Thousand Trails (Clermont FL)

[ispjs]

We just returned from a 3 day stay at the Thousand Trails CG in Clermont.  The only reason we picked it was there were friends staying there for a week and we needed to do a shake down cruise in our new coach.

There were pluses and minuses to the park.  However we would never consider staying there again.

It was a plus that it is so close to Disney.  I am sure that was why there were so many camped there.  The only other plus was that the hook ups where good.

The sites were very narrow and most of them positioned you so that your door side was next to your neighbor's door side, with maybe 10 feet between.  The MH in the site next to us put their awning out and it was within 2 feet of touching our slide!   I realize they have a pool and clubhouse but $67 per night for grass/gravel narrow pull through sites is a joke.  I'm not sure why anyone would actually join this organization on an annual basis unless some of their other parks are much nicer.  

 

[wildebill308]

18 hours ago, ISPJS said:

We just returned from a 3 day stay at the Thousand Trails CG in Clermont.  The only reason we picked it was there were friends staying there for a week and we needed to do a shake down cruise in our new coach.

There were pluses and minuses to the park.  However we would never consider staying there again.

It was a plus that it is so close to Disney.  I am sure that was why there were so many camped there.  The only other plus was that the hook ups where good.

The sites were very narrow and most of them positioned you so that your door side was next to your neighbor's door side, with maybe 10 feet between.  The MH in the site next to us put their awning out and it was within 2 feet of touching our slide!   I realize they have a pool and clubhouse but $67 per night for grass/gravel narrow pull through sites is a joke.  I'm not sure why anyone would actually join this organization on an annual basis unless some of their other parks are much nicer.  

 

No they are probably worse. I got snared by them about 5 years ago. Keep in mind it is like a condo you have to pay weather you use it or not. The campgrounds are way off the main drag and nasty, tight, bad roads in and out. Plus add on charges. Like if you want 50 Amp that will be an extra $5.00 a night. You can only stay at one of their parks for X days before you have to spend time outside  of their system before you can use another of their parks. Some people love them but I am not in that group.

Bill

[ispjs]

I guess we are in the same group then.  Someone in Clermont told us that the CG was their HQ and flagship park!  OMG, if this was one of their nicest parks I'm not sure how they ever get any RVer to sign up for a regular membership.

What really put us off was our camping neighbor.  He was outside his big Dutch Star and didn't bother to introduce himself but instead just went into a sales pitch on Thousand Trails membership and then right into another sales pitch on the Newmar Kountry Club.  I told him we had looked at both of these options and were not really interested.  His DW went into their coach and returned with handouts.  Told him again we were not interested.  That was it, they were done talking to us and went on about their business.  I finished what I was doing and threw away their stupid handouts.  It was obvious he was trying to get us to sign up for something so they could get some type of credit or discount.  

I'm sure there are many great folks using the Thousand Trail's membership, this guy certainly wasn't one of them.

 

[desertdeals69]

I have a different take on Thousand Trails.  I am a member and pay $585 per year.  I stay in a Thousand Trails park from 80 to 150 nights a year. There is no nightly charge.  Some of the parks are not a good as others but there are some really good ones like Seaside and Whalers Rest on the Oregon coast.  Las Vegas TT is great for its location as I stay there several weeks a year going to trade shows.  We can stay a most parks for 3 weeks and then go to another park the same day.

[wildebill308]

3 hours ago, desertdeals69 said:

I have a different take on Thousand Trails.  I am a member and pay $585 per year.  I stay in a Thousand Trails park from 80 to 150 nights a year. There is no nightly charge.  Some of the parks are not a good as others but there are some really good ones like Seaside and Whalers Rest on the Oregon coast.  Las Vegas TT is great for its location as I stay there several weeks a year going to trade shows.  We can stay a most parks for 3 weeks and then go to another park the same day.

You must have a very special membership. This is from the rules from TT. They don’t say what you will pay for exceeding the 30 day/night limit it is listed as “Market Price”

Members are allotted 30 nights of free camping in any of the Thousand Trails campgrounds covered by your Zone Parking Pass. Additional nights are charged a small service fee. Members may stay up to 14 consecutive nights at any one campground based on availability. Reservations are advised, particularly for longer stays and during holiday periods. Keep in mind that even though camping is complimentary with membership (first 30 days), last-minute cancellations or no shows will be charged cancellation fees. Campers who stay at any Thousand Trails campground for more than four consecutive nights must wait at least one week before camping at another resort in the chain.

I have stayed at the Thousand Trails Las Vegas Resort. It took 3 different spots before I found one that had power. As far as location it is out by Sam’s Town and not to convenient to the strip. Staying over the limit there is $120.00 per night. (Market Price) Interesting because I stayed at Oasis for $67.00 for a premium + site. Well ok 3 days were $33.50 because I used Passport America. I am still wondering why/how TT thinks they are worth $120.00 that is the same as thinking Motel 6 is worth $120.00.

TT  can say they are busy and limit you to 7 days. Not the 14 days.

Thousand Trails Long Beach Resort was so tight that to back in to the spot you had to drag the front of the coach through the brush that was up to the edge of the road.

Bill

 

[ispjs]

It very well may work for some folks.  For us as full timers we like to plan our year targeting different parts of the country.  As the year goes on that may or may not change, but we always have the option of doing and going where we want when we want.  I'm just not going to pay a high membership to some company to stay in a bunch of different parks, some of which I have now experienced first hand are nasty.  

If we were part time and only staying in one section of the country then possibly TT would be okay.  

[manholt]

I used to go to TT parks for their free gifts (all Coalman products), & listen to their sales pitch.  It was a lot more than $585 and this was from 1976 to 1979.  By then, we had enough sleeping bags, gas camp stoves, tents and ice chest's to satisfy all 3 kids and their Girl/Boy friends!

[ivykrewe]

We were members but decided it was not worth the price. We were promised 50A, then found they had no 50A in the campground. In others you have to search for sites with 50A.  At Clermont you have to get in early to find 50A or take 30A and search for people leaving and wait for their site.

[desertdeals69]

There are hundreds of different contracts that TT issued over the years.  No two alike.  I now have the Elite which allows me to stay 3 weeks at a time with some 2 weeks during certain times of the year.  I can go from park to park with no time out. There are about 86 parks across the country which gives me a choice and works for me.  I have stayed in 43 different ones.  I know that they are not in every state but thats ok.  I went to several different TT presentations and the $8k cost was too high.  I went on Ebay and bought one for $99.00 and $750 transfer fee. This was about 12 years ago.  Five years ago I upgraded to Elite which added 3 more campground systems at a cost of $4000.  My annual $585 is frozen because of my age, over 65.

[wildebill308]

2 hours ago, desertdeals69 said:

There are hundreds of different contracts that TT issued over the years.  No two alike.  I now have the Elite which allows me to stay 3 weeks at a time with some 2 weeks during certain times of the year.  I can go from park to park with no time out. There are about 86 parks across the country which gives me a choice and works for me.  I have stayed in 43 different ones.  I know that they are not in every state but thats ok.  I went to several different TT presentations and the $8k cost was too high.  I went on Ebay and bought one for $99.00 and $750 transfer fee. This was about 12 years ago.  Five years ago I upgraded to Elite which added 3 more campground systems at a cost of $4000.  My annual $585 is frozen because of my age, over 65.

I am sorry but for the majority of people $4000. plus $585 a year + the extra charges is to expensive to stay in junky RV parks. I don't believe anyone can get that deal. The reality is what I posted. The deliberate miss leading promotional /advertising about zones is disingenuous at best.  

 South west zone includes 6 states 18 camp grounds 3 states don’t have a camp ground and Nevada and Arizona have one each. The one that I stayed at in Arizona was an Encore Property, Voyager RV Resort & Hotel and was one of the better places. We were parked on a big flat parking lot with hookups, no other amenities. No table, no light, Nothing but pavement. It is primarily for snow birds and is 90-95% permanent park model type structures.  I will say this it was one of the only places that had a readymade package of information about the area and some coupons for local attractions.

North West Zone includes 9 states 18 campgrounds; 7 states have no campgrounds. Only Oregon and Washington have camp grounds. Saying you have a zone that covers 9 states sounds good but it is actually only 2 states have any campgrounds you can use.

The other thing that made/makes me mad is they repeatedly said this was a one-year special deal and I could renew it if I wanted to. Yet they charged my credit card for a renewal without my permission. They said that by singing the original paperwork it became an automatic renewal. I had asked repeatedly if it was a one-year deal and was assured I would have to renew myself or it would end. I looked and my lawyer looked it over and could find no such clause. They refunded my money and we are all happy now.

Bill

 

 

[manholt]

Per the campground for re- sales ad's each month in FMCA Magazine...there seems to be a lot of folks wanting out, rather than in!

[desertdeals69]

3 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

I am sorry but for the majority of people $4000. plus $585 a year + the extra charges is to expensive to stay in junky RV parks. I don't believe anyone can get that deal. The reality is what I posted. The deliberate miss leading promotional /advertising about zones is disingenuous at best.  

 South west zone includes 6 states 18 camp grounds 3 states don’t have a camp ground and Nevada and Arizona have one each. The one that I stayed at in Arizona was an Encore Property, Voyager RV Resort & Hotel and was one of the better places. We were parked on a big flat parking lot with hookups, no other amenities. No table, no light, Nothing but pavement. It is primarily for snow birds and is 90-95% permanent park model type structures.  I will say this it was one of the only places that had a readymade package of information about the area and some coupons for local attractions.

North West Zone includes 9 states 18 campgrounds; 7 states have no campgrounds. Only Oregon and Washington have camp grounds. Saying you have a zone that covers 9 states sounds good but it is actually only 2 states have any campgrounds you can use.

The other thing that made/makes me mad is they repeatedly said this was a one-year special deal and I could renew it if I wanted to. Yet they charged my credit card for a renewal without my permission. They said that by singing the original paperwork it became an automatic renewal. I had asked repeatedly if it was a one-year deal and was assured I would have to renew myself or it would end. I looked and my lawyer looked it over and could find no such clause. They refunded my money and we are all happy now.

Bill

 

 

I have never paid extra.  I figured that I have stayed over 600 nights in the TT campgrounds my average cost per night is $9.33.  I have enjoyed most of the parks and have returned to some many times.  Some parks do have only 30 amp so I engineered and rewired my coach to run both airs and other things on 30 amp when that is all that is available.  The zone program is way too limited such as 30 nights per year and location.  This works for me perfectly.

[desertdeals69]

1 hour ago, manholt said:

Per the campground for re- sales ad's each month in FMCA Magazine...there seems to be a lot of folks wanting out, rather than in!

Most of the people wanting out are selling their memberships because they no longer need it due to no longer rving because if illness or death.  The annual dues still need to be paid whether you use it or not. Thats why you can find them for next to nothing.

[manholt]

That makes sense.  I tend to forget about death  or illness...wish I could do the same with taxes!

[ispjs]

If you originally pay $4,000 to $5,000 and then every year kick in another $500 to $600, then I suppose figuring an average of $9.00 plus per night of camping would make some folks happy.  

When we were full time before we averaged about $9,000 a year to $10,000 a year in camping fees.  That is still less than $30.00 a night average.  We never boon docked or dry camped, but we stayed in decent CG's and always had 50amp and good hook-ups.   This time around with a different RV we plan on mixing in some boon docking and dry camping and expect our annual to stay between $8,000 and $9,000, which will average less than $25.00 per day.  The thing is we can go where we want to and plan our travels based on where we want to go, not based on where TT has camp sites we have to use.