Jellystone Campground DC
Vacation Spots Close to DC! Way back in March, which seems like a long time ago, I planned a little weekend of glamping for the kids. I found this place called Jellystone which I never knew existed before. Jellystone Hagerstown is an hour from DC, give or take a few minutes. While we had never done anything like this before, I figured if it was awful we could just come back.
We arrived on a Thursday evening and were pretty pleasantly surprised. I added on activity passes for the kids so they could do a bunch of things on their trip. This place was like being on a cruise ship – except without the seasickness, e coli breakout or passenger falling overboard. They handed us an Activity Schedule of everything happening and there was something going on hourly. Some were part of the activity pass lineup, some were for anyone.
There were Rustic Cabins and Luxury Cabins, and even though I’m a Terzis and genetically programmed to always shop for the lowest price, I went with Luxury for the cabin choice. I know my limits. Good call because I didn’t even notice that the Rustic Cabins had no bathrooms. Yikes!
You don’t have to just stay in a cabin, you can also bring an RV as they have a bunch of hookup sites.
On site there is a store where you can get some snacks, souvenirs and other items like that phone charger I left sitting on the kitchen counter in DC. There’s also a little walk-up cantina which has the usual kid-food of hot dogs, grilled cheese, burgers and chicken fingers. There are two windows to reach the food – one is by the pool and the other is on the front side of the building which also houses the ice cream parlor. This was super convenient, as was the cabana I rented for us to hang out in by the pool.
There was a ton for the kids to do. Ninja course, rock climbing, gem mining, crafts like painting a ceramic animal or tie dying t-shirts, Yogi Meet and Greet with a stuffie included, glitter tattoos, laser tag, scavenger hunt, nightly movie, playgrounds, mini golf, pony rides, go carts, jumping pillow, a smaller “unmonitored” pool (a.k.a. no lifeguard) plus a huge pool with two giant slides, a water feature and soon the lazy river will be complete.
They provide the firewood (you can’t bring your own) and each cabin has a pit where you can have a fire and make smores. They also do a couple hilarious drive-thru’s where the passengers have water guns and shoot everyone walking around, or yell at people. Sounds weird and lame but for some reason it was hilarious that a bunch of quasi-drunk parents got on this hayride thing and then as we drove through the RV area, yelled at the rest of their group who was grilling or sitting by the RV.
The girls are 8 & 6, so we stayed with them for the most part but it’s definitely a place you could let the kids run free and feel okay about it. (Disclaimer, if you do this and your child gets kidnapped, I’m not to blame.)
This vacation was the surprise trip of this summer. It was much more awesome than I expected it to be, and the kids absolutely loved it. They each got themselves a 36 inch tube of pucker powder (straight sugar) for the ride home. I took the car with the dogs and sent the girls with Dad in the other car. Hey, I planned the vacation, my work here was done.
