Campgroung Memberships

[Phil/Shirl805]

Went to check out a new campground in Dover Pa. Ended up finding a place called Gettysburg Farm Outdoor World. As it turns out it a membership type campground (Thousand Trail). Does anyone here on forum belong to, or have ever belonged to a membership type campground. If so what are your likes or dislikes. Also is there different levels of membership ?

[Festus2]

If you Google this --- "campground memberships - advantages and disadvantages of" - you will find a number of sites that focus on the pros and cons of belonging to one or more of these. I would suggest that, after you have done your homework and looked into joining one or more, read all the fine print - especially the restrictions and exclusions that often apply. Many have an initial joining fee and an annual fee thereafter.

There are literally hundreds (or thousands??) of memberships for sale on the Internet so you don't have to buy one from the sales office at a campsite. That is the most expensive way of purchasing a membership - from a salesman or rep.

Like any of these types of memberships, you have to use them fairly often to get the maximum benefits of joining.

[TheSweetLife]

Originally Posted by Phil/Shirl805

Went to check out a new campground in Dover Pa. Ended up finding a place called Gettysburg Farm Outdoor World. As it turns out it a membership type campground (Thousand Trail). Does anyone here on forum belong to, or have ever belonged to a membership type campground. If so what are your likes or dislikes. Also is there different levels of membership ?

We belong to thousand trails. We love it. We live in hershey and have 6 thousand trails campgrounds within 2 hours. It's just like a timeshare. If you use it it's worth the money but if you don't then it's a waste. The memberships is about $550 a year which includes 30 night "free" full hook up sites. After you use the 30 nights it's $3 a night for full hook up site. The memberships are "zone camping memberships" so make sure you check out their website and the campgrounds within the zone before buying. The Hershey Preserve and Gettysberg farm are 2 of our favorite campgrounds. Hershey Preserve is very quite and relaxing. We camped 48 nights last year and all at Thousand Trails campgrounds so it was worth it big time. $600 we paid which would have cost us easily over $2000.

Downside is that each year the cost does rise. They will try to sell you the next level. My view on it is when it stops being cost effective for me I will not renew. It's a one year commitment so you can always get out after the year.

Overall, we love it for the location and use we get out of it it's perfect for our situation.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask any questions you have.

[TheSweetLife]

Originally Posted by Festus2

Like any of these types of memberships, you have to use them fairly often to get the maximum benefits of joining.

After we did out math we realized our magic number was 16 nights just to break even. With having a TT campground 6 miles away we knew it worked for us to get away even if we only had 1 night.

[PARAPTOR]

Originally Posted by Festus2

If you Google this --- "campground memberships - advantages and disadvantages of" - you will find a number of sites that focus on the pros and cons of belonging to one or more of these. I would suggest that, after you have done your homework and looked into joining one or more, read all the fine print - especially the restrictions and exclusions that often apply. Many have an initial joining fee and an annual fee thereafter.

There are literally hundreds (or thousands??) of memberships for sale on the Internet so you don't have to buy one from the sales office at a campsite. That is the most expensive way of purchasing a membership - from a salesman or rep.

Like any of these types of memberships, you have to use them fairly often to get the maximum benefits of joining.

X2 Could not have been explained any clearer

Membership mainly lifetime, initial fees in the thousands, yearly fees in the hundreds. Like Festus2 said better deals taking over existing memberships but as stated read fine print !!! There is usually a transfer fee (hundreds) old member to new. On taking over real old memberships check that membership contract you are buying against latest rules of the provider.

[Phil/Shirl805]

TheSweetlife

You said you have a 1 year membership, which is great. Been on line most of the day trying to find out as much I can. Everything I found lead to life time commitment. Meaning the only way out is to sell membership.

I'm guessing you pick the northeast zone. My question would be, did you have to pick a home park, and do you have that 125 mile rule ? Another big question have you ever been turn away because park was full ?

Currently both my wife and I still work full time. That is why we would be picking the Northeast zone as it all within 2 - 2.5 hour drive of our home. We would try for about 10 - 12 Long or short weekends, and at least 1 seven day, and 4-5 day trip. As for Gettysburg Farms its only 60 miles trip. I think with some memberships you can stay for 14 days before you have to leave.

I do believe we could and would save money in the long run. In the past we limited our trips because, well lets face it, Pa or Md is not a very cheap place to camp ie Granite Hill or Drummer Boy near $60 per night. (Drummer Boy even charge to use water slide at the pool)

[TheSweetLife]

Originally Posted by Phil/Shirl805

TheSweetlife

You said you have a 1 year membership, which is great. Been on line most of the day trying to find out as much I can. Everything I found lead to life time commitment. Meaning the only way out is to sell membership.

I'm guessing you pick the northeast zone. My question would be, did you have to pick a home park, and do you have that 125 mile rule ? Another big question have you ever been turn away because park was full ?

Currently both my wife and I still work full time. That is why we would be picking the Northeast zone as it all within 2 - 2.5 hour drive of our home. We would try for about 10 - 12 Long or short weekends, and at least 1 seven day, and 4-5 day trip. As for Gettysburg Farms its only 60 miles trip. I think with some memberships you can stay for 14 days before you have to leave.

I do believe we could and would save money in the long run. In the past we limited our trips because, well lets face it, Pa or Md is not a very cheap place to camp ie Granite Hill or Drummer Boy near $60 per night. (Drummer Boy even charge to use water slide at the pool)

So the inside information is that Thousand Trails was purchased by Lifestyle Equitities and they are a large timeshare company. You would be looking at the "Zone camping membership" under thousand trails. That is an annual membership. I just payed my $545 for 2014. They have a 100 different "camping timeshares" that are lifetime memberships. The zone camping pass is their way to get you in the door. You do not pick a home park. Any parks in the zone you purchase are available to you.

You are correct that you can only stay a maximum of 14 nights in a row before you get kicked out for 7 nights. After 7 nights you can get back in. If you stay for 4 nights or less in the park then you can bounce around from park to park. If you stay 5 or more then you have to stay out of a thousand trails park for 7 nights before you can stay in one. So we are going to Maine this summer for 14 days. We will use the thousand trails parks on the way up but stay 2 nights before reaching Maine. We can't camp for more than 2 weeks because of work anyway so the 14 days maximum doesn't bother us.

We have never had an issue with parks being full and no spots available. You can book you campground 30 days in advanced. Some parks are more crowded then others but we haven't had any problems. Gettysburg wills up quick but we can typically get down there around lunch time on Friday and find a good spot. When you book you are guaranteed a spot with full hook ups but it is first come first serve for the exact spot. That another reason we love hershey. We just park the trailer in a spot during lunch time and then set it up after work.

I hear ya with drummer boy and other parks, that's why we went with thousand trails because it saves so much money.

Feel free to call the customer service for thousand trails also and ask all the questions. Every year there are some changes but they are honest and helpful over the phone.

[chris199]

Looked inti this and the CGs of interest only honored the membership rate on non-weekend nights. ..Mon thru Thur. Doesnt work for us....

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