Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resort Wisconsin Dells

Let me begin by saying that I am well-traveled and I have experienced many different places in my life. I understand that certain places foster a certain culture and ambiance and strive to create experiences for specific clientele. Recently, my family and I booked at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Wisconsin Dells, and I had an idea of what to expect. Because we were going as a group - 9 of us, 5 adults, and 4 children, we wanted accommodations that would make things a bit easier on us. We wanted running water, electricity, and something sturdy to stay in. So no tent or campers for us. My sister-in-law and her husband and 2 children flew out from California to do this, my elderly mother-in-law drove in from Eau Claire, and my husband and two children and I drove from the Chicago suburbs. My sister-in-law’s family booked a Boo-Boo Chalet. My husband and mother-in-law each booked one of the “Retro Family Lodges,” which in actuality is a park model. In the past, my husband and I had stayed in park models before at other camp grounds, and the experiences we had with them were positive. The park models we had stayed in elsewhere proved to be spacious and pristine, met the needs of our family, and so we had no problem booking one of the “Retro Family Lodges” that Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park had to offer, especially since the pictures of said lodges that were featured on their website looked clean and sturdy. When we arrived, my family and I found out we were in “Retro Lodge” (park model) 159, and my mother-in-law was next to us in 161. The minute I walked in, I was instantly repulsed. So much so that I started dry-heaving and crying. I have personally seen slums in Medellín, Columbia that looked better than this park model and were in better shape. In this park model, panels were peeling off of cabinets, walls, and ceilings. All the fixtures were covered in rust. The side of the refrigerator looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in decades. In the bunk room, the ceiling was peeling, and was taking on a reddish hue, and I am not sure if that was rust, scum, blood, or something else. Three of the windows were cracked from the outside. Water stains were on the parts of the ceilings that were in-tact. There was a sad looking futon that was serving as a couch or sleeper, but I was terrified to sit on it. Everything in there was old, decrepit, and visibly covered in decades-old grime and filth that was firmly mashed into the pores of every surface. I shudder to think about what wasn’t visible, what lurked under ground and above me. My mother-in-law’s park model was worse. The condition of everything in the park model was the same as ours, only in hers, there were three holes in the wall, where mice evidently had come in, a pool of water around the toilet, and when she turned on the shower, rusty brown water came spewing out! We were sufficiently horrified. We informed the office and they told us we could move to one of the Boo-boo cab

I’ve been reading all of these ‘terrible’ Karen reviews and that wasn’t my experience at all. The staff were friendly, the cabin is what it was advertised as, and for all these bad reviews there sure were a lot of happy people. There is one caveat though. The roads are very narrow. If you’re going one way and another car is coming, it’s a who can get the closest to the edge to get through. So drive slow. The roads were definitely made with only golf cart travel in mind. Otherwise everything was a great experience.

Rude staff, unclean, poor activities, and very overpriced. Check in process was unorganized and difficult to understand the staff. Credit card was charged without authorization to secure sites together even though we declined that option. Charge was refunded when staff was confronted but they were extremely rude and aggressive about it.