Quick Review of Lake in the Forest in Ocklawaha FL (near Ocala). I rate it 2 out of 10 stars. It was horrible. Worst campground I've ever been too. Only went there because it was the only place we could get a last minute reservation for Labor Day Weekend. We quickly found out why it was the only place with vacancy. If you go to www.lakeintheforest.com you can see what they CLAIM to have: Our Activities Karaoke Crafts Swimming Fishing Boating Movie Nights Face Painting Canoeing Bird Watching Sports Golf Lessons Pottery Classes Nature Hikes Walking Groups Game Nights Nightly Campfire Bike Trips Lectures Nature Lessons Parades Theme Nights Family Olympics Dances. They had none of this. There is only space for about 40 RVs. The boat rentals section had a dock so twisted I wouldn't even let my kid walk on it. It was so dirty and unkept it looked like a boat graveyard. In addition they wanted $180.00 a day to rent one of the dirty, rusting, leaf covered, pieces of junk. It honestly was so disgusting my wife just laughed at it. They had a whole list of activities that made it sound like there would be lots of people, lots of kids, and lots of stuff to do, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Not to mention we went there on a holiday weekend where it was probably way busier than normal. I can't imagine what it would be like on a regular weekend. They did attempt to have the activities. It's just that no one showed because it was so dirty and such a joke. All they seemed to care about was trying to find some way to charge you more, without offering anything decent at all. Even the "Golf Course" they had was unusable. Whoever mows the grass didn't even bother to lift the flag out of the holes so you had grass 18" high all around the hole. I'd like to see anyone putt through that. The children’s playground just had sand dug up from a hole about 100 yards away near the "dock" (boat graveyard) and dumped in it. No one even raked it out. The playground had like 3 huge mounds of sand just thrown into it and 1/2 the playground was covered in weeds. In a nutshell, everything they claim to have, they don't. The website is very misleading. They even charged us an extra $10.00 at the end saying we used too much electricity in our little Jayco 23B. Don't go there unless you're looking to be disappointed. Talked to 2 other couples there who also said this was there first and last trip to Lake in the Forest. I’m just trying to help keep someone else from going to a campground that they weren’t expecting. It was dirty, poorly done, and nothing I would take my family to again.

We absolutely love Ginnie Springs. It's a large campground that's mostly rustic sites for tent camping but has a nice size section with water/electric for RVs. Every site is heavily treed with nice shade. The springs are great for a cool off in the hot Florida summer. Floating down the river in a tube with a cooler of Beer is also a fantastic time. Yes the park can be more of a “party” like the others posted. But that’s what we love about it. I’ve never encountered anyone taking it “too far”. We go there with my 18 month old son and have a blast. Will you encounter kids with RVs? Will you encounter college kids drinking beer? Will you encounter divers? Yes to all of the above. But you will also encounter lots of good people having a good time and enjoying the “primitive” campsites. We've camped here in tents but currently use our 2007 Jayco 23B. We go back towards the end of October 2006 and can’t wait!!

We camped here because we live in nearby Palm Coast and needed a place nearby for our maiden voyage with our new 2007 Jayco Jayfeather 23B. Boy was it awful. The office still has plastic all over the roof. Everything is in a state of disrepair. The pool was supposedly broken all week and they finally got it “clean enough” to allow us to go in. It still looked dirty so we didn’t. The camp store has very little in it. Nice scenery, with the oaks and canals. We saw many small alligators in the canals. That’s the only reason I’m giving it a 3 instead of a 1. We we’re put next to a lot with 2 rusting motorhomes cobbled together. They looked like they hadn’t moved in years, rust everywhere, tarps strewn about. Two Guys lived there that acted like drug addicts. Apparently they live there. They also had a young girl with them who was apparently one of their daughters. Weird. The park stuck us next to them even though there were MANY other sites available not next to live-in addicts. In a nutshell, avoid this campground if at all possible.