Encore Venture In

Venture In is about 6300' elevation. It is. 10-20 degrees cooler than the valley. But, there were many days in the 90's, which will require most rigs to turn on the A/C at least during the day. 7,000 ft or more will be required to be cool enough to not use your A/C. Our electric bill was equal to our house in the Valley. Our unit in the Valley is larger. You won't save any money on electric in Show Low. Also, it rained almost every day, sometimes for most of the day. Show Low's entertainment is limited to hunting, fishing ( Fools Hollow Lake was very low ) and hiking. There is little else to do in Show Low, so the rain limits your entertainment possibilities and restricts you to your trailer on many days. I read 20 books while here. There was nothing else to do unless the park had some activity. But, the park model owners wore different name tags to distinguish them from the RVer's. We never experienced this before, but it was very obvious shun. This park was not welcoming from the residents or the staff. The facility is literally falling apart. The concrete roads were treacherous to walk on with potholes, loose pavement and cracks. The utilities (electric/water) were overloaded on a number of days because the infrastructure cannot support the demand for electric and water. Water pressure was never consistent and strong. The communication from the office about the outages was inconsistent and vague when it was communicated. The park lacks some amenities you would expect for the rates and the "resort" in the name. There are no pickle ball courts, pool or spa. There is nothing unique about this park. Overall, the facilities were old and none were updated. Old floors, fixtures, and furniture were standard in every part of the clubhouse. The restrooms were old with no updates. The water pressure fluctuation made it uncomfortable to take a shower. While we loved the bird population, the park never cleaned the park benches, so bird droppings were always there. The RV sites were designed for class A RV's. The slabs were very close to the roads and the utilities were very far to the back of the lot. We had to buy another sewer hose to make it reach and the ground went uphill to the sewer instead of down so we had to walk the hose when we dumped. Our water hose just made it. Poor design for anything but a class A RV. But, going uphill to a sewer dump is bad for everyone. The slab is a good size, but many were cracked or crumbling. Another indication of poor maintenance in this park. The rest of the site is piled high with volcanic rock. We've been in other parks with volcanic rock and we find it to be noisy and harmful. Don't ever walk barefoot on it. The rain posed another problem. We saw many Class A RVs get stuck in the rocks sinking the stabilizers in about a foot. Anything heavy just sunk in the rocks. Nothing preventative was done. They just kept renting the sinking sites to uninformed customers. Don't count on the staff to get you in or out of these sites. They couldn't (or wouldn't) help. The most you will get from the camp hosts are grouchy hellos, an escort in a golf cart and a finger pointing to your site. They will not welcome you or thank you. There are better choices than Show Low or Venture In.

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The elevation in Show Low is 6,345 ft which makes this destination desirable to escape the summer heat in the lower elevations in Arizona, so there is a significant seasonal population from these lower elevations in Show Low for the summer. The White Mountain area is known for lakes and fishing and is more affordable than another popular option of Flagstaff. This is a good staging point for travel into New Mexico to the east and north into Colorado. However, just as in Flagstaff, there is a danger of fire that did cause road closures in this area. Monsoon rains can cause flash flooding and mud slides. Our stay was overnight and we passed through the road that was closed in previous weeks with no problems so check for road closures and fires before heading to either destination. Also, don't plan on using your fire pit or charcoal grill when the fire danger is high. Our space was rock with a concrete slab/patio. The site was clearly designed for a motorhome. The site needed to be leveled. The slab was too far forward to be useful and the utilities were at the back of the lot. The lot was a back in so the small tree and street parked car made it very difficult, but we did manage to get in the space. There was no room to park our truck, but they let us use the empty space next to us. The facility is old but maintained well by the friendly, helpful staff. They had a shaded dog park with grass, which is nice if your dog needs to play and run. However, please note that entire sections of the park prohibit dogs. Our dog likes to walk with us, so this was disconcerting for us. But, we understand that bad dog owners (those off leash or those that do not pick up after their dogs) make this a necessity sometimes. WiFi was only available at rec hall, library and fitness center. Jabba is available at your site for a fee. There is no cable TV. We used our antenna for limited stations. The location of the RV park was close to grocery shopping and restaurants. We dined at the Cattlemen's Steak House. The food and service was excellent. We plan to stay at the park again, as we believe that the overnight stay did not give us a good feel for the park or the town and we would like a change from Flagstaff. The suggestion I would have for this park is to appeal to a wide range of travel modes, instead of just motorhomes and park models. Many who buy park models have stayed at these parks with their RV. WiFi is not an option for travelers anymore. Most reservations and inquiries are done this way and many only make future reservations while at another park. This park feels old in many ways and in need of some updating with technology and esthetics.

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We had last minute reservations and the staff was extremely accommodating to us upon arrival. Even though the office was closed, the on call manager was available immediately and escorted us to a really nice spot. It has lots of concrete, but the facility is super clean and managed very well by Thousand trails, I believe. Most of the park is a Mobile home park, but they have nice big RV spots available. Bathrooms were excellent, Rec Room was fun. No Pool. Walking trails and amenities nearby.

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We checked in at the office and found a disinterested person behind the desk. The man that helped us move into our space was friendly and very helpful. What a boring and unimaginative RV park this is. Red lava like gravel everywhere. It was like a large red gravel parking lot. One little tree per back-in as feeble attempt at landscaping. The cabins were the focus of the RV park, the RV portion was like an after thought. No help in the office with the cable TV. Again not interested. We left the next day and forfeited our 2nd night. It's ok as a one night stop but don't expect much more than that.

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Large, expensive, safe, immaculately maintained, extremely friendly, senior park. No trees, no shade. Trees are considered a maintenance liability. Must be age 40+ with no children to overnight. Visit their web site to check out their 6 pages, size 7 font, list of rules and regulations. WIFI $5 per night. Free WIFI available in computer room. If you like the forest, trees, and space, then the State Parks are the place to stay. When they are booked, this park is a good alternative.

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The camp hosts were nice and helped us back into our site. The grounds are clean and well kept up. I think the website stated there were 200 park models and 96 RV sites, but from what we saw it was mostly closely situated park models with a few RVs here and there. It felt like we were camping in a crowded park model neighborhood. We felt it was over priced for $40 a day plus a daily $4 resort fee. Show Low is a great place to spend time during an Arizona summer. We especially liked the areas between Show Low and Payson.

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