Disclosure: #Sponsored This post is a sponsored post in collaboration with Tower Park Resort. While our family receives these special benefits to share our experiences on our blog, all reviews and opinions expressed here are my own.
Have you been glamping? Our family loves all kinds of camping, from tent camping to cabin glamping. We recently stayed at the Tower Park Resort in Lodi, California for the very first time and we LOVED it. This location has spots for tent camping, RV hookups and cabin glamping.
We stayed in a Boo Boo Bungalow, which sleeps 6. It had two bedrooms, and a main room which included the living room, with a futon and kitchen area. One bedroom had cozy bunkbeds, this is perfect for families with children, the other room had a queen bed. I was pleasantly surprised to see the kitchen had a full size refrigerator, it had a cook top, microwave, coffee pot and toaster everything you need to cook and prepare meals. From the pictures we looked at we thought, there was only a mini fridge, so we did not take a ton of food to cook, now that I know it has a full size refrigerator, we will definitely bring more food on our next stay. We brought with us cereal and a small milk, hot dogs, watermelon and snacks.
There are nearby grocery stores, as well as a General Store on the campgrounds, once we saw the fully equipped kitchen, we made a trip to the store and picked up some eggs, bacon and cheese to make English muffins for breakfast.
The campgrounds at Tower Park Resort are much larger than I thought they would be, there are so many actives for the entire family to enjoy. When we have taken our boys camping before, we often hear those dreaded words "I'm bored", not at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park. We never once heard the boys complain about boredom. There is plenty of fun to be had at Tower Park.
Activities
When you check in you will receive wrist bands to wear your entire stay, the wrist band gives you access to the water park and other activities. They have a water park, mini golf, park playground area, volleyball sand area, horse shoe area, gaga ball area, a bouncing pillow that the kids loved jumping on, gem mining, and outdoor laser tag.
Character Meet and Greet
In the Pavilion area, they have daily crafts, and activities like morning Yoga, some are free and some have a fee, for example to tie-dye a t-shirt there is a small fee. Daily at the Pavilion you can have your photo taken with your favorite bears Yogi Bear, Boo Boo Bear and/or Cindy Bear. There are two times daily for character meet and greets.
Water Park & Lazy River
Our boys favorite spots were the water park and mini golf area. The waterpark has a lazy river, water squirting toys, slides and a tower that dumps water every so often as the horn sounds. Everyone would race toward the tower when the horn sounded, our boys loved this. There were also two other smaller swimming pools and a hot tub area. My husband and I loved floating in the Lazy River, we could stay in there all day. The water park does close for a brief time throughout the day for cleaning, this worked perfect to go enjoy lunch and then return back to swim. The water park is open 11 AM to 7 PM.
Mini Golf
Mini golf is unlimited, this is great place to perfect your golf swing. There were 18 holes, you select your putter and golf ball as you enter. We golfed on mornings and evenings and it was never packed. The Mini Golf is open daily 9 AM to 9 PM.
Movies Under the Stars
They have movie nights under the stars on some of the evenings, during our stay they showed the Emperor's New Groove. They have some benches and they show it on the side of the Pavilion with a projector, you can also bring your camping chairs to watch.
Foam Party Fun
I wish I would have captured some video and pictures of the Foam Party, it is like a giant bubble party. Your little ones will have so much fun being covered in bubbles. I didn't have my phone or camera with me, but my little guy loved this.
Park Playground & Jumping Pillow
You will find a great park and playground area, as well as a large jumping pillow, to help tucker out the kiddos, they will sleep well at night.
Laser Tag
Laser Tag is available for a small fee. To play during the day it is ONLY $5 per person, what a steal. They have two night play options, that cost a little more. Advanced reservations are required, you sign up in the Pavilion.
They have boat rentals and more activities available, for a full list of attractions visit TowerParkResort/Attractions.
Food
There were two food trucks, one that served desserts Hawaiian shaved ice, ice cream, and cookies. We loved the Hawaiian Shaved Ice, you can top it off with sweetened condensed milk for fifty cents more, YUM! My boys wanted to enjoy these delicious treats everyday.
The Pic-A-Nic-Basket food truck served hamburgers, chicken tenders and more. We had planned to eat at the Food Truck one of the evenings, but we went too late, they stop taking orders at 5:45 PM. Thankfully there is a NEW Restaurant on the campgrounds Waterfront Grille that just opened in July so we headed to Waterfront Grille for a quick bite before our scheduled laser tag time. At Waterfront Grille they have both outdoor and indoor seating areas.
At Waterfront Grille our kids ordered from the kids menu, each meal came with a side (fruit, fries or salad) and a drink. Our boys ordered the baby burgers, and chicken tenders. They all enjoyed their food, the serving size is perfect for younger children, but a little small for our older boys. They saw another table order pizza, and they want to try the pizza on our next visit.
We were kind of in a hurry because we had a scheduled time slot for laser tag so while the menu had some delicious menu items, my husband and I went with appetizers to keep it quick. We ordered the Million Dollar Wings and the Garlic Parmesan Fries. The wings were yummy, they had a unique smoky flavor, that reminded me of Adobo seasoning in Mexican dishes. The Garlic Parmesan Fries were big waffle cut fries covered in cheese, garlic and a sauce that tasted like Alfredo sauce, these were a hit with our entire family.
Golf Cart Rentals
One of the cool add on options is a golf cart rental. Having a golf cart was a fun way to get around the campgrounds without driving our vehicle everywhere. We could have walked to the water park area, in fact one of the mornings I enjoyed a walk to the water park, but it is a nice amenity to drive the golf cart around. The mini golf area and restaurant are the farthest things from the actual camping and cabin sites. We thoroughly enjoyed the fun of driving around in the golf cart. I do recommend you reserve a golf cart at the same time you reserve your camping stay, because while on our stay when we were checking in, we heard them tell other families they were sold out of golf carts. Depending on the day of your stay, Golf Cart Rentals start at $56/day.
10 Tips for your stay!
Arrive ready to swim! Check in for the cabins is at 4 PM and for the tent sites is 3 PM, but you can enjoy the campground activities the day of your check in so come dressed in your swim wear! They do have restrooms with showers near the pool area so you do have a place to change. Next time though, we will arrive ready to swim.
Have your swim bag ready. Bring sunscreen and your swimming towels. If you have a little one bring along their life jacket for the swimming pools and lazy river.
Add on the Linens - There is a Linen package ($20), that provides you pillow, sheets, blanket, bath towels and hand towels, go for it and add it on. It is one less thing you have to pack and one less thing you have to take home to wash.
Bring S'more Ingredients - each cabin and campsite has a firepit and BBQ grill. Camping is all about the s'mores right! This was one of our favorite evening routines, hanging out near the fire pit and making s'mores.
Bring your camping chairs! Each Cabin has a table and chairs on the patio area. I was grateful we brought along our camping chairs and mini camping table. The chairs came in handy at the movie night and around the fire pit. You can purchase fire wood at the General Store located near the restaurant. In fact you can find just about anything you may have forgotten at the General Store, along with cute Yogi Bear themed souvenirs.
Bring cash! The food truck that sells Hawaiian Shaved Ice only accepts cash, so be sure and bring cash.
Bring cards and board games. One of my favorite parts about camping is unplugging. Unplugging from TV and electronics. Be sure to bring along a deck of cards and/or your favorite board game to enjoy in the evening hours when the water park is closed.
Bring a basketball or volleyball or bouncy ball for gaga ball. There is a basketball court, volleyball sandpit, and gaga ball pits. You can also bring bikes and scooters.
Bring a sweater - While during the day it was nice and warm in the 80's the perfect weather for swimming, in the evenings it did get a little chilly. I was grateful we took sweaters for everyone, to sit outside during the evening hours.
Bring Glow in the Dark Bracelets/Necklaces
Stop at the Dollar Store before your trip and buy glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces. We saw kids on bikes and Golf Carts decorated with fun glow in the dark lights. We also saw decorated Golf Carts with fun themes.
We really enjoyed glamping at Tower Park Resort, we can't wait until we can visit again. Another bonus is Tower Park is pet friendly. They have a dog park area and select cabins allow pets for a fee.
I have so many fond memories from my childhood from camping, with the help of Tower Park Resort, I know my children will have fond camping memories as well. We have so many great photo memories, check out this capture of the splash tower in action.
You can find more details and reserve your stay at Tower Park Resort here. You can find current deals and discount codes here.
I shared videos from our fun at Tower Park including a peek inside the Boo Boo Bungalow on my Instagram stories go check it out they are saved in my highlights section @BlogAboutItAll.
