Jellystone Park Camp-Resort – Caledonia, WI
Campground Review
This past summer, I spent six weeks living in my RV while dealing with my daughter’s mental health needs. I was lucky to find a place that could accommodate us and was close to the services they needed. Jellystone was the best place for us to be during this time!
Typically, I don’t stay in RV Parks. I prefer the more open sites and fewer amenities of a state or national park, but using my RV as a second home meant that we would benefit from so many things that this Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Caledonia, WI could offer!
Sites
This RV Park was expanding during our summer stay. They added more cabins and sites in a new section surrounding a luxorious beach area called Bear Paw Beach. There is a wide variety of campsites available, to suit all needs. There are tent only sites, water and electric sites, full hook ups, pull through sites for large rigs, and the cabins. The sites in the original area of the park offer some shade to almost full shade. Due to the construction, the newer addition is very sunny, but will become more shaded as the trees grow.
Sites are close together, as you would expect in an RV Park, and the park is quite large. Backing into some sites is rather tight, especially when the campground is full. The earlier you can arrive at busy times the better off you will be, especially if you have a larger rig. The power towers are easy to see, yet they blend in.
You may have to share a power tower with your neighbor on some sites, which meant that my lines and cords were running across either my own site or a neighbors. I didn’t care for this, and took care to shop for sites where the power tower would be on the side I needed.
We stayed in five different sites during our six weeks there. Three sites were full hook up and the other two were water and electricity only.
Amenities
As an RV Park – Resort, there is a list of amenities that will give every person in your party something to do! When you arrive, you must purchase a wristband for every member of your party. This fee is confusing and I was never quite sure it if was really included in the fee for two adults and two children. I seemed to pay extra for the wristband. This wristband allows you to use the pools, the beach, play mini-golf, use the jumping pillow an other inflatables in the resort, use the water balloon war station, ride the water slides, play laser tag, take a Hey ride, and join in on the other activities offered each day.
We put Yogi to bed many nights, played bingo and watched the evening movies often. In addition, we played mini golf, went swimming often, and the girls loved the jumping pillow. All of these were included with our wristband.
The resort is rather large, and in order to get to some of the amenities, you would have to walk, bike, or rent a golfcart. Golfcarts were available for a fee, and if you have your own, you are not allowed to use it. Other amenities which required an additional fee were the obstacle course at Bear Paw Beach, rental of the pedal carts, and purchasing a guest wrist band for any additional guests that stay with you. You are also not allowed to bring your own firewood into the park. You can purchase it at the lodge/gift store/snack shop.
We learned that on holidays, when one of my older daughters and her boyfriend came to stay, that they issue different wristbands for a holiday. On the Fourth of July, we purchased guest wristbands for both of the and went swimming at the beach for quite awhile. After eating we decided to go to the other pool area, but were denied entrance because my younger daughters and I had the wrong colored wristbands. We weren’t aware that they needed to be changed at no extra cost so that they would be the correct color mid-week and the other pool area had allowed us entrance even though they should not have. We had to wait in a long line at registration in order to switch the bands. Then, we were later told that my older daughter and her boyfriend did not have the right color for that particular pool area and they should not have been allowed entrance. This policy of the Resort, probably made to keep people from sneaking in (although there was no parking available for anyone to crash the resort and sneak into the pool) took away a lot of our family fun that day, was irritating, and seemed pointless.
The Resort chain does offer a rewards program. Signing up for Club Yogi Rewards is free, and you earn points for every stay in any Resort. In my six weeks, the point I earned gave us one free night at the Resort, which I felt was very nice.
Another amenity, was garbage pick-up. Just put your garbage bags at the road by the post marking your site number, and staff would come around in their carts to collect it for you. Garbage had to be placed outside before 7pm or it would have to wait until the next day.
If you bring your dog with you, they also have a dog park with separate areas for small and larger dogs. It was a nice place for our dog to stretch her legs, chase some balls and make new doggie pals. They also provided bags to pick up after your dog if you happened to forget yours.
Rates
Average rates for RV sites, according to the site at the time this was published, was $69. This seemed to include wristbands for two adults and two children, but I would ask to be sure this isn’t added once you arrive. Our typical cost was around $50 – 60/night, but this was for the weekday rates.
Tent sites average between $55 and $66 dollars a night depending upon if you need water and electric or want a site with no hook ups.
Cabins, accommodating five guests, were $210 a night.
All reservations required a minimum of two nights for your stay.
Staff
There were so many staff people, and we had positive interactions with almost every one. The manager of the park was extremely helpful to me, as my situation for staying was very different from most. She allowed me to leave my car parked in a larger parking lot near Bear Paw Beach on the weekends, as I took my RV home. I do not have towing capabilities on my RV and I am the only driver, so family helped me to get my car to the Resort at the start of the summer, and then returned to help me get it hoe.
There are many younger staff working at the different amenities, and they were always smiling, kind, and helpful. Even those working the garbage runs would wave and say hello as they drove around. With so many young staff running around throughout the day, it began to feel like a summer camp, and my family enjoyed that.
The only issue we had with any staff was in regard to our wristbands on July 4th when we weren’t allowed entry into one of the pool areas. After waiting in line for our new wristbands we went into the pool area only to notice that there were a few other people there with the wristband colors that we had on. They were not forced to leave an change their wristbands, and I felt that it was odd that the rules were enforced so differently. It really put a damper on our holiday fun.
There was a lot of construction going on in the park while we were there, as they expanded to include the new Bear Paw Beach and additional RV and cabin sites. With all of the rain and construction, the roads were very muddy. A staff member allowed us to ride his golf cart to fetch my vehicle on a Sunday night so that we wouldn’t have to walk through all of the mud. He was so pleasant and helpful, as 90% of the staff were.
Staying here really allowed us to make the most of a difficult family situation.
Nearby Attractions
The Milwaukee area has a lot to offer. While we were busy during the days, we tried to get out at night as a family and do things once in awhile. Here is a small list of some things that you can check out during the summer in Milwaukee:
- Mitchell Park Domes
- Milwaukee Zoo
- Harley Davidson Museum
- Milwaukee Art Museum (check out the free first Thursdays program)
- Miller Park
- Summerfest and Ethnic Fests
- Milwaukee Public Market
- Milwaukee River Walk
- Betty Brinn Children’s Museum (Check out the free first Thursdays program)
- The Bronze Fonz (For “Happy Days” fans)
