KARS Park

Went to watch a SpaceX launch. It was nice. Had a waterfront site. Nice breeze most of the time. Staff was friendly and helpful. Didn't use any facilities, just the camp store.

A terrific place to watch rocket launches and recoveries with direct views of Pad 39 and SpaceX Landing Zones 1 & 2. For viewing, follow E Hall Rd past the main park entrance, turning left at the end of the road toward the guard shack. $5 cash per car with a friendly and informative person at the shack. We brought camp chairs and set-up on the long pier, which had about a dozen other folks watching a nighttime launch and recovery. We had a relaxed and uncrowded experience here.

Beautiful campground right along the Banana River. Great service from the campground team, and lots of wildlife viewing! The campground is quiet and peaceful, plus it has great spots for viewing rocket launches.

Great place to come watch the rocket launches. If you are a government employee you can by an annual pass; they even have camping.

I love this place, such a wonderful gem that I can bring my family and rv to fish and watch beautiful launches 🚀

Terrific location and staff. They go above and beyond to make the place one we want to go back to every week.

What a peaceful stay we had! Friendly staff and even caught to Falcon 9 launches 🚀🚀🚀 #TeamShinemeyer

The staff were extra friendly, accommodating, and knowledgeable. It was fairly easy to get a waterfront site in January. You have to bring your own fire ring if you want a camp fire. It is perfect for viewing the spaceship launches. We saw gators and dolphins. My husband was like a kid, let lose in a candy shop.

This is the primer viewing area for those of us that want to get close to the launch pad, but don't work on the cape. I grew up on the space coast and remember the early days of the space program. KARS park was the space industry's recreation area and just like the Cape it wasn't much in the beginning. Now it's open for membership and has developed into a great campground. The dock has a prime view of the launch pads and fills up to the brim during any launch, so come early for a spot near the end of the dock. Of course if you can score a spot in the VIP stand's nearer the pad, go there, but if not pay your dues and come here. The fishing is not bad either

Whenever I go to Florida I always stop and spend some time at Kars park. Since Cape Canaveral is right across the bay we get to watch rocket launchers, and this guy in the horizon is always beautiful. It's a quiet park, very little noise. And it's a very reasonable place to stay especially if you're going to be long term, like a month or longer. Even their weekly rates are great.

Not a bad park. Nothing much to do though. We were told it's actually, an rv park, for people who retired form the government, or something like that. Good thing about it is that they have showers for you to use after taking a tour and the have hot running water!

I've been to this campground quite a bit over the years and have had a love-hate relationship with it. Lately I've been leaning towards loving it more, but the place still has its quirks. I don't consider myself an avid camper, but for someone who has camped in- and out-of-the-state, I think I can give a relatively decent account of what I have experienced. As far as the park is concerned it has improved over the last couple of years. They have added many new sites and have improved their "country store." The bathrooms, which were once horrible, have been upgraded and are now kept clean. The best time of year to camp is during the winter season. The park is located on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge land, and thus, they do not spray for mosquitoes during the summer months - trust me, you don't want to be at KARS during the summer. KARS (which stands for the Kennedy Area Recreational System) Park has some mini-golf (not that good), they have a canoe for rental (just one, and at $10), and there are plenty of playgrounds, corn hole spots, as well as tennis courts (in good condition), a beach volleyball court, and softball fields. With all these activities just a short bike ride away from the camp sites it's actually a surprise to me this place doesn't get more business. Overall, it's a great place to camp (during the winter). If you have a canoe or kayak, take it as well since you can enjoy the Indian River and they spectacular view of the surrounding area you get from its waters.

Kars park is a great boat ramp to launch into the river. Plus your stuff is safe left in your car. For $20 a year I love it. Can't say anything about the camping because I use it for a boat launch only. Bugs can be bad out here!

Love to camp here! Always a nice little get away for the weekend! The staff are always so nice. Lots of shaded areas and camp sites are a good size! Def recommend

Do not stay here if you need WiFi. I have been staying here on and off for about a year. They have about three different SSIDS broadcasting throughout the park, but 99% of the time no device will connect and even on the odd occasion that it does connect it is so slow you can even load a webpage. Go to Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral instead. Not only do they have WiFi that you can actually connect to, it isn't exclusive to NASA employees. As an added bonus the bathrooms/showers are much cleaner. Jetty Park will charge a bit more, but what good is a vacation without WiFi?

This park is only available for Kennedy Space Center (KSC) employees, retirees & Retired Military w/20 yrs of service, according to the "greeter", it is also owned by KSC. My hubs is a Fed retiree and not eligible to even drive around.

I have been coming to KARS Park for over 30 years. It has always been a great place for family fun. My kids grew up going to KARS Park. I am in the process of having a home built so I have been staying at KARS Park until it is complete. One of the great things over the years that being a family park small infractions of the park rules were often over looked. Any place you go in an environment like KARS Park though you always have a few complainers and busy bodies. These individuals seem to relish making sure that all the guest strictly abide by the rules and will immediately report even the most minor of infractions. Having worked for the Federal Government my whole life and having to have to deal with the public I have noticed something. When some one makes a complaint they often embellish to get their point across. Subsequently the people who enforce the rules don't get the real picture of what went down. There is one camper who likes to refer to himself as the "Mayor". I have been told that he is the "Camp Host". Of course I have never seen any credentials appointing this person to this position. I have also noticed that there is some prejudice toward some campers who stay in tents or small campers. Now if you camp in one of these large expensive campers you are not watched as closely and those who are on the less affluent end of the economic scale. Personally I am fairly well off but stay in a camper I use for hunting and fishing trips. I guess this makes me look like some of the "ref-raf" the KARS Staff would like to see gone. I am leaving Kars Park to another place in Florida and stay in my camper on my property until my house is built. It is doubtful I will return. Also I plan to send this complaint to a higher level to see if the treatment of campers at KARS Park is on an equal level. MSG (Ret) Terry Overly trashfishterry@gmail.com (321)536-3723

Can't beat the price. It's nice having showers, a Pavillion and a store. Very secure park.