Orlando S.E. / Lake Whippoorwill KOA

Awesomeness! Best camping resort! Sad to see it closed!
I have visited this location for many years . Clean, safe, and beautiful

This is a beautiful RV Park in a great location. The staff are super friendly and the park is patrolled regularly.

Very clean campground that has friendly staff at a pretty lakeside setting. This location is close enough to Disney attractions to be convenient within a 20 minute drive yet far enough away from the traffic & chaos. Good selection of nearby restaurants & stores. Nice dog park, pool & yard games there.

I agree that some of the negative reviews are excessive or even unwarranted.

True: Sites are small, and there isn't much shade.

True: A smart camper uses the camp website, google maps, etc, to see what they are getting into before reserving.

The facilities were decent and we experienced friendly and helpful staff.

We paid 48$ (plus 9$ for our 3rd child per night.)
Unless you really want to be on that particular lake, I can see where most people wouldn't consider this place 'a fun camping spot', and I'd consider that rate too high for what you get.

But we weren't using it for 'fun camping' -- we wanted this a somewhat quiet / remote location as our resting spot before and after a day at Universal Studios.

It would be unfair to rate the place badly since we knew and accepted all these factors.

Per the registration office, the KOA has been sold and closing in April. It looks really nice, but it appears the owners were given an offer they could not refuse.

I just had the craziest experience with this KOA. A friend rode to town with friends of hers in their RV, who were staying at this KOA. We live in Orlando and drove to the KOA to pick her up. We were texting each other so we could coordinate our arrival times. They arrived 7 minutes before we got there so she texted us to tell the guard at the entrance "bravo 47" and he would be expecting us. So when we (my wife was with me) got there (7 minutes later) the guard shack was empty. We tried calling the phone number they had outside the shack but got a message saying they would get back to us within 24 hours! So, we tooted the horn...2 short bursts, and waited...and waited...finally a guy in a yellow shirt came up to the window from behind us and asked if he could help us. I asked if he was the security guard and he said yes. I said "great" and told him we were there to pick up our friend and gave him the "code"..."bravo 47". He then asked us for the name of the people our friend was with, who were staying there. I told him I didn't know the people and repeated "bravo 47" he then started looking through papers and said he didn't have a pass for us, and asked a 3rd time for the name we STILL didn't know. Meanwhile, my friend had put her phone down and it was set to vibrate so I couldn't reach her to ask the name. This had been going on for several minutes and I was getting obviously upset. What about "bravo 47" did he not understand. So I asked him who had arrived at the camp ground 7 minutes ago? He said 30 people had checked in in the past 7 minutes. I started getting very irritated because now I knew he was lying to us and it seemed like he was jerking us around just for fun of it. Then another person in a yellow shirt drove up in a golf cart but stayed about 20 feet in front of the car so I leaned out the window and shouted (because he was 20 feet away) if he was the "real" security guard. He said he was "security". Again "bravo 47" meant nothing to him either. I was getting seriously pissed at this point. Then another guy comes walking up drunk and slurring his words and says he was the assistant manager or vice president or something and started talking about throwing me out of the place for being a trouble maker. I was ready to call the cops myself...I would say "frick and frack", but there were 3 of them now, so I guess the 3 stooges makes for a better analogy. So, I think they finally understand and they open the gate (I think they are finally taking us to "bravo 47" but instead after going about 20 feet, the guy in the cart stops and comes back to the car telling me to calm down!! By this time, I'm about to explode..we were finally making some progress, (I mistakenly thought). Well, that was the last straw. I said we're leaving and my friend will just have to get an Uber. Unbelievable that the original guy we spoke with at the gate didn't tell us he WASN'T THE GUARD THEY SPOKE TO WHEN THEY ARRIVED 7 MINUTES AGO!! IF THE IDIOT HAD SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT "BRAVO 47" MEANT, we might have been able to figure out what the miscommunication was all about. If this is how they run their security at this campground, I would HIGHLY recommend NOT trusting them with my RV or camper or children or pets or ANYTHING of value.
Turns out, the "original", "bravo 47" guard had gone with the people to help them pull their RV into the space and hadn't left a note for anyone else! Comedy of errors EXCEPT, it wasn't the least bit funny!

We spent a week in Orlando at this campground in January. We had visors come visit us and it seemed like the perfect place to chill out. We upgraded to a waterfront space, which had a dock that our daughters enjoyed playing on.

Our space was half concrete pad and gravel, it was very level. My only complaint was that our Class A had to back into our waterfront space, so our windshield faced away from the waterfront.

The RV campground was very quiet although it is very close to the International airport, we heard the occasional airplane but it was only during the day. The other campers were respectful of quiet hours.

This RV park had water, sewer, electric and cable hookups. There was a laundry room, which was clean but more expensive than most. The WiFi was good but not always reliable. There is a dedicated dog walk and a playground, which could use some modernizing.

Would I recommend this park? Absolutely. Would we come back? We would if we are in the Orlando area again.

Informational: We travel in a 36' Class A RV.

I love this KOA. Clean, friendly staff, great prices and a beautiful place. This is the only camp site I will come to in Orlando. They have a lot of amenities and a great store. We will definitely be back.

This KOA is close to the 417 exit at Lake Nona.

The RV lots face a lake, with a few scattered palm trees. The tent lots are in an open field between the RV lots and boat storage. Not a single tree in this area. The small pool also in full sun.

Sites are all in the full Florida sun all day long.

We stayed two nights at this campground and were very impressed with the facilities and services. The wonderful ladies working at the registration building were very kind and helpful throughout our stay and the guys working security went above and beyond to make sure we had a good stay. If you're looking to camp nearby all the exciting theme parks, this is a very inexpensive option that will not sacrifice fun and warm hospitality for frugality.