By Cheri Sicard
The video below from Less Junk More Journey (winner of our readers’ #1 favorite RV Lifestyle YouTube channel award for 2024) is an interesting one, especially if you have ever looked at an RV park online and wondered if the 1-star RV resort reviews you saw were actually warranted. As you suspected, you cannot always believe what you read online.
Before traveling to the Thousand Trails Orlando, Florida, RV resort, our hosts had collected dozens of 1-star RV resort reviews on the place. Since they were going to be staying there, they decided to check it out to see whether or not these 1-star RV resort reviews were deserved or whether the people leaving these bad reviews needed to be busted on their bad behavior.
The video ends with our hosts’ own honest review of the Thousand Trails Orlando, Florida, RV resort, but before that, they looked at some of the negative 1-star RV resort reviews left and determined whether or not they agreed.
Know that this is a MASSIVE Florida RV resort with more than 1,000 campsites and just about every amenity you could imagine. It’s only about a half hour from Disney World and tons of people LOVE this RV resort and give it great ratings. This is what got our hosts wondering about those pesky 1-star RV resort reviews interspersed among the good ones. So he looked at the most common complaints:
#1 The check-in process: Our hosts found this complaint to be valid. Without reservations, this is a first-come, first-served process that’s a mess that backs traffic up onto the public road and takes well over an hour to complete. In the end it all worked out, but people would be happier if they knew in advance to never arrive before noon and that it will take an hour or more to check in.
#2 Campsites: The second common complaint involved the campsites themselves. People cited “dangerous” cracked sidewalks and pads, an old RV with expired tags that the complainer claimed looked “haunted,” sewer odors, and more.
While repaving might be needed, our host checked out the campsites in the negative reviews and did not find the treacherous conditions described. He also did not detect any sewer odors, and there was no sign of the allegedly haunted RV with expired tags. These complaints were largely invalid. Although certain sites are certainly more packed in and crowded than others, site selection here is important.
#3 Not kid-friendly: The third set of complaints claimed the park was unfriendly to kids and families, even not allowing kids in the rec center. Our hosts investigated and found these claims to be completely invalid and downright ridiculous. The park is extremely family friendly. He (and I) suspect these complainers had unruly, unsupervised spawn that caused complaints from other campers.
#4 Lack of directions: The next complaint griped that the park had no signs directing campers on where to take garbage. The lack of garbage signs was a valid issue. For more than 1,000 campsites there is only one area with dumpsters, and our host could find no signs directing how to get to them. He did have a map and once there he found PLENTY of dumpsters, but finding them wasn’t easy.
#5 Too high price for packages: Another complaint concerned getting charged $5 per package for items shipped to the campground. This one is 100% valid. They do charge that much just to accept a single package at the campground, which does seem excessive.
#6 Lack of cell service and WiFi: One of the 1-star RV resort reviews claimed that there was ZERO cell phone or WiFi coverage at the park. Our hosts checked AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. He checked the signals in four different sections of the huge park. All areas of the park got decent cell signals except the back section, which had low (but not zero) bars. You may have internet and streaming problems with these carriers because of congestion, however. Of course, Starlink worked well. Conclusion? This 1-star RV resort review was not valid.
#7 The hot tub (or lack thereof): A lot of the 1-star RV resort reviews concerned the hot tub. They said it was rarely, if ever, open. Others complained of toddlers in the hot tub, which was supposed to be restricted to those 14 years old and older. Marissa checked it out and the hot tub was open and working when they visited; however, there were kids in there. It was all far too crowded for my tastes, but the complaint was only semi-valid.
In the end, our hosts say they do love the Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort, but it helps to know its quirks and what to expect in advance.
Have you ever stayed at the Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort? Or have you ever been steered wrong by unwarranted 1-star RV resort reviews? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
##RVDT2341
Great Article. We have spent many days in TTO, and agree with assessment from LJMJ. TTO is awesome park, with a couple of items to note. On a busy winter day, there can be more than a 100 rv’s checking in. The resort does a great job in getting people settled quickly. We agree with dumpster comment. The park is too big to only have one location for trash. Overall, the amenities are awesome and most people in the park are very nice. We will continue to return again and again and again
The problem of bad reviews is everywhere. You really have to read the reviews carefully. Many of the bad reviews of products on Amazon have nothing to do with the product itself. It may be slow delivery or damaged box by the courier or something else. It pays to spend some time reading good and bad reviews to try and see the actual truth about the product/service/place.
Thanks for the caveat, Larry. On Amazon under “Customers say” it has a paragraph which is a synopsis “AI-generated from the text of customer reviews.” It would still pay to carefully read the reviews, I’m sure. Have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you, Cheri! No, never stayed here. We don’t travel enough to have a Thousand Trails membership, so probably won’t. We probably have stayed in campgrounds or RV parks with some 1-star reviews, but DW cannot recall for sure. She does read bad reviews to see the source(s) of the complaints, but it is(they are) unlikely to dissuade her from a place that has an average review of 4.0. Thank you for the video, and safe travels, Cheri! 🙂
We have belonged to Thousand Trails for many years but we will never make the trek from California to Florida. We have visited many of the TT preserves or resorts, as they call their campgrounds and each is different. As with almost all campgrounds, restaurants and whatever else can be rated there are almost always a few one and two star ratings. By reading a cross section of reviews almost any business can have off days. Employees may be out sick, new being trained or lack of training and other reasons. Some people have an over-inflated sense of privilege or are just unpleasant and wouldn’t think of being complimentary. However, based on reviews I have avoided very few places.
I remember watching this episode! I thought he did a great job of debunking the BS reviews that the whiners had left. Some of the things that people were complaining about was just ridiculous and petty.
Some of the one-star reviews are funny, amusing and stupid. After reading them I am glad that person has already left the park before I get there.