Camp Margaritaville Orlando Review: Is the Flagship Luxury RV Resort Worth It?

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort is the flagship of Jimmy Buffett’s answer to the question nobody knew they were asking: what if an RV park ran on the same “island escapism” engine as a Margaritaville beach resort? It opened in January 2022 as Florida’s first Camp Margaritaville, and it swings big — 326 RV sites on 66 landscaped acres beside Lake Myrtle, two heated pools, a 147-foot water slide, tiki bars, a putting course, and nightly entertainment that would embarrass most cruise ships.

Before we go further, one piece of honest housekeeping the marketing tends to blur: Camp Margaritaville is not in Orlando. It is in Auburndale, off the Polk Parkway between Lakeland and Winter Haven — about 45 miles and 50 minutes from Walt Disney World in normal traffic, and longer when I-4 does what I-4 does. If you found this page searching “Camp Margaritaville Orlando,” that is the single most important fact in this review. There is a Margaritaville Resort Orlando in Kissimmee, but it is a hotel-and-cottages property; the RV resort is a different animal an hour southwest.

So here is the verdict up front: Camp Margaritaville is arguably the best pure RV resort experience in Central Florida — spacious concrete sites, a genuinely fun pool complex, and polish that most parks can’t touch — but it is a destination resort, not a Disney base camp. If your trip is “parks every day,” the drive will grind you down and you should be comparing Kissimmee-area parks or Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead. If your trip is “resort first, one or two theme park days mixed in,” this place is hard to beat at the price.

For the wider lay of the land, see our guides to RV parks near Orlando and the best RV parks in Florida.

Getting There: The Auburndale Reality#

Camp Margaritaville sits at 361 Denton Avenue, Auburndale, FL, just off the Polk Parkway (SR 570) toll loop, next to Lake Myrtle and the Lake Myrtle Sports Park complex. Access is genuinely easy for big rigs: the Polk Parkway connects to I-4 on both ends, the roads are wide, and there are no low branches, tight turns, or sketchy final miles. You can run a 45-footer in here without a second thought.

The location’s honest pitch is “center of Central Florida” rather than “next to Disney.” Real-world drive times, per guest reports and our own map math:

Destination	Distance	Typical drive
Walt Disney World	~45 miles	~50 min (up to 90 in I-4 traffic)
Universal Orlando	~55 miles	~60 min
Legoland Florida (Winter Haven)	~15 miles	~25–30 min
Downtown Lakeland	~12 miles	~20 min
Tampa / Busch Gardens	~45 miles	~50 min

Two things jump out of that table. First, Legoland is the theme park this resort is actually close to — families with kids in the 4-to-10 window quietly have the best location math in the whole place. Second, the I-4 corridor is the wildcard for everything else. Guests on TripAdvisor and The Dyrt repeatedly flag the same pattern: the posted 50 minutes to Disney is real at 8 AM, and fiction at 5 PM. If you have park reservations, leave early and treat the return drive as unknowable.

The flip side of not being in the Disney blast radius: Auburndale is quiet, uncongested, and cheap to resupply in. There are groceries, fuel, and big-box stores within 10 to 15 minutes, and you are never fighting tourist-corridor traffic just to buy propane.

One arrival note: the Polk Parkway is a toll road, and if you are towing, the axle-based tolling adds up on repeat trips. It is worth it — the alternative surface routes through Auburndale and Winter Haven are slower and stop-lighted — but budget for it, and make sure your transponder or plate-pay arrangement covers a Class A with a toad before you rack up two weeks of by-mail toll invoices.

The Resort: Sites and Classes#

This is where Camp Margaritaville separates itself from the average Florida snowbird park. The resort was master-planned from scratch in 2021–2022, and it shows — no retrofitted 1980s loops, no 30-amp-only ghettos, no gravel. The 326 RV sites (including 11 Super Premium sites) plus 75 Cabana Cabins are laid out along wide paved streets with young-but-growing landscaping.

The site classes, bottom to top:

Standard back-in sites. Full hookups (50/30-amp, water, sewer), concrete pads, a picnic table, and enough width that you are not reading your neighbor’s awning tag. These are the value play — reviewers on Campendium consistently describe the layout as “spacious,” which is not a word anyone uses about the Disney-corridor parks off US-192.

Pull-thru sites. The headline spec: 90-by-35-foot concrete pads with full hookups. That is enormous — a 45-foot Class A, a toad, and a golf cart fit with room left over. If you are coming in late or leaving early, these make the whole stay frictionless.

Premium Tiki Sites. The same infrastructure plus a private tiki hut on the pad — a shaded outdoor room that turns the site into somewhere you actually hang out. In Florida sun, the shade structure is more than decoration.

Motorhome Suites — the Paradise and 5 O’Clock Somewhere suites. The top of the range and the “luxury” in luxury RV resort: private tiki huts with full outdoor kitchens, Kamado Joe grills, outdoor TVs, Adirondack chairs, and hammocks. These are the sites the brochure photographs, and they book out first in winter. Whether an outdoor kitchen justifies the premium is a personal call — we work through that exact question in are luxury RV resorts worth it? — but as a product, they are executed better than almost anything else in the state.

What the sites cost. Aggregated 2025–2026 booking data puts nightly rates between roughly $67 and $302 depending on class and season; Good Sam lists standard sites from about $80. In practice: standard sites in the summer off-season land around $80–$110, winter high season pushes standard sites well past $100 and premium classes past $200, and the Motorhome Suites at peak approach the top of that range. The resort also runs a genuinely useful extended-stay program — book 7, 14, or 21 days and get free nights; book 30, 60, or 90 days and get bonus nights — which matters if you are considering it as a snowbird base.

One pricing note for the skeptics: there is no separate mandatory resort fee advertised the way Margaritaville’s hotels tack one on. The amenities are priced into the site rate. The complaints you will read about cost are about the rate itself, not hidden line items.

When to go. The resort runs year-round, but it is really two different products. From roughly November through April it operates at full throttle — packed activities calendar, busy pools, snowbird energy, peak rates, and Motorhome Suites booked out weeks or months ahead. Summer is the value season: rates drop, availability opens up, and the pools become the main event, but afternoon thunderstorms are a daily fact of life and the entertainment calendar thins out midweek. Shoulder months (October, late April, May) are the sweet spot if you want the amenities running without peak pricing or peak crowds.

Amenities: Where the Money Went#

The amenity package is the argument for the price, so let’s be specific about what is actually here.

The pool complex. Two heated resort pools anchor the property. The main family pool comes with the 147-foot water slide and a kids’ splash pad; the second pool area — the “License to Chill” side, down by Lake Myrtle — skews adult and mellow, with tiki bars serving both. Reviewers across Campendium, The Dyrt, and TripAdvisor are near-unanimous that the pool scene is the best of any RV resort in Florida: clean, staffed, genuinely fun, with live music and DJs on a regular schedule. (You will see “swim-up bar” claimed in some third-party write-ups; the resort’s own materials describe tiki bars at the pools, so set expectations accordingly — the drinks are close to the water, not necessarily in it.)

Bars and food. Multiple tiki bars, a restaurant/grill operation, and a well-stocked camp store that reviewers repeatedly praise. This is a Margaritaville property: frozen drinks are a load-bearing amenity, and the food-and-beverage operation runs closer to a resort than a campground snack shack.

Activities. A 9-hole putting course, pickleball courts, cornhole, playgrounds, an arcade, an entertainment stage with a real events calendar (live music, themed weekends, kids’ activities), and communal firepits. The activities program is the thing that makes it feel like a land cruise — there is always something scheduled, which is either the whole point or your nightmare, depending on your camping personality.

Practical infrastructure. A fitness center, modern laundry facilities, dog parks and a dog-washing station, and free Wi-Fi and cable at every site. Two honest caveats from the review consensus: Wi-Fi is inconsistent at sites farther from the core — fine for email, not something to run a remote-work video call on without your own cellular backup — and cell coverage is otherwise solid given the location near a major toll corridor.

The Cabana Cabins. Not strictly an RV amenity, but worth knowing about: the 75 Cabana Cabins mean you can park the rig and still put non-RVing family in real beds a two-minute walk away. Designated pet-friendly cabins take one dog of 35 pounds or less. For multi-generational trips — grandparents in the fifth wheel, adult kids in a cabin — this solves a problem most RV parks simply can’t.

Golf carts. The resort rents 4- and 6-passenger golf carts (drivers must be 25+; reserve ahead in busy season — rental pricing isn’t published, so confirm when you book). You can bring your own cart, but you must register it at check-in and show proof of insurance. Unlike Fort Wilderness, where a cart is borderline mandatory, Camp Margaritaville’s 66 acres are walkable — the cart is a convenience here, not a survival tool.

What’s Nearby#

Legoland Florida is the sleeper headline — 25 to 30 minutes away in Winter Haven, close enough for a morning-to-nap-time visit with small kids. Disney World and Universal are day trips, full stop: doable, done by plenty of guests, but budget two hours of round-trip driving on a good day. If Disney is the entire reason for your Florida trip, read our Fort Wilderness review before booking here — the comparison at the bottom of this page walks through the math.

Closer to home: Auburndale’s Lake Myrtle Sports Park is literally next door (youth sports tournaments fill the resort on certain weekends — a booking-calendar quirk worth knowing), downtown Lakeland has the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world at Florida Southern College, and Bok Tower Gardens near Lake Wales is a genuinely great half-day. Old Town Kissimmee and the US-192 tourist strip are about 40 minutes east if you want that on a non-park day.

The Honest Details#

What works#

• Site quality is the real deal. Big concrete pads, full hookups that work, wide streets, and a big-rig-friendly layout. The 90-foot pull-thrus are among the best sites in Florida.
• The pool complex earns the hype. Two heated pools, the 147-foot slide, splash pad, and bar service — reviewers who balk at the price still concede the pools are exceptional.
• It’s genuinely fun. The Campendium consensus line — “pricey for an RV park but an all-out vacation resort that’s worth every penny” — captures the typical review. People plan return trips.
• Clean and well-staffed. Bathhouses, laundry, grounds, and pool areas draw consistent praise for upkeep, which is not guaranteed at three-year-old resorts running at capacity.
• Pet infrastructure. Three pets allowed on RV sites (first two free, third $10/night), dog parks, and a wash station.

What doesn’t#

• The “Orlando” branding oversells the location. Fifty minutes to Disney on a good day, ninety on a bad one. Review threads are full of guests who expected a Disney base camp and got a long commute.
• Noise, in two flavors. The resort sits beside the Polk Parkway, and road hum carries across parts of the property — most guests call it manageable, light sleepers notice it. Separately, event and music noise from the entertainment stage and neighboring sites can run late, and multiple reviewers say quiet hours are not consistently enforced on party weekends. This is a resort that programs fun; it is not a nature retreat.
• Wi-Fi fades at the edges. Fine near the core, spotty at distant sites. Bring your own connectivity if work depends on it.
• Price perception in the off-season. Paying $100+ on a sweltering August weeknight when half the activities calendar is dormant stings; the value equation is strongest when the resort is in full swing.
• Young landscaping. The trees are growing, but this was a field in 2021. Shade is what the tiki huts are for; natural canopy is years away.

Who it’s for#

Book Camp Margaritaville if the resort is the vacation: families who will spend three of five days at the pool, snowbirds who want polish and a social calendar, Buffett-adjacent adults who consider a frozen concoction at 4:55 PM a scheduled activity, and Legoland families who lucked into the best location in the game. Skip it if you want quiet, shade, and nature — or if you plan to be inside a Disney park every single day, in which case pay the premium to be on property instead. For how it stacks up against the rest of the state’s high-end parks, see our luxury RV resorts in Florida roundup.

Full Specs & Booking#

• Hookups: Full hookups at all RV sites — 50/30-amp electric, water, sewer, cable, Wi-Fi
• Sites: 326 RV sites (back-in, pull-thru, Premium Tiki, Motorhome Suites; 11 Super Premium) plus 75 Cabana Cabins
• Cost: Roughly $67–$302/night by site class and season; standard sites from ~$80; free bonus nights on 7/14/21-day and 30/60/90-day stays
• Season: Open year-round; high season is the winter snowbird/spring window
• Reservation: Book direct at margaritavilleresorts.com or by phone; Motorhome Suites and winter dates book far ahead; watch for sports-tournament weekends next door
• Cell signal: Good (major corridor location); resort Wi-Fi free but inconsistent at outlying sites
• Max RV length: 45+ feet — pull-thru pads are 90 x 35 feet of concrete
• Pets: Up to 3 on RV sites (first 2 free, 3rd $10/night); vaccination records required; dog parks + wash station
• Amenities: 2 heated pools, 147-ft water slide, splash pad, tiki bars, restaurant, camp store, 9-hole putting course, pickleball, arcade, fitness center, playgrounds, entertainment stage, laundry, golf cart rentals (drivers 25+)

Camp Margaritaville vs. Disney’s Fort Wilderness#

The comparison everyone shopping this resort eventually runs. They are both “premium Florida RV experience,” and they are almost perfectly opposite products.

	Camp Margaritaville (Auburndale)	Fort Wilderness (Disney)
Nightly rate	~$67–$302; standard from ~$80	$104–$348; full hookup $137–$263
Distance to Magic Kingdom	~45 mi / 50–90 min drive	On property — boat across Bay Lake
Site quality	90-ft concrete pull-thrus, tiki huts	10-by-45-ft pads, mature forest canopy
Golf cart	Optional convenience	Near-mandatory, $75–$100/day rental
Vibe	Pool party, live music, frozen drinks	Woodsy Disney nostalgia, fireworks over the lake
Shade	Young landscaping, built shade	750 acres of pine and cypress

The math: a week at Fort Wilderness on a mid-tier site with a rented golf cart runs $2,300+ before park tickets. A week at Camp Margaritaville on a premium site runs meaningfully less, with better hookups, a bigger pad, and a better pool — but you will spend 2 hours in the car every Disney day. If Disney is the trip, Fort Wilderness wins and is worth its premium. If Florida is the trip and Disney is a day of it, Camp Margaritaville is the better resort for less money. Most honest tiebreaker we can offer: count your planned park days. Three or more, stay on property. Two or fewer, come make fun of the drive from a hammock in Auburndale.