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Big changes: Registration for Raleigh camps begins Monday; what you need to know

Raleigh is making major changes to the way people can register for its popular and affordable summer camps this year. And registration starts at 6:30 a.m., Monday, March 5, for some locations.

Posted — Updated
Optimist Park, Raleigh
By
Sarah Lindenfeld Hall
, Go Ask Mom editor

As I wrote last month, Raleigh is making major changes to the way people can register for its popular and affordable summer camps this year. And, for the 2018 summer season, registration starts at 6:30 a.m., Monday, March 5, for some locations.

The changes are the city's attempt to avoid the issues that cropped up last year when parents, eager to line up affordable summer camps for their kids, overloaded Raleigh parks department's online registration system, leading to lots of delay, frustration, confusion and anger, as I reported.

Starting Monday, instead of opening up camp registrations to all camps on the same day, the city will stagger registration dates, based on camp locations. The new schedule, city officials hope, will reduce the number of people who are trying to sign up for camps on a given day, lighten the daily load on the city's website and lead to much less frustration.

On Monday, registration will open for camps at the following locations:

  • Optimist
  • Peach Road
  • Powell Drive
  • Pullen
  • Raleigh City Museum
  • Ralph Campbell
  • Roberts Park
  • Sanderford Road
  • Sgt. Courtney T. Johnson
  • St. Monica Teen Center
  • Tarboro Road
  • Worthdale
New locations will open for registration on Tuesday. See the city's camps brochure, which lists all of the details, locations and registration schedule.

When I wrote about this last month, I shared some tips for parents, which I'll share again:

Registration will open up at 6:30 a.m., March 5 to March 8. Last year, registration opened up at 5:30 a.m., but, based on feedback from parents, who said that was too early, the city moved it to 6:30 a.m.
Online registration is your best bet, especially if you're interested in signing up for popular camps. The only other way to register begins March 26 by physically going to the Recreation Business Office at Jaycee Park, 2401 Wade Ave., Raleigh. By then, some camps will be full.
Get your RecLink account squared away before March 5. The city's registration program will require you to have a RecLink account. If you don't have one or it's not updated, your registration for camps could be delayed. If you already have one, make sure it's up to date with your current address, for instance, and the names of any child who you want to sign up for camp. If you've never signed up for a Raleigh parks program, it's likely you don't have a RecLink account. Now is the time to get all of that figured out. Go to parks.raleighnc.gov, select Register on RecLink and select Create New Account. If you need help, contact the city at 919-996-2153.
Check out the city's camp listings now. Take a full look at all of the city's camp offerings and come up with second and third choices in case their top picks fill up so they are ready with Plan B on registration day. You can browse the city's offerings on the parks department's website.
On registration day, be patient. Even with the changes, the site could still be slower than usual, depending on the number of people signing up for camps.

The city recommends these strategies:

  • Once you add an item to your cart, leave it in the cart and allow the transaction to be completed.
  • Do not close your browser or logout until registration is complete.
  • Once registration is complete, logout of the system so you can lessen the load on it and make it easier for other parents to sign up.
For information about other summer camps across the region, see our Raleigh NC Kids Camp Guide, which lists both track-out and summer camps.
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