A federal law says that if a park wants to call itself 55+ it must not rent more than 20 percent of its spaces to people younger than 55. So should someone show up younger than that, the park management can accept them, provided the park is still below the 20 percent "young people" occupancy limit. But they have the right to turn them away if they choose.
"We're a don't tell, don't ask park," one 55+ park owner told me, which was her way of saying "we can take anybody." But what she did not say is that the main reason a park would turn away people younger than 55 would be if they had kids along.
Their residenets don't want kids around. They don't want them riding their bikes, screaming or otherwise making noise. "These snowbirds would rather be around snakes than kids," a friend in the RV industry told me.
So instead of advertising "no kids" on its sign, a park says "55+."
You find these parks mostly in snowbird areas like Arizona. You seldom see them elsewhere.
When I was younger I once got turned away at a 55+ park. I was probably around 40. I didn't have any kids with me. But I did have an old, ugly motorhome, so maybe that was the reason. Whatever the case, I was not allowed to stay and that made me mad.
I am often amazed that people get offended about being told that they couldn't do something....in this case saying that the park is for 55+.
ReplyDeleteWhy would someone who is 35 want to be there? Why get upset that you have place that you can "Join" as you age. I was never upset that I had to wait until a certain age to join AARP.
It is nice that if we've been driving all day, and the only place to stop (a 55+ place) can't kick me out....sorta....though it still means that they can do as they want...so I guess nothing really has changed...LOL!!
We are 50 and retired. Most of our friends are older than 55. We like a park that has no kids. So a 55+ park would be great for us. I am glad that this was actually posted and will use them now that I know that I can.
ReplyDeleteWe stopped at a 55+ campground (Marina Village in Corpus Christi). I think they should have mentioned it either in the Yellow pages they advertised in or when I called them on the phone. My 56yo husband was okay, my 33yo Class C wasn't a problem. The food cart wasn't a problem. It was my 50yo self and my 23yo daughter they wouldn't accept. We were told that my daughter and I would have to "find another place to stay". And we sure did, after I informed them that the Class C was in my name and if I couldn't stay then it most certainly wasn't. Found a place we liked better at the other end of Flour Bluff. We laughed about that for a long time. Besides, I don't stay in 55+ parks. If I wasn't welcome before, then I must not be welcome now is my theory. When did my money become acceptable to them.
ReplyDeleteGee, we have seen young people that just had a baby two months ago, go camping. It's fun to listen to babies cry and cry. I guess they just couldn't wait and don't really care about other people's need for quiet time. 55 and over should be just like it says, 55 and older only, no exceptions. Plenty of other parks that take family's with many kids that run around everywhere, screaming and hallowing at each other. After raising your own kids, you are looking for some peace and quiet, that young ones don't understand yet or just don't care. If parks would separate the people with kids and dogs, things would be a lot better. If I would like to listen to all of that, I would rent lots of kids and dogs to take with me, so I could enjoy listening to them day and night. Go to the swimming pool and see how the kids are screaming and hollowing, that's a lot of fun. Can't stand that and unless there is two pools, one for under 18 and one for adults, then you can use them or you have to endure all the noise, which means, lots of adults don't get to use the one and only pool or hot tub. There should be parks just for young people with kids and dogs only.
ReplyDeleteWe would like to camp at a 55+ park, but we can't fine any parks that are 55+ we live in the Maryland and camp a lot in near by
ReplyDeletestates and never seen one, is there a book or some kind of list and infro on these parks.
I guess I wonder how such a park would react to us. My wife and I are both over 55, but our autistic son is 19.
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