Calif State Parks New Reservation System

I gave up going to any California state park 2 years ago. System is screwed up, web site was very complex, and the prices are generally outrageous after that years round of increases. Sure, there are bargains here and there but on the whole, not RV friendly state. Final straw for me was a state park that blocked off ALL the lower priced RV spaces to force multi-night RV'ers to use the expensive spots. Would have stayed 3 nights, only stayed one.

The states loss as I now travel Nevada, Arizona, and points east instead. Loads of competitively priced RV parks in the states east of California.

DAS26miles wrote:
Just took a look at California's new reservation system. Doesn't appear user friendly to me. Maybe I just need to get used to it. Found it very difficult to even get to my frequented campgrounds. Perhaps I will have better luck getting a site with the new rolling 6 month in advance reservations and maybe not. It says online reservations can be made 24/7, but I can't find what time the window opens each day. Is it at 12:01am, 8 am or 10am?

I have found the new site to be very perplexing. It is very much a step down from ReserveAmerica in both functionality and user friendliness.

Let's say you want to make a reservation. If one opens the link provided for CA. State Parks in RV.net, this is where you end up: LINK Once there, if you simply want to make a reservation where do you go? There is nothing intuitive about where to go just to make a reservation.

If you select "Visit a Park" then you can search by name. Once you find the park you are looking for then you select "Reservations" and another page comes up that offers a link that says "Online Reservations".

If you select that it opens a completely different website (LINK) in a new tab. From there you have to re-enter the name of the park you just found on the other site. (So this is the link you want to save for future reference.)

Once you enter the park name you are invited to pick a date. Dates that are 'reservable' are highlighted and bright, and as you scroll into the future the non-reservable dates are 'grayed out'. But if the park is seasonal dates will still be highlighted even if they are not reservable.

Then you have pick the length of your stay (no issues there) and there is also a Choose Activity drop down menu. To make a camping reservation you simply select Camping and Lodging...but if you notice, one of the options is for Hearst Castle Tours. Really? Why would that be there as an option for every campground in California even if Hearst Castle could be 500 miles away (try google maps: Burney Falls to Hearst Castle)

After selecting "GO" the next screen that opens is a general information page about the park, listing options available for reserving (camping vs cabins, etc.). You then select the one you want and another window opens that shows the sites that are available for the dates you want.

But how does the site know if you have a small tent or a large RV? You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom and select FILTERS to input your information. And the info. is generic so it will fit ALL State Parks, so you can ask for a river side boat site with hookups even if your campground has no such features.

Now that you have input your features, let's look at a map to see where the available sites are...we don't want to be by the road or the restrooms, right? But wait, there IS NO MAP.

OK, no map, so you just pick a site that is available. When you click on the green square for your date a window does at least pop up to give you some info. on the site...but no photo. Unless you know the campground already and know the sites you want you are just running blind!

Can you tell I'm a little frustrated ????

Steve

Only the California government could get rid of a lousy reservation system and replace it with an even worse system.
And I'm a retired California state employee.

I only wish they would have used whoever designed Oregon's state park reservations system.

Sounds as bad as the California DMV. Let's see how hard we can make it.

I have a Distinguished Veterans Pass but have not used it since last spring. I tried making reservations with the new convoluted system and found that there was no record of my pass. I called and was told that after July of ’17 we needed a new pass. They have my email but nothing was sent with this information. My old pass application was done through the mail but the new one must be done in person. An office is 15 miles away so I ran down and had a new temporary pass in 10 minutes. I was told all information was now on file and would show up the next time I made a reservation. She was correct as I was not charged for the next reservation which is the privilege received by the pass in recognition of my fighting and dying for this country. However, this new system now charges a $7.99 reservation fee which was not charged in the past. I know this is a small matter but the change is still an annoyance.

G7ARYM wrote:
She was correct as I was not charged for the next reservation which is the privilege received by the pass in recognition of my fighting and dying for this country.

Thank you for your service.

Surely there must be a slight error, though; or, if not, I must say I find it a little disturbing that one still needs to make campground reservations in the afterlife.

Totally agree with all the criticism. I do not think I am stupid, but the new reservation system makes me feel so. Having said that, has anyone figured it out and would like to make step by step recommendations. Short of that I guess I will just be a drop in or go elsewhere. Sure wish they would have spent all that money on updating our actual parks.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. I have used the new site to make three reservations already and it was not difficult at all. You go to the reservecalifornia.com website, type in the city or the park name you are interested in, enter the date you want to arrive, enter how many nights you want to reserve and it takes you the the page where you can see all of the sites and the availability. You can scroll through the sites on the left of the screen, or view the sites on the map on the right of the screen. If you go to the California state park website first, click on visit a park, pick a park name and it will lead you to the information page. Click on the reservations link and it takes you to the reserve California page. It seem pretty straight forward to me. Just like Reserve America, you will have to set up an account to complete the reservation, which I did first before making any reservations. I always log in to my account first before I begin searching.

RognBon wrote:
I don't see what all the fuss is about. I have used the new site to make three reservations already and it was not difficult at all. You go to the reservecalifornia.com website, type in the city or the park name you are interested in, enter the date you want to arrive, enter how many nights you want to reserve and it takes you the the page where you can see all of the sites and the availability. You can scroll through the sites on the left of the screen, or view the sites on the map on the right of the screen. If you go to the California state park website first, click on visit a park, pick a park name and it will lead you to the information page. Click on the reservations link and it takes you to the reserve California page. It seem pretty straight forward to me. Just like Reserve America, you will have to set up an account to complete the reservation, which I did first before making any reservations. I always log in to my account first before I begin searching.

For which parks have you been able to see the maps? I have yet to see one in the two parks I have made reservations in.

Steve

No wonder there's talk of a "New California" :S