Ageing Snowbird Parks, Changing habits, preferences.

BarneyS wrote:


This will be our first Michigan winter in over 16 years and I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. What I am most sad about though, is not seeing all of our friends again. They were our 2nd family down there.
Barney

Ed and I have discussed the fact that some day - the grueling drive might not be something we can handle. We have a few Michigan friends who don't do the migration any more, due to loss of friends and probably a bit of fear of being too far from family as their health declines. In the meantime, *I* did the drive this year - just to see if I was capable of 2 days of nonstop driving.

On the other hand, as West Michiganders - seeing the sun for the first times in about a month.... the grueling drive is still worth it.

Snowman9000 wrote:
If I was running one of these, I might give free or reduced site rent to a few hand-selected go-getters who have the cruise-director personality. With the understanding that they are there to head up, promote, and recruit for the (hiking/crafting/pickleball/golf/happy hour/new resident/whatever) clubs. Try to keep a finger on the pulse of what activities people are participating in, and work those with enthusiastic leaders.

Once people make friends, they come back. That is a way more important factor than amenities. So, develop a strategy to enable people to make friends more easily. In addition to the usual huge events for everyone, I would try to organize some smaller mixer type events, like block parties. Maybe have a block captain or den mother, lol, whose mission is to organize a couple of these get-togethers each month. Sounds like hard work? Depends on the personality of the person doing it. Find the people who like to do it, and give them the help they need.

I think this would be a lot more cost-effective than trying to have the biggest, most-est amenities.

I agree! We wandered through RV parks for years - each seemed to have its own personality. Sometimes the personality clicked with us; other times it didn't (even though the people were nice). I think overall, we just didn't like the "closeness" of being in an RV park for months (plus the spotty wifi) - so we opted to buy a small condo in a park-like community of all ages. I LIKE hearing children giggle and playing :-) And once we made a few friends - well, it feels like "home" to us. We really don't use many amenities here, other than the pool and the walking paths leading to the Intracoastal Waterway. But as Snowman9000 says, we have those people who organize impromptu gatherings, and the fellowship is what makes our place fun!

We have just this year finished going South for the winter. We have gone to the Tampa, Florida area for the past 16 years with a couple of trips to Texas for the winter. After the first couple of years, we found ourselves going back to the same place for one main reason. We made friends there. Our friends are what brought us back to the same place each year and not the amenities although those did not hurt.

This will be our first Michigan winter in over 16 years and I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. What I am most sad about though, is not seeing all of our friends again. They were our 2nd family down there.
Barney

JRS1871,

Well stated. What you wrote is almost exactly my situation. I stayed in one RV park one year and did not care for it. After that I found what I was looking for and followed your lead except I jumped from an RV directly to a mobile home.

I also like the mix of housing as I have friends who own and stay in RVs, park models and mobile homes. Our park also has a hotel with 100 suites and 20 motel rooms.

If you do not find the activities offered at the park of your choice to your liking, consider calling them and offering to start and run something you are are interested in. My park has a number of brand new activities started and run by new residents.

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.

I know when my parents were first here 30 years ago, they did a lot of trips. There were casino trips to Louisiana and all kinds of trips into Mexico, to Monterey, etc. Then there were the fishing trips to South Padre. There are ZERO things like that now. We have done it on our own, but they all talk of those things in the past, but no one is interested in doing them now mainly because they have all done them.

Perhaps we can get the younger crowd interested.

Dale

Scottiemom wrote:
We are just down the road from you pawatt. My DH calls our park "assisted living." My parents were among the first residents, before it was even totally built, some 30 years ago. They had a 5th wheel they hauled back and forth. Eventually they bought a park model. When we arrived and decided to spend our winters here to "eldersit" we were the youngest in the park. It is mostly park models now, but we still full time and live in our motorhome. We bought 2 lots behind Mom and Dad and put up a canopy, then a cart shed, then a 12 x 28 "Texas" room (actually an efficiency apartment). The older residents complain that the younger ones don't want to work and they lament what is going to happen to their park. This is not true. We will work just as hard, but we don't want to play shuffleboard, pitch horseshoes or bake cookies for a jam we don't attend because the singing is soooooooo bad. We are trying to get other activities, but get voted out every time by the old guard who have been doing the same things for 30 years and don't see why we need to change anything. But all that is changing. The "old guard" sadly is dying out. My dad is gone, my mother at 93 just quit going this year, so dozens of properties have sold in the last year. Younger people are moving in and things are changing. The crowd is younger and they all want to work, play and have fun. Still mostly park models and that won't change. The old guard is not Canadian friendly, but the younger crowd is, so things are looking up. At one point we had said when my folks were gone, we would sell. We are going to sell Mom's place this winter, but we are keeping ours for now.

On our way down there now. In Baton Rouge visiting family, then heading to the valley. Anxious to get there. This will be our first winter in 12 years we have been "free" to do as we please.

Dale

I couldn't agree more. Up until November 2017, I was working off and on in Texas high schools. It was convenient for me to stay in rv parks versus hotels for all the obvious reasons. It worked out well but I have to say, when we go full time, I'm not sitting in a 55 and older rv park, at least not for very long.

The rvers are nice enough as well as the employees who manage the parks. However, they don't take kindly to younger people, single people, or any other minority. If you're not a regular, good luck getting in on any of the activities, you'll pretty much be shunned because it takes a while for people to get to know you before you can get in.

The activities are okay but I'm not for a potluck, ice cream whatever, card games, shuffleboard, wood shop, etc. I want to get out and live. I figure if I'm going to be retired I want to suck as much life as I can out of the next hopefully 20 or so years.

We enjoy our time in the RGV and South Padre because it is very close to our home in Mexico and we plan on continuing to take advantage of the parks. We have met some wonderful people from all parts of the world there.

We are in our third snowbirding season. The first year was a find and seek expedition, and we found an area in the coastal bend of Texas we liked. Last year we stayed in one spot from 12/1 through 4/1 and met some really nice people and are meeting them this year in the same spot. For me, the jury is out on staying in one spot for more than two weeks at a time. I have noticed, most are very friendly until they find out you are only staying a week or two, then they seem to back off and let you do your own thing, I have no issues with that. The best part about RVing, there is no right or wrong way, you just do your thing.

I found this all very interesting as we have been going south for over 10 years or so and have noticed that like us many people are going from campground to campground and sightseeing. Although we do (if the campground has it) sometimes join in a pot luck or bingo that's not our main interest. What we have found is the last 2 years we have had difficulty finding campground spots. Previously (going in Jan & Feb) we could pretty much drive in and get a camping spot - not anymore we had to reserve ahead - and in our case "plan" more. It's just a fact of life = We've traveled in Florida & sometimes over to TX & AZ.
We've talked about "finding a spot" we'd want to stay for a month, but haven't.

If I was running one of these, I might give free or reduced site rent to a few hand-selected go-getters who have the cruise-director personality. With the understanding that they are there to head up, promote, and recruit for the (hiking/crafting/pickleball/golf/happy hour/new resident/whatever) clubs. Try to keep a finger on the pulse of what activities people are participating in, and work those with enthusiastic leaders.

Once people make friends, they come back. That is a way more important factor than amenities. So, develop a strategy to enable people to make friends more easily. In addition to the usual huge events for everyone, I would try to organize some smaller mixer type events, like block parties. Maybe have a block captain or den mother, lol, whose mission is to organize a couple of these get-togethers each month. Sounds like hard work? Depends on the personality of the person doing it. Find the people who like to do it, and give them the help they need.

I think this would be a lot more cost-effective than trying to have the biggest, most-est amenities.