Leaf Verde — Hotel in Buckeye

We had an overall good experience and I wish I didn’t have to leave this review but the negative experiences with Peggy are unsettling. I called one of the sister parks to find out who the parent company/ owners were to discuss our concerns, and asked that my identity be kept from the summer manager at this park because of the issues we had with her. Instead, The winter manager called the summer manager and then called me to defend her before listening to our issues (which were shared by others in the park). First, Upon leaving, We were charged a $60 mysterious charge, which we were never told about when we booked as a family of 4, nor when we checked in and paid for our spot. The charge was added onto our account in the middle of our stay and no phone call was placed to ask our children’s ages or to inform us of the fee. It was also documented as a camping site fee which showed up on our final check out electric meter bill. It was only later once I asked the manager about the charges that she claimed it was a child tax fee of $60 for children older than 6, which we didn’t have. We were also charged 2 $50 deposits and when I asked why we were only refunded one, Peggy said the second deposit was to compensate because they accidentally charged us too little for the monthly rent. (Also not explained well when we checked in) And Following is regarding our experiences with the personnel:

My husband is prior military and now travels with his current job. We go all over the country for work. We were very pleased to have found this family friendly park in the Phoenix area. They seemed excited to have us and very welcoming when we made our reservation over the phone.. until we arrived and started to have negative encounters with a lady in the office who later took over as the summer manager. We also had multiple rude encounters with a man on property who seemed to be in close connection with the “summer manager” in providing an uncomfortable experience for us as a family with kids. And we later found out this man was her husband. To explain first, we stayed at Leaf Verde for one month. We have 2 kids, 6 & 4. We were in a back in site. We kept a tidy space, a few of our sons’ toys in stackable bins underneath our rv. We had nice outdoor patio furniture which was at the front of our site. We mostly kept to ourselves other than using the pool 3 or 4 times, and the laundry facilities. We were respectful of elder visitors in the park. My kids thoroughly enjoyed the model train exhibit on Sundays. And we HAD been recommending the park to others who also wanted a nice experience. We repeatedly received compliments from the ladies in the office on our kids. We enjoyed saying hi to the workers who drove the golf carts and helped with maintenance. (With the exception of the one who seemed to be connected with the summer manager in the office). Our experiences with Peggy, the summer manager, however were quite different. Its hard to explain in words but both my kids were bothered by her snippy demeanor towards them. My husband mentioned her negative & condescending attitude many times. She shewed my son out of the office when he came in to ask for a lollipop which all the other ladies in the office had offered to the kids on many occasions. We met another family in the park and within 20 minutes of meeting, this lady was alluded to and nothing needed to be said, we both knew who the other was talking about. We are also part of a group who do similar work as my husband.. I knew another family had stayed at leaf verde not long ago and reached out to ask how their experience was. They also mentioned their unfortunate stories with both Peggy and Virgil (the man on property). Virgil would make things an issue that were not, seemed to be watching our every move and probably reporting to Peggy. At one point, even made the bold comment “if those were my kids...” Sad to share this review, as families are those willing to pay to stay during summer months due to work in the area, but this park is becoming less...

Stayed one evening, over the 2024 MLK holiday weekend. We checked in online the night before, and knew the office would be closed due to the MLK holiday. Upon arrival, there was no reservation information, but I had the confirmation email, and the attendant showed us to our site. Because there was no reservation information, we never got codes for Wi-Fi or the bathroom, but we were able to get the bathroom codes by asking around. I get it, it was a long weekend.

As far as facilities, this is an RV park meant for extended stays. I would not recommend it for short stays. RVs are very tightly packed in, practically on top of each other. And depending upon your neighbor, they may have an outdoor space set up that encroaches into your slip. There seem to be very nice people who stay here, and we had no issues with any of the neighbors. Even with the constant LED lighting from some of the RVs at night, a simple request to turn it off so we could sleep was met with no problems.

As we did not have the Wi-Fi code, I cannot comment on speed of the Internet. I can say that due to the density, cell service can be an issue. We have 5G capable phones, but frequently had to reset the carrier network as bandwidth had slowed to a crawl when we would try any streaming service.

Cleanliness was also an issue. But again, I attribute this to the long weekend. Bathrooms were dirty, and trash was piled up in many of the bins. I’m sure during non-holiday periods people are more attentive to it.

What was frustrating for me was a safety issue. From the attached photo, you can see in our slip, 621, there was a bolt driven into the ground. Probably for a tent or some other structure. Not sure if it belonged to the neighboring lot, as it very well could’ve been left there by a previous tenant. I’ve tried three times to call the office and to inform them of this. All three times I’ve ended up at the Sun RV corporate office. They were not able to relay a message to Leaf Verde. I’ve given up trying, so I’m posting it here in the hopes that it will be taken care of. You can destroy a tire rolling over this if not taken care of. So, if you find yourself in slip 621, beware.

Overall, if you’re looking for a long-term stay, and have small children, this could be an appropriate RV park. They have a great outdoor space for kids, there were plenty of bikes in the streets, and the Pickleball court was used. We did not try the pool, laundry, or lounge. For short term stays, I recommend you...

NOTE: This park has very recently been purchased by Sun Resorts. That happened between when we made our reservation and when we arrived and we were not informed.

Negatives: Check in takes a LONG LONG time so be prepared for that after a full travel day. They literally read you pages and pages of rules during check in. No WiFi provided at all, not even the standard RV park bad WiFi. So many dogs that their urine ran into the roads out of the little dog rest stop stations. Regular spots will have your slide inches from your neighbor's and still run $450/mo. Staff must park you and will tell you not to even look in your own mirrors (it's so strange). I witnessed a 5th wheel hit a car during the course of one of these "guided" parkings. Lots of traffic in not-very-wide roads all the time, makes walking tense sometimes. Water was turned off multiple times during our 30-day stay without notice. Certain members of the desk staff are really sarcastic, but no one wears name tags. The park is surrounded by agriculture and SMELLS LIKE POOP 24/7. There are "sewage vents" all around the park that also SMELL LIKE POOP 24/7. Lots of Air Force fighter jets flying over on a regular basis every single day. Entrance road is hard to see at night, so arrive during the day if you can help it. We had an insanely bright street light at our spot and had to black out our windows.

Positives: 2 Pickleball courts that are well-maintained, plus other recreational facilities. Shower rooms are older, but are clean and have great pressure and endless hot water. Great lounge with library of books & DVDs, pool table, poker tables, TV, etc. Staff regularly clean the sites, patrol the park, etc. It feels clean and safe. Everybody on staff aside from the couple cranky desk people are very very friendly. The garbage and recycling area is the most organized and clean I've ever seen. Mail system and package delivery work well. The "deluxe" spots have a privacy fence which is nice since you're 2 inches apart. Laundry is very large and clean with plenty of machines and good prices. Super easy to refill propane at the main building and put it on your "tab."

Other things to note: The park is very close to both Fry's and Wal-Mart but traffic in Buckeye is strangely horrible and the Wal-Mart parking lot is basically some circle of hell. The post office is in the older part of Buckeye and is also easy to get to. If you go down to that part of town, make sure to have breakfast...