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Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Franchise Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Franchise
  • Home
  • Why Choose Us?
    • Growth Potential
    • Experienced Team
    • Brand Recognition
    • Key Performance Indicators
    • Testimonials
  • Tools & Support
    • Training
    • Merchandise
    • Operations
    • Marketing
    • Club Yogi™ Rewards
    • Theming
  • Franchise Opportunities
    • Convert Your Campground
    • Purchase for Conversion
    • Build
    • Prospective Owners Workshop
  • REIT
    • Revenue Flexibility
  • Parks For Sale
  • Resources
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  • Contact Us

MONTICELLO CAMPGROUND BECOMES IOWA’S FIRST JELLYSTONE PARK CAMP-RESORT

Mar 29, 2016 | Posted by Michele Wisher |

03.29.2016

MONTICELLO, Iowa, March 29, 2016 — Chip Smith and his wife, Kim, have owned and operated Walnut Acres Campground for nine years, during which time they have built the park into a favorite destination for families seeking a clean park with organized family activities.

But this year, the Smiths are taking their 270-site park to the next level by becoming the first campground in Iowa to join the Jellystone Park franchise network.

“We really wanted to strengthen our brand recognition as far as being a family-friendly park,” Chip Smith said of the park, which will open as the Monticello Jellystone Park on April 15th. “The whole atmosphere behind Yogi Bear is family fun, and that’s what we provide. Parents know their kids are going to be entertained and that it’s a fun, safe environment.”           Branding is indeed a powerful marketing tool, and the Smiths have come to realize that no matter how good of a job they do in providing fun family activities and amenities, Walnut Acres’ growth potential may always be limited unless they join a nationally known network like Jellystone Parks.

“We’re not a hard park to find,” Smith said. “But more people are looking for Jellystone than Walnut Acres.”

Smith saw evidence of the power of the Jellystone Park brand as soon as Walnut Acres was added to CampJellystone.com, the travel planning website for the Jellystone Park chain.

“We’ve already had more than two dozen reservations just by becoming a Jellystone Park,” Smith said, adding that he’s also now drawing campers from much farther away.

“We just received a reservation from a family in Des Moines, which is three hours away. In the past, most of our campers have come from within a 45-minute radius of the park,” Smith said.

Of course, beyond the Smiths’ attention to detail is the magic of a Jellystone Park itself, which provides numerous organized activities and themed weekends. Only Jellystone Parks have Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, and Jellystone Parks are famous for providing fun, family activities and themed weekends, such as Hawaiian weekends, which often include limbo contests, sand castle building, and luaus. Mardi Gras themed weekends include parades, cookouts and dances, while Christmas in June weekends include campsite decorating contests, campsite caroling, and cookie and ornament making activities. The increasingly popular Halloween themed weekends include costume and campsite decorating contests and trick or treating activities.           The Smiths have always offered organized family activities, but their activity schedule is being significantly expanded now that their park is part of the Jellystone network.

The Smiths are also adding new amenities, including a jumping pillow and shuffleboard courts and a Game Show Mania game. The park, which is located next to the Maquoketa River, also features a heated swimming pool and a fishing lake with pedal boat rentals as well as a river tubing trail, a large sand beach, a playground and horseshoe pits. It also has two cabins and one camper rental.           The Jellystone Park in Monticello is open from April 15 through the end of October. For more information, visit www.monticellojellystone.com.

About Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp-Resorts
Launched in 1969, the Jellystone Park™ system is the second largest chain of campgrounds in the United States, boasting 80 campgrounds with more than 17,000 campsites and vacation rentals in 31 states and four Canadian provinces. Its Camp-Resorts are among the best campgrounds in the industry with a quality reputation for being fun, friendly, clean and service-oriented parks. Additionally, each Jellystone Park™ is themed with Yogi Bear™ elements providing instant recognition and consumer appeal. It is truly a place “Where You Camp With Friends.”® Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp-Resorts are franchised through Leisure Systems, Inc. (LSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Park River Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, visit http://www.campjellystone.com.

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Theresa Isaacson – Caledonia, WI

We’re going to be entering our 13th season, and I sure would hate to own a property without being Yogi branded. The reason we really like Jellystone Parks is because of the support behind us. With 80 other parks in the system, we have 80 sources of question-and-answer type people to go to. The support is wonderful. The franchise, the LSI system itself – their …

Theresa Isaacson

Roger & Anna Barry – Fremont, IN

When we joined the Jellystone Park™ system in 1980, we were a small operation without a plan. What we have learned through the years from LSI and our fellow Yogi Bear™ owners and operators has been extremely valuable. We now have over 500 sites, RV Sales, waterslides, and a seven family member team of owners and operating managers. We couldn’t have done it w…

Roger & Anna Barry

Bill Pott – Cave City, KY

I really like the way it brings me a nice class of customers. I get happy families. I get people who want to come and to spend money to have fun. They enjoy our park. It’s just wonderful they way they come in, and you get so many that want to meet the other guests, they want to go have fun on the Jumping Pillow, then they want to go to the Splash Pad – and they want …
Bill Pott

Chip Smith – Monticello, IA

We got into the Jellystone brand at the beginning of last year. This is the end of our first season. We are pretty excited about it. What I like most about the brand is the fact that they are drawing in families from three hours away. They all know what we’re there for, and they’re willing to spend a longer time at our park than just the weekend. The investme…
Chip Smith

Ian & Sally Steyn – Larkspur, CO

2009 was our first year as a Jellystone Park™ and since then we have experienced double digit growth.  For 2012, our revenues were up 33% and net operating income was up more than that, year over year! After almost four decades of owning various businesses, converting our campground to a Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp-Resort ranks among the smartest decisions.
Ian & Sally Steyn

Joey Coleman & Rick Coleman – Tabor City, NC

In 2001, we began a unique challenge to build a campground on our family farm 35 miles inland from Myrtle Beach. People responded to our design of large concrete pads, full hook-ups, plenty of open space, and ultimate customer service. But we soon had “growing pains” with procedures and operations.

In 2003, we joined Jellystone Park™. The operations…

Joey Coleman & Rick Coleman

Erv & Marilyn Banes – Frankenmuth, MI

We decided to convert to the Jellystone Park™ system in 1996 because the market conditions were changing. Several of our colleagues had converted and grown in the process. We found that by changing our customer base to families, rather than seniors, we expanded.

The advantage of a Jellystone Park™ is that it is so much more alive than the average park. Plu…

Erv & Marilyn Banes

Rick Spear – Estes Park, CO

We’ve been in the Jellystone franchise system for 20 years this year. It was a family endeavor to begin with, but over those 20 years we’ve seen significant growth of our campground. In particular, just the last three years in a row we’ve been up double digits, 10-11% points three years in a row. We’ve really been coming on strong, and continue to see good grow…
Rick Spear

Brent Fannin – Delaware Beaches

2011 was our first year as a Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™.  We saw record occupancy levels with increases of more than 35% year over year! The addition of nine cabins to our park yielded occupancy levels well over 90% each weekend!  The conversion to a Jellystone Park™ did exactly what we expected – it grew our business.

Brent Fannin

Denny Quigley & Tami Alessio – Harrisville, PA

2011 was our first year as a Jellystone Park™. Since then, we have definitely noticed that we are attracting a lot more guests from a much larger radius that extends nationwide. And we are seeing more guests from Canada. Over this three year time period, our store sales have increased almost 45%! The increased business also helped to allow us to do…
Denny Quigley & Tami Alessio

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