Big 4 Kryal Castle Holiday Park - Ballarat — Attraction in Grampians

Terrible rooms. We booked a 4 sleeper cabin not realising that it was 2 separate cabins. We stated that our kids were under 8 and no one advised us that this was the layout. So if you're willing to leave young children unsupervised in a cabin that you can't get into quickly you and your other half are sleeping in separate rooms. The rooms themselves are cramped, only big enough for the bed. There is no other furniture or even somewhere to put your suitcase. We had water pooling on the floors before even getting in due to the rain and the fact the doors lack any type of weather strip which was allowing more water in. Luckily the duty manager brought us more towels to mop up and seal the bottom of the doors. He also was kind enough to bring extra cutlery as whoever does the cleaning, missed knives, forks and glasses. Nothing worse than finding the previous guests' dirty cutlery and glasses in your room. The weather was terrible overnight. One of cabin doors kept banging like someone was trying to break in and the exhaust fan in the bathroom was rattling all night. We were given a complimentary buffet breakfast for the experience which sounded fair at the time but in reality was almost a sick joke. You make your way into the castle's abbey for breakfast. This was exciting as your memories of old mediaeval movies start to play in your mind. It was 3 degrees outside and maybe 4 degrees inside. The only fire going were the tiny burners under the pityful excuse for a buffet. We had the 9am sitting. Got in at 9.10 to find people in beanies, down filled vests and full goretex with their breath visible, probably wondering why no one bothered to light the fire in the fireplace. Even if the physics of radiant heat wasn't going to efficiently heat up the abbey it could have given the diners some respite. The food at 9.10 had all but gone. A few cooked up frozen hash browns returning to their initial frigid state, some cold bacon, fried eggs and tomato. The untrained staff hid behind the bar totally relying on the diners to inform them of the lack of food or juice. They were, however, only too happy to nuke a diner's plate of cold food and did make a decent coffee which albeit cooled down within the first 2 minutes to a temperature you'd be comfortable giving to a 3 year old. The fact that this would cost $80 for a family of 4 is criminal. Dare I say it, but the Macca's breakfast is hotter, fresher and more inviting at half the price and you can leave the goretex in the car. The place has a lot of potential but the staff need training and the cabins need maintenance despite looking less than 5 years old. I can't recommend this place to anyone other than those using their own caravans or tradie couples who might be able to do some free repairs during their stay. The fact that at this time castle entry is also included is a small win....

We have just got back from 4 nights at this park across the Easter break. My advice - do not waste your money, there are better parks to stay at in the area. Not once across the 4 nights were the amenities cleaned, they put ‘Out of Order’ on 5 of the 10 cubicles and locked the disabled cubicle. Park was at about 85% capacity majority of the weekend and nil cleaning. We had to call the Castle and ask for toilet paper to be restocked on Sunday to which they only restocked the 5 cubicles that didn’t have the ‘Out of Order’ sign on them. Out of order cubicles were working totally fine and it appeared they didn’t want to use them as they’d have to then clean them but everyone continued to use them anyway. We had no hot water on first night to which we had to contact them about that too. Not much to do there apart from park your van up and sleep then get out of there as quick as you can. Some people were told they could have fire pits while others told no, still not sure who is correct. Staff were not pleasant to deal with on any occasion at all and even when the guy filled the toilet paper up he said his boss had yelled at him to do it. Will not be returning to this park ever, very disappointed and can’t believe it’s a Big4, have notified Big4 HO of our experience due to their reputation. So many better options in area and better value for money, do not waste your time or money...

Not a good place to stay, unless you want to sleep with flies and be frozen.

They would not tell you in advance what to expect in the room even though they knew flies would be everywhere in your room. Instead they will BLAME you for not knowing what to expect in countryside and not asking for help at night time. Well, I would have called the after hours services if I was told that they could help me with catching flies but no I wasn't told anything about what to expect and how to deal with it when things happened. Usually accommodations in regional areas would tell us what to expect like there could be wildlife around and what to do but not for this place. They said they would have sprayed something in my room if I had called them but I had a baby with me. I dont know what makes them think this would be a good solution. Most staff are nice but the management sounds arrogant.

Plus, the floor was greasy and sticky; windowsills were full of dust; we saw hair on a towel and bedsheet as well; the bathroom was freezing and none of us bothered to take a shower.

Also, dont book directly with them. It is better to book through a third party booking agent as they wouldnt get back to you when things happened even they said they would. At least the agent can help you follow things up. I had to try different channels to get someone...