Val Vista Village 55+ RV Resort

In late September 2021, we suddenly found ourselves in need to a place to stay in the Phoenix metro area for the next few months for medical reasons. A tall order, considering the area is popular with snowbirds and many RV parks are only open to folks aged 55 or older. But after researching our options, we called Val Vista Village, and even though we were several years younger than the age requirement, they sympathized with our situation and let us book a long stay (we probably got lucky: in a normal year without COVID restrictions at the border and without a lockout disrupting spring training, which is a big draw in Phoenix, they might not have had room for us).

The per night cost reflects what we paid during the March segment of our stay: we paid a special promotional price of $1500 that covered our October through December stay at our first site, then we stayed 6 more weeks at another site before leaving for another campground, only to come back and end up in a third site at the beginning of March for a final medical procedure. There are monthly utility bills for electrical, sewer, and trash services (each site gets a trash can and recycling bin), which on average came out to around $100.

The resort has about 1000 sites, which are a mix of permanent small houses (mostly former trailers) and RV sites. There are several rows of long pull-through sites located throughout the property, which seem to all be spoken for by annual residents. The rest are back-in sites where the campers sits on gravel next to a concrete pad that serves as a patio, and you park any vehicles next to the patio (in some sites the parking area was gravel; in others it was also paved). Resort staff members (“rangers”) guide you to your site and will help you back in, which is good because the sites are tight and some of the resort streets are narrow.

They didn’t have any trouble getting us into our first two sites (340 and 301A), which were sites next to a house. But when we came back for our March stay, the site the office had picked for us (613) was on a street with trees and houses that made backing in our 37-foot RV problematic. Because it was a Saturday, the office wasn’t open to authorize picking a different site, but the ranger made the decision to put us in site 608 instead and said he would clear it with the office on Monday, which he did.

We didn’t take advantage of the multitude of activities and amenities they had, partly out of a lack of interest and partly because most organized activities (except for the concerts) take place on weekdays when I work. We did use the resort post office to receive mail and packages (although many packages just came directly to our site), and the dog parks scattered around the resort. Pets are only allowed to take care of their business at your site or in the parks: any other landscaped public area was off-limits (this was true of a lot of the 55+ resorts in the area). Our older dog couldn’t always hold it until we made it to a park, so we took a water spray bottle with us to clean up after her as best we could. Fortunately our final site was right next to two adjacent dog parks which was super convenient. The parks themselves were nice and grassy, but the fact that they all got watered at the same time once left me without any place to take the dogs during an emergency 4am potty break.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna during our stay was about 36Mbps down and 11Mbps up. Other than the very occasional buffering, we had no trouble steaming video during our stay. The speed tests I did with my AT&T phone showed 66Mbps down and 16 up.

The proximity of grocery stores and other services made up for the lack of scenery, but you could see the mountains to the east in certain parts of the park, which made for some beautiful sunrises.

We would stay here again if we needed a long winter stay near Phoenix.

We were workcampers here for the 2019-2020 season and were assigned a site that was 4 sites in from the main entrance off busy Val Vista Ave. This is was a very busy road as the park has around 1500 site, mostly park models, both old and new. There are RV site between these park models. Most streets are narrow and take precision for larger RV's to wiggle into a site right next to your neighbor. The older park is maintained and there is a ton of stuff to do. If you like to drink and line dance, then the happy hours here are for you. If you are looking for peace and quiet, this is not the place. From the motorcycles flexing their muscle at the wee hours of the morning to neighbors living it up til late at night, it is not quiet. However, if you are a snowbird looking to have alot of people around you and lots of activities, then this might appeal to you. We were looking for more quality of life with peace and quiet so we moved after a month to a smaller park that was peaceful. Since we did not use alot of the amenities, the high price for the site was just not justified for us.

First the price, we paid nothing to stay here. We were given a free three-night stay at an FMCA Rally. I am sure the hope is that we would love it and buy a lot or park model. I am not sure what the nightly rate is.

If you are looking for someplace to spend a few nights in Mesa, there has to be a better option. This is a densely packed Cal-Am RV Resort with narrow streets. It's hard for big rigs to get in and out. And living with 1600 of your best friends is not my idea of a good time. Thus the reason for my 3 star rating.

But, we met plenty of people that were snowbirds that loved staying here for the winter. All the people were very friendly and helpful. I guess it just depends upon what you like.

The pools and hot tubs were very nice. Being a quilter, I spent a morning in the new Fiber Arts Center and thoroughly enjoyed it. This new facility has a long arm for quilters to used. However, I was told I would need to take a $50 class to be able to use it. But classes were not longer being offered since it was "the end of the season." What a waste of a lovely machine. I was also told there are a couple of people who are year round residents who do make use of it in the summer. Lucky them.

90% of the sites are occupied by Park Models, some older and some newer. Most were kept up. RV were mixed in among them.

To summarize...avoid this place if you need a place to stay for only a few nights. But if you love being social, are looking for a long term stay, and don't mind looking out your window and seeing nothing but Park Models and RV roofs, it could be for you. It just wasn't for us.