Orangeland RV Park

We stayed at Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California, specifically because it was about 10 minutes from Disneyland. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-02-06
Check out: 2022-02-20
14 nights

Weather:

Sunny, one day of evening rain and a thunderstorm
High temps ranging between 70 and 95°F, lows around 40-50°F
Occasional wind (gusts up to 30 mph)

Noise:

Background road noise
Very occasional train horns, during the day

Site:

Pull-through, diagonal, concrete, had to disconnect toad (tow vehicle)
Medium-sized, about 50 feet long by 27 feet wide, including pad for toad beside RV
Full hookups: 50 amp power, good water pressure, no sewer connection issues
Table and chairs with umbrella on patio, grass, orange tree (can pick oranges); no fire pit

Internet:

Campground Wi-Fi: 6 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 40 ms ping, mostly reliable
T-Mobile: 40 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
AT&T: 4 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
Verizon: 17 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 43 ms ping

Amenities:

Mail service
Daily garbage pickup
Pool; hot tub was being resurfaced
Rec room
Various outdoor games

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Fantastic basecamp for Disney fun!

We absolutely loved our stay at Orangeland. We stayed for two weeks in order to do Disneyland and California Adventure and a couple of other LA attractions. This was the perfect place to launch from, it was so convenient to the freeways. Despite being in the heart of a sub/urban area, it was pretty quiet and peaceful. Picking oranges right from our patio was so cool, and we really enjoyed the wonderful scent of orange blossoms. Spaces are pretty tight, but the staff was very helpful in getting us situated quickly and efficiently. The patio with table and chairs at our deluxe pull-through site was very nice. The only downside is that they positioned the patios for fifth-wheels and Class Cs, so we had to walk across the (often wet) grass to get from our door to the table since the parking pad was just wide enough for our large Class A. Not a biggie, just something we’ve noticed in other parks as well. We will absolutely stay here again when we want to revisit the LA area. We camped at Orangeland RV Park in a Motorhome.

The cover of the park booklet:

Orangeland RV Park booklet

Park map; the majority of the park (brown sites) are long-term residents, with a few rows (green sites) for transient RVs (I like it when parks keep the two types separate, since long-term residents are often less tidy):

Park map

Satellite view:

Satellite view

As mentioned, it’s about 10 minutes from Disneyland:

Disneyland and Orangeland

This park was unusual in that they gave a little goody bag at check-in:

Goody bag

With a sudoku, book, note pad, pen, calendar, and more:

Sudoku etc

Calendar

And to tell about trash pickup, they provided a trash bag:

Trash

Our site, with a nice paved patio area with table, chairs, and umbrella (the first time we’ve had an umbrella at a site):

Our site

Convenient utility hookups:

Our site

A nice feature of this park is the “no parking fire lane” red line around the roads, encouraging everyone to park within their site. Far too often at campgrounds vehicles are parked partly in the road, making navigation of big rigs more difficult than it needs to be. It helps that the sites are actually big enough to park the toad, too:

Our site

Have you heard that in cities you can order food online and have people drive it out to you? Crazy notion! This was the first time we’ve ordered food delivery in almost a decade, since nobody would deliver to our rural homestead:

Pizza Hut delivery

We did it twice:

Chinese delivery

One of the rules of the park was no free-range cats, and yet there were two cats that roamed around near our site (which didn’t bother us, but I suspect that rule was added due to them):

Cat

The weather was pretty nice here, though we had a couple of days with high wind gusts:

Wind

Let’s wander around the park. The entrance:

Entrance

Other RVs:

Other RVs

The office:

Office

The office includes a little shop with all sorts of essentials:

Shop

Game room:

Game room

Outdoor games:

Games

The pool; we didn’t use it, mainly because we were out late at the Disney parks on the really hot days, and the subsequent days weren’t so hot:

Pool

The spa / hot tub was being resurfaced, so unavailable; we might have wanted to use that after long days walking around Disney, but oh well:

Spa

Putting green:

Putting green

Playground:

Playground

BBQ area:

BBQ area

Dog park:

Dog park

Every site has a fruit tree, and they encourage picking fruit off your own tree, or vacant sites. They have a map of what varieties are where:

Fruit tree map

Steering wheel table

It may be shocking to learn that our coach has a steering wheel. Which is kinda useful when driving… but not so much when parked at a campsite:

Steering wheel

A fun idea that we saw in an RV we looked at is to have a table on top of the steering wheel when parked. Which has two benefits: (a) it looks nicer, and (2) it prevents our cat from stepping on the air horn!

So we purchased a nice one from Wood Design RV Interiors.

The table has sides to enclose the wheel, and pins underneath to accommodate the angle of the steering wheel (when it is tilted almost flat):

Table underside

Here it is in place:

Steering wheel table

It’s a good place for our potted plants:

Steering wheel table with plants

How fahncy.

Wine rack and liquor holder

Since we moved into our coach, we stored the few wine and liquor bottles we brought in carrier bags, shoved in a cupboard, with some bubble wrap for extra padding. Which kept them safe from breakage and rattling while driving, but made them difficult to access.

Here they are after pulling them out of the cupboard (unfortunately I didn’t think to take a picture of them in there):

Wine

Here’s the empty cupboard, below the window in the dining area (they were actually in a different one initially, that was even more difficult to access):

Cupboard

This cupboard is designed as a computer center, with a power outlet at the back:

Power outlet

A pull-out shelf for a printer:

Pull-out shelf

And a keyboard tray:

Keyboard shelf

But while we had originally intended to use it as my workstation, I find it more comfortable to sit on my living room chair with my laptop on a lap tray. So it is a convenient place for our alcohol.

It gets a bit warm in there when the sun is beating on that exterior wall, so I added some Reflectix insulation to the back wall:

Reflectix insulation

The Reflectix is attached with aluminum foil tape:

Reflectix insulation

I spent quite some time searching for a wine rack that would fit on the bottom shelf (and tried a modular one, that didn’t work out for depth reasons). I finally found one that fits well:

Wine rack

Here it is in place. The bottles on the right are too tall to fit in the rack, but fortunately the shelf has extra depth on that side:

Wine rack

The bottles are held securely, in a way where they won’t rattle, and being on their side is best to keep the corks moist:

Wine rack

For the liquor bottles, my idea was to get some dividers to keep them separated and supported upright:

Dividers

I also removed the keyboard tray from the top of the cupboard, to give the bottles more vertical space.

Here are the dividers in place; not perfect, but gives some structure:

Liquor

To stop the bottles moving around too much, I added some bubblewrap padding:

Liquor with padding

Liquor

The final result; nice and tidy, and easy to access:

Liquor holder and wine rack

Video

Video: timelapse of coach driving from Desert Hot Springs, CA to Orange, CA

A timelapse of driving the coach 100 miles from the Desert Hot Springs in California to Orange, also in California (near Anaheim, within the greater Los Angeles region).

Travel from Desert Hot Springs to Orange, CA

We departed Catalina Spa and RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California, and headed to a couple of weeks at Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California — conveniently located about 10 minutes from Disneyland. Yep, we spent five days at the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks! You can bet there will be posts about those coming up soon.

Here’s the route map (right to left); 100 miles, about three hours drive in our coach. A non-stop drive, since California apparently doesn’t believe in rest areas (or road maintenance):

Map route

Paladin started on top of the kitchen counter; he complained a few times, but was quiet for most of the journey:

Paladin

As always, Jenn drove our coach. She prefers to drive, and doesn’t enjoy being a passenger, and I feel the opposite, so that works out best for both of us:

Jenn driving

It’s much more common for men to drive RVs than women, so people are sometimes surprised when they learn she is the driver. She’s a member of a Tiffin Lady Drivers Facebook group (with 824 members), for female drivers of Tiffin motorhomes.

The onramp to the I-10 freeway, with a snow-tipped mountain and wind turbines in the background:

Mountain, wind turbines, freeway

Paladin used his top-entry litter box while in transit:

Paladin

One area attraction we didn’t get to, but will in the future, are some big dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs

I have a phone holder to help me keep an eye on one of the RV-safe GPS apps; I have it mounted via a suction cup to a plate on the pull-out desk for the passenger chair (on which rests one of Paladin’s cardboard nests):

Phone holder

The shortest route, via CA-60, was closed for repairs, so we continued on I-10:

Freeway closed

More freeway scenes:

Freeway

Nearing our destination:

Freeway

The entrance of Orangeland RV Park:

Orangeland RV Park

After unhooking our truck, I drove it following our coach to our site:

Our coach

As usual, I’ll have a post about our experiences at this RV park after we’ve left it. And a timelapse video of the trip tomorrow. I still need more subscribers to the Sinclair Trails channel, so if you haven’t yet, please do so.

Catalina Spa and RV Resort

One of the first campsite reservations we made when starting this adventure was at Catalina Spa and RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates: 2022-01-20 to 2022-02-06 (17 nights).

Weather: sunny, windy several days (gusts up to 40 mph), high temps around averaging 70°F, lows around 50°F.

Noise: from neighboring sites, but no trains or road noise.

Site: back-in, sand, full hookups (50 amp power, water, sewer), small, about 45 feet long by 18 feet wide, with hedges on both side. No table or fire pit. Not really enough room for our truck, but fortunately there was parking behind our site.

Internet: unreliable single-device Wi-Fi; T-Mobile good, AT&T and Verizon okay.

Amenities: mail service, daily garbage pickup, pool, rec room, various outdoor games.

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

So much potential, in need of a refurb

We had high hopes for this resort based on reviews and YouTube walk-throughs, but it seems to have gone downhill since then. At its peak, this would have been a fantastic place, but it’s looking a little rough around the edges. The pools and spas could have been spectacular but were kind of average. The temperatures were erratic (for instance: one day, the upper spa was maybe one degree warmer than the pool), and the plaster was starting to look a little shabby. Despite numerous signs that you must rinse before going into the pool, I never saw anyone else doing so. Signs regarding glass containers were similarly ignored, especially in the “family pool,” which was party central in the afternoon. If you’re looking for a nice quiet soak in the hot springs, look elsewhere. It is nice that the pools are open 24/7, but they need to fix the lights around the upper pool. Several streetlights are missing or burnt out, and it was a very dark walk back to the coach after we had a post-dinner swim.

Our site was supposedly an “Elite Plus” site, described as “50 amp service, landscaped dirt/gravel/sandy mix site; may come with a cement slab; full hook-ups, includes wifi & cable, more spacious & private site with a great view maximum size 55′”. Not in a million years would I describe the site as “spacious” or “private” or as having a “great view”. Our 40′ motorhome barely fit from front to back and we had to trim some of the oleander shrubs to make it work. There was no way we could fit our tow vehicle beside it and have any outdoor living space so we parked it around the corner. Even so, we barely had room for our rug and chairs between the coach and the shrubs. Our neighbors were so close we could watch and listen to their TV. When there wasn’t someone in a site across the way we sort of had a glimpse of the distant hills, so I guess that counts as a “view”, but mostly all we could see was our neighbors and their trucks parked all along the roadside. I would knock out about half the interior sites and make them all really long pull-throughs. Considering that the park was never full the entire time we were there (in peak season), it’s not like they’d lose a ton of revenue.

The paid WiFi we got with our site was very slow and continuously disconnected and was only good for one device. In order to do Zoom calls for work, I had to use the 5G connection on my cellphone for reliable service. We camped at Catalina Spa RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Here’s the map:

Map

The satellite view:

Satellite view

Pulling in off the road, a welcome sign and a glimpse of the office:

Office and sign

The entrance security gate (opened via a proximity card):

Security gate

Horseshoes, cornhole, etc games:

Horseshoes, cornhole, etc games

An entertainment / party area:

Entertainment area

The lower clubhouse:

Clubhouse

They have a mail room, but were getting overwhelmed with packages, so had non-USPS ones available for pickup in the clubhouse:

Clubhouse

Looking out the window at the lower pool:

Pool

The pools at this resort are fed by mineral hot springs, which is quite pleasant… though the temperature regulation was a bit inconsistent, being warmer or cooler on various days. We enjoyed the pools several times during our stay:

Pool

A sign:

Sign

Rock art:

Rock art

Our campsite:

Our campsite

We could almost fit our truck next to our coach, but it would have been a tight squeeze:

Our campsite

Our rug, chairs, and table:

Seating area

Me sitting underneath the bedroom slide-out for shade:

David

Jenn:

Jenn

A view of our campsite from the back:

Our campsite

We couldn’t go back any further, due to a shrub. But there’s a gap behind the shrub leading to an overflow parking area, where we parked our truck:

Our campsite

Our truck

Our truck and coach

The hookups were conveniently located, though I couldn’t get a good seal on the sewer, as the screw was mounted too low:

Our campsite

A wander around, looking at other sites:

Other sites

The upper pool, which we preferred:

Pool

Playground:

Playground

Pickleball:

Pickleball

Mini golf:

Mini golf

We enjoyed a round:

Mini golf

Cabins:

Cabins

A pair of ponds:

Pond

A pair of ducks; I always enjoy a duck sighting:

Pond and ducks

Duck

A bird visited our site:

Bird

A raven made a ruckus in a palm tree behind our site:

Bird in a palm tree

The wind here was pretty bad at times, with gusts up to around 40 MPH; we considered bringing in our slide-outs, to protect the toppers, but didn’t; they survived okay:

Wind

One last pic of our campsite, after our downhill neighbor left:

Our campsite

An extra step

Another recent purchase, related to the rug tweaks covered yesterday: an extra step, since the front of the coach was higher than usual due to the slope of the ground at the Xscapers Bash:

Extra step

We won’t need that often, but good to have it when we need it.

A clever idea: bolts to secure our outdoor rug

We have an outdoor rug that we put down when a campsite has gravel, sand, or dirt next to the coach (can’t use it when there’s grass, and no need when concrete). We used to secure it from blowing away with stakes hammered into the ground, which can be tricky with hard surfaces (I’ve bent a few stakes!). But while at the Xscapers Bash, our neighbor demonstrated a cunning idea: using lag bolts and washers, screwed in with a drill driver. Clever!

So I bought a cordless drill (my existing one was corded; less convenient for outdoor use) and some lag bolts and washers. I could get larger washers, but these work fine:

Drill driver, bolts, washers

Bolts, washers

The driver has a suitable bit in a quick-connect, for when I want to use the driver for other things:

Drill driver and bits

A bolt and washer secures the mat at each corner:

Bolt and washer securing mat

Mat

Though even that was no match for wind gusts of 30+ MPH:

Unsecured rug

It wasn’t a failure of the bolts, though: the bolts stayed put… but the rug tabs didn’t remain attached to the rug:

Broken rug tab

Oops! So we’ll weigh down the rug more when experiencing high winds, and screw the bolts directly through the reinforced corners of the rug:

Bolt through rug

Jack pads

A recent addition to our RV is a set of high quality jack pads — heavy duty pads to go under the hydraulic leveling jacks, to provide better support on soft ground like dirt, or protect more fragile surfaces like asphalt from the weight of the jacks.

Here are the pads under the back jacks:

Jack pads

And the front jacks (yes, those jacks are smaller):

Jack pads

Peeking behind a front wheel, you can see the whole jack mechanism:

Jack

While there, a bonus pic of part of our 150 gallon diesel fuel tank, which can be filled from both sides:

Fuel tank

And a front air bag, which acts as suspension while driving, and can be used as alternative to hydraulic leveling for short stays:

Air bag

A couple of jack pads after removing them:

Jack pads

I store two on each side of a basement compartment, for easy access when setting up at a campsite. I don’t need them when on a concrete pad, and not so much on gravel, but on sand, dirt, grass, or asphalt, they are a useful addition.

A perhaps better (certainly more convenient) option for jack pads are permanently attached ones, like SnapPads, but unfortunately they are not compatible with our coach, as there isn’t enough clearance between the back tires and the jack when it is up in travel position.

States map

A fun tradition for many RVers is to display a map of the places they’ve been on the side of their RV. We’ve had such a map for a while, but finally got around to installing it. (You may have spotted it in some of the Xscapers posts; I actually wrote this post before the bash, but pushed it out for more timely topics.)

We mounted it on the side of our front slide out, next to the entry door. A fairly common location.

The map consists of a self-adhesive base map of the United States, plus corresponding stickers to add on top as each state is visited. Our rule is for it to count, we need to camp at least one night in the state.

Here’s me adding the base map, trying to avoid bubbles:

David adding map base

The base map:

Map base

Adding state stickers for the places we’ve been since buying the coach:

David adding states

So far we’ve been to Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona in our coach. Plus we decided to include the Yellowstone trip, since we were camping in a rental travel trailer while our coach sat at home (only because our coach wouldn’t fit in Yellowstone National Park). So that adds Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (we’ll visit them again in our coach in a few months time anyway):

States

A view of our coach and map from further back:

Coach with map

As mentioned in the 2021 travel post a few weeks ago, in 2022 we plan to add Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas to that map. It’ll be years before we visit every state. Alaska and Hawaii will be particularly tricky; Alaska we can reach via Canada, but we’ll have to fly to Hawaii — we have been there in the past, but won’t count it until we visit again… and may have to rent an RV there if we want to be strict with our self-imposed rules.