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| Rally Park was a different camping experience for us. We spent a weekend with free breakfast and lunch (except Sunday), newspaper delivered to each campsite every morning, free cable TV with almost 100 channels, screened and heated pool with Jacuzzi. They also had tennis, horseshoes, and shuffleboard. Each of the 299 sites had complete hookups: water, sewer, electric (30-50), and cable. |
Rally Park (aka Lazy Days RV Park) is connected to Lazy Days RV Super Center, off Interstate 4 at 6210 County Road 579 in Seffner, Florida, conveniently close to Tampa. There was a Cracker Barrel, Flying J, and Camping World store in the same area, but still pretty far away. It was a huge commercial complex.
The Rally Park tram took us to breakfast and lunch at the Lazy Days Festival Hall - a huge dining room that had Lazy Days sales and design trophies and awards covering one wall; on the opposite wall was an indoor garden with fountains and water ponds. Meals were served buffet style with different menus each day. The 12,000 square foot clubhouse also had a completely equipped computer room with Internet access, modem room, and TV room.
Daily rates were Jan-Mar $30; April-June $25; July-Sept $20; Oct-Dec $25, excluding tax and discounts. We originally signed up for a rally, but it was canceled later so we got the rally rate on the campsite. We got our advance tickets to Busch gardens at the campground. The cost for the rally would have been $159, discounted 20% to $127 plus tax, for 2 people. Since the rally was canceled, we got a discount on regular camping, paying $60.45 for camping and $89.88 for Busch Gardens, including all taxes. The meals and drinks at Busch cost almost $20 and an electric scooter rental was $32.
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| Beautiful screened and heated pool and patio area with Jacuzzi.
One negative: - the men’s shower was being remodeled and the men had to use the women’s shower (with a door guard - usually their wives). No pull-thru sites - no problem for us, but we had fun watching others. Several people we met lived in surrounding communities and use the park frequently. |
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We heard that the Lazy Days RV salesmen would be bugging the campers
during their stay. We did not encounter a single salesman - they must have
known that we were completely satisfied with our Westy. Most of the other
RVs in the campground were huge Class A’s, with a few Class C’s and travel
trailers.
We used our E-bike and 3-speed pedal bike for several miles on the numerous blacktop roads at the campground with a few mild hills. During the day, the temperature at the campground was in the 90’s and we had to use the air conditioner and a small tabletop fan to circulate the cooler air, but it cooled off at night. |
| One of the campers we met found the Play Hut pop-up screen room on QVC.com shopping. I overheard someone in the swimming pool mention a 6 foot by 6 foot screen room. They even popped theirs up on the tiny piece of grass between the campsites to prove that a couple of chairs and a table will fit in it, although there were no flies or mosquitoes in that sterile blacktop environment. They bought the screen room because of all the “yellow flies” (deer flies) recently encountered at Lake Griffin State Park. |  |
On Friday the Busch bus picked us up at the campground at 10:30 am and we didn’t return until 7:30 pm. Viewed the 70 acre Serengeti Plain at the Edge of Africa and the many animals in Nairobi and the Myombe Reserve.
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Saw the world-famous horses, including a young foal at the Clydesdale
Hamlet. From Wildlife to Wild Rides.
We didn’t go on any of the hair-raising rides, but enjoyed the Rhino Rally race where the landrover goes over a pontoon bridge that breaks apart, goes down the rapids up to the top edge of a waterfall, and eventually gets back to dry (muddy) land. A very exciting safari adventure. |
| Went to the newly opened R. L. Stine’s Haunted Lighthouse in
4-D, a frightening experience which takes you up-close and inside the
lighthouse. Busch Gardens no longer has the dolphin show; the
building is now the 4-D theater.
Took the Sky Ride twice since the monorail is no longer there. It has been a few years since we last visited there. The weather was partly cloudy most of the time, with very light showers. Arrived back home from our camping trip into a rainstorm - 192 total miles. |
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