Encore Tropical Palms — Hotel in Kissimmee

My wife and I use to come here all the time, almost every other weekend and stay. We live in Tampa so it wasn't that far of a commute to come here, spend the weekend and go to Old Town or Disney. We are annual pass holders at Disney and it was nice to come here with our RV, set up and have a nice little weekend getaway that was close to many of the attractions in the Orlando area. We are Passport America members and when it was owned by the old company we could come for the weekend, reserve a premium site and pay around $70 for a two night stay or just slightly over $100 for a three day. The new company still accepts Passport but it is only for the lower end sites, it's not for the premium sites which are the only sites I'm interested in so a stay that use to be economical turned into a $200-$300 weekend getaway. To me that's a little high considering I'm bringing my own home and when you take into account the amount of work entailed to set up and tear down an rv every time, just wasn't worth it any longer especially for a quick get away. I use to rent it from either Fri-Mon or Sat-Mon, because that would give me at least a good portion of the day on Sunday to go to one of the parks. If you consider that I would arrive with check in on Sat at 1pm and would typically want to be on my way back home by 7 or 8pm on Sunday, I really only got a little over 1 day there for $200, for that price I might just as well get a hotel room for the one night on Saturday, pack up Sunday by check out and leave from Disney after our day was done there seeing that I did not have to go back to the rv site and pack everything up, hook up rv and drive home. Tampa is only an hour or slightly more from Orlando/Kissimmee and it just makes more sense to do it that way when you consider the amount of work hooking and unhooking your rv 4 times for a 1 day trip. This place has pretty much lost us as customers under the new ownership and has lost a customer that at minimum spend 2 weekends a month at their facility. The last couple times we were in Orlando staying at a hotel instead we drove through and the place was practically empty compared to what it use to be. Before they filled the place virtually every weekend and you had to book well in advance to secure a site, not too mention that the staff are not the same friendly people I remember from the old company. they also raised their rates and have given nothing to justify for that rate raise. Too bad it was sold, but at what they're charging I would rather spend a few extra $'s and stay at Fort Wilderness where there the sites are beautiful, it's an excellent park and the staff treat you like royalty, not too mention all the benefits to annual pass holders to have free transportation to and from the parks. I definitely miss the old company. Encore is horrible and probably pretty good chance would never stay here again. If anyone knows of another rv park in the area that doesn't gouge their customers and accepts Passport America, let me know, still trying to figure out an alternative site to enjoy the Orlando/Disney area and do so at a rate that I don't feel like I totally...

We booked this resort as a last minute option after our beach front vacation rental was canceled due to sewer issues at the home we booked 10 months in advance. Our family all has RV’s so we decided to make use of them and the 15 of us go to Disney as an easy alternate. Check in at the RV Park was easy, they have two large open and easily accessible RV parking lanes for this purpose. We booked 3 RV sites together and were assigned 219, 220, 221. I booked all of them. On arrival my mother-in-laws booking amount was incorrect and as we checked in they had everything mixed up but we got that settled. The sites we reserved were full hookups with 50amp service, cable etc. Unfortunately the sites were not much more than camping out in a field. The gravel that possibly once might have been there was long gone and a paved site was only available in the front and more visible resort sections. Immediately behind us and between 220 and 221 was a fifth wheel that was set up for his permanent home and he had a deck built onto his RV with a large amount of junk piled all around the front. He was so close that I kept the blinds down because if it were an option he could’ve reached out and touched our RV from his. Next to him also appeared to be a permanent camper as well as several others immediately around us - these sites were clearly not under any strict rules regarding what was allowed as he had a semi permanent tent storage unit as well as his dirt bike, two trucks, a large bag of corn for feeding wildlife, chairs and other items strewn about. Every afternoon when it rained we literally had to walk between sites in 3-5 inches of mud and water. All 15 of us are covered in ant and mosquito bites as the grass was tall and the area was almost a constant swamp, we ended up only putting out one of the 3 rugs between us because it was like being out in a giant field with no real place to put chairs or tables. If we had been informed that upon renting we would be in a lesser maintained area of the campground we would’ve looked elsewhere. They should have an area for permanent and semi-permanent residents separate from those of us looking to stay only a few days or so... or have guidelines in place that keep it from feeling like a cheap trailer park that has little structure in place for site maintenance expectations. There was no trash pick up in the area, fortunately we have a golf cart and were able to run our trash up to the dumpsters every day but if we did not have that it would be quite the haul for Class A campers with no tow vehicle to dispose of their trash. The videos online are deceiving so beware and ask where your site will be...

Highly unethical and sneaky. Make rules up as they go. We travel full time in our RV and only stay 1-2 weeks on average at any location. As you can imagine we have been to a LOT of campgrounds. This one is easily one of the worst.We had two very unethical instances that I will share with you. First: We arrived shortly after 10:00pm on the day of our reservation. The guard would not let us in and said we had to sleep in the parking lot. Nowhere in any of the two email confirmations they send me did it state that if we arrived after 10pm we would not be allowed in. It is also not mentioned in their rules and regulations. I also called earlier in the day to confirm my reservation and let them know we would be arriving after the office is closed and they never mentioned it then either. They have the information buried pretty deep in their website though. We told the guard that we didnt have any water and needed to shower and use the restroom. He shrugged and said too bad, and that "I am not going to lose my job for you". He said the policy was because it was too dark to park an RV at night. The park was well lit and we had a pull through site. While talking to him he shockingly let another RV through the gate! When we asked why it wasn't too dark for that RV but too dark for us he said they had already check in and could come and go. Totally unbelievable. I told him that I also already checked in through the online check in. Nope, didnt matter. Eventually another guard took over and he let us walk in to shower and use the restrooms but we still had to sleep in the parking lot. He stated it happens every night that people have to sleep in the parking lot. We were told that no one gets refunded either. Second: The second unethical situation was with their package pickup. We often order something from amazon and have it shipped ahead of us so it has arrived when we get to our location. This establishment charges $5 PER package. Again, ZERO mention in the emails, rules and regulations or website. They refused to give me my package unless I paid them $5. I asked them "so you are just going to keep my package unless I pay you?". They responded that they will return package to sender if I dont pay. I told them to send it back and walked out. We spoke with several other campers. They all said the manager is crazy and makes rules up as she goes. I would avoid this campground. Update: they never returned my package to sender. They kept my package. I was never able to get a refund because there was proof the package was delivered. Add thief to the list of reasons to avoid...