Passport America

[Santabobswife]

We do a lot of KOAs, but see some of you talking about Passport America. What has been your experience with them? Is it worth it? Is it generally more private CGs.

[mjones12]

The discount we get for 3 or 4 nights usually equals what we pay for the annual membership.

[BooBoo23]

It only takes a few stays to pay for the membership. All RV parks in the program are private owned and they have a nice directory (which is out of date as soon as it is printed) but you can keep it up to date by checking their website. The use in the south during the winter is a little limited as the RV parks like to make more money then, while the RV parks all fill up. I stay and one RV park in Vidalia, LA a couple times a year and just 2 visits pays for the pass. Most campgrounds will limit the number of nights you can use it, usually 3 nights is the most, but there are always exceptions and a few have no limits on the stay, depends on how popular they are. If you plan quite a few trips it is well worth it.

Also if you are 62yo or older get an "America the Beautiful" pass for a one time (lifetime) fee of $10 to give you free admission and a 50% discount for campsites at most government parks, Corps of Engineer campgrounds and other National parks and lands, also some state parks. A few other perks like discounted admission to museums and historic sites (not 50% though).


Since you live in Georgia you may want to get a "Friends of Georgia State Parks" membership that I believe is still $35 for the year for seniors. It gives you a 20% discount at state parks (usually around $22) and you get one free nights stay, so the membership costs you about $13 for the year. There are some very nice state parks, Georgia Veterans State Park is a favorite.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by mjones12

The discount we get for 3 or 4 nights usually equals what we pay for the annual membership.

This is basically the only way/reason that I'll buy these memberships. For instance, I rarely stay at KOAs but looking at Wisconsin Dells- I could save $20 on my week there if I bought a KOA membership ($27 cost for the membership, $47 discount on the week = net $20 savings).

[DKRITTER]

We chose not to be members, most of our travel is regionally and they didn't have enough parks to justify the membership. If we traveled more out of state we probably would.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Santabobswife

We do a lot of KOAs, but see some of you talking about Passport America. What has been your experience with them? Is it worth it? Is it generally more private CGs.

We travel so PA is a good deal! Most of the Time we only stay for (1) night so it works for us! Youroo!!

[DKRITTER]

Sorry, forgot to add that there are a lot of stipulations with PA RV Parks, so you need to have a buyer beware attitude when looking.

Not saying it's a bad deal.

Just saying the Big Mac at MickyD's never looks like the commercial.

[Ford1]

We've had membership for about 10 years now. I have to say that you need to look through the list of campgrounds that are members and make sure that there are parks that you would use. We have made use of most of the Encore parks when possible. They are usually 'rated from acceptable to nice' in our personal rating system. There are many parks that are pretty shabby with permanent occupants that are not kept up well. We look for Passport parks when traveling because we would much rather spend $15-$20 for a night in a commercial campground instead of using Walmart. And yes, the discounts have offset the annual dues every year.