Every once in a while I get to review a campground that breaks the mold in some way. Lake Rudolph fits that bill exactly.
We Paid: $46 per night for 2 nights
Discounts Used: None
Address (GPS Link): 78 North Holiday Blvd. Santa Claus, IN 47579
Website: http://www.lakerudolph.com/
Amenities List: Power, Water, Sewer, Camp Store, Games Room, Rec Room, Pool, Jacuzzi, Playground, Field Games, Wireless, Cable TV, Bathrooms, Showers, Laundry, Cabins, Tent Camping, Propane. swimming, Water Park, Restaurant, Golf Carts, Fishing, Mini Golf
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Best Features
- Holiday Celebrations
- Many Amenities
Worst Features
- Somewhat expensive
- Advanced booking needed for big holiday events
The Yamato has made a new friend here at Lake Rudolph.
The Details
Lake Rudolph has the strangest park rule I’ve yet encountered: “For the safety of our guests, do not include any simulations of live hangings at your sight.” What kind of madness goes on here? Holiday madness, specifically Halloween madness. We had arrived too early to catch any of that ourselves but the staff at Lake Rudolph where busily getting the park ready for their annual spooktacular celebration. It’s so popular that reservations for the 2018 event were already about full up.
The camp is only open spring through fall, and they focus on people who come to celebrate various holidays. They are located in a town called Santa Claus and are part of Holiday World. Its a very big RV park and it features medium-sized water park called Splash Safari inside of it. That was closed by the time we arrived and there were very few campers in the park.
Another unique feature here was that nearly every parking spot included a golf cart. You needed to pay extra to get the keys to it, but even if you don’t pay, it’s sitting there on your site. I’m sure they are great for cruising around and checking out the holiday displays all the other campers are putting up. The one on our site could fit six passengers.
They had a pretty mini-golf course near the laundry room. Sadly, the store that had clubs and balls was closed. 🙁
As you might expect, they have a pretty wide range of amenities here, though exactly what is available seems to vary. A lot of it was closed when we were there. The setting is a woodland one and there is little to no traffic noise as the park is set well back from the highway. The sites are fairly large and the hookups worked nicely.
The price is on the high side, but I think when you factor in the elaborateness of the park and the events they host, it isn’t a bad price. For our short stay, it was a little much as so much was closed. I’d recommend trying to coincide a visit with one of their holidays to get the full experience of this park.
2 Comments
Hi Trail and Hitch,
Being from Bowling Green, KY, we are only 2 hours south of Holiday World. Our girls grew up going there each summer, sometimes twice. They also did Disney World twice. They both preferred Holiday World! So when my oldest graduated from the University of Kentucky in May, what did she want to do for her graduation celebration? Go to Holiday World with his sister and cousins. Since Laura and I took up camping in 2016 as empty nesters in our little Casita, so we decided to turn this into a camping trip. My brother and his wife came up from Southaven, MS with their travel trailer. Laura and I camped in our Casita. We rented an RV Super King travel trailer for the girls, boyfriends, and cousins at Lake Rudolph Campground RV and Resort. We had a great time and enjoyed the campground, plus it is just around the corner from Holiday World. Laura and I tend to camp at state parks and Corps of Engineer parks, but for a change and a family event, Camp Rudolph was a great place to camp. They do love their golf carts there!!!
Take care,
Dean
I was taken by surprise at how seriously the employees take the holidays. They are really dedicated to making sure that guests have a great time.