I would never go back to this park again. The management was very rude. We were supposed to stay there for 3 nights and ended up leaving the second day due to a situation we had with the owner. Very rude people that work there. The only good thing about it is that it's close to Grand Haven beach. We camped here in a Tent.
Review Rating
[ 6 / 10 ]
August 2007
$25
We have stayed in this park last year and this year as well. I have not really seen much improvement in the past year. The entrance is an obstacle course, through the back of a car dealership and around the office and next to a stop sign in the middle of the drive. With a large rig, you really got to watch your rig. There are many trees with lots of low branches you need to keep an eye on as well. The manager is a grouch and hard to get along with. The owner is a very nice man, but watch out for his wife. The bathrooms and showers were sorta clean, but could really use some updating. The grounds around the maintenance building looks like a dump with trash laying around. The park is located next to a very busy highway with a railroad track directly behind. Walmart and Meijer stores are directly across the highway. Needless to say, it is not a quiet place to stay. The best thing about this park is it is 1 1/2 miles from Lake Michigan and it is the best park in the area. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Campers Paradise is the last name this camp ground should be called..it is far from paradise. The owners do not know how to handle a situation in a reasonable adult fashion. We felt very uncomfortable staying there, the owners and "regulars" sat and stared the whole time. We stayed one night and left without getting our reimbursement for a weeks stay. NEVER would we stay there again. We are very lay-back people, so hopefully when you read this review, you will understand and don't stay there. I can honestly say, the worst experience in the 20 years we have been camping. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Paradise for owners or for the campers? If you want to feel like you are camping at a rest area, go to Camper's Paradise, Inc (800 Robbins Road, Grand Haven, MI 49417 (616) 846-1460). The campground is situated oddly between US 31 and a set of railroad tracks. Needless to say it is definitely not peaceful or quiet. At night, we could hear a train pass by, an ambulance/police car, or just regular traffic. The best things about the place were the clean bathrooms and shower stalls. There is a fun playground for little kids. However if you have teenagers, the owner/managers discourage them from walking around the grounds because the "regulars" don't want to be bothered. This is a problem, since there isn't much to do for them. Within the first hour of our arrival we were told that all of us needed to stay on our site and not wander around. The owners told us, they were sorry, but the "regulars" take care of their property when they are away during the winter. Most parks allow up to 4 people per site regardless of how many tents you put up. For example, if you want 2 small tents for 2 adult couples on one site. This isn't allowed here. They strictly hold to the policy of one tent per site. This was a major problem for us since we had older kids who didn't want to be in the same tent as their parents. The owners/managers insisted that if we put up another small tent, we would be charged for a second site. Lastly, if you are not a "regular" at this campground, the owners place you towards the front entrance of the grounds (sandwiched between the main office and the owners/manager's house). There were eight of us and both of our sites were placed directly in front of the owner's/manager's house) where they would sit on the porch and watch us. Talk about feeling like you are in a fish bowl. Needless to say, this part of our vacation was a major disappointment but the first half of our vacation in Grand Haven was extremely enjoyable! Since its only 2 miles away, you should stay at the Grand Haven State Park. We stayed there for 2 days before we transferred to this place because the State Park was fully booked. At the Grand Haven State Park you will love being right next to Lake Michigan and watching the sunset on the pier just a few hundred yards away. We camped here in a Tent.
We have camped at this campground every year for Coast Guard Festival weekend for the last 5 years simply because it is the closest park to downtown Grand Haven. Since then the place has gone way down hill (at least in the front where tents and popups are allowed). In both the men's and the woman's bathhouse they are always truly filthy bordering on a poorlly maintained outhouse. Of the three shower stalls in the bathhouse, maybe 1 will work properly. Of the 4 toilet stalls maybe 2 will work properly (but one doesn't have a door). The sites are always a mess when you arrive, trash and debris. Last year (2002) the "new management" started to try to clean the place up. Instead, because of how they were approaching the situation and campers, they ended up alienating most campers every day with last minute on the spot "made up rules" to suit their request. I don't have a problem with rules, but if I am doing something you don't like, don't make up a rule, just tell me. Everyone at the campground I spoke with, good and bad, noisy and quiet, rowdy and calm, family and no family, had some complaint about the management and usually a lot more than one. Also, on one side of the campground is a busy highway, and on the other side is a train track, literally on the edge of the property, there is a train track, where a train comes by almost every night, very early, and very slow in the morning like 3-5am. For the price you pay per night (almost as much as a cheap hotel), and the things you get (bad showers and overbearing management) as a tent or popup camper this is a poor deal. Maybe for the yearly RV campers it's a better deal since all they need is hookups. We are going to avoid this campground for a couple of years. Hopefully in time they can learn to make things better and save some money to fix things. We camped here in a Tent.
The park is in a pretty area. There are some nice restaurants close by and good fishing on the pier. Registration was a cluster. Be prepared for a long process. We made reservations online, but were only given a "type" of site , not an actual one. Once we arrived, we were told to drive around and then let them know which site number we picked. There was an additional $8 charge for our tow car as we were non-residents. There is a small, sandy area designated as a "dog walk", but pets are not allowed on the beach and there were very few places to walk them except for the pavement. We had a few neighbors across from us staying in tents. That would have been alright, but they placed multiple tents on their site and were not polite campers. Although their behavior was not the fault of the campground, they should have been asked to move to the section exclusively for tent camping. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Beautiful sandy beach. Sites right on lake or channel. Beautiful shower houses. The only con is that the sites are very tight. No room to park your vehicle in front of your unit. Very relaxing. We camped here in a Motorhome.
The scenery was simply gorgeous...The weather was great. We were on site 65. Right near the walkway that went between two streets. I loved the place, however, we had 3 campsites, 6 adults and 12 teenagers. That was our children, cousins and friends included. Lights out is at 11pm and, precisely at 11pm, it seemed like every single light in the campground went out. No fires lit, no one walking around nothing...It was dead there....Other than that, very nice place to camp. I would recommend for families with young children, and senior citizens (no beer or wine allowed at the park). We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We stayed here for only 2 days because the State Park was fully booked. At the Grand Haven State Park you will love being right next to Lake Michigan and watching the sunset on the pier just a few hundred yards away. The staff was very friendly and there is so much for kids and adults of all ages. Though next time, I would visit with a trailer rather than a tent since the sand seems to get into everything. But that is just the tradeoff of having a lake front view all day. We had a great time! We camped here in a Tent.
It is one big parking lot but with the pier on one side and the Lake MI in front and being able to see the light house, well it just makes the stay excellent. My only complaint is that it is really hard to get a reservation. They are snapped up immediately. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We did not camp here but drove through while staying at Hoffmaster SP in nearby Muskegon. Great place if you want to camp on the beach. Each site has both sand and pavement with only a few trees. Tight spaces - it appeared some RV's could not deploy both awning and slide outs simultaneously. Web site doesn't give an accurate picture of how crowded the sites are. This is one of the state's most popular campgounds so book early! We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Like most state parks, they give you a lot f room between sites. My gripe with all of the Michigan state parks is the fee they charge for each motor vehicle. We have a motorhome so therefore we needed to pay for a pass for each vehicle which is stupid. All you do is drive the motorhome to your site and then again when you leave. People with a trailer or fifth wheel do not have to pay for their camper unit since it is not a motor vehicle. I'll never stay in a Michigan state park again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We stayed here for three nights with a Fall Special only 19.95 per night. A very clean campground. Had no problems with hookups as stated in other reviews. Had large pull through sites. Would stay here again if in the area. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We camped here from a Monday to a Wednesday. Everyone was very nice and it was a nice facility. The bathrooms could be updated a little but were taken care of. The only issue I had was the registration process. When you call to register you are actually calling the New York Resort line. As of August 17th: they are charging off-season rates and giving a 15% discount to teachers/firefighters/cops. Since my boyfriend is a firefighter and I'm a teacher, we qualified! The problem was the reservations person (and everyone else in the office) had a hard time getting the reservation to give us the off-season rate and the 15% off in the computer. I also asked for late check-out which was an additional $20 (allows check-out at 8 p.m.) so we could drive up to the sand dunes without the camper. Then, while we were out of town I called to check on my account and they had apparently charged my card 3 times, so my bank had to adjust my account. Note: if you don't tell the people at the campground office about your late checkout (even though you paid for it when you made your reservation, and it's in their system) they will check you out at the regular check-out time. We would definitely camp here again, but will make sure that they don't overcharge and check us out according to the way we paid. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
August 2009
$50
Despite the reviews we decided to stay here anyway and we were very glad we did. Overall the staff was very nice and helpfully. I had no problems but a neighbor had a problem with his electric and it appeared to be corrected right away. I was very surprised at how many staffers they had around the park. The kids all had all had a great time and it was one of the best playgrounds I've seen. Everything was clean and I even saw them blowing sand from the playground off the nearby sidewalk. Hook-ups were configured a bit oddly, at our site the sewer and electric were within 10 feet of where we parked but I had to use the 50' hose for the water. It was an unusually cool and wet weekend and the pool was well heated as I was comfortable in it. I'm sure the temperature helped but I did not see a single mosquito the entire weekend. Really the only negative was that one of the activities people looked like she would rather be having her teeth pulled than be there with the kids and wasn't doing a good job of explaining the games to the kids. Even so, but even she was still pleasant so I'd guess she was just having a bad day. I would recommend this campground for anyone with kids. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We spent 5 nights at this Jellystone Park and really enjoyed it. The park of clean and well taken care of. Some of the water and electrical hookups are a long ways away so have a long hose and extension cord ready. We walked through the entire park daily and all of the sites, seasonal and short term, were tidy and well cared for. The park does offer some discounts. We received a 15% discount because I am a teacher. We did not have children with us but did see children involved in the daily planned activities. Overall, we had a pleasant experience at this campground and would stay here again if returning to the area. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We camped here with our three children (9, 6, 2) and had a great experience. The sites were huge and the campground was easy to navigate through. They had all kinds of activities and places to get treats for the kids. The staff was very, very friendly and the showers/bathrooms and pool were really clean. There are so many cool things to see in this area and of course the beach on Lake Michigan: awesome. This was our first Jellystone camping experience and we were very pleased. We would definitely go back. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This was a huge disappointment. Our electric cord, water hose, and sewage hose did not reach, which I was later told was a "problem with the back lots". The pool was frigid even though it was supposed to be heated. The wireless internet did not work, per the management. The worst part of the camping experience were the mosquitoes. My 3 year old had over 20 mosquito bites while we backed in the travel trailer. We spent the weekend with foggers and Off. I'm sure it had rained a good amount, but there was a great deal of standing water, which contributed to the problem and it was obvious. The employees were all very nice summer help who were useless. For example, I told one that I needed a longer hose. She suggested, at 9:50 at night, that I go into town to get one. I asked if the local store was open late and she said that it was. Upon my return, I found out that you had to have a gate key to reenter and and she was the one who issued them. I could not drive back to my campsite without going camp site to camp site asking if someone had a key. When I mentioned that to her the next day, she said,"Wow, you've had a rough time." We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Pros: Decent size sites, fairly nice CG staff Cons: Worst mosquito infestation I've ever seen -so bad we actually had to RUN from our truck to RV (or vice versa) - even then, 5-8 followed us inside. We felt like a prisoner in our RV. Also, all children's attractions advertised (Yogi Bear walking around, train rides, hay rides) were not available during the Monday-Thursday before Memorial Day. I think they should clearly state that such features are not available except during weekends. Overall, my little boy was very disappointed. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Review Rating
[ 4 / 10 ]
July 2008
$60
This was supposed to be base camp for Michigan Adventure, but we spent the whole day at Michigan Adventure because no one wanted to come back. Can you say Ouch? I think they sell mosquito’s here, and they are worse during the day. We had to spray each other in the sun while setting up. 5 minutes after setup the largest attack of black ants hit us that went right up the power line to the fridge. That probably comes from all of time full time trailers there all year. I can just imaging what’s living in some of them, yuck! Most of the North end of the campground was underwater, as well as the parking lot to the put-put course. Could not get the WI-FI to work and no managers that understood anything about it, they claimed it just must be me. Funny, 28 years in the networking business. We drove in to Grand Haven and immediately got on the Starbucks and the City network. I had to borrow an extra 15 ft of 30 amp cable, my 25 ft wasn't even close, nor my 25ft water hose. We decided to go down the road for the night at our old favorite Holland State Park just for Mosquito evaluation, just like always hardly a bite, no trains that rattle your Travel Trailer, no Semi Trucks and police and ambulances. It may have been great in its day but not anywhere in the same league as the western Michigan State parks and almost twice as expensive. I think maybe Yogi has been stealing one to many picnic baskets, and saving nothing for Boo Boo. (800) 828-1453 We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This campground was very disappointing. Many of the special attractions for kids did not work. The sites themselves were very plain, with few trees. I would not stay here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We were very disappointed with our stay. Our group of nearly 60 had reservations for a week. The bathrooms were extremely dirty and did not improve during our stay despite numerous complaints by our group. They even ran out of toilet paper for the park! The arcade had three games working out of ten so the kids were extremely upset. The laundry facilities had four of seven washers working so the line for laundry was long. They advertised WIFI, but didn't know who the provider was or what the access codes were. You couldn't pick up the signal in the park. The activities for the kids were quick and boring and they were quite disappointed. Yogi made very rare trips out of hibernation to visit the kids and when he did, he didn't stick around long. The pool was awesome and the only good thing about the park. They fired the manager while we were there so it will be interesting to see how things change as management was very unaccomodating and rude. It was not worth the money. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Very clean, lots of activities. We found this park to meet everything we expected a Yogi to be, although it was a little bit expensive. With the size of our family, and the tight times, it will be next year before we will be able to go back. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We moved here after staying @ Camper's Paradise. Nice campground...a lot better than Camper's Paradise. More for kids to do, lay back atmosphere. Nice staff, enjoyable stay!! We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
We have camped at a Yogi Bear Jellystone park before and really loved it. So, we gave this campground a try. When we got there, we had just about the worst site in the whole campground. It was nothing but sand with only one small tree on it. The road was gravel and hard to ride your bike on. Kids were everywhere. The site next to us had trash scattered everywhere. That night it was very noisy. I had to tell the people behind us, to please keep their music down, as it was quiet time. The next day my daughter wanted to go to "practice your hula dancing"...it was Hawaiian Weekend. That consisted of maybe half a dozen of small girls doing some hula dancing in front of some young staff for 1 minute to receive a sticker. That was it. So we went to check on the train ride that you can take...we found out, that only happens at noon. No posting of that anywhere. Later on we went to the fun park area to go on the bumper boats....that stops at 5 pm. Again, nothing posted on that either. The shower area is clean, but you had to push a button to receive some semiwarm water the thickness of a ladies thumb for maybe one minute. Not too impressed with that. Needless to say, I took a shower in the trailer the following day. Kids are everywhere, mostly unsupervised. Even after dark. My daughter and I had to go to the ranger station just before 10 PM and almost got hit by a kid on a bike. Unsupervised dogs were left tied up at the campsite across from ours. First time I went to tell the office, nothing was done about it. My young daughter had to keep giving those poor animals water several times. The second time I went to complain (just before 10 PM)something was done about it. They tried to call the campers...no result. But a letter from management was left at the site. Next day these campers gave us dirty looks after my daughter asked if they were the owners of the dogs. There was some nicer areas with grass. Seasonals were nicely landscaped. We will probably not go back there. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Nice having planned activities for kids. We have been going the weekend after Labor Day for a few years now. This weekend is planned as a Halloween weekend with trick-or-treating on Saturday night. The facility has both a wading pool and swimming pool. The playground is also good for the kids. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Stayed there in 04 or 05. Park was very clean and well kept. Programs for the kids were very nice. Close to go-cart track and put-put golf. We tried to make reservations last summer but found staff to be less than friendly. Reservation policy (as explained on the phone) requires 2 week notice to cancel but since we were trying to reserve less than 10 days out, there was no chance to cancel. In addition they required 2 nights paid at time of reservation so our $180 for 2 sites/2 nights was gone no matter what the weather or other factors might impact our visit. Decided to just spend our money at another campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is one of our favorite parks to camp at. They have everything from primitive campsites to full hook up sites with patios. Small percentage of sites are seasonal, but very well kept. CG is just south of Grand Haven, so you are close to GH and Holland areas. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.