Florida Snowbird RV Parks: How to Book a Winter RV Site

Your arrival date decides which booking a Florida RV park winter becomes. On October 14, 2026, all 13 Florida RV parks verified by Long Term RV Rentals sold a long-stay booking of 28 to 184 days, and from September 15, 2026 to April 15, 2027 is 212 days. This page works out, arrival date by arrival date, which booking you are buying, when each payment falls due, the last day you can change it for free, and when Florida's six-month tax line arrives.

What this page does for a snowbird

• Tells you which booking your dates buy. Arrive on October 1, 2026 and leave on April 14, 2027 and the stay is 195 nights, past the 184-night tier and into the parks' separate extended-stay agreement. Arrive on October 15 and it is 181 nights, inside the tier.

• Puts every payment on a calendar. All 13 Florida park pages, read on October 14, 2026, take a one-month deposit of up to $750 at reservation and want the final balance by the first day of the third month at the latest.

• Gives you the last free change date. A long-stay booking can be changed or cancelled for a refund up to 45 days before arrival. For a December 1, 2026 arrival, that day is October 17, 2026.

• States both of Florida's tax routes for a stay longer than six months, and the one way a split winter can lose both.

• Names what the parks leave out, so you can ask for it in writing before you pay.

Which booking does your arrival date buy?

The 13 Florida parks are all run by one operator, Encore / Equity LifeStyle Properties, and each publishes the same two products for a long stay. A "long-term or seasonal" booking runs 28 to 184 days. A stay of "185 days or more" is an extended stay under an "Agreement for Use of RV Site". The 14-day summer cap starts again on April 15, and no park page says whether a stay already running on that date is held to it. So the nights below are counted to a departure on April 14, the last day before the cap window opens.

• Arrive September 16, 2026: 210 nights. Extended-stay agreement. Six calendar months are up on March 16, 2027.

• Arrive October 1, 2026: 195 nights. Extended-stay agreement. Six months are up on April 1, 2027.

• Arrive October 11, 2026: 185 nights. The latest arrival that reaches the agreement with an April 14 departure.

• Arrive October 15, 2026: 181 nights. Long-stay tier. Six months fall on April 15, so the stay is not longer than six months.

• Arrive November 1, 2026: 164 nights. Long-stay tier.

• Arrive December 1, 2026: 134 nights. Long-stay tier.

• Arrive January 1, 2027: 103 nights. Long-stay tier.

Next winter is one day longer. From September 15, 2027 to April 15, 2028 is 213 days, because February 2028 has 29 days. For that winter, an arrival on or before October 12, 2027 reaches 185 nights by April 14, 2028.

What to do. Count your nights before you ask for a quote. At 185 or more you are asking for a different product, with its own deposit and its own paperwork, so ask for it by name.

What the extended-stay agreement says, and what it leaves out

Read on October 14, 2026, the same text sits on all 13 Florida park pages. You place a $150 site holding deposit, and "a manager or other employee working at that campground or resort should reach out to you" to discuss site location and the agreement. Four lines in it matter to a snowbird:

• The deposit holds the park, not the pad. It "secures a site at your selected campground or resort, but does not secure a specific site." If you want the pad you toured, get its number written into the signed agreement.

• You must qualify. To sign, "you must meet residency requirements for seasonal or annual stays." No page says what those requirements are. Ask for them in writing before you pay the $150.

• The RV can stay, you cannot always. Under the agreement "you may leave your RV on the site year-round", but "there are restrictions that limit the amount of time you may occupy your RV on the site that vary by campground and resort." No page gives the limit for any park.

• Where the $150 goes. If you become an annual guest, it is applied to the administrative fee, if there is one, or credited to the annual site payment. If the agreement is not signed, the pages give (855) 336-8892 to chase the refund.

When the money is due

All 13 Florida pages print the same payment schedule for a stay of a month or longer, read on October 14, 2026 (Winter Quarters Pasco's page is one example):

• At reservation: a one-month deposit, up to a maximum of $750.

• 1 to 3 months: the balance is due on the reservation start date.

• 4 to 5 months: 50 percent of the balance on the start date, the final balance on the first day of the second month.

• 6 months or longer: 50 percent on the start date, 25 percent on the first day of the second month, the final balance on the first day of the third month.

Now set that against the refund line. 12 of the 13 Florida pages say there are no refunds for early departure or early check-out. Pine Island RV Resort's page does not carry the line, so ask it directly. Winter Quarters Pasco's page names the only exception it allows, "a death or documented major family medical emergency", and then only for a cancellation made before check-in. The other 12 pages name none.

What that costs. Arrive on December 1, 2026 and stay to April 14. Under the four-to-five-month schedule the season is paid in full on January 1, with 103 nights still ahead. Under the six-month schedule it is paid on February 1, with 72 nights ahead. Leave in February for any other reason and the pages promise nothing back.

A silence to ask about. A November 1 to April 14 stay is five months and 13 days. The pages give a schedule for "4 to 5 months" and for "6 months or longer", and they do not say which one covers a stay in between.

The 45-day line on a long-stay booking

For stays of 28 to 184 days, the pages say a change or cancellation "up to and including 45 days prior to your scheduled arrival date" gets a refund of what you paid. With less notice, "you will forfeit your deposit amount." The deposit is one month's charge, up to $750. Counted back 45 days:

• November 15, 2026 arrival: last free change October 1, 2026, already past on the day this was written.

• December 1, 2026 arrival: last free change October 17, 2026.

• January 1, 2027 arrival: last free change November 17, 2026.

• October 1, 2027 arrival: last free change August 17, 2027.

• November 1, 2027 arrival: last free change September 17, 2027.

Electricity on a winter stay

Each of the 13 Florida pages says "Electricity is not included for stays of 30 days or longer." Winter Quarters Pasco's page adds that "any stay of 30 days or longer will incur a monthly electric bill." None of the 13 publishes the rate or how the meter is read. A stay from October 1 to April 14 touches seven calendar months, so ask each park for its rate per kilowatt hour before you compare two quotes. A quote without electric is a partial number.

Florida's six-month line: both routes, and the split-winter trap

Florida Statutes 212.03(4) gives a long stay two routes out of the transient rentals tax:

• A written lease up front. A bona fide written lease for longer than six months for continuous residence takes the stay out of the tax from the start.

• Six months paid, then exempt. A guest who resides continuously longer than six months, and has paid the tax for the first six months, is exempt from then on.

Both routes count residence "at any one" hotel, apartment house, roominghouse, "tourist or trailer camp", or condominium. Read plainly, a winter split between a Tampa Bay park and a Fort Myers park is two stays, each six months or less, and neither route applies to either one. If the tax matters to you, keep the whole winter at one park, and confirm your own case with the Florida Department of Revenue.

Florida Statutes 513.01(12) defines a transient guest as one registered for six months or less. When a park knowingly lets a guest occupy an RV continuously for more than six months, the statute sets a rebuttable presumption that the occupancy is nontransient, and the eviction procedures of part II of chapter 83 apply. The parks publish no reason for their residency requirements, but a stay past six months crosses this line either way.

Whether the "Agreement for Use of RV Site" counts as the written lease 212.03(4) describes is not stated on any of the 13 pages. Ask before arrival, in writing.

Month-by-month booking timeline for the 2027 to 2028 winter

1. April 2027: count next winter's nights. Departure on April 14, 2028. An arrival on or before October 12, 2027 is 185 nights or more and needs the extended-stay agreement. Later arrivals book the 28 to 184 day tier.

2. May to July 2027: ask four questions, and get the answers in writing. The residency requirements, the electric rate, whether the agreement is a written lease for longer than six months, and how long the agreement lets you occupy the RV on the site.

3. Summer 2027, extended stays: place the $150 holding deposit. The pages say the agreement should be fully signed within seven business days, excluding weekends and federal holidays, or the $150 is refundable. Get the pad number into the agreement.

4. At reservation, tier stays: pay the one-month deposit, up to $750, and diary the 45-day date. For an October 1, 2027 arrival it is August 17; for November 1 it is September 17; for December 1 it is October 17.

5. September 15, 2027: the summer cap ends. From the next day a winter booking is not limited to 14 days per site.

6. Arrival day: pay the first share of the balance. All of it for one to three months, half for anything longer.

7. First day of the second and third months: the rest falls due. Once it is paid, 12 of 13 pages say leaving early brings no refund.

8. Every month: the electric bill. Check it against the rate you were given.

9. Six months in: the tax line. For an October 1, 2027 arrival that is April 1, 2028. Without a qualifying lease, the tax stops after the first six months paid.

10. April 14, 2028: leave, or switch to 14-day bookings. From April 15, the pages allow back-to-back 14-day stays only if you change sites between them.

Where the Florida parks are

The 13 verified parks sit in two metros: 5 near Tampa Bay (longtermrv.rentals/parks/tampa-bay) and 8 near Fort Myers (longtermrv.rentals/parks/fort-myers). On October 14, 2026, all 13 said they take pets, 11 listed laundry, 6 listed a mail center and 3 listed RV storage. If your park does not list a mail center, ask whether it takes guest mail and packages before you change your forwarding address for the winter. Every park's stay rule, quoted with its source, is on the park-by-park rule list. The main site's guide for this trip is longtermrv.rentals/for-snowbirds.

Compiled by Long Term RV Rentals (longtermrv.rentals, (408) 404-5926, hello@longtermrv.rentals), a directory of RV parks that take long stays. You book the site with the park. Escape RMC fulfills RV placements for Long Term RV Rentals. Not affiliated with Encore, Equity LifeStyle Properties, the State of Florida or any park named here. Quotes are from each park's own page, read on October 14, 2026; dates are counted by Long Term RV Rentals. This is not tax advice. Banner image is AI-generated. Last updated October 14, 2026.