Florida reservation system

[jondrew55]

By now everyone who camps in Florida knows the drill; get reservations 11 months ahead or it’s go fish. I got a spot at Fever Dykes near St Augustine about a week ago. It was Fri-Monday and cost me $28 with fees. I looked again a few days later and the same spot was available Thursday so I grabbed it. It cost me $23! Almost as much as the other 3 days. When I registered for Thursday I told the ranger I also had the spot for 3 more days on a separate reservation and should I come back for a new tag. He said don’t bother no one will bug you. I said I was concerned if I did not re register for the next 3 days they might think I was a no-show and try to give the site to someone else. He said they never give away no-shows who don’t cancel.

Favor Dykes is a nice place, but it wasn’t too long ago it was always available because it is not a super popular place like Anastasia or Gamble Rogers. The completion for campsites is so tight these days it’s pretty much eliminated spur of the moment reservations. Plus, there is virtually no incentive to cancel a reservation, especially for a weekend because with the fees you hardly get any money back. There are a bunch of unused sites here as a result.

I don’t know what a better system would look like, but I’d like to see motivation to cancel your reservations so other people can get a chance.

[Kahoona]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

By now everyone who camps in Florida knows the drill; get reservations 11 months ahead or it’s go fish. I got a spot at Fever Dykes near St Augustine about a week ago. It was Fri-Monday and cost me $28 with fees. I looked again a few days later and the same spot was available Thursday so I grabbed it. It cost me $23! Almost as much as the other 3 days. When I registered for Thursday I told the ranger I also had the spot for 3 more days on a separate reservation and should I come back for a new tag. He said don’t bother no one will bug you. I said I was concerned if I did not re register for the next 3 days they might think I was a no-show and try to give the site to someone else. He said they never give away no-shows who don’t cancel.

Favor Dykes is a nice place, but it wasn’t too long ago it was always available because it is not a super popular place like Anastasia or Gamble Rogers. The completion for campsites is so tight these days it’s pretty much eliminated spur of the moment reservations. Plus, there is virtually no incentive to cancel a reservation, especially for a weekend because with the fees you hardly get any money back. There are a bunch of unused sites here as a result.

I don’t know what a better system would look like, but I’d like to see motivation to cancel your reservations so other people can get a chance.

It is a sad situation. Getting sites, even 11 months ahead is impossible now since the bots can get in in milliseconds. The $7 reservation fee and the $6.60 utility fee added for each reservation mean that, for those who have to splice together single days to get any time, the price almost doubles. I don't know what they can do. Funding has been drastically cut. They need to rely on volunteer labor who work for a site in leu of payment, which further cuts site availability. Now there are three times as many campers out there than there were when I got started. State campgrounds are now a happy surprise for a day or two rather than a way of life with stays of a week or more. Life changes. We old timers stay in parking lots now and day trip.

[momdoc]

Finally we BEAT A BOT TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Getting reservations in FL are almost impossible.

[jondrew55]

Originally Posted by momdoc

Finally we BEAT A BOT TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Getting reservations in FL are almost impossible.

Which Park? Getting ready to do battle for next January

[momdoc]

Originally Posted by jondrew55

Which Park? Getting ready to do battle for next January

We got the reservation at Manatee River state park (2 week)

If you are looking for January of next year you are already pretty late to find any spots before 1/12.