Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge

We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)

One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-30
Check out: 2024-07-07
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood

Site:

#84, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
25 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A couple young trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pools
Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP

We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Griddle:

Griddle

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site and others:

Our site and others

Other sites

Bathhouse:

Bathhouse

Lodge:

Lodge

Restaurant dinner menu:

Restaurant menu

Fancy fried green tomatoes:

Fancy fried green tomatoes

Burger and coconut shrimp, plus margaritas:

Burger etc

Lodge:

Lodge

Foyer:

Foyer

Breakfast buffet:

Breakfast buffet

Pool area:

Pool area

A nice resort, and we do appreciate an on-site restaurant, but we’re not really into other resort facilities. We probably won’t stay here again.

Video

Video: Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 246 miles from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Travel from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

We drove our coach 246 miles, about four hours of driving, from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

We had no sewer hookup at our campsite; when we were ready to leave our gray and black tanks were both at 83%:

83% gray and black tanks

So we stopped by the dump station on the way out:

Dumping waste tanks

A very narrow road out of the park:

Narrow road

Of course, as we head out of West Virginia, we had to play John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads:

John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads

Country roads:

Country roads

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

South on I-77:

South on I-77

5% downgrade; nice to have actual hills for a change:

5% downgrade

East River Mountain tunnel:

East River Mountain tunnel

“Welcome to Virginia”:

Welcome to Virginia

Rest stop:

Rest stop

Big Walker Mountain tunnel:

Big Walker Mountain Tunnel

Fun with zoom

A colorful water tower, painted to look like a hot air balloon:

Colorful water tower

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Sbarro for lunch:

Sbarro for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

An accident ahead:

Accident ahead

Accident

“Tennessee Welcomes You”:

Tennessee Welcomes You

Rest area:

Rest area

Heading in to Pigeon Forge:

Fun with zoom

Titanic:

Titanic

Hollywood Wax Museum:

Hollywood Wax Museum

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Swimwear and alligators:

Swimwear etc

Camp Margaritaville:

Camp Margaritaville

Check in:

Check in

Arriving at our site:

Our site

Custom couch side tables

While in Red Bay we also got Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets to create custom side tables for our theater seating couch.

We already had nice side tables that we bought from Dave & LJ’s RV Interior Design in Woodland, Washington, along with our couch. Here’s the one on Jenn’s side of the couch, next to the kitchen pull-out counter and drawers:

Side table

And my side, using the top drawer as a surface for my iPad:

Side table

They were nice, but we wanted ones that were sized better for the space, matched the look of built-in cabinets, and had a better pull-out surface on top. Cody was able to produce custom units to match our requirements.

Here he’s removing the old units:

Side table

Jenn’s new unit, without the top; you can see the pull-out surface:

Side table

My unit installed:

Side table

The pull-out surface is very useful for resting my iPad and MacBook Pro:

Side table

Jenn’s unit:

Side table

Hers also has the pull-out surface and two drawers:

Side table

Much better!

New River Gorge National Park: Thurmond and waterfalls

We visited the Thurmond area of New River Gorge National Park, plus a scenic drive to a couple more waterfalls.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Thurmond and the waterfalls:

Waterfall on the way to Thurmond:

Waterfall

One-way car and rail bridge to Thurmond:

One-way road and rail bridge to Thurmond

Bridge

Thurmond:

Thurmond

Train engine:

Train engine

Passport stamps:

Passport stamps

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Train engine:

Train engine

Train

Historic Thurmond:

Thurmond

Back over the one-way bridge:

Back over the one-way bridge

Glen Ferris falls:

Glen Ferris falls

New River Gorge National Park: Canyon Rim and Bridge

We visited the Canyon Rim area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Canyon Rim section has a visitor center that overlooks the iconic New River Gorge bridge, plus has a winding scenic drive down into the canyon, that passes under the bridge three times.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Canyon Rim etc:

Going over the New River Gorge Bridge:

New River Gorge Bridge

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Gorge viewpoint:

Gorge viewpoint

Bridge viewpoint:

Bridge viewpoint

We did the scenic Fayette Station Road driving tour, that goes down into the gorge:

Fayette Station Road driving tour

Narrow road

Bridge virw from road

One way bridge:

One way bridge

A view of the New River Gorge Bridge from the one-way bridge:

New River Gorge Bridge

Bridge view

New River Gorge Bridge

New River Gorge National Park: Sandstone Falls

We visited the Sandstone Falls area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Sandstone Falls section features a 1500 feet wide waterfall on the New River.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Sandstone Falls:

Sign

Boat

Path

“Masks are optional”; haven’t seen any mention of COVID-19 for a while:

Masks are optional

Visitor center exhibits:

Visitor center

Viewpoint overlooking Sandstone Falls:

Viewpoint

Sandstone Falls boardwalk:

Sandstone Falls

New River Gorge National Park: Grandview

We visited the Grandview area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Grandview section overlooks a bend in the New River.

The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:

An interactive map of our route for visiting Grandview:

Grandview sign

A small visitor center:

Visitor center

Grand Canyon of the East:

Grand Canyon of the East

Path to the main viewpoint:

Path

View

Road to the Turkey Spur Overlook:

Road

View:

View

The Other Grand View

Path with 150 steps to upper viewpoints:

Path

Steps

Train:

Steps

View

Little Beaver State Park

We stayed at Little Beaver State Park in Beaver, West Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park near New River Gorge National Park.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-23
Check out: 2024-06-30
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 77-88°F, lows 55-64°F
Little wind wind, gusts to 21 MPH, sheltered by trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#19, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind and in front of coach
Somewhat unlevel site, high in front and driver side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
20 feet to neighbor on front/passenger side; 30 feet to road on driver side
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
80 PSI water, conveniently located
No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 6 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 4-6 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Dump station

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good base for New River Gorge

This is a nice state park conveniently located near New River Gorge National Park and not far from the freeway. A word of caution, however: the road to get to the park and the roads in the park are not for the faint of heart, whether you have a small or big rig. The way in from the north is slightly less heart-stopping but still not ideal. Site 19 was a pull-through with a steep driveway and a relatively flat area about halfway, which was just perfect for our 40′ motorhome and tons of room to park our tow vehicle either in front or behind. We camped at Little Beaver State Park in a Motorhome.

Park campground and trail map:

Map