Champions Run Luxury RV Resort — Local services in Ocala

Champion’s Run - A nice start to a new resort! We just spent a week at Champion’s Run in Ocala, FL and had a great time. What made it especially wonderful were the people we met there - especially 2 particular couples (Larry & Claudia and Kevin & Eron) who we know will be life long friends. They were campers as well as employees at the resort.

Kevin, in the office, had some great recommendations for food spots to try out. While walking through the resort, we met his wife Eron who was walking her dogs and was so sweet to chat with us about the surrounding areas and let us pet her fur baby - We just lost our fur baby and this really mean a lot.

Larry and Claudia were the sweetest couple always with cheerful with huge smiles and willing to chat and share life together. Amazing servant hearts! If there was anything they could do for anyone, they were bright eyed and bushy tailed so to speak always willing to help out. What a blessing to get to know them!

Both of these precious couples allowed us to join them one evening to sit around and just chat and get to know each other. They both also allowed us into their rigs to show what they have been able to do with them and give us wonderful ideas on our future camping adventures. They were both very seasoned campers and currently live full time in their rigs. Champion’s Run is so blessed to have them staying there full time and even more blessed to have them as employees as well!!! We hope that management and corporate acknowledge what wonderful gems they have in these couples.

Several employees made our stay very nice. Brett was the one to show us to our spot and help us back in to our pad - even though it had just started raining. Thanks so much! Kris helped out in the store and will be the bartender once the resort is able to get that going. Randy was there with wonderful information and great stories! There were others there who were also quite friendly as well.

Positives: Beautiful pool: It is like several pools in one: a zero entry section, a sun deck section, a deeper section, and shallow sections. It has a ledge around the entire pool which is nice to sit on or rest against. The temp was perfect. Location: Ocala was nice but it was still quite hot out so we did not explore outdoors as we would have like to. Games: Shuffle board, bocce ball, corn hole, a pool table, a ping pong table and several games like giant Jenga in the very nice community center. RV parking pads (ours had a gas grill): Nice size and clean

Some challenges: Size of the resort: (including the area they are expanding) is going to be quite large - not sure of the number of sites, but we think the amenities will not be sufficient to sustain this many staying at the resort if they are full. Picnic tables - they did offer wooden picnic tables, but looking at other “luxury resorts” we have visited in the past, nicer once for the higher end sites would be nice. RV parking pads - they should have been angled more or had a section to help rigs avoid running over the grass and sprinkler heads. They also do not have the best layout for hook-ups. (The sewer is right next to your neighbors picnic table area). They are also all poured in a manner that you are not able to get any shade from your awning morning, noon, or evening. They might consider having some umbrellas available or for rent. Games: The shuffle board and bocce ball were hard to enjoy as they were in full sun and did not have any form of score board available. The corn hole was kept under the tiki hut which was very nice but also needs some sort of score board available.

Ocala is a nice destination and Champion’s Run is a nice resort. We would have given it a 4-star rating, but those we met on this trip moved it up to a 5-star rating! We hope to return in the future if nothing else, then to spend time with our new ‘friends’! Addressing some of the challenges would make it an even...

Was there over the weekend it is going to be a nice place when they are finished building it. Right now only 1/4 of the place is open and available. So the good….the pool is amazing they have 3 cabana areas that you can rent if you want to. There are a lot of lounge chairs and a few tables with umbrellas. There is a zero entry area of the pool, the other areas are more standard and there are a few spray jets into the pool to give it a water feature kinda vibe. The club house is big, right now there is a gym, a big main area with a ping pong table and a pool table. There is also a small store with drinks and snacks and you can buy souvenirs there also. There is also a laundry room and bathroom with showers in the club house. There are 2 other laundry/shower/ bathroom buildings in the park they are all about the same. There is a Tiki hut but no bar….yet. Tennis courts/pickle ball courts and shuffleboard. It would have been nice to maybe see a basketball court but it wasn’t there. The sites are huge! Very long and very wide. The roadway leading to the sites are wide and allows for easy backing and parking of your rig. These sites are all full hookup. 50/30/20 amp with sewer. The campground is located minutes from I75 in Ocala. Ocala is the horse capital of the world. Many winning thoroughbred horses have come from this area. Just drive around on some of the backroads and you will see lots of large ranches and rolling hills where horses are trained to be champions. The equestrian center is minutes away and I’m sure this resort will be a place for folks wanting to compete or spectate in the various events that are held at the equestrian center. There are a bunch of Natural springs in the area. Thousands of gallons of fresh 70 degree spring water spilling into the beautiful Rainbow river. We spent a beautiful Sunday paddling down the Rainbow river. It was amazing.

Ok so now the “bad” the place is huge! There will be over 400 sites and only one pool with a capacity of 82 people. Seems like one pool might not be enough. All the sites are Back in they have wooden picnic tables on all the sites. No charcoal grills were available and no fire pits. There are no pull through sites. We spoke to another couple and they were not happy about not being able to pull their 40’ toy hauler through a site. They have “premium” sites that have a separate area for the picnic table, and a gas bbq grill. These sites are limited and are close to the pool and club house. There isn’t a playground and it seems like this park is going to be more dedicated to the adult campers versus family camping. They did have a few cabins on site but none were ready or available for rental at this time.

My experience at Campions Run was decent. The staff was friendly and everything is brand new. It would be nice to see it when it’s fully open and operational. The cost right now of a basic back in site was very reasonable for an off season rental. However like most RV resorts I believe the price will jump once it becomes fully open. But...

This year in March we became RV site owners at Champions Run RV Resort in Ocala. Now four months into our residency, we’ve had a very pleasant and welcoming experience from Tillman, Edith and all of the support staff here. While the resort was under Streamline Management our experience with Streamline was very poor primarily because they were located out of state, they did not (would not) provide a phone number, we could only communicate with them via email, and that was hit or miss.

Throughout our short tenure here, Edith and Tillman, maintained a very positive and professional rapport with us and helped work through some of the communication issues we had with Streamline. Thankfully, in July, Newby Management became the management company. First impression of Newby Management? Excellent! The first day the Vice President came to the resort and we just happened to drop in on Tillman and he introduced us to Barry Campbell. Barry heard our concerns. He took immediate action to address and respond within two days to what took the previous company two months without any response or feedback

Tillman and Edith have always worked exceptionally well with us to keep us informed of current and upcoming changes at Champions Run. During the transition from Streamline to Newby, the computer system went down. Having previously owned a restaurant ourselves, we understood the need to change from one point of sale system to another can be a time consuming and complex endeavor. We appreciated the fact that they communicated the transition to us and the Resort guests in order to minimize confusion and frustration, as much as possible.

This 4th of July weekend the resort was rather busy. In addition, there were a couple guests that were perhaps intoxicated and overly emotional and confronted a couple staff members. The outbursts by guests could have easily gone sideways had it not been for the controlled and calm demeanor of the staff members and Tillman’s ability to defuse the situation without further escalation.

In closing, we greatly appreciate the management and staff here at Champions Run. With the constant influx of individuals and families they have ensured a positive social and safe environment at the resort. Their staff is always professional and available to help. We have visited many resorts and this one offers a unique experience and we’re glad to have Champions Run as our new home...