Bear Cove RV Village Pigeon Forge TN 4/1-7/9/12

New look of our RV Park reviews-our take on RV Parks

We posted this on 3/6/2011, and it still applies to our reviews. 

Hope you like the new look of our park reviews. Rather then having it just run in long paragraphs, we are trying to categorize it. We will not rate it by some numbering system. We will try to tell it like we see it and try to include some pictures. If you need more information, just email us and we will try to answer your questions. As full timers we look at the cost of RV Parks a little different them weekenders/part timers. One of the cost we can control in were we stay. When paying 365 days a year for a site, discounts are very important to us. No one like's paying the full rack rate(as they call it in the hotel business). Any discount is better then none. We look for the best value for our dollar. We will not sacrifice safety or stay in a very poor quality park just for a better price. Things like playground equipment is not important to us, and the fact it's not being there is a plus for us. Also showers and restrooms are not important to us, as we use our own. We will report on them if we check them out. Laundries are important to us, as we use them. Dog friendly is important to us. Also big rig friendly-very important. We try to do a search on the parks we go to, but can't always find  much information . We rely on other rver's info, on their blogs, and in sites like http://www.rvparkreviews.com/    We do look at the parks website if they have one for information. However when did you see a RV park show a picture of something and say this is our worst site etc. Many websites do not show the sites, only the pool, game room etc..Show us what's important. This is why we are adding reviews to our blog- to maybe help some one else. We will try to include photos for each park. It is also a reminder to us, as our blog is our journal. The most important thing, is this is our opinion, yours may vary or other things may be more important to you. Things like price, specials, ownerships, club affiliation, etc change. We are not trying to replace any directories. So if you find something different or a better park in the area let us know. If we return to a park we will update it. Please bear with us as we try to critique our RV park review

Name; Bear Cove Village, Whaley Drive Pigeon Forge TN. This is the entrance/office.

  Date of stay; 4/1/2012-7/9/12

Staff; Helpful and friendly

Price; $41-45 per night, Monthly $425. + Electric

Site description; All sites are back ins. Roads are paved, sites cement, but very uneven, front to back and side to side. Our site was so uneven when we leveled our wheels on one side were off the ground. So we pulled out and put boards under the wheels then leveled.  This year they did take out 10 sites and put in level pads. But if they only do 10 a year it will take 10 or more years to level all sites.  We had full hook up with 50 amp electric.  We back up to a drop off with woods behind us. Across the road from us you back up to a very steep bank. Parking your car/truck is very very tight. See pictures when park is full. When we put our sun shades on our awnings they were almost on the other site. Sites are close, but this is norm in this area, except for a few RV parks.  This is the closest park to Dollywood and our drive to work was less than 2 miles.  This is the one of the reason we choose this park.

Our site. Not much room to park car/truck. We had to park our truck in a overflow lot up the top of the hill. Parking for at least 8-10 trucks.

 The cabins have been removed in the end of June.

 The park filling up.

 Looking down at the park, that is one of the laundries, pool on left, just out of the picture.

 Looking down  at our RV. This was in April, very few people here.

 You can see how close the sites are.

Amenities; 2 pools, one with a small play area aside of it. Two laundry rooms with individuals showers and toilet area. Both Very Very nice. No club house, just a small office. Very very small pond. There is a fee to fish. Not sure about the fishing. We did see a few ducks use it, also a large snapping turtle. There are a few benches around the pond, and it is a nice place to sit and relax or read.

This is one of the pools and laundry room and showers/bathrooms. This is the one with the small play area. The other one is just like this, except no play area.

Laundry; see above

Phone/Wifi/TV; Verizon had 4 bars. Wifi in park worked great most times. If close to an antenna and no RV between you and the antenna, the signal was always good to excellent. When someone pulled in between us and the antenna the signal drop to fair to good. Sometimes it would go to poor/fair. But for the three + months we were here we used it about 90% of the time and it was good or better.  There is cable TV with at least 40 channels.

Dog Friendly; Yes, but next to no place to walk them to do their business. Very little grass, and were there was grass it was between sites, what little there was.

Night Lighting etc.; good low lighting at night. No road noise at night.

Book exchange; Tiny, tiny, tiny book exchange in each laundry room.

Comments; Ideally located close to Dollywood and all Pigeon Forge attractions and many restaurants. About 6 miles to Smokey Mountain National Park. About 2 miles from Food City, 4 miles to Kroger, 6-7 miles to Wal mart.

Opinion; If we would return to work at Dollywood we would probably stay here again. If just visiting the area we would stay somewhere else.