjacent tree (all sites are open to the sky, though) Some sites have patios that simply have chairs; others come with a gas-powered grill. A few patio and patio-free sites have a pergola, and some sites have small dog pens. Site 66 (likely because the campground is just off of old Route 66) is the ultimate site with a large patio area with a grill and pergola surrounded by a privacy fence. There are also a number of tent and cabin sites.

We stayed in site 50, which was the last site on the east end of our row. All east end sites have a tall fence wall on the right side of the site, likely to block some of the light and sound from I-40 across the way. Our site wasn't long enough to fit our 21-foot truck and 37-foot fifth wheel front to back, but it was a designated wide site so we easily fit our truck between the camper and the fence. Our site was level, and the hookups were all near the back.

The office building has a decent-sized souvenir and convenience store, with a laundry room located on the side of the building and bathrooms located in the back. There is a large playground on the west side of the office with a single basketball hoop and horseshoe pit, and beyond that is the swimming pool. Across from the office is the propane refill station, the dump station, and a communal area with a large petrified log and a small walk-up restaurant where they serve pancakes and host cowboy cookouts in season. There is also a second bathhouse at the back of the campground; all bathrooms are secured with keypad codes.

The best places to walk dogs are either along the dirt pet walk area on the east side of the campground or in the fenced dog park on the west side. The dog park has a grass and dirt surface without any of the usual KOA agility equipment (which means a bit more open space), a single bench, and no dedicated lighting.

In terms of cell service, the best bandwidth I saw on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna showed 16 Mbps down and 12 up, and other than very occasional buffering I had no problem working and streaming video. The best speed I saw on my AT&T smartphone with 5G was 86 down and 18 up. I tried out the campground WiFi the morning we left and got 3.5 down and just 1 up.

If you're a light sleeper, you may struggle here: I-40 is visible from the east and south sides of the park, and you can faintly hear the semi-trucks as they pass by as well as the occasional train.

We would stay here again if we were...

Do not come here if you are traveling with dogs. I have two service dogs with me. We just pulled in from a long drive and while my husband went to get dinner my kids wanted to swim ages 6 and 7. I didnt have time to read any of the park rules about animals. There is a sign at the pool but I had to sit in the pool area to watch my kids with my service animals by my side. This manager ran towards me and yelled no dogs allowed. It caught me so off gaurd it got my heart racing because the way he came at me. When someone is running towards you and your kids yelling , you immediately go into a flight or fight mode. I stayed calm with my heart racing and told him they were service animals and if he needed to see their cards. He said no and walked away. Then when we got done with the pool I was walking back to the rv with my kids and service animals, when suddenly one of my service dogs decided to potty. He watched the dog go poo from across the way and when I was looking for a poo bag he yelled at me in front of other guest. Again my heart racing. He said I hope your not going to leave the poo there. I told him there isnt a poo bag near me, I forgot mine in the trailer. I was so over him I went to the front desk and told the women at the front desk I couldn't take him any longer. I can take rules, im almost 40 and I have gotten this far in life with them. After a long trip no one wants to be yelled at. Especially in front of other guest. Mind you I heard another employee laughing at me, they all watched me pick up the dog poo. The rules for dogs are ridiculous. They are only allowed to go potty in this little patch of grass thats over grown in the park. THEY arnt allowed anywhere in the park and arnt allowed unattended in your rv. No apologies were made. There is a way to approach guests. This wasn't it! Read the other dog reviews at this park they are under the one...

We are new to using KOA. We arrived at Holbrook (our second KOA) yesterday 6/27/2018 after a long drive where it was 104 outside. When we got to the KOA we checked in to a small cabin where the AC had been off and were there for about an hour and half with the AC not making a difference. The whole point of us renting a cabin was to have a reprieve from the heat. As a veteran I had enough of all that and I definitely don't want that for my wife and kids. Above all when I pay for something I have a reasonable expectation to get what I pay for. I went to the office to let them know and the response was there was nothing wrong with the AC and that it would just take time due to the heat. At this response I asked if I could upgrade cabins because I did not want to argue. We moved everything over to the new cabin turned the AC on and within 15 min the cabin was cooling down. It was about this time a KOA employee came to the cabin saw we had dogs and made us move back to the original cabin. No hello, no explanation, no apology, no manner just made us move back. We are new to KOAs and it's not like we were trying to get one over on anyone. They refunded us the upgrade but refused to allow us to stay in another cabin or refund us so we could get a hotel. Fast forward to after 8pm when the outside temperature dropped significantly the temperature outside was still cooler than inside the cabin which was still around 90. This was a terrible experience.

We spent about the same amount on Airbnbs without nearly the hassle so I'm not sure we will be using KOAs again...