Mark Twain Jellystone Park

This campground needs some serious TLC. We specifically chose this campground because of the baby pool and splash pad area. The baby pool is closed, which was not disclosed on any site. The splash pad area is not suitable for young kids. It has significant water sprays on all sides making it impossible to climb up the play area without being sprayed. My 4 y/o is an excellent swimmer but was too freaked out to go. The small pool at the campground is located next to the laundry mat. I witnessed water literally pouring from a pipe at the laundry mat directly into the pool. The other big problem was the activities. I never mind paying the higher price for a Jellystone because the activities are usually excellent. The activities mostly cost extra and the free activities were lame - like stopping by the desk to eat a slice of watermelon. All in all, we won’t be back.

We just stayed there recently and had issues. Our shower leaked all over the bathroom floor no matter what we did so we had to have towels on the floor. We had to go ask for more towels but staff said they'd only bring them if they had some available. You could see this was an ongoing problem because of the damage on the floor & trim pieces.

The little black bugs got really bad the 2nd & 3rd days we were there but initially it was the ants that looked like they owned the place when we first arrived.

Only our deadbolt worked and half the time, our door wouldn't even stay latched unless it was locked and the seal was worthless. You could see outside when the door was shut.

We were out of garbage bags so I used my own I'd brought.

The cabin got really warm from like 3p-7p and it wasn't even super terrible warm out but we pretty much made the decision to not be in our cabin during those hours.

Our toilet clogged the night before we left but it hadn't worked well the days we were there anyway. My husband tried to fix it and the maintenance guy came down at 10pm and he also couldn't get it to work so we were toiletless for the remaining 12 hours of our stay. After dripping toilet water all over the floor, he explained to us that they'd been having issues with that line and it had been snaked 3-4 times previously already this summer (it was 6/18). We have 4 young daughters so that was fun.

The public restrooms were close to our cabin but the lights didn't work, there was no toilet paper and the door wouldn't fully close.

My husband went to plug in our golf cart at our cabin site and one of the electrical boxes had a huge wasp nest in it. The maintenance man did spray ours and everyone else's in that row of cabins.

The water park women's bathroom is atrocious. Gross, dirty standing water on the floor, smelly, stalls without doors, no paper towels. Absolutely have to wear shoes in there.

The restaurant was out of ketchup and they didn't replace it until the next day. We ended up going back to our cabin and using the ketchup we'd brought.

We're going to try another Jellystone in the future, we will not be back to this one.

Before I write about anything I’ve experienced this weekend(7/31/26), note that I’ve been coming here with my family for 4 summers in a row using our travel trailer. I still haven’t written a review, but I also have never read the reviews of this park ever until this past week leading up to this trip. I never felt the need to but if I went off of the reviews alone, I wouldn’t have made it out like anyone else.

Fortunately, I keep a neutral mindset and this time I was really in-tune with the negative remarks and focusing on the parks amenities and service from the employees. As expected knowing all of this, I had a great weekend. It’s even rained all of Saturday so we shifted our pool day to today so as I’m writing this, I’m sitting at the pool.

- Check-in process was easy. They were quick, attentive, and very helpful.

- Sure there’s potholes here and there. Get over it. They don’t make or break the camping experience.

- Fishing, camping, Saturday night parade, employees, landscape and grass upkeep are all great.

- I can’t speak on the cabins but I didn’t hear or see of anyone complaining.

- Lastly, most “complaints” were at the pool. I’m watching the lifeguards like a hawk and they’re watching the pools like they should be. The pool water looks great. It wasn’t over chlorinated and has great clarity in all of them. The staff in every area have been working and doing what’s expected. The bathrooms had wet floors(whoa at a pool theme park!?!), and they were clean otherwise. Lastly, the food is fine. No, it’s not gourmet restaurant food but it’s a family-fun, kid-focused theme park so I totally expected “mid” pizza, chicken, fries, burgers, etc.

I still enjoyed my time here with my family and we had a great weekend. While I’m sure some of the reviews may have some validity, I take them with a grain of salt and some likely set high expectations for themselves and that’s not on the park.

We loved our first stay at Mark Twain Jellystone so much we came back four years in a row. Our kids have made many good memories here. Unfortunately it has not gone in a good direction. The location has so much potential, especially with the lake being so close. But this year Our cabin AC was leaking water all over the floor and our fridge wasn’t working properly. The park bathrooms were not tidy or clean. But the worst part was the water zone. There were at least 9 or 10 parts of it not functioning and shut down and it terrible condition. The kids splash area is in absolute desperate need of upgrades. There were so Many hazards on the ground that my children kept stubbing their bare feet on. And I saw only one single life guard on duty in the ENTIRE WATERPARK. No joke, the wave pool, the kid area, the lazy river, I only saw ONE SINGLE life guard. And he was reclining in a chair, not keeping watch. Our local community aquatic center is not nearly as big and has at least 8-10 life guards on duty at ALL TIMES. I have no idea how that water park is still in business. Unfortunately it needs shut down, because it is simply entirely unsafe.
It’s sad for me to say all this because like I said we have had many family memories here. But unfortunately we will be moving on to a different park next year.

We were a little bit apprehensive on what to expect on this trip because of the recent reviews. However, we really enjoyed our stay. We stayed in our camper so I can’t speak for the cabins. The campground is well kept and clean. The facilities were clean on the campground. There are a lot of events and activities for the kids in the rec center. The mini golf was outdated but still fun. I was a little disappointed that the outdoor theater wasn’t showing any movies.
As for the waterpark, we had a lot of fun. The wave pool was great, the snacks were good, staff were super nice. The bathroom was fine. I mean it’s a waterpark so there is going to be water all over the floors. But the toilets were clean. The only cons were that the kiddie pool needs updating. Most of the attraction wasn’t working/spraying water. It was a little sad, but my 5 year old still had fun. One of the kiddie pools was closed. Most of the slides required 48inches or above. Wish there was a little more to offer for the younger ones. The lazy river had quite a bit of bugs floating everywhere. I got stung a few times from whatever bug was crawling over tubes and floating in the water. We made the best of it though and I would say that my little family of 5 will be back in the future. It’s an old park and I really think they are trying to update the best they can.