Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resort: Gardiner

We stayed at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort along the Walllkill River in Gardiner, NY, for a four-night chill-out vacation. We’re so glad we did!

Our site was called Riverfront Red Carpet. It was spacious, level, waterfront, and partially shaded thanks to some mature trees. Site #22 included a large concrete pad, picnic table, charcoal grill, and large fire ring. Everything was in great condition. It was nice having plenty of space to not be on top of our neighbors. We had full hookups with 50-amp electrical service - which all worked fine.

The entire park seemed to be well maintained and clean. There’s a small waterpark which seemed good for younger kids, an eatery, and ice cream shop. The camp store was well-stocked with food, camping supplies, and souvenirs. There is a game room and multiple bath houses (which we didn’t use). The park’s roadways are all paved and easy to navigate. Despite being nearly filled to capacity including tons of young children, the park was quiet each night with no noisy ‘bad campers.’

We found our interactions with the staff to be helpful and attentive. We really appreciate friendly staff.

Overall, this was a great stay at a great RV park. I’d only mention two negatives, neither was a big deal. It took 45-minutes to check-in. In fairness, we arrived at check-in time (3:00 PM) on a Sunday. There were a dozen other RVs checking in at the same time and they just weren’t equipped for that. Also, our Verizon cell service was practically non-existent and the park’s wifi service was just as horrible. If we needed connectivity, this would have been a major problem. I reduced a star in my review simply because it’s 2021 and wifi has become an expectation.

We booked on campspot.com and paid $196 per night + $35 to lock our site + $2 booking fee less a 20% promo discount.

Any complaint I have is mostly because this is the first time we have ever been RVing. The campground needs to have better signage for check in or at least have an employee who can direct you to where you can leave your rig and let you know that you need to go inside to check in, not stop at the unmanned gate/shed. Most of the pull through sites seemed too close together with little foliage/shrubbery for privacy. However, most of the people seemed polite/friendly. Staff was very good. Most of the services were open and clean in spite of the pandemic. All in all, not a bad first campground to get the feel of RVing. They had a small dog park and it was adequate for my 2 dogs. The one thing that bothered me was that there was a large group of people in the cabin area that were very loud, hooting and hollering until 1AM. Nothing done by staff to quiet them down.

We stayed here last year (2019) and came back again in 2020-the staff is great- super friendly, the sites are clean and there is a lot for the kids to do. They did a great job disinfecting at the common areas and everything was awesome- loved-loved-loved it. The only down side was the internet connection was not great, but who goes camping for great internet-right.