Jellystone Park™ Larkspur — Hotel in Larkspur

This will be the longest review I have ever written. I do not hold jellystone responsible for the rude customers but they are included in my details.

Never trust the schedule of activities. It changes not just day to day but often within minutes of activity.

Hey, hey hay ride scheduled for 2pm is then scheduled for 12p. Quick race out of the pool to get there only to be met with a sign that says canceled. Only to be met by a rude woman demanding we move out car because that is where the tractor parks. Well, it's not going to matter. The sign says it's canceled. But it's right there! How would I know?! I can read signs. Hay ride gets there. Staffer says wow, small group. Well, ya. You have a sign says canceled. Oh, that was from the other day. I really wanted to say how many days in "other".

Pools are crowded. I expect that. It's summer and kids love to play in pools. What i didn't expect was no lifeguards. That surprised me. Day two we went to the water element with the water slides and there were teens in lifeguard swimwear. Not that they ever looked up (see picture).

We were given a sheet of paper at check in saying hours of buildings and what time open/close. With the typical qr code for the app. Why tell me the rec center is closed mon-fri but have all the monday activities scheduled at the rec center?!?

As to the app and wifi; they are terrible. Why tell me to use an app when there is zero cell and wifi reception through most of the park?! I even must add that print of info has the number to call for wifi problems. How do I call?! There is zero reception!

Some, but not all of the paid activities are pre-order only. Nowhere on app or website does it say that. So we missed out on what we wanted our first day. I did book the decorate doughnuts activity once I learned that only some need to pre book. I was asked how many doughnuts. I said four. It's a flat rate of $10. I thought a little expensive for four doughnuts much less if I only wanted one doughnut. But it's for the frosting and sprinkles and I realize you have to pay someone to run the activity. We get there, it's four doughnuts per box! I bought four boxes of doughnuts!! Shouldn't the person taking the list of paid people say it's four to a box?!?

I found the sign in the cabin warning you if towels or dishes were missing you would be charged. Um, the towels didn't match. Neither did the dishes. Five coffee cups, three wine classes. Eight bowls, one large plate, and four regular plates. Silverware too! Three spoons, eight forks, in didn't count the knives as it was so full in the drawer.

You have four people staying for five days. The cabin had two rolls of toilet paper. It isn't a hotel. Housekeeping isn't coming at all during your stay. Do I ask at the front? Do I buy my own? I didn't bother to worry. I bought my own. But that seems a bit poor on their service for that.

By far my biggest issue was entry signage. It says cars right lane. But nowhere does it say turn here. I had to back out quite a ways to turn back to check in. I know it wasn't just me as I saw other cars doing the same. There is plenty of signs for rv directions and none for cars. I was even looking when we went out and came back one day. Hoping I just missed the sign the first time; nope. I didn't, there is no sign where to turn to check in for cars.

Another activity I want to include. Pop the balls on the jump pad. Most of the people there assumed water balloons of some kind of popping. Nope, it was dodge ball! There were high school kids and toddlers playing together. One teen, (again not blaming jellystone for poor morals) was aiming at the little kids faces! The one staffer running the activity did nothing! How easily it could have been under 8 first round, over 8 seconds round. Nope, this teen kept pelting at full force little kids. I happened to hear his mother, "what do you expect from a pitcher?" I expect his parents to teach him right and wrong.

Next up, smores and stories with...

We just finished our trip at JsP - we loved it!

Check-In: When we arrived, check-in was super duper efficient and much to our surprise – our cabin (#365 Cindy-Bear) was ready (yay!). We entered through the gate and went to our cabin.

The Cabin: FABULOUS! I had packed thinking we would need basics (propane, pots, pans, paper towels, etc.). Much to my surprise, we did not! The cabins are fully stocked (and outlets plentiful for those that have teens that can’t handle off grid glamping). My littles immediately claimed the loft, which actually worked in our favor because, well, even though I am vertically challenged, even I was too tall to stand in the loft. The ceilings in the cabin were high and the cabin itself let in so much natural light. We were in cabin 365 (Cindy-Bear) and the location was perfect. We could see it from the ranger tower and the clubhouse pool, which meant my oldest could walk to the clubhouse and back by herself if she forgot something. I had read in multiple reviews and places that the need for a propane tank to operate the gas grill and firepit were required. It turns out that you only need these items if you are staying in an RV site (not all, I believe, just some). We learned (thanks, Ryan in Maintenance) that the firepit and grill are both on a natural gas line – so no propane needed (SCORE!)

Activities: Fabulous! We were bummed to see gem mining with one of the bears on the activity schedule but when we arrived to purchase the gems from the general store (as instructed), we learned that they had actually sold out and ordered more, but they hadn’t arrived in time. It would have been nice to have been updated of the change prior to getting a girl’s hopes up. Bingo. Also just as awesome, you can purchase candy bars from them for $1 or you can bring your own. We elected to bring our own and (mistakenly) thought we were limited to 1/per person but you can actually play as many cards as you like.

Pools: There are three pools. The Clubhouse Pool is cold! Very. Very. Very. Cold. My kids didn’t mind – but it was a bit of a shock to every adult you watched get in for the first time. It did provide great entertainment to watch the unsuspecting adults get in, though. The water park is not heated (this I learned after I asked a lifeguard through chattered teeth why it was so cold), it was fine – once you got down the slide and used to it, many buckets of water from any angle would drop on you and keep you moving through it. The pool by the water park IS heated (and very nicely, so). I think in our three day stay we actually spent a full day in the pools. Both pools have a food window (basic stuff: chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, wraps, French fries, pizza, etc.) Jump Pad – it seemed like this was kind of a hidden gem as there were never many kids on it. It took us a bit to find it, but once we did, we loved it!

Neighbors: We did notice that there was not much (any) enforcement of the two-dog policy for the RV sites. My daughter was knocked over by a very large dog tethered to a fifth-wheel when we were walking by. This site had three dogs tethered at any given time and the owners seemed to be nowhere in sight, we were able to count at least four other sites with at least 3-dogs tethered outside at any given time throughout the park as well. We noticed a LOT of dogs barking in their cabins/RV’s when owners would leave as well.

Streets: Several streets are one way, and many seemed to not notice this nearly causing a few collisions. I would highly recommend watching out for golf carts as they seem to appear out of no where at fast speeds (never knew they could go that fast!). 99% of the drivers were very courteous and would slow down for pedestrians.

Food:They are a Blue Bell Ice Cream dealer! That’s all that needs to be said about the ice cream!

Staff: Every staff member we encountered was friendly and kind and really would go out of their way to ensure you were having a great visit. It kind of felt like Disney without the crowds, expensive ticket and overpriced food items....

If you are coming to Colorado to camp, this is far from a camping experience. Our family (12+ cabins and 3+ campsites) booked our reservations in April for a family member wedding. Thought it would be a great place to be, even with pre-wedding activities on Thursday and Friday nights and the wedding and reception on Saturday, precluded the use of many of the offered activities at the resort. We knew that going in but made as good a use of the amenities as possible. However, the hours for the water park or the miniature golf weren't accommodating for anyone not there for the entire day. (Emphasize: this was not the fault of Jellystone except for the fact that they don't have enough staff for everything offered at the park.) Our kids (18 family members) did make it to the pool(s) for a short time but when they got out, had a strong smell of urine about them so were encouraged to not go back. One little one developed a stomach virus the day after we left the park. Could it have been from the pool? Possibly. Many of the arcade games were out of order. We tried to take the kids to the rec center on a day they advertised activities. The only thing that was free were the cartoons showing on a giant screen over a stage area. "Ceramics" were offered but the purchase price was too high after paying for nearly everything else the kids tried to do. According to the sign in the window, all the golf carts had been rented out for the weekend. Someone else had mentioned the fact that there are not enough on site for the number of cabins/RV sites at the park but I can't imagine having more than were there as it is a dangerous place to be when these carts are zipping around every path available! Between the golf carts, bicycles, scooters, hover boards and pedestrians, every roadway is as busy as I-25 which borders the east side of the resort. Speaking of 1-25, the traffic noise all day and night is horrendous. Add to that the coal trains that go by continuously, blowing their horns the entire way, and I don't know how RVers take it! There is no way to block the noise as the resort sits on the side of the hill overlooking the interstate highway and the train tracks. Now for the cabin accommodations: We booked a Boo Boo cabin for Thursday and Friday and another for Friday and Saturday, next to several other family members' cabins. When I went to the office on Friday morning to see if I could extend our cabin for one more night, discovered that the second cabin reservation that I thought I'd booked in April was not in the books. I will take responsibility for this as I should have double checked earlier. According to the front office, there were no more cabins to be had for the weekend. including the one we had that supposedly was booked for Saturday night. After a very stressful Friday, Sherry, in the office, found a Cindy Bear cabin that we could share but our cost for two nights was $940, after already paying over $500 for the Boo Boo cabin we'd had Thursday and Friday nights. (This was also supposed to be a discounted price for a group) Circumstances being as they were, (even longer explanation) we took it. After all this, we discovered that no one had moved into the Boo Boo cabin we originally had stayed in! Now for conditions: Every cabin that we were in, had squeaky doors. We had a family member that arrived later bring 3-in-1 oil after listening to the doors throughout the night. On Friday night, we went from cabin to cabin trying to find a firepit that worked so kids could have s'mores. All the deck furniture needs to be refinished as several of us ended up with splinters in the behind. The bathroom sink didn't drain in our cabin. All of these things were reported but no maintenance every showed up. We swept the floors but should have taken a picture of bare feet after thinking we'd cleaned up! Again, not enough staff to handle the amount of business they do. Wish I could go on about our experiences but already have exceeded the character limit. Just needed to let people know what to expect! Kudos...