Camp Margaritaville RV Resort & Lodge - Pigeon Forge — Hotel in Pigeon Forge

We stayed at the RV portion, so I cannot comment on the Lodge rooms. The facilities are nice. I agree with a previous review that the timing of cleaning the restrooms is inconvenient at best.

My biggest issue (and not the only lying by staff we experienced) - the one that will have my family never return to this site - is that we have an off-grid capable "pop up" style camper called an Opus OP4. It is newer to the US, an Australian brand. When there is any mention of restrictions on campers, I always call before I book to be sure our camper meets restrictions. I called, the person on the phone looked up the Opus Camper (ours is a 2022 year model, so new!) and approved us on a specific site - number 66, which allows pop ups. Not all sites allow pop ups. 66 is in the back of the campground, away from 95% of the traffic. We were great the first two days of our trip there. On the third day, someone from maintenance was sent to ask us the following: Are we supposed to be on the site at all? (We had our campground parking pass in our truck windshield that he walked past.) We said yes. Are we supposed to be on the site we are on? I said yes, we were on the site we were assigned on my original call, and that we had never changed which site we were supposed to be on. "Why are you on site 68?" I said we are not, that is 68 (pointed to it) and said we are on 66 and we have been assigned 66 since our original call to book. He then no joke said "I told them site 68 was empty when I came by earlier, but I was told to come ask you all this, because there was a report there was someone on site 68." He also told us that he didn't know what happened, but that he was sent by the office after he had confirmed with them he saw nothing on site 68.

So, I call the campground help line and ask the woman who picked up if there were any issues with us being on site 66, in case something got confused with which site we were supposed to be on. She then said a completely different story - that she had reports a tent was put onto site 68, and she needed to know why we were also taking up a portion of site 68. We weren't even touching the grass between the two sites, and there was no campsite on our other side, it was a parking lot, so we weren't confused about which site was which. Nothing was ever put on site 68 in the slightest - let alone a separate tent (which we didn't have.) My husband was gone during this conversation, so when he came back, I told him about it, and we decided to take pictures of our campsite and take it to the office, so they could see our camper if there were questions.

At the office, we were told they needed to make sure site 68 was clear because someone was coming in that day. (Spoiler alert - no one showed up for site 68 the entire time we were there. Nor was there anyone on site 70, 69, 71... etc. Most of the spots around us were empty the entire time we were there!!!!) I showed her our photos and she said she went into our record and saw that our camper had been approved by management on our initial call and that it was noted on our file so she couldn't say anything else. I asked if someone had complained, and she said she couldn't say anything else.

So - not sure if it was someone on staff or someone else in the campground that had an issue with us - but we definitely felt harassed when we did everything possible before arriving to ensure we weren't breaking any rules.

Meanwhile - there were small children (under 5 years old) roaming the large campground on their own and being "responsible" for barely walking siblings. There were people who brought their dogs into the restrooms and allowed them to roam while they went to the bathroom or showered, there were small children walking large dogs by themselves, all actually against campground policy - but we were the ones who were questioned and made to feel like we were doing things wrong. Photos added to show we were on 66 and not 68 (also shows site 70 being empty - so it wasn't a full campground...

Experience = Terrible. Property = OK. Staff = Wonderful. So, my husband and I booked this resort in May 2022 to stay during a long road trip around the end of August 2022. At the time of booking there was a special going on that advertised a restaurant gift certificate and upcoming lazy river opening, so we were jazzed and looking forward to it. It was our first time staying at a Margaritaville property. Come August, we pull up to the park and set-up. They give us wristbands for the now open lazy river, some coupons for the resort and a gift certificate. We're good to go.

The next day we check our credit card statement and see that we've been charged almost $200 extra, so my husband goes to the office to sort it out. Turns out the lazy river access isn't included and instead of asking us whether or not we wanted to pay for access, they just go ahead and charge us anyways. A bit annoying, but we request a refund and return the wristbands.

A couple days later, my husband is walking near our site and is attacked by two unleashed dogs. During this, he stumbles backwards over the raised monuments they have to indicate the site numbers and falls straight on his back and cuts his leg. He is a disabled vet with a bad back!! We were really concerned that he would need to be flown to his back doctor at home for care, he has a chronic illness that makes it very difficult to medicate his back issue.

Matt was the manager that took the incident report and he was very professional about the matter and we appreciate his help. They offered local treatment, but like I said with the chronic illness that wouldn't really work without an inpatient procedure that we probably couldn't even get up there. Anyhow, the GM, also very nice guy, ended us comping us a couple days and threw the lazy river wristbands back into the deal, no charge. My husband's back did end up very sore, so we had to post-pone our plans for Dollywood until several days later and I ended up losing out on the fast-pass I paid extra for, which was a bummer. Also, the campers whose dog attacked and injured my husband - they didn't even get kicked out or anything.

As for the property, it's very new and pretty. The sites are paved and level. Only gripe is that they are very short, we have a 27' rig (short by many standards) and a small crossover vehicle. Despite parking parallel to our coach, the car still stuck out into the main road a bit. Many other people were in the road with their tow vehicles as well. I wish there were shade trees around, but the campground is essentially a large, paved parking lot.

They have 175 RV sites, but only 4 total showers per gender (one at the pool and the other three at the bathhouse). Some nights I had to wait for one to open up. But, they're lovely showers. We loved the dog wash, it was very cute. Had the most delicious coconut shrimp at Fins and the service there was phenomenal. The pool was really fun and warm, loved the slide even though 3 nights we were there they closed the slide (for seemingly no reason and for HOURS), so all the poor little kids were so bored and didn't know what to do with themselves. The lazy river was a little too lazy, lol, slow and boring. I wouldn't bother adding it to a package. There are lots of activities on-site, but they are for an extra charge. The camp store is great and has most things you'd need, plus alcohol and ice cream. The location is excellent, only 8 min from Dollywood and 15 min from Gatlinburg.

I feel like with the staff they have for sure they will find their groove and be a great resort to stay at in the future, however we did not have the best time here. At this time, I would not return nor would I recommend this resort to anyone or stay at another Margaritaville property...

We stayed for 8 nights at the RV resort this summer with family and friends in adjacent sites. These were the pros and cons from our stay.||RV Sites: The sites were all well maintained and beautifully up kept. Each site includes a picnic table, fire pit, 30 and 50 amp hook up, water, cable tv hook up, and sewer. Site selection, however, could have a big impact on overall experience. Some sites are much longer and spaced further apart, which is fabulous. We had one of those and were very happy with it. The entire middle section of the rv resort is made tighter though. Trucks barely fit at an angle in front of campers and sites back up to one another in some locations. Sites that back up to the playground are also too close to the playground - unless you’re fine with kids playing at the rear of your rv. This could possibly be ideal for families with small children.||Internet: We did not use the internet, but it was offered as “Connect for 1 day with 1 device (10 Up / 10 Down)”. We have Verizon and AT&T and received adequate speeds. ||Lighting: While it’s well lit around the main resort, the campground area is pitch black at night. This is ok to some extent, but they really need some soft ambient lights. Kids play and families walk after dusk to the pool, bathhouse, and playground and it’s so dark. Some ground lighting by the trees, lights on site number rocks, or pathway lights are greatly needed for safety.||Pools: The lazy river pool area is really nice, but the disconnect from the play pool is far. This is more ideal for travelers without children, as there are less kids at this pool. This area needs a jacuzzi! The slide pool stays packed. Seating is at a premium on busy afternoons and they could use some more umbrellas for shaded seating in this area. The kids in our party loved the slide and the poolside games seemed fun for families with kids. Poolside service for drinks and entrees was great each day. ||Arcade: The kids loved their time in the arcade here. Games are well maintained and there’s a variety. The resort does a great job of working in game cards for winning pool games and such throughout your stay as well. ||Bowling: All of our families had a great time with the bowling here. It was a fun activity that we could all do together. ||Billiards & Boardgames: The 2 pool tables and foosball table stayed busy during our stay. But, there were ample amounts of board games for families to check out and use at the gaming tables downstairs for some evening or rainy day fun. They also had an Xbox and a Nintendo switch set up for kids to play on. They stayed busy as well though.||S’mores indoors: What a fun treat for the kids! They loved roasting a marshmallows.||Pet friendly: The resort was wonderfully pet friendly! There was even a dog wash station set up for use behind the bathhouse. ||Bathhouses: Very clean and well maintained. ||Playground: The kids enjoyed using the play area. Equipment was all well maintained and there’s a covered pavilion available for seating right next to it. ||Laundry: Several machines are available to use. All were clean and only one washer was labeled as out of order. It’s $2.00 per load to wash and $2.00 per load to dry. You can use quarters or you can download an app and pay through the app. ||Location: Prime rv campground location at the end of the Pigeon Forge strip!! This made it easy to hop on the bypass and make it into the park with ease, or pop right next door to Gatlinburg. ||Staff: All of the staff we met at the resort were wonderful. Special shout out to Keith downstairs in the entertainment/arcade area - he was amazing with families and kids! He made our stay extra special with his bubbly personality and focus on amazing...