Florida State Parks Early Reservation

[Dutch_Oven_Man]

We’ve been camping for over 30 years, so not a newbie here, but apparently I still have not learned the tricks for Florida state park reservations.

Back in the day (pre-COVID) we could almost always find a reservation 3-4 months out for even the most popular State Parks outside of maybe the Key’s or a few other places. Nowadays, it’s seems you have to attempt to reserve 11 months+14 days at exactly 8:00 EST AM to even have a chance. But what is really odd, even dates that would not be considered popular and “out of season”, like February in the Panhandle on a Wednesday, are snatched up quicker at 8:00 AM than you can physically even hit the buttons. I just don’t see how it’s possible that every single site for every single day on a one day reservation in the middle of the week can be snatched up so quickly.

Is there some trick I’m missing, or a bot running in the background that is grabbing all these sites? Forget a holiday weekend, I never see reservations open for those. I’ve been running a “test” getting on at exactly 8:00 AM 11months+14 days to book a site preparing for a holiday weekend in 2023, and even just random dates I can’t seem to get a site quick enough. What gives?

[Dutch_12078]

Camper445 wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
We have our next winter Georgia and Florida state park stays booked into next April, all with our preferred sites. As said, you need to be ready to click at exactly the moment the reservation windows open, 11 months ahead in Florida and 13 months ahead in Georgia. I haven't timed it with Florida's new system, but one trick with Reserve America parks if you don't get in the first time, is to go back again 15 minutes later. Many people have multiple windows open ready to click on, and they sometimes hit on more than one site. While they complete the process for one site, the others are released back into the system in 15 minutes. That has gotten us into some popular parks on several occasions in the past few years. Some park systems have tried to control the "book two weeks ahead and then change the dates later" game by not allowing any changes for at least 18 days. When you go back to make the change then, your preferred dates may already be taken.

Proof to confirm my previous comment. Snowbirds gaming the system.

It isn't just snowbirds, the most common license plates I see in Florida state parks in the winter are from Florida. And that 18 day rule is designed to limit opportunities to game the system.

[cptqueeg]

I'm just starting to use campgrounds the last couple years and my experience already is pushing me to go when no one else wants to go. I'm spending the peak seasons at home and leaving the crowded campgrounds to others.

[monkey44]

We live here in central Florida ... we camped a lot until recently over the past few years, now it's almost impossible to get several days in a row. Every once in a while, we can get a mid-week day ...

Of course, we can easily camp in the summer HAHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaa ....

The trouble is always the cheaters - if all campers would book campground sites in a manner that allows everyone equal access instead of breaking the rules and staying more days than allowed in a month or a year, we'd all get to share and enjoy the state parks. And, the campgrounds would still be full and collect revenue that helps the state maintain the park charter and protect the wildlife and habitats.

[agesilaus]

Bears Den wrote:
Here we go again, a snowbird talking about how Florida would fall off the face of the earth without snowbird money. I’m so sick of hearing that song.

Yeah there are over 20,000,000 people in the state. Probably at least 1,000,000 want to camp in our state parks. And those parklands are bought with dedicated taxes here. And are rated number one in the country. I've lost track of all the new parks, if never heard of some like Shangra La SP.

There is no doubt that snowbird money helps support the parks but the people living here would fill them up w/o the snowbirds. The natives should get priority, maybe reserve 1/3 of the slots until 2 weeks before the open date for that slot.

[JoeH]

Bears Den wrote:
Here we go again, a snowbird talking about how Florida would fall off the face of the earth without snowbird money. I’m so sick of hearing that song.

I'm with you on that !

[Bears_Den]

Here we go again, a snowbird talking about how Florida would fall off the face of the earth without snowbird money. I’m so sick of hearing that song.

[monkey44]

Camper445 wrote:

bucky wrote:
Without our snow bird money a lot of small business's would dry up and blow away.

Ok, but its hard to believe you have anything to come back to the next year in Dec/Jan, after you bail in April. How do they survive without you the other 9 months? Or are you spending enough during those 3 months to keep them all afloat the other 9?

We live right here in central Florida ... we see no stores closing when snowbirds fly north for the summers. Sure, snowbirds add to the revenue stream when here, but also use services and resources as well. And add lots of traffic and crowding. We have lots of snowbirds in our senior community. We're happy to see them arrive, and happy to see them depart.

[Camper445]

bucky wrote:
Without our snow bird money a lot of small business's would dry up and blow away.

Ok, but its hard to believe you have anything to come back to the next year in Dec/Jan, after you bail in April. How do they survive without you the other 9 months? Or are you spending enough during those 3 months to keep them all afloat the other 9?

[cptqueeg]

Dutch Oven Man wrote:
snip...I just don’t see how it’s possible that every single site for every single day on a one day reservation in the middle of the week can be snatched up so quickly.

Is there some trick I’m missing, or a bot running in the background that is grabbing all these sites? Forget a holiday weekend, I never see reservations open for those. I’ve been running a “test” getting on at exactly 8:00 AM 11months+14 days to book a site preparing for a holiday weekend in 2023, and even just random dates I can’t seem to get a site quick enough. What gives?

People are booking far ahead, and then modifying their reservation. For instance, they'll reserve a Wednesday the first day it's available and that opens up the next 13 days that aren't available yet. They'll reserve the 14 days w the intention of only using some of the 14 days of the reservation. When the waiting period to make changes is over they'll give back those days to the system. As those dates go back into the system the commercial bots notify clients of availability and it's reserved again in a heartbeat.

There are bots, there is loads of competition on top of that, and there are those that have figured out how to make a profit on a public good.

[bucky]

I don't want to hear any boohooing from FL state residents. Without our snow bird money a lot of small business's would dry up and blow away. As it is I watch tags in FL state parks and just speaking from my personal experience I would say half of them are FL.
I've met some FL residents that rent out their homes and get half price geezer discounts or work as hosts during the peak winter season. One nice couple's fancy house is less than 5 miles away from the CG they host every winter.
So who's gaming who?

[Camper445]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
We have our next winter Georgia and Florida state park stays booked into next April, all with our preferred sites. As said, you need to be ready to click at exactly the moment the reservation windows open, 11 months ahead in Florida and 13 months ahead in Georgia. I haven't timed it with Florida's new system, but one trick with Reserve America parks if you don't get in the first time, is to go back again 15 minutes later. Many people have multiple windows open ready to click on, and they sometimes hit on more than one site. While they complete the process for one site, the others are released back into the system in 15 minutes. That has gotten us into some popular parks on several occasions in the past few years. Some park systems have tried to control the "book two weeks ahead and then change the dates later" game by not allowing any changes for at least 18 days. When you go back to make the change then, your preferred dates may already be taken.

Proof to confirm my previous comment. Snowbirds gaming the system.

[Dutch_12078]

We have our next winter Georgia and Florida state park stays booked into next April, all with our preferred sites. As said, you need to be ready to click at exactly the moment the reservation windows open, 11 months ahead in Florida and 13 months ahead in Georgia. I haven't timed it with Florida's new system, but one trick with Reserve America parks if you don't get in the first time, is to go back again 15 minutes later. Many people have multiple windows open ready to click on, and they sometimes hit on more than one site. While they complete the process for one site, the others are released back into the system in 15 minutes. That has gotten us into some popular parks on several occasions in the past few years. Some park systems have tried to control the "book two weeks ahead and then change the dates later" game by not allowing any changes for at least 18 days. When you go back to make the change then, your preferred dates may already be taken.

[Camper445]

Florida residents have been bellyaching (and rightly so) about the state parks since before the internet. It has nothing to do with RV sales, bots, or anything other than snowbirds. They game the system to no end and have done so forever, moving from park tobpark or site to site to avoid stay limits along with other tactics such as having friends and family reserve for them. The poor Florida working guy with family, who has to schedule camping around vacation schedules and approvals etc, is forced to camp in the off season for the most part at FL state parks. Nothing new here.

[Retired_JSO]

We were Florida residents until 2020. We always booked popular Florida and Georgia state parks 12 months in advance. For 10 years in a row, we would book Rainbow Springs SP every Christmas/New Year and Goldhead SP every Thanksgiving. Up until, 2018, we never worried because we could get the site we wanted. Now it has become a lot harder. Our Georgia SP’s are upgrading with a lot more offering 50 amp and sewer. Vogel SP in our county has started to upgrade every site adding sewer, half being closed during the makeover. I understand ST Andrews in Florida has added paved roads and sewer.