Clay's Resort Jellystone Park

I won’t rate the other categories yet but I’ve been upset the whole process trying to plan my trip and the people have made it impossible. I’m constantly unable to get ahold of the park. I keep getting put on the“call back list” when trying to modify a reservation only for NO ONE to ever call back. I finally get ahold of someone after a MONTH… only to have zero customer service skills… they just said“oh we don’t even have a call list” so I ask for another form of communication I can have with me since my trip is in a month and I’ve had these issues for a month… they offer ZERO solutions and are not empathetic either. Another issue was last year I was hospitalized for several months due to an early twin birth so I had to push my trip to the following year… when I FINALLY got ahold of the park last year the women I spoke with trying to manage the rescheduling…was ZERO help surprise surprise… on top of that it took 13 calls and weeks before a manager got back to me…making the window to reschedule or get refunds closer to closing adding stress that you might not get to make your next move how you’d like… anyway…I simply asked for dates that matched the costs that we already paid for the trip so I didn’t have to pay more… I simply asked for it to be within the summer days since my previous reservation was during the summer time with all the extra water park and amenities that close at the end of August. I booked when my kid could use all amenities and there were no hour restrictions either due to still being in season. However the lady couldn’t accommodate or recommend any alternate dates to suite my trip that weren’t several hundred dollars more… now we started out with a trip all paid for last year with all amenities no hour restrictions to a weekend we had to pay more and are restricted hours wise on the summer amenities. As the person doing reservations you should be able to recommend dates and help me plan the trip accordingly to the money spent and not sit on the other end of the phone demanding I just give you dates…. After our trip we will never plan or schedule anything at this park again. Regardless of the amenities… for families traveling far distances you couldn’t make it anymore inconvenient, difficult, and time consuming for simply planning questions or just getting ahold of you in general. No sorrys…. Just a whole lot of…”hmm that’s weird well oh well, next” kind of attitude. Zero solutions just excuses. So that being first impressions not too excited to find out what we are in for when we arrive. Especially reading other reviews about deflated balls so you can’t use the hoops, broken a/c units that the property won’t even handle that their own employees have to give up their own personal comfort cause management won’t?… concession stands trash everywhere… broken hot tubs, WiFi not working in cabins for night time with children is tough…sad that my family’s first camping trip ever hasnt even happened yet and it’s been nothing but a headache to plan because of the staff. Yall make money to make the experience smooth for your consumers but somebody missed the memo.

We recently stayed at the Yogi Bear Campground and, while the overall experience was fun, the condition of our cabin was absolutely unacceptable, especially considering the$900 we paid for just two nights. Upon arrival, we were shocked by the state of the cabin. There was hair all over the sink, toilet, and shower. The floors were filthy, with dog hair everywhere. It was clear that the silverware hadn't been properly cleaned, and the fans were caked with about a quarter-inch of dust. To make matters worse, we found trash and wrappers lying around, and there was a huge stain on the mattress protector. Crumbs were scattered throughout, indicating that the cabin had not been cleaned prior to our stay. I tried to clean the futon myself after realizing how dirty everything was, and the amount of dog hair and dirt I collected was appalling. When I spilled something on the floor and wiped it up with a paper towel, the towel turned black, showing that the floors likely hadn't been scrubbed in ages.

 The water situation was equally disturbing. The water smelled horrible, and both the shower head and faucet were caked with scum. My kids begged not to have to take a shower because of the smell. While I understand that water softeners and filters can be expensive, this was simply unacceptable, especially given how much we paid for the higher-end cabins. At the very least, the website should mention that guests might want to bring a shower head filter or be prepared for the poor water quality. 

To add to our frustration, unlike the other cabins, ours didn't have a WiFi access code panel. Some of our friends stayed in nearby cabins, and only a few of them had the WiFi password. When we called to ask for the password, nobody ever called us back. This was especially concerning for our friends who had babies with them and needed WiFi to set up their baby monitors. 

This level of cleanliness might be expected in a$50/night cabin, but for the price we paid, it is beyond ridiculous and incredibly disappointing.

As a former seasonal camper I would not recommend it to seasonal campers nor regular weekend campers. They are very over priced on their sites and they don’t offer as much for the kids as other Jelleystones. Mill-Run and Kozy Rest are much better for families. As far as seasonal campers this was our first year there and was notified along with 44 others that we were being displaced for cabins to be put in. Some campers have been there for 18+year and have park model campers. They are giving use about 2 months to have everything off the property. They notice was taped to our camper doors. They offer another site but this happened last year to a few at this same place, and is happening aging. So why take a chance for a third time plus they don’t have 45 open sites to put all of us. Not to mention they raised the seasonal rate to almost$5000 just for a regular site not even on the lake or close to anything. This park is owned by Northgate and is just using the Jellystone name they don’t care about the kids or morals. I will never be camper here again after this season and we have our camper off and safe either at home or at a new camp. Which again it’s so late in the year it’s hard to find any place with an opening. All this place has is the lake and now a pool that just opened for about 3 weeks and closed now after Labor Day they have nothing going for them. My advice save your time and money go to Mohican, KOA, Mill-Run or Kozy-Rest. Anything that Nothgate doesn’t own.#clayspark#nothgate#jellystone

Summed up in bullet points. We are experienced campers, so perhaps our standards are higher.

• Was not greeted, had to find where to check in
• Guide to spot did not show, after 20 minutes tried to find own spot, we were told PT-X, but our site was labeled PPT-X, could not reach a person to confirm
• Paid for premium pull through, ended up being an uneven gravel pathway with an old picnic table, no patio or easy hookups
• Lake was over crowded to the point that they ran out of life jackets, which are required to swim, so we sat
• The day pass users received all the privileges of campers, and quite frankly abused the parking lots and beach area
• Not a single worker appeared mature enough to handle any difficult situation, when asked things answers were “well, I don’t know, sorry” with no follow up or suggested solution
• Everything shuts down at 7pm, everything
• Must leave campsite promptly by 11am, but lake doesn’t open til 12, so you have to park your rig in the general parking area if you want to swim the day you depart, not possible with pets

Friends and family really suggested this place due to the unique atmosphere. Not sure if we had a bad stay or if it has gone downhill, but either way we will not be returning.