Jellystone Park West Georgia — Hotel in Waco

The owners don't care about anyone or anything but their money... We stayed there for several months due to lack of other camp grounds in the area having space. We paid for cable and internet for close to 4-5 months it never worked properly finely canceled it with not 1 penny in a refund told it was just too bad We did get direct tv setup on our own .The washer and dryers never work had to go off site the whole time we stayed there The ducks roam freely crapping everywhere including inside the pools and pool area . They let over aggressive dogs stay that attacked one of the turtles. People make noise all hours of the night and the owners do nothing They even had a person working there that was a convict that held his Girlfriend hostage in his van until the PD was able to arrest him Just one crazy thing after another! They told us they did not even do back ground checks with families staying there with little kids what a shame Then in Jan 2017 my whole family got the flu my wife was in the hospital my son and I stayed in the trailer I went to sleep woke up to find my 26 year son had died from the flu I ended up in the hospital with my wife I had Pneumonia too. Our friends and family went to pick up our trailer and clean up our site we had paid our rent for January in December since the 1st was a holiday So after we lost our baby son we both spent 5 days in the hospital we were trying to get our fiances together to help for arrangements for our son and a new place to move since we were unable to ever go into our travel trailer again after losing our son in it we called the park and even stop by turn in our gate cards asking if they were going to give us a refund they first told us the owner said he was going to do it. but he never refund a penny. So I know this is long winded and a year after we left there but I am still mourning the loss of our son and its not even about the money anymore its about the man that owns that place and runs it like a prison !! Would it of killed him to refund us? To help us bury our son that passed away in his park that park was always full as a matter of fact when we went by there on Jan 12th or so the lady in the office told us they rented our spot the same day we moved out so the owner the kind man he is (NOT) double dipped on the space and still kept every penny of our rent money after we were there for over 7 months never paying a day late They have ZERO COMPASSION JUST GREED Again I am sorry for the long rant I have just been holding all this in for over a year and they could care less

UPDATED 06/23/2018 I felt the owners response and my husbands original review warranted an update. While it is true that my husbands review may have been somewhat exaggerated each statement did indeed contain some fact. The most sad absolute fact is that IF the owner had refunded our money it never would have escalated - no negative review - no harsh words - period! He says in his response "If we had only contacted him and requested a refund" Did he really NEED to be told/asked to "do the right thing"?? Shouldn't that have been a given?? Just saying... Integrity is doing the right thing without being prompted to do so. I did go back to the park, hard to do after the loss of our son, to return the gate keys. But I did the right thing - they weren't our keys they were theirs - I did the right thing - without being prompted. I asked the desk attendant about a refund. She said she would ask but wasn't real confident it would happen. I was hopeful he would because our space had already been rented. It took my husband's bad review to prompt an offer. The owner, since receiving the review, has called and texted me numerous times - now there is a sense of urgency because it affects him. He has an excuse for every bad review it's never his fault!! While we do thank him for trying to help save our son I believe my husbands original review - while maybe a tad harsh - still...

I never leave reviews, but this experience was so shockingly bad, I feel obligated to warn other families before they waste their time and money at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Bremen, Georgia. I booked this trip expecting fun, family memories. Instead, I left early, frustrated, and completely let down.

The Only Good Thing? The Office Staff. They were kind, helpful, and honest. I spoke with one of them as we packed up early, and she admitted they get these same complaints all the time — but management doesn’t care. If management is reading this: your office staff deserves a raise. The rest of your operation needs a complete overhaul.

FALSE ADVERTISING GALORE Whoever runs the website deserves an award — they managed to make this place look like a clean, fun family resort. But the truth? It’s trashed. Unsafe. Neglected. Completely mismanaged. There’s no way this park deserves even close to the 5 stars others have given it. I truly question the standards of those reviews.

Every Attraction Was in Disrepair (or Dangerous) Mining Area – Covered with rotting OSB plywood where kids stand, a container was lying on the ground over a live drop cord to “protect” it from rain. $7.99 for one small bag of rocks. Total ripoff and a safety hazard.

Propane Station – No barrier at all. I watched a young boy climb on it—this is right in the middle of a family campground.

Mini-Golf Course – A complete joke. Broken walls on every hole. Missing parts that used to guide balls. Clubs were busted. Water hazards were full of nasty, smelly standing water. If your ball falls in, you’re reaching in. Tunnel features didn’t work. Kids couldn’t even play—we quit halfway through.

Playground – Held together with scrap wood. Sharp corners. Zero upkeep. See photos.

Amphitheater – Trashed. Uneven ground so bad you could twist your ankle trying to sit.

Grounds – Rutted up so badly they laid down boards to walk. Looked like a construction site.

Gaga Ball Pit – Falling apart. Uneven floor made it hard for kids to even run.

Sand Pit – Full of trash. Clearly hasn’t been cleaned in a long time.

Train Ride – Dismantled and dumped across several campsites. Loose wheels laying around. Not fenced off—just sitting out near where families walk.

Retention Pond – In the middle of the park with huge gaps under the fence. Some gaps had random rebar shoved in. Again, major child hazard.

Even around the main office – Just a total mess. Cleaning buckets, hoses, and tools lying around like someone gave up halfway through a job.

Scheduled Events Were a Total Disaster Yogi Bear Appearance (9:30 a.m. Pledge) – Didn’t show up until 10:38—only after I complained.

Hayride (10:00 a.m.) – My kids and I arrived early to get a spot. 10:00 came and went. I asked at 10:08, they seemed surprised it was even time. The driver didn’t hook up the tractor until 10:20… then canceled it because of a few sprinkles. It never actually rained. My 3-year-old, who was so excited, had a meltdown—and we ended up inside the camper trying to calm him down.

No Communication. No Rescheduling. No Effort.

Facilities and Layout Campsites – Way too close together. Absolutely no room to spread out. Felt packed in like sardines.

Trash Everywhere – All around the park, including visible areas near the main office.

Golf Carts & Cabins – Somehow, they have brand new golf carts and new cabins not even in use. Instead of fixing broken attractions, they keep adding more rental units and revenue generators—clearly trying to make more money without spending any on maintenance or guest safety.

It’s a Management Problem – Top to Bottom This isn’t a staff issue—everyone I talked to said they’ve reported problems for months, and nothing is done. The place looks like they’re just milking money out of people and dumping it into expansions. The park feels like it’s being run as a cash grab or a money-laundering front, not a family-friendly campground.

Final...

The facility is great for the kids. This was our second stay at the park. The first stay was such an enjoyable experience for our group we came back for a second go. The kids love the constant activities and honestly we have fun watching them! Our weekend went very well thanks to the friendly staff and amenities. That was up to the point of our depart...

This complaint is directed at the staff and how they managed this situation. An incident occurred where a group of older kids (young teens) were playing a game with their football over and around the jump pad. A bad throw was made and a young child was hit in the head by the ball. The incident was brought to the attention of the staff in fear that another child may be hurt if the game continued in its current location. The staff refused to acknowledge the game as a problem and brushed it off saying "we can't tell them to stop playing". Well I wouldn't want them to stop playing, they're there to have fun just like everybody else! I would like to see them play somewhere else so another child isn't hit by the ball. When we asked the kids to move to another location the kids were rude and disorderly and regrettable words were shared. The staff approached the situation with a one-sided defensive approach. I would have expected them to deescalate the situation and send both parties away from each other. I am not sure if the staff member knew the other family involved or if they are a regular customer but the way it was handled I got that feeling. The staff member threatened calling the authorities on us because a curse word was said to one of the teens by an adult of our group. He continued defending the teens saying "well you guys have my jump pad over capacity and that's a danger too, what am I supposed to do about that?", uh tell us it's over capacity! He then points out our small dog asking if it is our dog, it was, "ma'am that dog needs to be on a leash, my wife has already asked you twice!". Wrong, nobody said anything to us about leashing the small dog at any point during our stay. It was at that point we realized that we were no longer welcome/wanted at the park.

At 7:00pm my wife and I packed our camp and departed with a heart broken 5 year old who could never begin to understand why we have to leave and her friends get to stay. The staff could have handled the situation completely different. Separate, deescalate, compromise... This should be how the staff manages conflict in the future. Please, next time do not stand there with your arms crossed telling one group they are right and another group they are wrong while making threats and recommending them leave if they are displeased. I would recommend the staff seek out customer service training to more effectively manage future incidents of the like.

As you can imagine, no I would not recommend this park.

:(

Note: The next morning we contacted the park to request contact information to make a complaint. The call was transferred to the staff member whom we interacted with the night before, the manager. He continued with his one-sided view point and no contact information was shared. He noted that he would not apologize for how he handled the incident and stated that he must remain bipartisan to keep the best interest of the park and guest in mind....