April 27, 2017: Our first time staying at an RV Park was at Hollywood Casino in Joliet, IL.
It rained all four nights we were there.
(Read our reviews of other Illinois campgrounds and destinations)
We were pulling our brand new toy hauler from Nappanee, IN to San Diego, CA, and wanted to stop to see our client and friend, Toby Myles in Glen Ellyn, IL. We read reviews that the RV Park at Hollywood Casino was pretty good, and it was relatively close to friend’s house, so gave it a try.
Considering I never pulled a trailer before, and had no experience doing so, I opted to get a back-in space at the RV Park, just so that I was forced to practice backing in a trailer. It took quite a few attempts, along with Sash giving me the hand signals. But I finally got it.
We plugged in the 50 AMP shore power, hooked up the city water, we were off and running enjoying our new living space.
But as it turned out, the 50 AMP pedestal at our camp site was faulty. It wasn’t putting out 50 AMPs. It was far less, just barely enough to produce power at a few of our 120V outlets and that was all.
The Hotel at the Casino runs the RV Park, and it turns out the hotel management and staff have ZERO knowledge of running an RV Park. They had to call some maintenance guys at the casino to come out and take a look at my pedestal. When they came out, it was clear they didn’t know how to test the thing. But still, they assured me the pedestal was fine.
So, going off that information, I called our trailer manufacturer, ATC, to say that something was wrong with the electrical system in the toy hauler. They immediately looked up a nearby RV repair service, Illinois Truck and RV Repair, and had them come out right away. Frank, the owner of the repair service, showed and tested things out. He found that there was some faulty wiring in the toy hauler, along with a loose negative connection on our battery. But he also discovered the 50 AMP truly was faulty too. Frank fixed the stuff on our trailer, and then we immediately called the casino hotel that the pedestal was definitely bad.
With no response from the hotel, Sash walked to the casino hotel to complain. A different manager there admitted that they had several pedestals go out at the RV Park, and that they were already fixing them. It took a couple hours later, but finally our pedestal was putting out 50 AMPs.
Aside from that, the RV Park has some nice features…
- Wide camp spaces
- Lots of grass
- Picnic table at each space
- 50 AMP service in some locations, 30 AMP in others.
- Cable TV hookup
- Laundry and restroom facilities
- Wi-Fi (poor signal)
- Free hot breakfast inside the hotel
- Dump station by the hotel
- Coupons for restaurants inside the casino
There are no activities offered at the RV Park, like bicycles, children’s playground, camp store. And there is no sewer hookup at the camp sites. But the park was quiet.
The biggest issue with Hollywood Casino’s RV Park is that it’s managed by the hotel staff who have little background with running an RV Park, and it’s maintained by the casino staff who are not well equipped or trained in RV Parks.
Otherwise, the casino itself was awesome. If you love visiting casinos, certainly the RV park is a great way to stay. 99 Hops House is a great little craft beer bar inside the casino.
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