RE: Thousand Trails - your passbook to outdoor fun

[JemJen24]

 
Willard and I got a free 4 day pass from the Thousand Trails (America s Finest Family Camping) people.  It has some of the best destinations (Yellowstone, etc) for camping outings.  This is a free 4 day pass and if we use it within the first 60 days, we get another one for free.
 
 HOWEVER, you have to listen to them give you a presentation for about and hour and a half before you can get the freebies.
 
 My question is:
 
 1.  Has anyone else taken advantage of this and if so...
 
 2.  Was it worth it.

[birol]

 JemJen24
ohhhh timeshare like thingie .....
 
 They will try to sell you a membership like you won t believe. The presentation soon turns into one salesman trying to sell you what you don t want for 1.5 hours.
 
 They don t understand any part of " no" .
 
 Just my 0.02 cents .....
 
 Birol who has been victimized by 3 Time share deals when first moved Canada .... But free 3 seven  day trips were worth it

[SactoCampers]

 JemJen24
Jemjen,
 
 1.) Lots of people here have taken advantage of it and the consensus is generally that they are very nice parks and if you can get a free weekend out of it (or more, in your case) to go for it. Most have said the presentation is low-pressure, but that probably depends on the location.
 
 2.) Depends. Most here would say no, considering a membership costs thousands of dollars and then you have annual maintnenance fees. You are usually better off buying somebody else s used and paying the transfer fee than buying new.
 
 But go for your free weekend, have fun, and give us a summary of how it went. The experience is a little different for each person. I ve been tempted to go for their promotional weekend, but just can t bring myself to sit through a sales presentation while I m camping.

[Turn Key]

 JemJen24
Yes on both counts.
 
 Got the same offer from them right after we purchased our Sea Pine.  Like you, I was a bit aprehensive (sp?) about it and checked with a friend that had been a member.  Spent 4 great days at Lake Whitney and it cost us nothing but about 45 minutes for a " soft pitch"  sales presentation.
 Actually, if you can use it enough and purchase a " pre-owened"  (used?) membership, 1000 Trails isn t a bad deal.  Just doesn t fit the way we camp.  If you have reasonable sales resistance (unless of course you find that this is what you want), I d say to go ahead and give it a try.  Just can t see passing up free camping[]!

[mike4947]

 JemJen24
Take the free weekend if it s somewhere you want to camp and then ask questions at their seminar like "  Why should I buy from you when I can get a " used"  membership for less than a thousand dollars from one of the reselling websites?"  or " If I camp 5 weekends a year how many centurys will it take for me to break even?"
 
 PS: they never learn, I still get " free weekend"  offers from them, East Coast resorts, and If I remember right Camp America.

[Camping Coxes]

 JemJen24
JemJen --
 
 We ve got a free pass too that they were giving out at CampingWorld.  At first I put the gal off with " I ll have to talk to my husband."   So she stalked us until we were together in an aisle.  So DH said for a free weekend, he can deal with listening to them talk for 45 minutes.  We ve been there before, and have pretty good resistance.  Then the kids noticed their display, with the pictures and the map of the campground, and they got all excited and wanted to go.  So I ll be making reservations soon, I m sure.  Only problem is, we re committed to my daughter s softball team until the end of June, so we re stuck pretty much until then.  We had two free weekends in there, and one of them is already booked for camping, and the other, my niece decided to get married, darn her!!! []

[mrflinders]

 JemJen24
We bought an RPI affiliate membership.  We can visit any RPI affiliated site for $5 per night.  We got our membership used through a broker.  We live in California, and our home park is in Louisiana, so while we never will use the home park membership, the RPI affiliation membership is great.
 
 Our total cost to join was $280 the first year and $115 per year after that.  That is $50 per year home park dues and $65 RPI dues.  
 
 We used the membership this last Christmas and stayed at a really nice park in Desert Hot Springs.  For those who like to use their PU as a " rolling hotel room" , the RPI membership is highly recommended.  We can stay at the park and then tour the surronding areas for fun!   Most offer full hookups and ammenities, including cable.  I believe there are something like 250 parks nationwide.  
 
 Their link is: www.resortparks.com
 
 Whatever you do - do not get suckered into paying thousands of dollars for a membership to one of these campgrounds! [: (]
 
 Also, we were pretty happy with the price we got on our package[], so if anyone else is interested, let me know and I ll pass on my broker s information.  There is no referral bonus for me to receive for promoting this - I am simply happy with the membership we purchased.
 
 - Randy
 
 PS - There are some photos of our Christmas trip on our web site - click the link below! []