Have you ever enjoyed National Parks here in the US?
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (51903)
December 6, 2025 1:00pm CST
Of course I have, I live in the US. In my lifetime, we have always had a wonderful National Park system, welcoming to everyone and operating parks to be proud of.
According to many news sources, we will now not have free entrance to our parks on MLK Day, or Juneteenth. I don't think Martin Luther King's legacy needs to be explained, he is a part of our American history. This is a complete slap in the face to our history, and to his memory. Juneteenth has been in place in the US for years, and was put in place to celebrate the end of the slavery in the southern states of the US after the Civil War.
BUT...now we will add a ''free day'' for DJT's birthday because...well, he decided that's what he wanted to do. US citizens/residents will be able to get in free. Anyone visiting the US from any other country have to pay $100 to the 11 most popular parks in the country.
Since so many park workers have been cut from our National Parks, I wonder just who is going to check ID's and decide who gets in, and who doesn't?
Isn't this welcoming to tourists? In the past, I have had Canadian cousins come and visit and we have gone to National Parks together. I can't imagine how Unwelcoming this would be, to be charged that kind of money to go to a park.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/12/05/national-parks-free-entry-days-2026/87631147007/
10 people like this
11 responses
@AmbiePam (107709)
• United States
12h
Oh, Marie. Marie, Marie, Marie. This is so ridiculous. What foreign tourist is going to want to pay $100 a visit to a national park, except, I don’t know, Yellowstone and a few others? This is not good at all. Plus, what the heck is the harm of giving free entrance to MLK Jr.’s birthday and Juneteenth? It’s so petty!
You know we got into the Petrified Forest last month for free because Hudson gets a free national parks pass. How long until he takes that away from special needs families?
3 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
12h
It's just all wrong, Amber. It makes me sad, the National Parks should be what they always were--a place to enjoy, for just a day or several...and no one is going to want to pay that fee. We need tourist dollars, of course. But ours are down, and at this rate they will continue to be.
And to deny special needs families...so many families of children with special needs are on a tight, tight budget. It takes everything they have to provide what's needed for their special needs child, or children. To insult MLK by doing away with this is a slap in the face for all US citizens.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (199671)
• United States
4h
Yes, I love National Parks. Just another thing to hate DJT for.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
4h
I'm still burning about MLK being ousted from his free day, and replaced by DJT's birthday. I mean...seriously???
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80761)
• United States
5h
I thankfully have a pass because of my disabled veteran status. I took three complete strangers into the Chattanooga Battlefield Park on my pass the last time I was there…just because I figured their tax dollars help pay for my medical treatment at the VA.
I’ll make sure I’m not at a national park on iDJiT’s birthday. 
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
5h
I am glad you do have that pass, because you do enjoy the National Parks. That was nice that you took some people in with you.
Yes, I have already heard some people say the same thing--that they will not go on DJT's birthday. And that they will spread the word so other's wouldn't, either.
2 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (126001)
• Marion, Ohio
9h
They need to throw him out like yesterday
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
6h
It is my understanding that many of the employees were laid off permanently, too.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
7h
I always thought our National Parks were open to everyone, regardless, and not for an exorbitant fee.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (182775)
• Boise, Idaho
9h
Any way to make that almighty $. And, don't forget many of these parks are where a lot of precious is that he also wants. 3 more years of these atrocities.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
7h
I think he will destroy some of the parks if he does this.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (51769)
• Mojave, California
7h
The wealthy are really trying to make it a only wealthy country. If you not wealthy you will not be welcome here. For now they still need the middle class to keep them wealthy, but they are hoping to get rid of everyone not wealthy eventually. They are using The Las Vegas playbook and it worked but worked so well not even the wealthy want to go there anymore because its now so boring. Poor people just screwed either way and they not trying to help you any, they will pretend so you will put them back in power.
You cannot make this stuff up. What are these people thinking? America is going to be giant waste pool with the leadership we have now days.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
4h
''You cannot make this stuff up.''
Nope, we can't. The idiocy goes on and on and on...there is no end in sight.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (51903)
•
47m
When we lived with our grandparents in a tiny Illinois town, there was a State Park not far from us. You could fish, hike, camp, there were areas to play ball, so many things to do. There was never a charge back then unless you were pulling a camper to stay in and hook up to power and water--and that was dirt cheap. Now it's crazy expensive.
The parks are for all of us, and I agree--there shouldn't be a charge unless you are parking a camper.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (91539)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
10h
I have written about them and read about them but never been to one,
2 people like this
@LooeyVille (65)
• United States
9h
I've visited many of our National Parks in the USA.
Other countries charge non-citizens higher fees to see their parks and attractions.
2 people like this
