Leap of Faith: Our Retirement Adventure

Camp Margaritaville Lodge and RV Park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

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Wow! We have stayed in MANY campgrounds, but few deliver like Camp Margaritaville! I’m not sure if they just have lowered rates to entice people to try out this new resort or if rates will stay the same in the future, but we got an amazing deal! For just $110 a night we got a premium RV site right next to the pool (site 134).

Whether you stay at the Lodge or the RV Park, the amenities and activities are the same. They are shared between the lodge and campground.

This resort has SO much going for it. Here’s my Top 10 reasons you will LOVE this resort.

  1. The pool area– The pool is beautiful, includes a hot tub, a child’s play area, a water slide, and even a mountain view. We didn’t have any trouble finding lounge chairs, but umbrellas for shade aren’t easy to get. If you want a seat with an umbrella, you will need to get there early. The have a wait staff to bring food and drinks right to you. They have a daily happy hour time with discounts on food and drinks (times varied 2-3:30 and 4-6:00). The playlist they use at the pool is fun and upbeat and adds to the tropical vibe. Only ONE negative here- the rules say no one under the age of 14 in the hot tub, but they don’t enforce this, and the hot tub at times was SERIOUSLY overcrowded with children. The pool is open Sunday through Thursday 10 am to 10 pm and Fridays and Saturdays 10 am to 11 pm. We did wish the hot tub opened a little earlier. Would have been nice to have an adult only time to have coffee in the hot tub in the morning.

2. The lazy river- separate from the pool is a very nice lazy river. This also has plenty of lounge chairs and a concession stand. There’s a beautiful view of the mountains here too! It’s located behind the Lodge.

3. Scheduled activities- Each day they have activities- crafts, painting, bingo, scavenger hunts, and s’mores. They have an app to download for the schedule, and they post them in different areas. Some of the activities have fees. We played Bingo and made S’mores, and they were both free. On Fridays and Saturdays they have live music.

4. Free things to do- in addition to the scheduled activities, they have many other things to do for free. There’s corn hole, chess, ping pong, axe throwing, a giant Connect 4, board games, video game stations, pickle ball, foosball, darts, a playground, a creek nearby for fishing, and most incredible is the totally FREE duckpin bowling! There’s also an arcade and pool tables, which cost, but we received $50 card for free play with our stay.

Free duckpin bowling alley

5. Bark-aritaville– they have a dog park, a dog food menu, free dog biscuits at the front desk, and cute decorated dog cookies like bottles of “Pawtron”. They sell Pup Cups in the store for $2. They even have a dog wash. Our dog loved all the treats and the dog park.

6. Convenience– they offer food delivery right to your site. They also offer firewood delivery, ice delivery, and have garbage pick up daily from 8 am to 6 pm. Their delivery services can be done right through the app or you can call. They have onsite laundry, free WiFi, and a very nice and clean bath house. They also offer golf cart rentals. The app is very nice, and I highly recommend you download it right away when you get there.

7. Free fruit infused water all the time and free morning coffee in the lobby– this might sound small, but we took advantage of these a lot! and free is FREE!!🤣🤣

8. Restaurants– there are many places to eat. Their breakfast buffet is all-you-can-eat for $14.95 ($9.95 for kids 3-10). There are many choices for food, and prices are very reasonable for a resort. They have a cup to purchase in the Joe Merchants Store for $11.99 that you can refill with pop all day long. These get cheaper the more you buy.

9. Seating and fire pits- there are SO many places to sit and relax inside and outside. There is seating around fire pits both by the pool and outside on the big open lawn by the lazy river.

10. Very nice campsites– all sites have full hook-up, cable, a concrete pad, nice picnic tables, and a fire ring. They have 4 types of sites: standard, deluxe, premium, and family. Deluxe is bigger, premium is close to the pool, and family is close to the playground, bath house, and laundry. They also have 4 VERY pricey ($400 a night) “Super Sites” with BBQ grills, Adirondack chairs, etc. They look very nice, but I wouldn’t pay 4x the price for one.

Super Site

Hints and tips:

**All of the fun is at and around the lodge. The closer you are to the lodge the better if you want to use the amenities. However, if you want quiet at your site, stay farther away from the lodge. We could hear the base from the pool at our site (134) which didn’t bother us, but may bother some people.

**The staff is very friendly and kind. We didn’t encounter a single worker that was rude our entire stay!

**You can cheaply take public transportation to downtown Gatlinburg. It takes some time though. Buy a day pass for $3 a person on the Pigeon Forge transportation website. There is a stop right outside the pool. Wait at the sign (Looks like the app pictured below). Download the app right from the QR code on the sign. The app will tell you when the next trolley is arriving. Be sure to choose the info I posted below.

It’s not a direct route, and you have to have some patience with all of the transfers and waiting for the next trolley, but it’s cheap and easier than packing up your motorhome if you’re like us and not towing a car.

1. Take the trolley to the Pigeon Forge Mass transit stop.

2. Then, from the mass transit, take the trolley to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center.

3. From the Gatlingburg Welcome center, take the Purple Route to the Gatlinburg Transit center. This will let you off in the heart of the strip next to the aquarium. You can also get at any stop that looks good to you from the welcome center. Just pull the cord to request a stop. Once you’re in Gatlinburg, you can easily trolley around anywhere you want to go.

You need a ticket to ride the Pigeon Forge trolleys but not the Gatlinburg ones. Pigeon Forge is $1 per person each time you get on, so with this route I’ve posted, you save $1 per person by buying the all day pass. You have to have exact change if you don’t buy the online tickets.

I would recommend doing this if you’re spending the day in Gatlinburg, but NOT for a short visit. You will feel like all you did was go on the trolley. You can always Uber from the campground for a quick trip. It will cost you about $25-30 each way though.

You will LOVE Camp Margaritaville! I highly recommend it!❤️

Coming soon! We will be making these blogs into videos! Stay tuned!!

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● About Me

I’m Kim and along with my husband, Jim, and our two dogs, Bear and Zelda, we are going to be traveling across the country in retirement.

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