Thousand island or Encore

We took the offer of two for one zones and bought the Northwest Zone and got the the Southwest Zone free. We were traveling this year including Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California with some Arizona thrown in. Since we spent June, July, August, and September traveling in this area we more than made up for the $500 expense to the tune of about 3 or 4 to 1. Economically this was a great deal. The negatives were there as well however. Some of the parks are extremely isolated, as in no cell service, no internet service and a long drive to civilization. Perfect for those who use the park as a destination but not so much for those of us using it as a place to stay while sight seeing the area. Another negative is that we often had to settle for less than full hookups ... either 50 amp with no sewer, or 30 amp with sewer, no 50 amp available, no sewer sites available etc. Some of the parks were very nice and well kept while others tended toward the run down and neglected. The Rangers were all very nice and tried to be as helpful and accommodating as possible. For us, since we had many parks available in the area we were going to be traveling, it was well worth the money and we have no regrets and would do it again. Some areas of the country have very few parks though so check the map carefully and make sure you will get your money's worth.

I thought the post was going to be about salad dressing. I've never heard of a dressing named "Encore". :)

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?

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.

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.

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.
duplicate post

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 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

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.

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