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bucky's avatar
bucky
Explorer II
Nov 19, 2018

St George Island State Park FL update

We were lucky enough or quick enough on the keyboard to grab 7 consecutive weeks in FL state parks in Jan and Feb 2019.
One stretch was at St George Island. Then came the devastation of Michael. My thoughts and prayers go out to those whose lives have been shattered.
They are now saying that it will be at least late spring before their campground reopens. This from a recording on their office phone. Reservations are being cancelled with full refunds but good luck replacing your stay elsewhere in the FL state park system. Some days there is not a single site available at any of the parks in the system during Jan or Feb.
Gulf Shores state park is also fully booked with 496 sites. Even Buccaneer State park in MS is fully booked.
We did find a pretty GA state park to spend those 8 nights at. If you book sites in GA state parks for Dec 2018 or Jan 2019 they are offering a heck of a discount. Use code WNTR18 for 50% off.
  • We just got our refund for the last two weeks of Jan. at St. George. We had been trying to stay there for a couple of years and just got in this year. We give our thoughts and prayers to those in the area that lost so much in the hurricane. We'll be back next year at one of the parks in the area when things have settled down.
  • We have 12 contiguous weeks of 1 and 2 week stays in state and national parks starting in GA, then in FL, and finally in NC during January, February, March, and April, all booked in September. One national park in FL allows up to a 90 day stay, and we're thinking of booking a full month there for next winter.
  • bucky wrote:
    The private parks in FL all want 3 month contracts and we don't like to stay that long in one place.


    On our southern trip we stayed at several private parks for a week or 2, mostly without advanced reservations. We stayed a week each at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal Springs and HoHum in Carabelle. We did the same with state parks.

    However, we didn't get any further south than Sarasota, mostly due to the high costs of the parks in southern FL.
  • rr2254545 wrote:
    delete


    I can pretty much guess what the original post was.
    No I didn't hack the system or cheat. What I did have to do was spend hours per day over 7 weeks to book parks as the window opened for those dates at parks close to the last ones that I booked to minimize travel time. The first 2 parks also required 2 sites due to people traveling with us. The second sites were booked by them BTW. FL does not allow booking overlapping or duplicate stays of the same account.
    First park 10 days
    Second park 10 days
    Third park 7 days
    Fourth park 8 days but now going to GA instead
    Fifth park 5 days
    Sixth park 7 days
    To be honest with you it really isn't worth the trouble. With all of the moving and honey wagon trips that will be needed we will probably do RGV, New Mexico, or Arizona next year. The private parks in FL all want 3 month contracts and we don't like to stay that long in one place.
  • OP that is quite an accomplishment booking that many weeks and parks! I'm glad you found a new park. Thanks for passing along the discount code. I wish we could use it. Enjoy your warmer winter!
    Marcia
  • You probably need to back off.

    The OP clearly said "parks". Plural. More than one. No "rule" against that.

    Support the relief efforts as those who lost everything still need help, even this long after landfall.

    Our sympathy goes out to the California fire survivors.

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