Anyone to cancel reservations in state parks in the Keys?

[Liltippy]

About this time last year there were several postings from people who had to cancel their reservations at any of the State Parks in the Florida Keys.

If anyone should be in that position this year, please let me know so I can pick up the reservation. My time is very flexible, any time between 12/27/14 and 4/1/15, as I will be heading to Augusta GA for my annual 4 day spectator visit of the Masters Golf Tournament.

I realize I am asking for a miracle, but you never know until you ask.

Thanks.

 

[Wasoki]

Be careful...
When I inquired about using someone else's reservations, I was told that they will check your ID upon check-in.  They did.  If the names don't match they may not honor the reservation (or so I've been told...).

 

[blw2]

I hope to get down there some day myself.  Wanted to in the pup and looked into it once.  Seemed impossible to get reservations....
assuming you're taling about Bahia Honda SP.(?)

I remember reading the way that folks manage to get reservations was something like this..... as i remember it.  Seems like a "scam" to me, & I don't like it much, but anyway....
They would troll the reserve america site at midnight (or whenver it is that it cycles over to the next day), 11 months + a week or so ahead of when they wanted to stay.
11 months because that's how far out you can reserve......
So when they managed to get  a site, they would book it starting that one week or whatever 'before' they really wanted the site with the length of stay set to end on or past their desired trip.  Then later on, they would call and ammend the reservation to clip off the days prior to their trip.

 

[Wasoki]

That process described above is what my wife and I call the Florida Lottery.  We use two cell phones and a laptop all at once.  By 8:00 a.m. of the day reservations become available we have selected the desired site(s) and are pressing the "reserve site" button frantically and repeatedly until the message appears that the sites are not available or we "win" the lottery with the ability to book the site.  We then book the site for 5 to 14 days.  There is a price to pay for this process.  There is a fee for later revising your reservation.  You can't adjust your reservation immediately.  Using this process we have only needed to cancel about 6 to 8 days for this years reservations that stretch from January 11 through March 30. 

We have also noted a flurry of cancellations in the week to 3 weeks before the date of the reservations, but that is slim pickings and hard to cobble together any block of time.

Given the popularity of campsites in southern coastal Florida, the demand will continue to far outpace supply.  I am not sure  how the state could make things fairer.  We have not been able to get into Bahai Honda or Curry Hammock despite our efforts.  We will think we have hit it big if ever we get into either of those parks.

 

[HappyWanderer]

Be careful...
When I inquired about using someone else's reservations, I was told that they will check your ID upon check-in.  They did.  If the names don't match they may not honor the reservation (or so I've been told...).

If you do hook up with someone canceling their reservation, you both log into the website at the same time. When they press their ?cancel? button, press your ?submit? button.

 

[blw2]

If you do hook up with someone canceling their reservation, you both log into the website at the same time. When they press their ?cancel? button, press your ?submit? button.

and Wasoki and DW aren't tripple clicking at that same moment.