Fort Collins Koa Lakeside

We have many family members who stay at KOAs nationwide, so we splurged on a deluxe hot tub site when we planned on visiting my sister who lives in Fort Collins.
Driving in we were surprised at its location, tucked behind some kind of heavy equipment facility, but on first checking in, we were pleased with how everything looked. The grounds looked nice with lots to do and we were excited about our huge site. The first negative came when we took a walk to the «lake.» It was more like a small, stagnant pond, layered with green slime. The paddle boats were cute, but I couldn’t get myself to get that close to the water. I feel the website really misrepresented that aspect. The kids activities seemed great, but I felt self-​conscious of all the staff watching every move. It would have felt better if they engaged in friendly conversation perhaps…
The second issue was when my sister came to see us the first night. For her and her boyfriend to pay $ 10 each to stay for an hour was insane! If they came in the morning and were using all the facilities, I would be understanding but it was late and there were no flexibilities.
The hot tub was supposed to sooth the 1,800 miles of driving to get there, but after one use I couldn’t go back in. The cover on it was for the wrong size hot tub so it had to be held down by heavy rocks and was heavy and soggy. It seemed clean but had a funny smell to it and a tint to the color. For what we paid for the site a night, we left after three nights hardly getting to enjoy it. To see my sister we had to go out on town, and to relax there, we couldn’t make use of much. The bumper boats looked like a blast, but we just weren’t hot enough to shoot slimy pond water at each other (and it was July). For the amount of money people pay for the nice amenities, it’s hard to fathom why so much was unusable. We were obviously willing to pay for upgrades at near $ 100 a night. The cost should come with better maintenance and a nice hot tub at the least.
On the way in we noted lots of cute campgrounds in the area. We will not stay there again, nor recommend it to others. It’s just not worth it!

This os my first experience staying at a KOA and now I’m looking for more! This place is clean, beautiful and lots of activities! My 3 yr old loved the giant playground (I’m 30 and my eyes lit up like Christmas when I saw it!) the bouncing pillow, slides, bike rentals, paddle boats, mini golf and shuffleboard! This place is so charming, nestled sweetly against a pretty little fishing lake. There are clean unisex bathrooms with private showers/​toilets. We stayed in a «lodge» with a kitchenette and bathroom. Small but super nice and cozy! I can only hope to make it back here as soon as humanly possible!

Don’t let the previous reviews discourage you from staying at this KOA. The people that work here are lovely. The facilities are nice. I wish it didn’t rain during our stay. I would of loved to hike around the pond and use the pool. I took advantage of the laundry and the library, both appreciated. I wish I could of stayed longer.

First, let me say that I have been to many, many RV parks, both in my own coach, and as a visitor. Ironically, I am a retired ad exec for KOA’s biggest competitor. I was totally dumbfounded to discover that this KOA charges a $ 10 visitor fee per person for each visit. I was advised to visit with my family OFF SITE by a very unfriendly counter person. The $ 10 guest fee is to cover «activities» such as … swimming pool (it was raining like crazy), childrens’ playground (come on, I’m over 60) and more silliness. The charge card receipt for my $ 10 half-​hour visit was imprinted with all sorts of rules and warnings. My brother-​in-​law was charged a fee/​fine for arriving a couple of hours early, even though his reserved site was open. Very gestapo-​like feeling all around the place, like you’re a suspicious person and they are just hoping to fine you. DO NOT STAY here if you are planning to get together with friends. Unbelievable.

How nice! Went up to this camping area in Fort Collins to visit a friend. It was very very clean, friendly, and fun. Even though it rained, and also snowed, it was a fine week-​end. I would go back and stay a bit longer next time– I want to try one of those sites with a hot tub.

I had made a reservation on for June 29-​July7 2014. Due to a family problem I had to cancel it. When I spoke to «D» I was informed I had to pay for the 4^th of July days which is ok but it didn’t state that in the «rules» when I made the reservation. The «D» informed me he needed to speak to the manager about the cancellation. «D» called me back and said the manager stated I was going to lose all my money $ 395.00 for the whole stay. I completely understand losing 1 nights stay and the 4^th, but the whole amount? I had cancelled well before the 48 hr national KOA policy,
Needless to say, I will never stay in a KOA site because of this. I wish I could cancel my card and get my money back

My wife felt very threatened by the senior owner. He shouted insults at her as he followed closely behind her as she retreated from the office. All she did was ask about the extra guest fees for the children’s playground.
We recommend unaccompanied women do not enter campground office if the senior owner is present.
The food service cart is located above the campground’s former sewage dump station. The Larimer County Health Department rated food safety at the KOA/​Lakeside as «Marginal.»
The Better Business Bureau lowered its rating of KOA/​Lakeside, and KOA/​Lakeside is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. Lakeside KOA has disabled links to reviews by KOA customers.
The south-​side of the Lakeside KOA campground is near an active asphalt plant and gravel quarries, with industrial noise/​odors and heavy truck traffic commencing at dawn. I woke one morning to the pounding roar of a low-​flying helicopter spraying insecticides on the corn field just 25 feet from our north-​side camp site.
The east-​side of the campground is near a marshy area with stagnant water, and mosquitoes can be thick. Interior roadways are not paved, with puddles during wet weather and dust during dry weather. Well water has a brown tint. We experienced occasional brownouts during hot weather and power failures during electrical storms. Verizon coverage is weak.
We found several other nearby campgrounds that we felt are much better campground choices. There is a very nice State Park and several commercial RV parks in Loveland Colorado, which are near Route US-​34 to Rocky Mountain National Park and only 5-​miles from Fort Collins. If you find whitewater rafting or blue-​ribbon trout streams appealing, then consider one of the many public campgrounds managed by the US Forest Service in nearby Poudre Canyon.

If you have children, this is the place to camp! This is an awesome RV park. Very friendly staff. They were helpful and responsive in every respect. Tons of fun activities. Lots of charitable activities. A little pricey which is the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5. But we will definitely be back!

After being away from Ft Collins for awhile I was excited about staying at KOA for the summer. Being a reasonably experienced RV person, I have stayed at a few RV sites. KOA Lakeside is not paved and the dust all day in a bit much. When the water the grass, they use the Lake water, which is truly disgusting and smells awful. Worse though, is the sprinklers water my car and my expensive RV and the water spots stain. Since washing is not allowed it makes it a difficult and expensive situation.
Also, the sewer system is prone to backing up, not to the point of overflowing but the smell is unbearable and occurs at random times. Here is the strange part, I talked to my neighbors about it and they agreed it was a bad problem. However, when I spoke to the staff, they claimed ignorance of the problem.
The staff, I encountered was very good and tried to be helpful, I think they are not empowered for customer service. The rates were very high, higher than some RV resorts that I have stayed in with Superior facilities. Speaking of which the bathrooms were old, dated, feel sorry for the people that have to clean them. The toilets were not properly secured and would allow black water to seep around the edges, gross.
I still have family in Ft Collins, but when I visit I will stay some where else, even if it is a further drive.

Before getting into my rant, I reserve my 1 star ratings for places that under preform on a routine basis. This place certainly fits the bill. My first encounter with lakeside involved a late checkin to a cabin. I was rolling into town late and made arrangements for a late checkin. That wasn’t the problem. The problem came when I opened my cabin. 1am is the wrong time to discover that the place I was going to stay hasn’t been cleaned in a VERY long time. I am unaccustomed to pay these kinds of outrageous prices to get a room with spider webs, grime on the floor and enough dust on the table to write my name in. And did I mention the musty smell! This cabin had clearly not been opened in several months.
My second experience was earlier this summer, when I learned that staff was not only lax in their cleaning, but rude. On my way in, the security guard stepped into the center of the road and stuck his arm out like an irate crossing guard informing me that I needed to stop. As I rolled down my window and greeted the man, he proceeded to gruffly interrogate me about who I was there to see. (My parents had set up camp for a few days and I was there to see them.) The guard informed me that I had to park in the guest area on the far side of the camp and then assertively explained the camps tow away policy if I strayed outside the guest area.
I have shared my experiences at lake side with friends and family and found that universally the people who have stayed there 1) regret their choice, and 2) would not recommend it to their worst enemy. If you have an RV, do yourself a favor and find a walmart parking lot, they at least offer service with a smile.

We’ve stayed in many KOA and this one did NOT meet our expectations. The staff was very helpful and nice, but we expected MORE family oriented activities and MUCH less paid activities.
We arrived with high expectations based on the website and previous KOA visits.
Accommodations:
OK — our family of four stayed in the Cabin with a kitchenette. Very clean except for the moths. Each night we killed 30 or more moths in the cabin. We were told by the staff that there wasn’t much we could do to prevent them. The campgrounds do not have fire rings, but they can be rented for $ 5 a night.
We also found out that kids do not stay free. This location charges for each child.
Amenities:
Poor — We expected more activities over the July 4^th holiday, but we found out after checking in that nothing was planned! Even during the forth! No tie die shirts at this location either! Throughout our stay, we found that most of the activities you have to pay for. Many of these same activities are free at other locations. I.e. jumping pillow, bounce houses, golf. All at $ 5/​day. I understand that some should cost, but it should be consistent from location to location. The staff would push the full day pass for each child at $ 22/​day or the fully stay pass at $ 50. This is too much especially when it’s the only thing to do in the area. Estes park is near other attractions etc where you can chose.
Location:
OK — on the dry side of the mountains, it is extremely nice to be near a lake. However there is not much to do in Fort Collins. We would have rather stayed in Estes park near Rocky Mountain national park. The site is beautiful but there is little to do except the paid activities.
Overall:
POOR — We thought that a KOA should be equal to less than a medium hotel, but when you add up the boats, jumping pillow, bounce house, mini golf etc, we could have stayed in a high end hotel. We were extremely disappointed to learn they didn’t have tie die shirts and the only activities were on Saturday and not during the holiday week. They moth situation was bearable.
We really want them to succeed but we now understand way there are so many open sites at this location. It should be full of families and kids and really upholding the KOA mission.
We chose KOA over a hotel the reasons listed above. We would chose camping over a hotel due to the family oriented atmosphere and pay the same price, but in the case of this KOA we felt that the exhausted us with paid activities that it might have been cheaper to stay at a hotel!

I pulled into the For Collins KOA thinking it looked great and decided I’d stay 2 nights. I paid for 2 nights without a reservation. Once I got set up (and by the way, this isn’t really a camp ground — it’s like driveways set next to each other — that’s fine for some folks, but not me), I noticed I was not allowed to do a quick repair on my truck (imagine that, we drive thousands of miles and we aren’t allowed to do repairs on site — and when I say quick it ended up taking me 6 minutes when I was finally able). However you ARE allowed to hire the guy that advertises in the KOA pamphlet to come and do the repair on site. Interesting. That was one reason I decided to only stay a night. The second is the wifi here. At the desk I asked about it and they said it comes with the cost of the campground, but they take no responsibility for it and call Tango if I have any trouble. I had some business to complete as well as a few emails I needed to get sent out asap. Well, Tango is stealing KOA’s money. I couldn’t get it to work for more than 5 – 10 minutes on either of my devices. When I called Tango they said they showed nothing down but they reboot that line and it’d be 20 minutes before it was back up. It never worked, and I never got done what I needed to.
The next morning, I decided to go ahead and leave, expecting I’d get refunded the money for the second night. I called and was speaking with the owner (I think his name was Brian) about this. He said ‘sorry we have a 48 hour cacellation policy’. I told him nobody had made me aware of that (He said that’s a national KOA policy), and I never had a reservation — I simply pulled up and paid for two nights. At that point, our call ended. I’m still not sure if he hung up on me or it was just a cell phone issue, but I called back immediately. The lady that answered said he was ‘with another customer’ so I left my phone number with her and asked that he call me back. That was on or about August 11^th. I’ve never heard back from him and he still charged me for two nights. Thanks KOA you’ve made sure that I will never stay at one of your campgrounds — as well, I will let any and everybody know about my experience.

For starters this place has an incredibly friendly and helpful staff. The campground spaces a a little small, but between the cleanliness, number of activities, and friendly neighbors, we did not care. If you want a quick getaway right outside of Fort Collins, and have kids, this place is for you!