First Impressions - October 20, 2000

We're hot and tired after four days of hauling from Winchester, Virginia without ever unhitching.  Drive 280 miles, check in, eat a light supper, watch some TV and go to sleep.  Wake up, close and button up the trailer, drive 280 miles and check in again.  We cross central Florida through the tourist hell Orlando has become. There's Universal Studios; Disney World has four exits, International Drive has more hotels than can be imagined.  The landscape promises semi-tropical splendors of palm trees, citrus fruit, fluffy high clouds, warm days, but we're ready for a break.  We turn off I-4 at exit 8 and head into Rally Park, not sure that we're at the right place.

We're greeted, "Welcome to Rally Park." A staffer on a fancy golf cart leads us to our site.  We back into the wide, level, paved site with less angst than usually accompanies anything other than a pull-thru.  We case the joint.  The recreation room is large enough for a Tupper Ware party and a Mary Kay party to be going on at the same time.  Everyone seems to be having a good time.  There's a computer room with six computers all booted up and ready to use.  Next to it a small room contains six carrels, each with a data port.  Heaven.  A large pool is covered by screening and looks inviting and pleasant.  There's enough space to swim laps.  There's not a seasonal setup in sight.  We are given a voucher for lunch every day at Festival Hall.  We can also go there for breakfast each day.  Thirty bucks a day doesn't seem so expensive for all this. We catch a shuttle golf cart to ride down to the Lazy Days sales facility. We drive past a variety of lots with towables, then Prevost size buses and ordinary large motor homes.  We see blocks of repair bays, each containing a rig and a technician or two working on it.  Suitably impressed, we are dropped off at the Service Center where we're greeted for the first, but certainly not the only, "Welcome to Lazy Days."  We meet with "Service Consultant" Jeff who clearly knew about our kind of problem and suggested an appropriate way to deal with our problem.  We move to the Sales Department and ask for Brian Ridley with whom we had corresponded by e-mail.  Soon a friendly man with a mild Yorkshire accent comes out, introduces himself and conducts us past dozens of office cubicles to his own.

We chat for several minutes about Avion and Carriage fifth wheels.  Soon a white haired, florid faced man comes in and introduces himself as Bob White, the Sales Manager.  He chats for a few minutes and soon he's seated behind the desk while Brian has moved onto a chair at the side he where he sits happily bobs his head to everything Bob says.  We're offered a chat with the Fleetwood factory rep who has an office at Lazy Days, but it doesn't happen today.   Bob tells us of a trade-in 2000 Avion that should be available in a day or so and says he's eager to make a deal.  He leaves and Brian walks us past more dozens of sales carrels and past Festival Hall where complimentary breakfast and lunch are served six days a week. He takes us out on the lot in another golf cart. Brian takes us past row after row of repair bays telling us about master technicians, paint rooms, and emphasizing the quality of Lazy Day's service. Then we head out to the towable section of the grounds.  Dozens of rigs from entry-level models to large full-timers are parked neatly on the spacious grounds.  They don't seem crowded at all.  We look at Avion and Carriage LS models.  Brian is informative and knowledgeable.  We assert we're not full-timers.  He says Lazy Days considers anyone who spends eight months a year or more in their rigs to be full-timers.  He seems to understand that we have different needs than a vacation or snowbird traveler.

We drive out to an area where people trading their rigs can park to swap out their contents.  This impresses us as much as any other part of the layout.  Dozens of new rigs are parked door to door with the trade-in while the owners move their stuff from one to the other.  New owners sometimes spend several days here setting up their new rigs and preparing for the road.  This simple consideration, and considerable sales incentive, demonstrates an attention to detail and customer needs unusual in our experience.  Brian drives us back to our site and we thank him for his time. Ten minutes later the phone rings telling us the trade-in Avion won't be in until Tuesday.  We go in for repairs on Monday.