Reservations only ??

Terryallan wrote:
Fact is. IF you want to go to Myrtle beach in the summer. you have to have reses. ALL CGs are full from the middle of June to the end of September. You may get lucky, and catch a cancelation. But mostly. If you don't reserve at least 12 months out. you ain't going, or have to settle for the worse sites.

And it is pretty much the same in the NC mountains. The good CG fill up in A HURRY.

We always do, New Years, spring and fall.. The last time we stayed at one of the Big Surfside campgrounds on a major summer holiday my wife said "never again". Spring bike week was a regular for years till my best buddy passed. I love to go down there because you just kick back and relax, walk on the beach and eat too much.

It's obviously wise to reserve in advance when going to our country's popular destinations during the height of their seasons, but RVing among a throng of people has grown less attractive over the years for us. Even so, it seems we subject ourselves to this madness at least a couple times a year.

When RVing, we make every effort to avoid using private parks, particularly under these circumstances. We much prefer state, COE, county, city, and federal campgrounds, unfortunately this is not always feasible. Private parks are OK when we will be out and about using our rig just to sleep in.

One of the things we like about state, COE, and similar parks in our region is that they maintain a certain number of sites that can not be reserved in advance. If we are in the mood for a helter skelter type of RVing experience, we can arrive a few days early and secure a spot even on major holiday weekends.

Fact is. IF you want to go to Myrtle beach in the summer. you have to have reses. ALL CGs are full from the middle of June to the end of September. You may get lucky, and catch a cancelation. But mostly. If you don't reserve at least 12 months out. you ain't going, or have to settle for the worse sites.

And it is pretty much the same in the NC mountains. The good CG fill up in A HURRY.

I rarely make reservations, because I don't like to camp in places that are crowded, and I don't like being on a schedule. Once in awhile a place might be full, but there are others around.

I just checked availability in the campgrounds that I have made reservations in: May 11 is full, June 15 is full, June 19 is full, June 21 is NOT full, June 24 is full, June 28 is full, July/13 is full one year in advance, August 7 is NOT full, August 8 is full one year in advance, August 14 is full, Sept 14 has a few back ins for small trailers. The campgrounds that we go to are a mix of State Parks, KOA's and private. I wouldn't want to set off without reservations for the kind of campgrounds that we camp in.

falconbrother wrote:
Man, we came so close to getting burned not making reservations. We were going to the mountains, like we had done many times. But, it was a big weekend, like Labor Day or something. We got to the campground and they were sold out. But, someone on one of the long term sites have moved their camper for the weekend, so they allowed us to stay there. We never travel without reservations.

I would also agree that there's not enough campgrounds. For example, Wilmington NC. The only campground there is the KOA and they are landlocked. It's a great campground but, you better make your reservations months out, a year out or more for holidays. In the off season we have driven to Myrtle Beach without reservations because there is plenty of open spaces, once or twice. I tend to still make reservations just in case something comes up and we roll in after hours.

I have often thought that owning a campground would be a great idea. If you had property within a short drive of Wilmington it would be a gold mine. There is a small campground in Carolina Beach but, it gets bad reviews.

FYI, and you may already know this. There is a State Park CG on the island at Carolina Beach. not the one with bad reviews. Top Sail Island just North of Wilmington, has several CGs. One on the beach, and two on the waterway. Surfside Family Cg is on the beach, and VERY small. A place to setup, and enjoy the beach. We like it.

South of Wilmington near Holden, and Ocean Isle there are more CG but none on the beach, Except for one at the pier on Holden. Again, very small. But those that go like it. Not a resort.

check them out. BTW. Top Sail, and Holden are pretty much undeveloped beaches, except for houses. Hardly any Condos near the CGs, or Surf City it self. None on Holden.

JCR-1 wrote:
RV's selling like mad, population is expanding like mad, and campgrounds are not. Seemingly every family has a camper of sorts these days and the Campgrounds are filled to capacity months in advance. In some cases you need to make a reservation a year ahead of time. Look out Wally world soon to be your problem.. I see more and more signs that say no overnight parking..but not sure if that means no unattended vehicles and just disclaimer that we can tow your car. I have even seen some folks unhitch , slides out and go sightseeing for the day. The day is coming = No mas !!

for me, camping is not staying at an rv resort or KOA.. there are millions of acres of BLM and National Forests to camp at.. but I do get your point though. areas around popular attractions will always fill up fast.

While we don't make res for every night if we're traveling around during one of our 1-2 week trips, we do feel the need to make res when we have a definite destination. We mainly dry camp and not all the place we go to take res. The ones that do we take advantage of.
I do agree though that at some point it's going to get real hard to find a spot. We can still find a spot just about anywhere here in Oregon except the coast. During the week is of course a lot easier.
What I'm also noticing is on the big holiday weekends at the places that don't take res, is that they're almost filling up Thurs nigh instead of Friday afternoon.

I generally make reservations well in advance, especially for any specific destinations we plan to stay at. The last thing I want to do is arrive after a long travel day and have to start looking for a place to stay. Overnighter, I typically call ahead an hour or so before we plan to stop to find a place with a site available and reserve that.

falconbrother wrote:
Man, we came so close to getting burned not making reservations. We were going to the mountains, like we had done many times. But, it was a big weekend, like Labor Day or something. We got to the campground and they were sold out. But, someone on one of the long term sites have moved their camper for the weekend, so they allowed us to stay there. We never travel without reservations.

I would also agree that there's not enough campgrounds. For example, Wilmington NC. The only campground there is the KOA and they are landlocked. It's a great campground but, you better make your reservations months out, a year out or more for holidays. In the off season we have driven to Myrtle Beach without reservations because there is plenty of open spaces, once or twice. I tend to still make reservations just in case something comes up and we roll in after hours.

I have often thought that owning a campground would be a great idea. If you had property within a short drive of Wilmington it would be a gold mine. There is a small campground in Carolina Beach but, it gets bad reviews.

Owning a park can be a good investment. But it sure isn't for the risk adverse, or anyone looking to turn a quick buck.
Building from scratch would require purchasing the ground. Getting all the engineering, environmental and permitting documents completed. Then you have to get approval from the local authorities, which often means public hearings. They will get massive public backlash against a "trailer park" being built in their neighborhood.
If you get past the permitting process, you have to build the park. Likely, there will be government requirements for the roads, for the services provided (i.e restrooms if all sites are not restricted for full hookups only), ADA accessibility, site size and spacing (fire codes etc.), water and sewer requirements etc.
Once you get it built, you have to advertise. It will take a several years for your ads to populate the guidebooks, the organic internet searches, the GPS devices, review sites, etc. All that time you are paying your employees, paying your taxes and paying for those ads without getting full returns.
Oh, and no bank or financial institution is going to finance this project. You MAY be able to finance the ground with a 50 percent down payment, but all the other costs are going to have to be paid for by ready funds. A fifty site park can easily cost a million dollars or more to construct if it is in a good location and you want to do it at least half right. That's a lot of money to lay out and not expect to make a return for at least 5 years. Hence why a building crane is an animal you seldom see over bare ground with a sign saying "RV Park, coming soon".