Jellystone Park™ Williamsport — Hotel in Halfway

My latest visit to Jellystone was not good. It was my 11th visit in 7 years. My 3rd Halloween & the first time saying I would not recommend to a friend. I still reservations for a 7 night stay in May but it might be my last. I watched a minimal staff try to control an almost fully booked camp ground & though they tried their best, the crowd got more out of control. I don’t want to get any one employee in trouble bc it was clear that they were out numbered. BC what happened to the staff?! The door to my “luxury cabin” #6 was/is broken. The door appeared to be kicked in & then repaired, badly. It was almost unusable. That didn’t make me feel safe & definitely didn’t feel like a glamping experience. Yes, I said something to staff. Every bathroom I visited, including my cabin, was dirty. I have photos. It didn’t feel like a clean camp resort. We booked Thur-Sun bc Sun is considered an event day however the only event seemed to be a LOUD private party that lasted until 1:30am. The only reason the party ended was a rain storm that drove them inside. I kept thinking that security would quiet the party but it became clear that there was no security. When I asked the front desk about this, they directed me to the camp’s official phone number posted on the outside of the building that I should call. I can call 911 all by myself. But I’m paying luxury prices for the privilege not to. I remember this camp resort having security. I remember watching them drive around all night checking unattended camp fires & picking up trash before the critters got it. I didn’t see them once this Oct or in years. I did however hear the minimal staff asking for help when the out of control drunk was breaking into the pool & when a minor on staff was groped wile playing a monster in the haunted trail. They definitely could have used security then. Haunted trail was amazing this year. No complaints. The ladies in charge of the line did a nice job, so pleasant. The kid DJing was attentive & the actors & exhibits this year were great. However, on top of all the concerns about safety & cleanliness there seemed to be a real disconnect w/organization. The front desk, Yogi Bear ap & actual activities didn’t seem to fallow the same schedule. The movie for Sat was not listed in the print out or the ap & was not posted on movie bored. AND it was the only themed movie for the weekend. Yes we can watch “yogi bear” for the 100th time but we really did want to see HalloweenTown. We also wanted to eat in the cantina that closed early w/no warning. The magic pumpkin experience was also very confusing, we expected carving to happen directly after receiving our pumpkin but it happened some time around 7 w/ no indication & no member of staff to help us. I love this camp resort & I want to keep loving it. We have a multi generational family tradition that has grown from Yogi Bear camp. We sometimes book twice a year to join friends or to just get away. Is this Jellystone under new management? We noticed when Northgate bought it bc the store became over priced & under stocked, & not good for buying forgotten needs. But this visit seamed different. Ice is over $11?!! Guests will just go the dollar store down the road. Like I did this year. But what concerned me the most was the blatantly political Halloween displays. When walking w/family trick’r’treating & pick a camp sight to vote for I shouldn’t have to explain to the children why a political figure is dressed as a scary clown or why they can’t enter a gun raffle (yes a real gun). It created an atmosphere where looking at camp sight’s decorations was no longer in good fun. We all know how intense politics are right now. These displays are inappropriate for a family resort, objectively divisive &potentially dangerous for everyone.Again, I’m writing all of this because I believe in the magic of Yogi Bear & want to keep enjoying it. The camp ground has the protocol, infrastructure & love to become safe & clean again. I hope your hearing my frustrations as passion & take this...

We brought our almost 6-year-old daughter for a 4-night stay (Mon-Fri) at Jellystone Williamsport in July. If I could give 4 1/2 stars, I would. We didn't know quite what to expect since it was our first time, but for the most part, we were pleasantly surprised.

We stayed in a Pine Forest Cabin, #80, and it was really nice! We had hoped to check-in early and instead the cleaning crew wasn't done until about 4:15 pm. But it WAS very clean and we were happy with that. It was such a nice space to come back to every day, and my husband and I loved sitting on the screened-in front porch. We ate all of our breakfasts and a few other meals in the cabin, thanks to a fridge/freezer and stove/microwave. We also made s'mores outside with the fire pit, though I wish we remembered wood from home so we didn't have to purchase theirs. We also had to buy a lighter at Walmart. Not exactly experienced campers! We did the linen rentals, and the sheets didn't stay very well on the twin beds, but they were comfortable and the blankets we were given were really nice and soft.

We spent a lot of time at the pool area. We'd grab a table each morning at 10 am before they filled up, which they always did. Our daughter loved the pool and the splash area as well. She unfortunately got scared on her second time down the water slides and refused to ride again the rest of the week, but I personally loved the slides! We dubbed the lazy river the "anxiety river" because the water features (which were absolutely not broken anymore as previous reviewers had lamented) were just too good. You really couldn't relax because you were always getting pelted with streams of water. It was funny and fun, but not exactly peaceful.

My husband actually had his wedding ring slip off on our first full day there and we were so sad about it! I told a lifeguard, Paige, who immediately helped us out and found her manager to help as well. Within a couple hours, he came over and showed us the ring that had been found in the lazy river! We couldn't believe it, and we're very grateful for the help.

Another staff member that was great to us was Allison, who helped us get our photo keychain as part of the Fun Pass, and even used different pictures of our daughter with Yogi on each side of it. We tried our best to make the Fun Pass worth it, and I think only missed two things on there in the end. The $14 tie-dye shirt that you get free with the Fun Pass was one of the better perks, along with a kid's meal and bear sundae from the canteen.

We paid for a visit from a bear to celebrate our daughter's birthday, and she was starstruck despite having seen Yogi a few times by that point. They brought a birthday sign for outside our cabin and that made her extremely happy, along with a little stuffed Yogi.

We had zero issues with noise in our location. It was very peaceful and we clearly had respectful neighbors. Really, the only thing we could hear from our cabin, if we were on the porch, was the music at the pool. It's very loud! The playlist would repeat every hour or two, but I liked most of the songs so I didn't mind. We saw TONS of families using golf carts, but it would have been a waste of money from our location. We could walk to the pavilion and pool in just a few minutes.

Cons:

In four days we only ever saw Yogi. That was a little disappointing for our daughter, who had hoped to at least see Boo Boo as well. But, we heard they were short-staffed. We ate at the canteen a few times, and on the last day we were there they were out of chicken tenders and a few other things. But otherwise, no issues. Actually thought the food was pretty good, so that's not a con. The bathrooms at the pool were smelly but with the volume of people in and out, it's not that surprising. The arcade is a complete money grab consisting almost entirely of claw machines that eat all your credits very quickly and don't...

So as an almost 14 year old girl, from New Jersey, and have gone on lots of camping trips to MANY Jellystone parks. This one in Williamsport,MD kinda sucked, because 1) you can’t take a shower it’s either cold or not even that hot and the shower head falls off, my mom she had taken a shower and she comes back saying the shower head fell off on her while taking a shower and we said smth to a staff and they didn’t do anything and even when they did it was today July 31st and that happened almost a weeks ago 2) you can’t even go to the bathrooms near the camp ground sites or you will sweat ur face off, like from being a wrestler it’s like u walk in that bathroom and it’s so hot like getting outta practice and then u walk out and it’s like fall outside and the bathrooms are the same near the pools! 3) being a tent camper is so hard because when it rains it gets big puddles of water on the sites that are like 5 inches deep crazy! Then some of the camp sites don’t even have water or power AT ALL! And than all the camp sites are all different and all over the place 4) the staff is not that good! The prices are insane and you can’t even get water or a water bottle at| The camp store and the food stand only open on different times so get your food fast!!! and lots of the staff go on there phones! Like how you get paid? Being on ur phone! And most staff is every shy to anyone! Like as a jersey girl I love having conversations with people and I try to talk to them and they are just so shy! 5) the whole camp when it rains gets really big puddles with like 6 inches to almost 1 feet of water which is insane they need to fix that fast! 6) the pools don’t get started on the pools and stuff! The pool is not even that deep and it’s so hot on the pavement it burns ur feet like crazy and the water slides don’t even work! The lazy river half the things don’t even work and all the fun was gone! The lifeguards don’t even watch what ur doing they kinda stair into god knows where! and the chairs some have holes which kinda scared me😭 7) the dog park! Every interesting there’s like nothing to do with your dog there and when the rain comes! It’s a river dog park bc it’s just flooded with water!: now one thing I would say that enjoyed was that I met a lot of kids my age and we all had a lot of fun and they all where really really nice! And we had played manhunt during the night! And this is smth that got me mad bc I was running with this other boy and I fell down a ditch I think maybe they should close it down or smth there! Like I don’t think thats safe for little kids to be around but yeah! My parents and me have talked to other people in cabins and everything and there not as great either they said things are moldy and not as clean so I don’t recommend wasting your money and lots of money for this suck campground is not worth it, go to one of the better Jellystone camp grounds in other states but Over all this camping trip was not as good as my other ones! But as my family always says we only make it fun, and so that’s what we did we made the best of what we had and still made it fun no matter how bad the campground sucked! We went out of the campground and did things! And still enjoyed each other’s company as the...