Ageing Snowbird Parks, Changing habits, preferences.
Would like to see your observations, suggestions, likes and dislikes regarding some of the long existing snowbird parks.
Forum Discussion
This a very interesting discussion with many great observations about the changing of the guard. This is our 16th year of being a Winter Texan. When we first came we were some of the youngest, now we are slightly past the middle toward the older side. All of these years we have stayed at the same park, first in our RV driving back and forth, then a park model and now a mobile home. Our first couple of years we checked out virtually all of the RV parks reasonably close with the idea of moving. However when we considered all the pros and cons, we decided to stay put.
We like it that it is a mixed use park split into thirds among RV's, park models and mobile homes. That will change going forward as the park suffered significant flood damage in June that wiped out about 30% of the park. It is large enough to have many activities but small enough that you soon get to know most of the residents. When we first came we were more into the active pursuits but we are slowing down now. We didn't even consider shuffleboard for the first 5 or 6 years but now shuffle regularly as we like the competitiveness but also the friendships that we have developed.
I noticed that many of the younger respondents listed activities that interested them but few mentioned they were receptive to heading them up/starting them. We have struggled with that in our park; surveys list different activities folks would like offered but finding someone to take responsibility is very difficult. Although some of the old guard are pretty resistant to change, most are not; they just don't have the inclination or energy to take on another activity. We even have younger residents that never attend a park meeting and then when something takes place, they complain they didn't know about it.
So there is no simple answer. Both younger and older have to work to effect changes they would like to see.
We like it that it is a mixed use park split into thirds among RV's, park models and mobile homes. That will change going forward as the park suffered significant flood damage in June that wiped out about 30% of the park. It is large enough to have many activities but small enough that you soon get to know most of the residents. When we first came we were more into the active pursuits but we are slowing down now. We didn't even consider shuffleboard for the first 5 or 6 years but now shuffle regularly as we like the competitiveness but also the friendships that we have developed.
I noticed that many of the younger respondents listed activities that interested them but few mentioned they were receptive to heading them up/starting them. We have struggled with that in our park; surveys list different activities folks would like offered but finding someone to take responsibility is very difficult. Although some of the old guard are pretty resistant to change, most are not; they just don't have the inclination or energy to take on another activity. We even have younger residents that never attend a park meeting and then when something takes place, they complain they didn't know about it.
So there is no simple answer. Both younger and older have to work to effect changes they would like to see.
