Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park

Great staff. Everyone friendly. We arrived on a Thursday just passing through. What a treat. We got a spot ON the lake for less than $ 40. While the weekday activities are limited the premises is worth every dime plus some. I would camp here without kids although that’s probably frowned upon and suspicious. Wanna rent a golf cart? Only $ 63 a day! Ok, that was funny. Either way, bring your kids here. It’s great.

My family stayed in the «Yogi» cabins beside the lake. Our stay went well until I dropped off the kids to get in line to get the pass– bracelets for the «haunted trail». I used the golf cart that we rented from the park to transport our kids to the ranger station where you get the bracelets. I pulled up and stopped to let the kids off, when a park employee began to rudely yell at me to get out of the way. I told him to give me two seconds for the 4 passengers to finish exiting the golf cart. He yelled back «you don’t have two seconds and park the golf cart because you are not going on the haunted trail»! I told him I did not intend to go to the haunted trail. I went and parked the cart to go inside to complain about this guys rudeness. The guy, which turned out to be the manager (David Spartan), followed me into the ranger station. I proceeded to tell the lady that works in the ranger station what happened, when the manager butted in the conversation and told me to leave. Then he wanted to know what cabin I was staying in because he said «i could leave tonight!» So along story shortened, I was threatened to get thrown out of the park for attempting to complain about this guys rudeness. People that read this will think there is more to this story, I assure you that this is exactly what happened. I don’t know of any business that would treat customers with such dis-​respect. My wife and I spent a lot of money at the park, because we also had our youngest son’s birthday party at our cabin. Me nor my family will never spend another dime at this park as long as dis-​respectful people operate the Yogi on the lake park in Pelahatchie, MS.

We are fans of Yogi campgrounds because we have kids. This campground is nice. Full hook ups on the lake is what I recommend. The sites are level and gravel and not to mention huge! They have cabins there too which are in there own little area. The pool and splash pad are well, ok. This campground sells day passes to the local child care businesses, so be prepared to have tons of little kids there, which in return, the water quality of the pool was questionable to me. It was just cloudy, and if I am paying to stay there, I should of got a schedule for when the pool was extra busy…
The only real downfall of this campground is the office. We had arrived late. The employee at the gate gave us our packet complete with campsite, wifi access code and gate code. We went to the office two days later for swim wristbands and they had no showed us! Just remember to print BOTH confirmation emails from the booking site AND the campground itself! Oh, and the free wifi never works! So just be prepared.
This campground was not busy at all! We chose this place because of kids, it’s pet friendly and it’s only a few hours away from New Orleans AND Memphis! This place could really make money if they offered day trips to either places!
The shower houses where super clean, the office workers are all new to this campground and trying to pull it together, I would recommend this place for camping. Again, it is in the middle of no where on a lake, but it’s quiet and clean.

First, the good: the restrooms and showers are immaculate. The recreational facilities are first-​rate. I stayed in the tenting area, which was somewhat neglected, but not outrageously so. The activities staff were fantastic: eager, friendly and helpful. The only problem with maintenance I would note is the condition of the fishing/​boat piers. There were a few boards missing on some, but most troubling were a lot of protruding nail heads – a problem solved in a weekend with a guy armed with a hammer and some pressure-​treated lumber.
Next, the bad: on our first night there we had to endure park residents driving their golf carts around as if they were ATVs. I would not complain ordinarily, but this was going on after 11:00 PM. They were shouting and taking corners at speed right around our designated campsite. It had gotten so annoying that I had to get out of the tent and wait to identify the offenders. The next morning, I reported this activity to the camp’s administration. The woman who helped me said that her husband would take care of it. He was, she assured me, «very scary». She also accommodated our move from the tent site right on the main road to a less accessible side of the tent area.
We moved camp that morning. After moving, I went back to the ranger station to inform them of our move and to sign all of the paperwork. The administration said that they had received «multiple complaints», and assured us that the problem had been taken care of.
The rest of the day, the same people who had caused us to lose sleep the night before kept driving by our relocated tent site. Aside from the fact that we could recognize them and their golf cart numbers, they were also notable that they were the only people to drive by without a smile and a friendly wave.
We arrived on a Friday night; Saturday morning, we had been assured that the inconsiderate troublemakers had been dealt with; by early Saturday evening, we had been subjected to continuous glowering drive-​bys and horrible 80s electro music blasted from car speakers. That was enough. We struck camp in the dark and left.
I have been camping for some part of 27 years. I’ve been in campsites without potable water; I’ve been in tick-​infested woods; I’ve had to raise bear-​bags in the mountains; I have camped on remote islands when cellphones were little more than a toy or an indulgence. I have never, however, felt unsafe until that weekend at Jellystone.
I cannot say what should have been done on the part of the administration of the park. The camp residents had broken a number of the rules as specified by the park – underage drivers of the golf carts, too many passengers on a golf cart, after-​hours hooliganism that was reported by multiple other residents – but that was not sufficient to eject them from a privately owned park. All I know for sure is that I will never return.
In fairness, the administration said that they would refund my last night. I honestly don’t care. I signed a contract that explicitly stated «No refunds, no rain checks», and I am perfectly willing to accept those terms. The administration, conversely, will not hold to their own rules. I wish them well on the sort of patrons they seem willing to accommodate.