Operation Explorations: REVIEW Fort Myers / Pine Island KOA / Encore, St James City, Florida

We spent a week here and really we could have stayed a month! We were really unsure about this resort before booking as we felt it was too far away from the main land and we would feel cut off from the excursions we wanted to do. We didn't expect to like the resort as much as we did.

The Fort Myers / Pine Island KOA (Encore resort) is located on Pine Island and is about an hour away from Fort Myers. It is located at 5120 Stringfellow Rd in St James City on Pine Island.

VALUE 3.5/5
We felt this was on the pricey side at $46 a night plus $4 night resort fee. We did get a 20% discount being a Thousand Trails member but still ended up paying $340.10 for the week (alomost $49 a night). That being said we did have a cement pad for the RV and under the picnic area. This isn't an important feature for us but it is for some. There was free wifi and cable here. The wifi was good most of the time but busy times of the day it was slow.

SITE QUALITY 4/5
Our site had a very level cement pad under our rig which extended under our picnic table area too. The site was fairly close to our neighbours but there was still some grass space between us. We backed in along a marsh area so the "noseums" were really bad at our site #125.

FACILITY FUN 3.5/5

There were no scheduled children's activities while we were here but our kids loved the pool and the playground. They also loved that they were allowed to ride their jeep around the whole park. Being a KOA we felt there should have been some planned activities and would have scored much higher in this catagory if there were even just a couple activities during the week for kids. A lot of snowbirds call this park their winter home so there are activities for adults.

NATURAL SURROUNDINGS 3/5

With the marsh area behind us we saw many birds and even a few tree frogs. The resort has some palm trees and three non-swim able ponds. Even though there were a lot of crammed in RV's, where we were parked it still felt open with a view of the pond and the marsh area behind us.

BATHROOMS 4/5

Bathhouse and showers by the pool were very clean and well maintained.

STAFF 5/5

We found the staff here to be very friendly and helpful. We had some very large parcels arrive here for us and they arrived way earlier then we did and the staff were very gracious about storing them until we arrived. We were given a staff escort to our site when we arrived which was a first for us and a nice touch. I can see this being very beneficial to some visitors. He even stayed to make sure we were backed in and set up. Front desk staff were also very pleasant and helpful. Everyone here looked and sounded cheerful throughout our weeks stay.

LOCATION 3/5

Location was our main concern when booking here as we wanted to be in the Fort Myers area and Pine Island is about an hour from Fort Myers. It ended up not being that big of a deal for us in the end. We loved visiting the Bookelia Wharf and watching the dolphins. The kids got to catch hermit crabs. We spent two evenings here and could have spent many more nights watching the sunsets here. My girls were happy to spend a few days just in the pool and of course we took a day trip to Sanibel Island to collect shells.

OVERALL 4/5

We were very happy at this resort. The pool was great, the staff were friendly, the wifi was better then most, close enough to spend the day at Sanibel and the Bookelia wharf was more fun then expected and we spent two evenings there watching the sunset. Although this place was a bit more expensive at about $48 a night with discounts, fees and taxes we would still return here as we loved the atmosphere. The pool was always busy with snowbirds and families and everyone mingled very well together. There was no separation of the two sides (snowbirds vs kids) as we have seen in other parks.