What do you consider a high price for a site.

[wdk450]

I bought a resale Lifetime Thousand Trails Platinum membership last year from a campground membership broker in Florida for $1400 (including transfer fee). My yearly membership dues this year was just short of $600. Thousand Trails nominally charges $40 a night for spaces. I stayed 2 months in the system last year which more than amortized my initial investment. So far I have stayed a couple of weeks in the system this year, but will use it extensively from now on, as i am getting out of my house to fulltiming in the Bighorn. The bill when I stay at Thousand Trails with this membership is $0, I can stay 3 weeks in a park, immediately move to another Thousand Trails park, and can return to any park I stayed at after a week out. So $600 a year is going to be my rent. This is for full hookup, 30 amp service. I can easily do this, but 50 amp service is becoming available with park upgrades at $5 a night. Most Thousand Trails I have used have heated pools and spas along with other basic amenities. There are 9 Thousand Trails preserves in the Northern California area and 7 preserves in the Southern California areas that I will mainly stay in. Add to that 3 preserves on the Oregon coast and 1 in Las Vegas, along with 1/2 price discounts to the many Encore parks, and I have a pretty thrifty way to live the fulltime RV lifestyle on a mainly Social Security income.

So Thousand Trails CAN be a very economical way to RV, depending on the number of preserves in the area you want to stay in. I recently found out that the big state of Arizona with loads of RV activity, only has 2 Thousand Trails preserves, none in the Phoenix area.


I will still pay whatever group fee my NorLow's group gets for it's once a month campouts in Northern California. I personally have paid as much as $70 a night, but only a couple of times for premium RV parks. I have paid $260 a month for a totally adequate "snowbird" spot in Hemet, California (utilities included) (Desert Sky RV Park). I also have Passport America which I have used only for a couple of overnight stays, since most of the participating parks limit its use to a couple of nights.

 

[MCTalley]

When we were preparing to full-time and laid out our budget, I assigned an average of $30-$35 a night for campground fees. We were fortunate that our favorite campground in Alabama (near our house) was a COE campground that typically charged us the senior rate (though we didn't meet the age requirement) of $77 a week or $315 a month. We had to buy a sewer tote since there were no sewer hookups in the park (just a dump station), but that was a small price to pay for the much reduced rate.

When traveling, it totally depends on where we are going as to what I'm willing to pay. We decided to do an annual January pilgrimage to Walt Disney World and paying $65 to $90 a night for a site there we felt was well worth the cost (considering we haven't moved our TV either time we've been there). I've felt a few places were way overpriced for the amenities that were sometimes never used. Lazydays in Tampa comes to mind, along with a couple other places we've stayed that advertised themselves as "resorts".

Generally, though, we've almost always managed to stay in the $30/night average ballpark without trying too hard. We've only boondocked in a parking lot twice in the 15 months we've been full-timing and only used our Passport America card about 3-4 times in that same time period (we're letting that one lapse).

 

[Kbvols]

The most we have paid is at Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach($54).If we travel and stay nightly I look for around $30 and monthly around $15.At our resort in FL its $25 /nt for 4 months with everything in (elec,dig cable and WIFI) but its a private rental.

Did you like Ocean lakes? We are going there in July and have a beach front site.

 

[Birchwood]

Did you like Ocean lakes? We are going there in July and have a beach front site.

You should like Ocean Lakes in July.Prime season for the park with lots of amenities.Nice park!

 

[jayc]

When we were looking for a place to stay and all of the regular RV parks in the area were full, I called a place called the Sandpiper Motel and RV Park in Galveston that just went on their summer rate of $60 per day with NO discounts for weekly or monthly stays. $1,800 a month is waaaay more than I'd pay! I was born and raised in Galveston but no way!!

 

[TXBobcat]

Jay. I stayed at Sandpiper a few years ago but it wasn't that expensive. That is way out of reason.

 

[JohnD]

I can understand an exotic destination in high demand like Yellowstone or Sturgis (during the rally) to be high priced.

But still . . . anything over $50 a night to park an RV is just plain insane!

Most especially if it is a hole in the wall out in the middle of nowhere that just happens to be handy.

If you have to pay $100 or more for a parking spot . . . might as well check in to the Holiday Inn and enjoy the hot tub and bar!

Or perhaps find a rest area or Walmart parking lot.

 

[AAdams]

I don't like to have to spend more than $30 - $35 a night after GS or PPA discounts. I have paid more at times, but only if they are the only cg on the way to our final destination that we can stop at. When it is over $35 then we are gone the next day. We haven't done the Walmart parking lot yet. I know people do, but I am always worried about security.

 

[JohnD]

I think the most I've ever paid was $60/night for three nights at a KOA in a mountain resort town.

 

[Mark-Mullin]

You all are very lucky as here in Ontario the private campground owners and government run parks like to charge as much as possible, hard pressed to find
a park that charges less than $55.00 a night and not lot of amenities at that.
If you like a small fire in the evening they will sell you a few (6-8) sticks of
crappy wood for about $8.50 an tell you your not permitted to bring outside wood
into the park because of the transfer of Beatles in the wood however read the bag
their wood comes in and it is from some other town about 100 miles away, all just
excuses to rip campers off thinking they can afford it look at their trailer and the fuel
they used to get it here. To bad there aren't more places to boondock here in Ontario.
Sorry for the long rant.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Mrsfish]

I am more than willing to pay good money for a top park, but I get really irritated at the poor parks that charge a pretty penny because of where they are located. Example - Tiger Run RV Park in Breckinridge, CO is 55-70 depending on season, but OMG what an incredible resort. Will pay it happily. On the other side, elk horn rv park in Estes Park charges the same and you get no pad, a rocky meadow to park in that is so sloped you have to level your chairs in order to sit outside (but watch out for the gopher holes or you'll hurt yourself) my choice - but I won' stay in estes park again.

 

[mslater]

K.O.A. sugarloaf key fl. charged me $100 /night in a tent without any electricity

 

[Grey Ghost]

We were shocked to pay $75.00 per night along the coast of California, my Lord I didn't want to purchase the place, just wanted a place to park for the night. Ended up pay $45.00 for a place along the Ocean with no electric, no water, no nothing, but what a VEIW!

 

[tmcran]

Humm, when I start getting charged over $100.00 per nite I will be driving vehicle that gets 23-25 MPG. and stay in cheaper motels. Can get some very good discounts on line.

 

[JanAndBill]

We have found that the most we are willing to pay for a site is in direct proportion to - The number of hours I've been driving, The time of day/night, and the amount (or lack thereof) pre-trip planning.

 

[JohnD]

We are looking at spending a few nights in Estes Park, Colorado in August when we have some out-of-towners coming in for a visit.

They want to do Rocky Mountain National Park, white water rafting and zip lining.

While the campground is $75 per night for full hookups . . . that is still a lot less than hotel rooms would be for 5-6 people.

 

[diesel_doberman]

My wife and I paid 39 dollars a night for full hook up. And I was livid about it. Wife and I are both 28. Moshe said I act like an old Scrooge. Honestly I have never paid over 32 or stayed in a full hookup site.

 

[Birchwood]

We like staying at parks central to our interests.When traveling any park will do as long as its close to the Highway.I think we probably average around $35 as parks range from $20 with PA and $50 regular rate.In New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island prices are $35 to $50 and the parks are nothing fancy.
If we are in Myrtle Beach parked on the beach $55 is ok .I think Disney parks are $100 but you are on site with no travel involved.As long as you get what you pay for everything should be good.

 

[JohnD]

We are looking at spending a few nights in Estes Park, Colorado in August when we have some out-of-towners coming in for a visit.

They want to do Rocky Mountain National Park, white water rafting and zip lining.

While the campground is $75 per night for full hookups . . . that is still a lot less than hotel rooms would be for 5-6 people.

I have to say that at $75 per day for full hookups . . . this was a steal!

Our campsite was awesome, with the river flowing less than 30 feet from the back end of our trailer . . .

We had wildlife (elk and bear) roaming through the campground . . . what a blast! (I've got photos....will post them later)!

Much better than a room at a casino hotel room at double the price for one night (FREE crab legs are worth every penny).

Here is a shot as we were getting ready to pull out on our way home:



Footnote: This was the last campout with our old 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4

 

[Jim.Allison]

I look at it as an average over the trip, the DW does a good job of finding great parks for little money, I boondock when I can. There are a lot of free places, and places that have hookups that let you leave a donation based on what its worth. So I pay $0 to $100 as long as I average about $30.