6 replies to this topic

[Pxr177]

We will be full timing in the southwest this year.

Thousand trails seems to have a good offer on the table. $499 for one sector, for a year, plus discounts at Encore camps. Any comments, pro or con?

Cheers

Paul

[desertdeals69]

We bought a thousand trails and naco nationwide membership on ebay for $99 several years ago. Our annual fee is $586. The past year we stayed 92 nights, thats just over $6 a night all with electric, most with water, and some with sewer. Although we can stay only 2 weeks we can go to the next one the same day. We also have discounts at Encore with some of encores costing only $3/night.

[TBUTLER]

As you can see from Desertdeals69 post, these memberships can pay off. We've never been able to make it work for us. We travel for exploring remote parks and find that most membership parks don't match where we want to travel. Others are happy to have a nice park to stay and the park becomes the focus of their travel. We tend to be in the park only when we aren't out exploring so the park isn't a big deal. I would not want my travel decisions based on trying to get as much as we can out of a membership. Rather, I want to go see places we want and we'll take the parks that are available along the way. It's just a difference in the focus of our travels.

[desertdeals69]

All I was pointing out was that the membership parks can be utilized when conveniently located. Most of our nights are not spent in a TT campground as we are off the beaten path exploring. The campground does not dictate where we have ever gone, just if its there we'll use it.

[dpankie]

Pxr177, on 11 June 2011 - 03:26 PM, said:

We will be full timing in the southwest this year.

Thousand trails seems to have a good offer on the table. $499 for one sector, for a year, plus discounts at Encore camps. Any comments, pro or con?

Cheers

Paul

I've also looked into that offer but what was a deal breaker here in the North East zone was none of the parks are open year round. Therefore, I suggest you check out there open schedule for where you want to camp. Keep in mind they also restrict the number of sites to this offer. You would expect that they must maintain some sites for those who paid thousands for their membership.

Dan

[Pxr177]

Update: We bought the 1000 Trails zone pass, and liked the camps so much we upgraded to a full elite membership. This is ideal for first timers, and especially for Canadians. There are pluses and minuses to most camps, but the better ones are very good indeed. With the new membership we can stay for three weeks at a time, and move on to the next park right away. There is only one 1000 Trails camp in Canada ( near Vancouver) but this membership also includes RPI camps at $10. per night. being snowbirds, we don't miss mid-American parks as summers in Ontario are quite pleasant. Its winter we want to avoid, and there are great camps in S. California, Arizona, and Texas going west, and all the way down the east coast going south.

[Wayne77590]

TT has been bought by ELS or ESL and there are changes being made. TT's are not open to the public, so for a nightly fee anyone can stay.

Do some homework.