Thousand island or Encore

I assume by Thousand Islands, you might mean Thousand Trails (since they're sort of affiliated with Encore). I've written a few things about them on my blog:

Is Thousand Trails Right for you? (can be useful for evaluating *any* campground membership/program)

Thousand Trails Overview

And then there are reviews of a couple of parks in their system (more being added as I get time!).

Why would you want to spend money to sleep under a tree somewhere?




OK joking. We've had membership many years and use it and like it. Here is what we tell people when asked about TT or price or if it is worth it. Be sure you know what your getting. If your getting "zone pass" or full blown membership, know what the ins and outs are. Some people can make reservations a long time out in the future, our limited to 3 months out. Park to park..we can stay 14 days then have to be out 7 before coming back into system. Some can pull out of one park and go to another park the same day. See how memberships vary??? Our membership works great for us, but might not be worth anything to you. Our kids are grown so we don't use them during summer so we never made a reservation. We don't stay over 1 week at any campground, we need a change of scenery at least once a week. Others stay for as long as they can. So what type you get depends on what you need/want. Check out buying used, but you have to know what privileges you'll get, new or used. And IMO the most common denominator to any membership...Ask yourself will I use it enough to get my $$$ worth???

Passport America (approx $40/yr) now includes Encore parks. Just a few stays of 1/2 price fees pays our membership.

Thousand Trails parks generally rank somewhere in the middle between wonderful and terrible. If they fit your camping style they offer a good camping solution.

Our membership provides us with 50 "free" nights and then $5-8 a night after that. So far, (Our anniversary date is April) we've averaged paying just over $10 a night for our 109 nights in Thousand Trails (annual fee + nightly fees after our first 50 nights).

On the other hand, if you are going to buy a membership and then use it only 7 nights a year, well those are going to be rather pricy stays!

If you are looking at a zone pass that's about all the math needed. If you are buying a membership you have to factor in the cost of it, and if you are buying a used membership you have to add in the transfer fees. That complicates the math because that cost will be spread out over the number of years that you continue to be a member.

We have had Thousand Trails for two years now, we have two zones. Northeast Aand Southeast, I think about 48 or 50 parks to use. This works out for us, as a TT member you get large discounts at Encore parks. We also take advantage of the Encore deals in a few areas that we enjoy. For us it's a win win, but you have to take a close look at it to see if it's right for you. Like anything else some of the parks are so so, others great. Good luck

We have an Elite membership and used it over 150 days in each of the passed 3 years. If you use it, it is a great deal.

We have an Elite membership and used it over 150 days in each of the passed 3 years. If you use it, it is a great deal.
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We are also Passport America members and Good Sam members. We first try to use PA since the deals are better but sometimes we are stuck with only the 10% off with Good Sam. We do try to plan out a way to stay at PA campgrounds but many times we are too spontaneous to do that. We also recommend everyone use the app for their smart phones "RVPARKY. It is up to date with great information on most campgrounds and a link to check out users internet comments on those campgrounds. As others have said before you need to examine all choices and then make an educated decision. Right now this is right for us. Besides our Rv traveling our base is in a park model home located in an Encore resort here in Southwest Florida.

ependydad wrote:
I assume by Thousand Islands, you might mean Thousand Trails....

There was also a membership campground company called Thousand Adventures Incorporated (TAI) but they filed bankruptcy and shafted all the members (including us) several years ago.

By the way I heard this morning that a Encore is getting ready to change things up. The new program will offer different memberships, all named "Connections." It is offered in limited ways already but it will become standard at some time in the near future.

Whether it will be better or not...who knows?