REVIEW Gulf View RV (Encore) Punta Gorda, Florida

We booked here for two weeks. This was our second two week booking with Thousand Trails so it was free for us with our Florida (South East) zone pass. Normally this is not a resort that is included but we have six extra Florida resorts over and above the three included with the pass and therefore it was free. Also normally with a zone pass we would get about 20% off this resort as it is an Encore resort if we weren't booked in as part of our first 30 days are free.

Gulf View is located at 10205 Burnst Store Rd in Punta Gorda. It is near everything you could possibly need.

VALUE 5/5 for us as it was free. It would be $3 for us after our free 30 days. Regular rates here are between $50-$60 I believe which is expensive in my books and the rating would be a lot lower if full fees were paid.

SITE QUALITY 4/5 We were in site 40 and it was fairly level. It had a cement pad for the picnic table but we parked on grass. There was a huge rainstorm our first night here and the road in front of us flooded but the site stayed basically dry. It did get a bit mucky where we parked the truck. We were fairly close to the seasonal mobile home beside us, and their large air conditioner facing but we still felt we had enough room. More room then some RV parks we have been crammed into in the past.

FACILITY FUN 3/5 There was a nice heated pool here with extra pool noodles and floats for people to use. Lots of lounge chairs/seating and sun umbrellas at the pool. Activities included shuffleboards, bocce ball, community fire pit, boat launch and a meeting/activity building. There wasn't a playground and the hot tub was adult only. There were no children's activities for the Easter holiday so I felt this wasn't very family friendly. The girls were however allowed to ride their electric jeep around as well as their bikes.

NATURAL SURROUNDINGS 3/5 The site were about average and had some grass around the lot. There were mature trees throughout the park. The river running behind the campground was a wonderful place to watch the sun set or go fishing or have a kayak ride. There was a large grass area near the meeting/activity building with large trees and a very peaceful setting along the river. My girls liked to ride their bikes here to play bocce ball and hang out.

BATHROOMS ??? Can you believe I forgot to go in them? We were out and about so much. My husband did say that he felt they were quite clean.

STAFF 4/5 We hardly spoke with the staff at all but when we did they were very friendly and helpful. We ended up leaving a few days early and they were very accommodating in returning our days to us that we left without using.

LOCATION 4/5 This location is very close to the town of Punta Gorda as well as being 10- 15 minutes away from the town of Port Charlotte. It was also fairly close to North Fort Myers and it was an easy area for all our various beach day trips we took while here. 

OVERALL 4/5 Being a Thousand Trails member and staying for free boosted this rating. If we had to pay $50 plus a night my rating would be lower. Although this place isn't on the beach it was close enough to take numerous day trips to various beaches and nature filled hiking areas like Peace River Wildlife Center and Charlotte Harbor Environment Centre. I really liked that the pool had noodles and floats for everyone to use. A playground and allowing kids in the hot tub would bring this rating up too. Overall we were happy with our stay at this park and would stay here again.

Our site #40 beside a mobile with room between

map of park

Shuffle boards? in excellent condition 

Heated pool and hot tub

The activity building, community firepit and bocce ball court in
the back ground. All along the river in a beautiful natural setting.

The river, dock and community fire pit

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.

site 125

Playground. There were also swings.

Library room available during office hours.

Cleanest laundry facilities I have ever seen.

Pool and hot tub were very nice. Lots of chairs to lounge on.