Access into the park off Route 98 is easy, however be cautious of the dip up and down when entering and exiting. We raised our motorcoach up when exiting so as to avoid bottoming out. A narrow one lane asphalt road leads to the rv sites, a combination of grass and hard pack. Long ago the tipped and aging electric posts were standing strong and proud as in the misleading photo posted on rvparky; today the elderly sites display their aging less gracefully. There is more than ample space between sites. The one size fits all sites are long, approx. 70 feet, and lined with that unpleasant material (called ‘quarry process’ like crushed limestone) that when wet turns to a gooey sticky mess that sticks to shoes, your coach, etc. A friendlier approach would be to line the parking sites with crushed aggregate for a better visitor experience.
Driving to the site and exiting in our 45’ motorcoach with the tow was unchallenging as there is good turning clearance and the U-turn to exit is of a wide radius. Also, to their credit, and this always aggravates me, the large oak trees have been trimmed up so that our 13’ foot height was not an issue. FHU is provided; the 50 amp service is stable; the site was to their credit close to level, and aging picnic tables were erratically dispersed with random sites missing this amenity altogether. They have worked to keep the grounds reasonably clean and landscaped; they do not have irrigation so the grass survives as best it can in Florida sand.
This old the park has hints of former glory hidden by neglect over time.
The physical plant is worn and weary, although the office and store show what can be accomplished when a building is maintained. In a separate building on the ground floor of a two story residential type building is the recreation hall. Pleasant enough and serviceable inside with exterior displaying wear and deterioration.
A separate cement block building houses the bathrooms and showers; old painted cement block interior was relatively clean; just needs modernization. The pool and hot tub are old, however relatively clean despite being surround by live oaks which I am sure necessitates continual cleaning. The bathrooms at the pool are old, run down and the roof looks as if it is standing due to habit. Again pictures on their web site and Google Maps are not representative of the condition we observed April 2019.
WiFi was acceptable for retrieving email; it does not support streaming music nor movies even though we have a Winegard ConnecT . Using our Winegard Rayzor Automatic enabled us to pull in the local tv channels in HD.
The Takeaway: benign neglect aptly describes this KOA park, however at this price point it may be attractive to those travelers like us that needed a layover stop on our way to the FL Panhandle. The pictures on the web, Facebook, Google Maps are disingenuous. At least KOA does not call this a resort; WiFi is disappointing and does not support streaming. Pictures on web site, rvparky, and Google Maps are not representative of the actual condition of this Perry KOA. Visited April 2019. Go to www.rickpicks.com for other reviews, critiques and essays.
Dear Mr. Janis: We've read your multiple reviews of our park and understand if your expectations weren't met, however, misinformation is never a good thing so we are happy to respond to the many points that lack proper information. Our under construction sign is supported more fully by the 45 page presentation that plays on the 55" screen above the registration desk in the office. While it may be lengthy, it shows the multitude of projects completed in the 14 months we had owned the park prior to your visit. This presentation is constantly updated and brings a whole new perspective to before and after that one time visitors don't get. We trust you did not take the time to watch. Near the time of your visit we had just installed two new septic systems and were in the process of renovations on one of the park models, rework on the tent sites, and had just finished adding 1500 SF and LED lighting to the dog park. There is always something being done, that is the reason for the sign. It's a stock KOA sign and fits the bill for our purpose. Sadly, the park suffered in the few years prior to our purchase. However, to say our photos are disingenuous is simply incorrect. All photos on our Facebook page were taken by us, since we purchased the park in March 2018, our website mostly has photos we have taken and a few older ones that are people oriented that cannot be right or wrong. People have fun in the park, then and now! Google is full of photos taken by visitors and some that seem to have been pulled from the KOA website. This park has been a KOA for about 13 years so some of them are from times past. It would be disingenuous for us to attempt to scrub posts and photos by others! You are correct that our wi-fi does not support streaming, however, I note you used your own service to pull in local tv channels in HD which were readily available at your pedestal via a simple cable connection. The photo on RV Parky that depicts the Dish channels and local channels we push through the park is accurate. 48 channels in hi-def is always a park plus! As far as we know, the pool and hot tub were installed 20+ years ago, old is a matter of perception. Both were completely refinished in April 2018, along with electric and pump upgrades. Operation and cleanliness were our priority, the fence will be done at some future point as will the pool bathrooms. Those bathrooms are there for the convenience of pool goers and not for use as a satellite facility and therefore were not a first priority. Our trendy park models are now 22 years old, all four were installed at that time and we are almost done with complete renovations. We are not sure how much of the park you did see as our 4 park models are 3% of our 133 sites. Our pull-thrus, such as you utilized, comprise approximately one-third of total sites. There is much more we could share and we understand how difficult it is to learn all there is about any park in the mere 18 hours that comprise the average one-night stay such as yours. We invite you to keep watching all those different sites for future updates on our projects!
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