thinking of a membership for disount camping

wildwest450 wrote:

doxiemom11 wrote:
Passport America saves us a lot of money. We use Good Sam second. We ended up staying in a park longer than planned because of storms. Used the Passport America for the 2 days allowed and then was able to use Good Sam for the extra day we needed to wait the storm out.

I looked into that, the campgrounds around here only allow you to to use one night per visit, and the balckout dates were ridiculous.

I've used Passport American for years and your right, some places it's just not worth the effort but other places it really saves you money. Also generally they are not the high end resorts either, they are parking lots with electricity. Its just what you want to spend.

doxiemom11 wrote:
Passport America saves us a lot of money. We use Good Sam second. We ended up staying in a park longer than planned because of storms. Used the Passport America for the 2 days allowed and then was able to use Good Sam for the extra day we needed to wait the storm out.

I looked into that, the campgrounds around here only allow you to to use one night per visit, and the balckout dates were ridiculous.

ependydad wrote:
This is about Thousand Trails, but the concept can be applied to other membership campgrounds:
Is Thousand Trails Right for You?

I believe that they were referring to a full membership in TT. There Zone Pass is pretty simple and almost the same benefits. 30 days free and $3.00/ nite after that. I works only if the campgrounds are in destinations the you would like.

suse1023 wrote:
so the house is sold and we bought a new to us 2002 carriage cameo with which we are delighted. we are in a fabulous little campground near our former home and which we intend to be our summer base at least this summer.
i've heard of discount memberships so while we travel we can save some money.
would love to hear which ones are worth the investment and which are not.
dh is a vietnam vet and senior citizen if that helps.

we like quiet, pretty sites which allow pets, as we have a dog and the cats may come with us this year.

dh likes a pool,we have a washer/dryer in the rig. we need wifi and cable most places i guess too.


thanks so much and happy trails.

The truth of the matter is your going to have to some research on each of the memberships above and see which of them have campgrounds in area's you'll be in. Passport america for instance has many of my Ohio state parks I visit and only takes about 4-5 days camping in them to pay for itself. For others, the parks they offer are not in areas they travel or would use. Being it is a 50% discount, it doesntake many days a year to pay for itself and start saving you money.

Good Sam's 10% discount is more widely accepted in my experience and has less restriction on how many days it can be used and again, takes only a short time to pay for itself with its realitively low cost. Again IF you camp places it is accepted.

The more expensive memberships such as thousand oaks may be right up your alley as a full timer if your plans makes it easy to use their parks for weeks at a time at least 30 days a year.

So map out a general map of areas or at least states you will be camping and see what each has to offer.

As for internet and cable, I think its fool hearty to expect you will have either in the quaility you desire with relying on campgrounds to provide. More like a bonus if you have it and it works well than banking on good connections for either. By direct tV and a data plan and be sure if its important to you. Use campgrounds when it works well and yours when it doesn't.

I personally wouldn't buy a membership in a campground.

However, I've had a "geezer" pass for the national parks, and other Federally owned lands. Recently, I signed up for the KOA pass, and I will be getting the Passport America relatively soon.

I've not gotten either the KOA or Passport America before because we never stayed in enough campgrounds to make it worth our while.

However, since I'm retiring in less than a month, we are going to start traveling a lot more, with a cross country trip in the plans for early next year. I'll be using a lot of camp grounds on that trip. We should have no problem getting those cards to pay for themselves.

I don't need a Good Sam card to get a discount at a Good Sam park. I use my senior citizen proof or my disabled vets card. Gets me the same discount the Good Sam card gets.

Now this winter we are taking a high mileage trip and will be using the Passport America card. I think that is where the Passport America card is ideal. When staying a one park a day or two, and then moving on to another park for another overnight, and so on til you get where your going. On the weekends your going to pay more or full. But some Passport parks will allow you to ever stay longer using the card. They may not be resorts, but I just want to place to plug in and dump when necessary.

This is about Thousand Trails, but the concept can be applied to other membership campgrounds:
Is Thousand Trails Right for You?

Passport America saves us a lot of money. We use Good Sam second. We ended up staying in a park longer than planned because of storms. Used the Passport America for the 2 days allowed and then was able to use Good Sam for the extra day we needed to wait the storm out.

Eycom wrote:
...America The Beautiful Senior pass is available at age 62. At $10, the "geezer" pass allows a discount of 50% at most Federal campgrounds....

Might be the best $10 you will spend. Here is the website;
http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm

I agree with the poster who suggested that before you buy, you travel. I let my KOA laps, I use my Good Sam, and Passport American. It really depends upon the kind of camping you like to do. There are those who park anyplace they can get for free. Generally these are parking lots. There are those who like to camp at County/State and National Parks, There are those who only like Resort style campgrounds. So determine what style camper you are and then go after those cards.