As I write this I am pleased to share that in spite of the rain that seemed non-stop through July, we enjoyed record attendance in 2014. We will have the exact number shortly after the start of the New Year, but we are ahead of last year with the partial December numbers entered. Of course we couldnโt do it without you! We made a video slide show to highlight 2013 and I hope you enjoy it: http://youtu.be/tovMGZcICW8.
We hope you will join us for the start of 2014 by participating in a First Day Hike on Jan. 1. All 36 of our parks have a guided or self-guided program planned but feel free to come out to a park and participate in an activity that you are interested in as a way of starting the New Year out with a family friendly activity that promotes a healthy lifestyle. You can find a list of the scheduled activities here: http://bit.ly/2014FDH. We are also holding a First Day Hike photo contest for folks who visit our parks Jan. 1. You can find the details on the contest here: http://bit.ly/FDHcontest. Prizes include a week in one of our family lodges and a week in a cabin. If you donโt come out for a hike, we hope you will help us vote for the best photos starting on Jan. 2 at the same link.
We have had a team working on a website redesign for close to a year now and are pleased to announce that we will be revealing the new site on Wednesday, January 9. To be one of the first to see the new site, join us at 10 a.m. Jan. 9 at http://www.virginiastateparks.gov. We would love your feedback. We just finished up our contest to name our new mascot, the red fox. We will be announcing the winning name in January and you can look forward to seeing our mascot in person at an event beginning this spring.
I know that many of our campers will be happy to hear that effective Jan. 1 we will no longer be charging a fee for dogs in our campgrounds. We are designing a new brochure to remind dog owners of their responsibilities that will be ready for the start of camping season in March 2014.
For cabin customers who like to reserve cabins for less than a week in the summer, we have some good news. While we still require the week stay up to a month before arrival, this year our customers will finally be able to reserve the cabins online for less than a week during that window. As you may know, you previously could only book those shorter stays through the 800 number. The month in advance window opens based on the start date of the reservation. So if you want to arrive July 3, 2014, you could make a reservation for less than a week beginning June 3, 2014. If that day falls on a weekend, the window opens on the following Monday at 9 a.m. We make sure that online customers never have an advantage over folks who choose to book through our Customer Service Center at 800-933-7275.
You may have participated in our site specific survey this year. Unfortunately, it seems that our campers are close to evenly divided on whether they think changing our policy from choose your site on arrival to site specific reservations is a good idea. This makes it difficult for us to make all of our customers happy. Our campground management working group worked on this issue all year and decided to pilot site specific reservations in a percentage of sites at 6 parks beginning in 2015. The parks are: First Landing, Belle Isle, Chippokes Plantation, Douthat, Hungry Mother and Grayson Highlands state parks. Because of our eleven month reservation window, this was the earliest we could make a change. Reservations for these pilot sites will begin in 2014 based on the 11 month rolling window. We will have detailed information on which sites will be included as site specific in the pilot parks prior to April 1, 2014 and will have photos and site details listed online. The rest of the sites in the pilot parks will continue to be reserved in advance with sites selected upon arrival. The pilot will give us the opportunity to work through any operational challenges and help us evaluate the acceptance by our campers.
In order to continue to operate our parks at current levels, we found that it is necessary to increase our prices beginning Jan. 1. We struggle with any fee increase because we recognize that our customers rely on Virginia State Parks for affordable family vacation destinations. However, without additional funds to operate and maintain our facilities, we would be unable to operate at the standards our customers expect. Our daily per car parking fee will increase for many parks $1 to $2. Parks will either be $4 weekday/$5 weekend or $3 weekday/$4 weekend. Our annual parking passes will not increase so passes will be an even better deal for frequent visitors. Cabin fees are increasing 5% and campsites will increase $3 for electric/water or electric/water/sewer sites. Fees for sites without hookups and primitive sites will not increase. We will be introducing a Customer Loyalty Program this year that will help frequent visitors save money. The new fees are on our website: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/parkfees.shtml.
Donโt forget that we periodically offer specials on our overnight accommodations. Our โlast minute cabin specialsโ are offered 52 weeks of the year. We discount cabins 25% for the approaching weekend on Thursday and Friday through the Customer Service Center 800-933-7275. We want to encourage occupancy over the weekend, when we have the highest demand. It is sad to see cabins that are canceled at the last minute or were never booked sit unoccupied. So if you can make last minute plans, this is a great way to save money. Other discounts and specials are publicized on our social media sites and in our enewsletter. In addition to our website, the enews is the most reliable way to find out about specials and learn about special events and programs. It is delivered every Thursday morning and our programs and events are listed for the next ten days. If you donโt already subscribe, you can do so here: http://bit.ly/vspenews. We would love to talk to you on our social media sites too. The links appear below my signature if you are reading in html. If not, you can find them on our website http://www.virginiastateparks.gov.
Thank you for continuing to make Virginia State Parks a success. We wish you all a happy and healthy New Year and hope to see you in our parks!
Nancy S. Heltman
State Parks Visitor Services Manager
Department of Conservation and Recreation
600 E. Main Street 24th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
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