We came to this park through the Thousand Trails Membership / The Trails Collection. We've been here a for 4 nights. The park is laid out nicely and love the lake around the park. We walk our dogs each night and it's 1 mile around and back to our site. * Everyone is very friendly! The office staff were super nice and helpful. * The park residents were nice and friendly and would wave when they drove or walked by. * Love the Scoop on Poop message handout they give us in the packet at checkin. This message needs to be given out everywhere so to educate all pet owners to "Pick It Up"! * This park is very close to restaurants, beaches and a few botanical gardens. We definitely like coming here and will be back soon. We recommend this park! Just a few negatives we noticed: * The grass/weeds around our site and other areas we high and our small dogs had a hard time walking on it and also peeing... Funny thing though; they were cutting the grass the day we left. I honestly think the grass was high due to the previous big storm that came through the week prior and dumped a lot of rain. Understandable the grass was high! * There was an old Rv close to us that really needed to be condemned. People would come and go from it during the day. Don't think there was any power in there. I heard someone say they are trying to get it removed.... Hope they do. * When we walked around the park we would smell Marijuana at a few sections, very strong and was almost nauseating. * Could hear some of the road noise traffic from I-75. It effected my wife for than me at night while trying to go to sleep. We just turned our White-noise on a little louder to help with the noise. * Mosquitoes were bad in the morning and then again at night just before sunset (it's a Florida thing). We are from Florida and deal with mosquitoes a lot but in this area where our site was they seemed to be a lot more. We were in the back section next to the wetlands (site 1123 through 1093). read more

Our stay here has gotten better over time and I wanted to tell it like it is: The place is well located in a nice area and lots of convenient places nearby like Bennett Park and shopping. The staff has been nice to us and understanding about any concerns we have had. The people I've met here have been awesome and the community and amenities are great too for the most part... We do love it here !!!!! but now for a little critique : Well, some people's kids here at Encore Winter Quarters Manatee. lol I know construction workers stay here and have to get up early and have to work... but please don't smoke in the washrooms!!! (NO SMOKING SIGNS MIGHT HELP) DON"T leave your shampoo and washcloths in the shower ...and pleeeeeezzzzzzz flush your crap down the toilet and put the TP in the toilet not the floor and maybe wipe out the sink when ur done too. THIS IS A PUBLIC WASHROOM NOT YOUR PERSONAL PIG PEN !!! I feel bad for the staff that have to clean up after this unnecessary mess use some common decency!!! My apologies to swine of the world. lol read more

Encore Winter Quarters Manatee - sunrise over MWQ - RV Parks Near Me - Bradenton, Florida

If you are Thousand Trails member....run. This park is in the mist of management changes and has been an extremely poor vacation spot this year. This resort does NOT have sports courts (only a very old shuffleboard court), the pools, laundry areas and gym have been poorly maintained this season and have broken equipment. You may not use the Clubhouse for ANY personal gatherings unless the entire park is invited and Wi-Fi hasn't been available at the clubhouse or anywhere in the park this year. As for the front office, Dawn, the new face of Thousand Trails/Encore/ELS, is so rude and brass that most residents only go in on days that she is off. There is only one maintenance person left who hasn't quit this season, (doing the best he can) so the public areas (bathrooms, laundry, pools, etc) are a mess. We have been here seasonally for almost 8 years. Last spring 2024, new management came in and have been threatening to put locks on the homes if people do not immediately confirm to rules that had not been enforced for decades. People are being threatened unless they sign new contracts and are being made to pay for repeat background checks....even after being here every year for many years! After gaining approval and permits to place sheds, patios, walking stones, decks on the lots to beautify the sites, the new management has destroyed all permits in resident files, and have stated that all sheds, patio stones and decks must be removed upon selling properties, thus setting residents up for extreme financial losses. Worse, although paying monthly for the entire year, Dawn (the new representative of Thousand Trails/ESL/ Encore in the office) has informed everyone that they may not have visitors in their homes when they are not here, have limited family visits when the residents ARE here, and has selectively "grandfathered" some residents to allow them to stay year round regardless of how long they have lived in the park. Some long term residents can't stay a day longer than 6 months, while others, having been here many less years, have been "grandfathered" to live here year round. NOTHING is consistent. The season has been a total flop, full of rumors, uncertainty, and anxiety. Year before last, every site was full, now...... there are many, many empty sites and many of those are not prepped (no maintenance crew) to allow an RV to pull in anyway. There have been no "Town Halls" to explain what's going on here and people are being told that their homes "do not meet standards", although, if you ask the front office to please provide the standards, they have been told "we don't have to give you that". If a resident wants to sell their home, Dawn must walk through their home and give the approval, subjectively, whether you can sell or not, directing residents to tear down sheds & pull up concrete pavers etc. AND the standards are NOT the same for everyone. After removing all the patio stones, decorative rocks, pavers, etc....buildings are surrounded by muddy messes. So much for the beauty in the park. If your lawn isn't cared for you get a notice, threatening a fine, although you are not allowed a shed to store equipment needed to maintain the outdoors areas. This season, I have seen more elderly residents weeping over their property loss than I care to ...being told to remove their homes by a very short deadline date. In one case... less than 2 months to remove all their belongings and attempt to hire someone to pull a huge park model out. It's heartbreaking. Rules are good and standards should be in place, BUT, all standards and rules should apply the same for all, and some fairness and compassion would go a long way. I'm surprised someone hasn't called this park into the local TV News station's business detectives. It would make a story for sure. This park, once our happy place, has now become an uncertainty to many and a source of unwanted anxiety. read more

Some people must not understand the idea is RV camping - these are not hotels. Purpose is to explore the area. I found this place to be safe, clean, quiet, staff were very nice to me each time. They accommodated me several times. They have nice pools and all that, I don't get into that stuff, but it's maintained if you are interested. The internet I will say is not great. Definitely needs improvement. I've been at RV parks where the internet would not open your mail on your mobile, so it's all about perspective. I would definitely return when in the area. read more

This place is amazing! Worth every penny! 2 pools the big one is huge and right on the lake with an great view, it's heated and very clean. The hot tub was also very clean. A gym, shuffleboard, billiards, ping pong tables. The shower house was the nicest and cleanest we have seen. Beautiful beaches about 35min away. We will be back. read more

Super run down with sites that are hard to get into. Many of the residents look like they live there permanently. This is not camping. It's a trailer park or a parking lot. read more

This RV Park is amazing! Great location near beaches, stores and more. Beautiful facilities and a great lake (even has gators) Great RV sites - level and mine is paved. Great club house and pools and grounds. This is a big park with over 300 sites. The dog park is the best I've seen at an RV Park and Chop loved it. They pick up your garbage at the front of your site every morning at 9 AM (except Sunday) - a big help. I had cable at my site. No wifi at site - they have Wifi at the club house and main office area. Long term people get a service for wifi. The staff was awesome and helpful. This is the greatest large scale RV Park I've been to. It gets expensive after Dec 12 so I had to leave. I'd have spent the winter here if rates stayed at what my 2 weeks were. Update - I'm now going to address recycling at the RV Parks I visit. This park has no bins to put recycle materials. (I think most RV'rs would like to be able to recycle and help the environment) There are some bins in a park about a mile away. I've added pics from my stay here. read more

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Very nice facilities - like new! Pools are nice, ping pong and pool table w workout room. Lot 1149 is a run down house trailer that needs condemned. Family living there had screaming altercations outside and in the trailer. Very rude and inconsiderate people working on old broke down cars and seemed to be very upset that we were put next to them. Trees being cut down at 730 am waking us, and power washing across the street at 8am seemed to be a bit much. Tall younger lady in front office very unfriendly when arriving, with questions. Homeless using showers late at night made us a bit uncomfortable. Interstate is very close- so be prepared for noise. read more

We drove through this park today. Stayed here in our motor home several years ago. Hasn't gotten any better only a lot worse. Will search for some where else to spend the winter. read more

Management here is very rude and unwilling to help with anything. I've been full time in an Rv for a decade and have never been so frustrated with a park's management. read more

This is a very large Park and we seem to have gotten the worst spot right by the freeway and the dog park the sites however are relatively level and asphalt. No grass to speak of but there is a picnic table. For the size of this park pool they have is very small. Just a bit of information the laundry room does not take quarters you need to use a charge card. There seems to be a lot of seasonal people here so this must be a good place but as we were traveling through not so nice read more

Encore Winter Quarters Manatee - RV Parks Near Me - Bradenton, Florida

Completely rude staff. Only if you have a VIP membership of some kind do they treat you with any type of human decency. We paid thousands of dollars up front to stay for 3 months and they took our money and spit in our faces. Told us we were by no means allowed to move our 43' rig from the 35' site they selected for us and threatened us with eviction and police if we didn't move from another site that fit our rig. This was after we tried the initial site and told them we couldn't fit and they said "We don't have time to help you." Happy freaking new year. read more

Encore Winter Quarters Manatee - The completely unstable rigging we had to do to fit our RV in the site that they refuse to let us move from. No apologies. No nothing. - RV Parks Near Me - Bradenton, Florida

We stayed here in October 2019 and again in Jan 2020. We had a great experience both times. The library is very nice, the pools are clean, the restrooms and showers are clean. It is a very nice place to walk through with our dogs. I have read a couple of these negative comments and don't write understand. Everyone was really nice, the staff was terrific. We actually extended our second stay. We are going back! I highly recommend this place. Oh, this is Florida, there is a LOT of SAND. If there are sand fleas, use a bug repellant on your shoes and ankles or spray the area with something. This is a really nice campground!!! read more

One of the worst campgrounds I have been to. We were at a site that was loaded with sand fleas. Couldn't sit outside even during the day without getting eaten alive. No cable or WiFi included in price. Have to go through a separate vender and pay for each one even if just staying a few days. Very expensive campsite for just water, electric and sewer. So disgusted with it, we left a day early. Will not recommend this place to friends if I want to keep them as such. read more

Was supposed to go there on the 20th and had made a reservation on the 5th of March for 3 nights. They required me to pay $84 to hold the reservation, which I did. I'm 72 and my girlfriend is 70 so we desided to not go so I called to cancel because of the Coronavirus and originally they said they were keeping my $84. Said it was non refundable!! I complained because I called 48 hours in advance and then they agreed to only keep $25!! They shouldn't have kept anything. I'll NEVER go there and don't recommend that ANYONE ever go there!! There are plenty of other places to go in the area and wouldn't rip you off because of the Coronavirus read more

We stayed at this location about 15 times once a year. Last stay was 10 + years ago. Summer time is the slow season. Thought it would be ok for 1 night. We wanted an overnight full hookup for Saturday night after 1200 mile drive. Booking phone rep sold us a "premium" lakeview site . Pay by CC. Arrived at 3 PM. Office closed. No gate. No reservation packet just a map and several pages of rules and instructions. Refund policy is a joke. Went to the "lakeview" site. There were 3 cars parked on the site. We parked on another street view site just to get rested. Next morning staff arrived and asked who we were. Explained no lakeview site available. Sorry. Better luck next time. See Ya. Talk about insult to injury. Not happy. No interest is seeing customer/camper happy. No interest in returning or using the Fiesta Key Resort on our trip to Fl Keys. read more

The park is pretty, but the people not so much. The office put us in a much to small space for our motor home, not very accommodating to Thousand Trails members. This is our second visit and we're hoping the third is a charm. On a positive note, maintenance came and put my tow dolly on the hitch for me! It was greatly appreciated, thank you! read more

Stayed at Winter Quarters for the month of Feb/2019 Paid for premium spot but really do not think that is what we got....we were looking out at Kay Rd and a parking lot as well as a dumpster...hmmm premium? The pool by the office was nice and warm so really enjoyed that. There are a lot of 6 month residents most were friendly however, the ladies in the office were B's! Hello ladies! your rent is reduced to do that job so get a better disposition! I 75 is right along side this park and is SOOOOO noisy! Holy Moley! if your air conditioner isn't running its very hard to get to sleep or talk actually at times. Kay Rd was also very loud. All in all we will not return.. Very exspensive for a 1 month stay 1500.00 plus electric, no wi-fi at your site so not much bang for your buck. We have stayed in far better resorts. Additionally; In the activity center hanging from the ceiling are flags representing countries around the world but what I can't understand is the Confederate flag being included; this flag represents nothing but hatred and oppression...My husband and I found if offensive and we are white. read more

Will never stay here again. First we called ahead to see if a pull they was available for one night. We were told "yes". So we made a reservation for the night. We arrive at 5pm, still daylight. At check in we are then told there wasn't a pull thru available and that they can never reserve a pull thru. So we took a back in and it was fine. We saw they only have 2 pull thrus. And it looked like the 2 class A's had been there for some time. This morning I'm walking our dog, as I approach the dog park I see a young girl in the park with 2 dogs. One was a Pitbull the other small terrier. The terrier get out the gate and comes for my dog. I was able to hold it off my dog, then the Pitbull gets out and attacks my dog. The father was near by and got a hold of his pit, but had a hard time getting the dog to let go of my dog. My dog wasn't hurt too bad. He has a couple of holes in his ear and neck. We're taking him to the vet as soon as we can. The office wasn't all that concerned. We have left and do not recommend Encore anything. read more

We stayed here 4 months. The people that live here and stay here on a regular basis are Great! They help the staff run classes for nothing. The management gave us a hard time here and there. Seemed to favor one person over the other. Tell us one rule they had then change it (happened often). When there was a problem the staff in the office didn't handle it well. The highway can be loud but you get use to it. The other side of park is much quieter. Yes there is a gator! The park is pretty kept up with. The dumpster does smell ripe by the office pool. They need to move that! Very busy park with traffic in and out. I need to tell you that there were cars broken into at night one time, someone stole the tv in the fitness room, and we found a person hanging out in the bathroom by office at night. It is by a park not a beach. read more

Nice RV park. Pretty pool and jacuzzi. The RV sites surround a lake about a mile in circumference. Lots of typical Florida birds. Very relaxing. The park has a small gym, nice billiards room, and a very nice library. It's easy to get in and out but some of the sites are a little tight. The residents are mostly permanents or seasonal but friendly and welcoming. There is lots to do in the area and we'd definitely return with our fifth wheel. read more