Castle Rock Resort & Waterpark — Hotel in Branson

The only reason I'm giving this place a 1 star review is because it won't let me give a Zero. With that said, I'll continue with this review.

Where do I begin? My family and I stayed here last weekend. So needless to say the weather was scorching. Could not wait to get up to our room and enjoy our A/C. We kicked it on and it kicked off 5 min later. Completely off. We called the front desk and 20 min later someone came to our rescue. Except it turned back on right before he came in. He looked at it and said "Well it looks like it's working now." We asked him for the batteries for the remote at least so the kids could watch tv. He left to get us some. Meanwhile we tried to figure out why the tv in the kids corner wasn't working. We had one channel. Disney. Which was complete static. Whatever we didn't come here to watch tv. Decided while the room cooled down we should go swimming. While in the bathroom changing I was looking around at the desentegrating grout that held in the tile. My eye also caught site of mold or uh... something questionable around the inside of the toilet under the lid. Ugh. We had ordered "Staph under glass." Shake it off Mama, its time to take these kids down for some fun in the water."

I have 3 girls and they all had a blast. Just wish the kiddy area had some sort of gate. That would be fantastic. It's hard to run after a baby on that slippery floor. Other than that. Very nice. But we basically paid $425 for a day at an average water park.

So let's talk about our night. A/C kicked off 3 more times. No one slept with a blanket it was just too hot. The kids corner was like a little oven. Felt like Mrs. Lovett from "Sweeney Todd" shoving kids in there like little meat pies. My husband decided to give the younger kids our bed. He slept on the top bunk. I'll say this much. The top bunk is sturdy enough to hold a 200 pound man.

We asked for extra towels and blankets and never received them. I used my babies little blow up boat for the pool as a pillow. Every move I made was followed by a squeak. Which would be funny if I hadn't been so exhausted and hot. 1:15 am someone came to look at our A/C again. His excuse was "It's a new unit." I'm sorry that doesn't really explain anything to me. If anything that's really weird. It's brand new. Is there something wrong with your electrical then? Couldn't even get a new room because they were full. Husband decided to go downstairs the next morning. Another guy had his A/C turning off all night as well. Huh.

Back to the toilet though. Nevermind the questionable black smear on the side, the darn thing wouldn't flush right. Water pressure was super low. We had gone to Walmart to buy two fans for the room but maybe we should have bought a bucket so we could flush the toilet. Let me remind you we are paying $425 for this. And you will too.

So that morning we asked to leave and be reimbursed for the other two nights we were going to stay. They did put $210 back on the card but never offered to give us a full refund. There excuse was "We are under new management." Well God help that person because they have a ton of stuff to improve. Maybe instead of the maids gabbing in the hallway with each other, have them double check their toilet cleaning. Purchase new beds as well? The metal framing bit into my legs. Fix your electrical? Or whatever is going on with those A/C units and maybe give your guests a treat and fix the tv's? That part isn't necessary but for me I think if I'm coughing up $425 dollars, it would be nice to calm down with some tv before prayers and night night. Just a suggestion.

I guess my 1 star would be strictly for your pool area. The kids had fun. Not worth that kind of money though.

EDIT: It says Free Wifi but that's a crock. It never worked. Something as simple as uploading a photo to Facebook was not happening.

SECOND EDIT: I'm having war flashbacks back here! The stopper in the sink was broken. No problem just pry it out and you can use...

Check in went great. The woman at the front desk was welcoming, nice, and got us checked in quickly. The waterpark was atrocious. There are two slides, there is a short and shallow lazy river that you have to use a double tube for, and a very small pool that would maybe be considered a medium sized backyard pool. You also have to check out towels that have probably been in use for 10 years considering how ratty they are. The room layout was typical for a motel. I started in room 309; this room the Jacuzzi tub could fit two people if you tried hard and had variable jets. The shower is not good for taller people, my head nearly scraped the ceiling and I am under 6 foot. The shower head was also placed so low that it was nearly impossible to use. Around 11pm I got back to my room and found that the AC/Heat unit would not turn on; the knob to control the unit was completely broken off. I reached for the phone to call the front desk and realize it was not plugged in at all, I plugged it in, called the front desk and the maintenance guy came to check it out. He was great, very friendly, and quickly showed us how the knob from the temperature control side could be taken off to control the fan speed. He contacted the front desk and found out if this fix did not work we could be moved to another room. About two minutes after he left the unit stopped working. We called the front desk and the maintenance guy brought over keys to a new room. Next up was room 301. This room had a walk in shower rather than a tub and the Jacuzzi was about half the size of room 309. But there was promise not only did the air conditioner appear newer but it appeared to turn on! My Hope’s would soon be dashed. Moments later the system shut off and would not operate in even just fan mode. I one more time placed a dreaded call to the front desk. I was placed on hold for about 5 minutes while someone else was checked in. The night manager stated that he would come to my room with a few room keys and that we would walk to those rooms to ensure the unit worked prior to moving to another room. Alas, that did not happen. We were met by the night manager and he stated that he checked the unit in another room and that we would be moving buildings. I gathered the bags for myself and my wife and started walking toward my car (which is parked in front of room 309) while he gave directions to the new room. As he explained this (and I have my hands full of 3 bags) he said “or you can just walk.” I explained that I was getting my car as well since we were being moved to a new room. Around 12:15am I arrived in room 131. The night manager had the unit on and stated that he set it to auto and that it would stop blowing air when the room was 65 degrees  He offered me a breakfast buffet coupon and stated “no disrespect but I hope I don’t hear from you again. At least about anything negative.” I did not use the coupon for a free $7 buffet no gratuity included, but I assume the food is as bad as the rest of this ordeal as I saw no one in the restaurant. A few minutes after he left the unit turned off, there was no way it was 65 degrees in the room. I tried to turn it down and it did not turn on again. This unit at least would run the fan and I decided This was better than moving for a 4th time. Forbid I inconvenienced him again. I settled in for the night only to find that the accommodations I had while deployed to Afghanistan were better. The bed was a spring mattress that was thin, firm, and uncomfortable. From my experience with mattress shopping they don’t even make spring mattresses anymore so these had to be older. The shower could only be used on full hot or cold, no mix of the two temperatures and the water pressure was about as good as poking a few holes in a water bottle. An attempt to use the small Jacuzzi tub showed me that the hot water ran out after about two minutes and the tub itself slowly drained rather than...

We chose this hotel as it offered a water park for our family. We were staying in early December so we wanted to have something for our young children to enjoy during cold weather. Not only did the T.V. in the kids nook not work at all, but the water park was terribly cold. The only area that was relatively warm was the lap pool, and because of that, everyone was hanging out there so it was crowded. My 7 year old daughter went down the slides a couple times but decided it was too cold so we stayed in the lap pool. We tried the splash area thinking a small amount of water would surely be warm, but no! The shallow splash pool and the one neighboring were actually the coldest. My 2 year old son was shivering so much and his lips were purple. Most of the parents/grandparents observing were wearing hoodies or winter coats as the temperature in the room wasn't even warm. All in all, we were very disappointed. I let the front desk know as did the lady in line before me. We were both promised that a manager would be contacting us in a couple days. I waited 5 days before I decided to call and check in. Of course I had to tell the entire story and again, I was assured a manager would call me back. Wrong. I had to follow up several days later. Finally, I spoke with Josh, the Operations Manager. He advised that he was made aware of my concerns and apologized for not calling me back, as he forgot. He told me that they mailed me out a voucher for a free night’s stay. I told him I did not want a voucher and would happily mail it back when I received it as I had no intention of going back to Branson anytime soon. I told him I just wanted a credit for the price of the water park, not the hotel stay as we did stay the night and had no issue with our room other than the TV. He informed that he would talk to his boss and call me back in about 1 hour to see about a credit for the water park. I never got the call. I waited an additional 2 weeks and finally called back this morning (12/30). I told him I was very frustrated at his communication at this point and that no one ever calls like they say they will. He told me he mailed me a voucher and I informed him I never received it, just like I never heard back from him. After him telling me I was being unreasonable, I decided it was time to give him a lesson in customer service. I told him we would not be back, nor the group that came with us (11 people total). After going back and forth and realizing he was not even listening to my concerns, and talking over me, I went over everything from beginning to end, yet again. He then acted as if he had no idea what my original concern was and told me he could absolutely credit our account for the price of the water park and that he would head up to the front desk. He said he would call me back in 15 minutes to confirm. Guess what, no phone call back! I waited 40 more minutes and then called again. I spoke to the front desk and he had at least informed them of the information and the woman at the front desk was courteous and helpful. She credited my card for the $60 which was the price of the 4 water park passes. I was very unhappy with the way we were treated, communication and the lousy business practice of just hoping we "went away." Too bad for him, I remember were my money is spent and just expect to get...