Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Tower Park

We had been looking forward to this camping trip, but unfortunately our experience at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Lodi was very disappointing. Before our trip, I paid the Lock Fee($40) specifically to guarantee the campsite we had selected. However, when we arrived, we were assigned to a completely different site. After setting up our trailer, we went back to the office to ask about it. Instead of correcting the mistake, another employee told us that we didn’t even have a reservation and that we needed to leave the campground. We had to search through our emails, show our reservation confirmation, and even provide proof of payment from our bank before they finally found our reservation. Only then were we moved to the campsite we had originally reserved and paid extra to secure. Unfortunately, the worst part happened on our last night. We were camping with friends, and between us we had two electric bikes—one worth nearly$5,000 and another worth over$1,000. We went to bed around 2:30 a.m., and everything was still there. When we came out of our trailers around 8:30 a.m., both bikes had been stolen. We immediately called the police. The responding officer told us that just two weeks earlier, another camper had all of the sound equipment stolen from their vehicle at the same campground. What disappointed us most is that the campground doesn’t appear to have adequate security measures, such as surveillance cameras, and there was no warning at check-in that thefts had recently occurred. Had we known there was an increased risk, we would have taken additional precautions with our valuables. When families choose a campground like this, they expect a safe, relaxing environment where they can enjoy nature without worrying that expensive belongings will disappear overnight. The campground has great amenities and is a fun place for families, but our experience with the reservation issues and the lack of security left us extremely disappointed. I hope management takes these concerns seriously, improves security, and is more transparent with guests so other families don’t have the same experience we did.

This was a perfect place for all the family we had our grandkids and older kids and it was so fun. Rv campsite and water park was clean and very nice. Area for dogs was nice for our dogs to run around and play with other dogs as long as all dogs are friendly. lots of activities for the kids all day besides the water park, we didn't end up doing most of them because we spent all day at the water park. Water park is open 11 to 7 but Lazy river closes at 5 not sure why. Then there is the activities in club house, mini golf, lasher tag, playground, bounce pillow, basketball, volleyball, dodge ball, hayride, parade wit's Yogi which the kids all follow him on their bikes as he rides through the camp on a golf cart. the only complaint I have is that the inside of the bathrooms/showers was very hot no ventilation and it was miserable to take a shower in during the summer and you can't adjust water temperature and there is limited umbrella tables and they are only in pool area not where water playground is. other then that our experience was awesome we will definitely come back

I wanted somewhere not too far to go and stay when my 5-6 year-old had 5 days off from school. This was perfect in so many ways.

Positives

- Amenities! I love how everything was themed, from the street names to the signs. Two nice playgrounds, ball courts, pool and hot tub. Watching your kids play red light/green light on the jumping pillow put a smile on every parent's face.

- Seasonal programming (weekends only). For October, we did an outdoor movie, magic pumpkins, costume contest, trick or treating, hay ride, and haunted house. My daughter loved everything except the haunted house, which she said was "too scary!"

- Clean, comfortable facilities. Lots of ways to stay. We car camped and found the hook ups really easy to use. Water, drain, 3 types of electricity, picnic table and firepit at every site. We used their bathrooms and showers and was impressed by how clean they were. Most of the time we had them completely to ourselves and they were even climate controlled.

- Restaurant. I cooked breakfast and lunch most days at the campsite, but for dinner we splashed out at the kid-friendly Waterfront Grille. Friendly staff, good food (lobster and prime rib, yum!), amazing views of the sunset.

Negatives

- Water park was closed. Call ahead to see if it is open when you want to go. I heard that it is never open because of some issue with permits or drought. If so, the promotional video is misleading and I almost deducted a star for this.

- Expensive. For camping, it is expensive, but think of it more as a theme park/resort, than true camping. We saved on the cabin and RV, and spent on the optional activities and the fancy meals.

Bottom line, I would totally go back and stay as long as I could. I hear it is super crowded in the summer, but it would be worth it if the water park is open.