Lone Star Yogi Jellystone Campground is a Warners Brothers park and what is known here are the 3 bears – Yogi, Cindy & BooBoo…What we found out is that one of the 3 bears comes out 3 times a day to meet all the guests and get photos with the bear…The best part about being a bear is that one must be at a certain height which definitely left me out of the loop…but guess who was Yogi..The hardest part was finding a handler until our staff of Tracy & Trish could be handlers…Richard and Tracy could switch off…
We came here to be Activities Directors…Richard did all the outside/inside activities and I worked the Crafts Center…Getting there at first and seeing the big room was something else…but going through everything and seeing what all was needed and getting cleaned up was a whole other story…Richard did his thing with the Activities Schedule so that all the guests would see what was going on and when…My job was to make sure we had ceramics, t-shirts, fabric markers, paints, brushes, etc…At first there were big 12 oz. cups that would hold water and the guests would fill them all the way to the top…Big spills from time to time so that had to be redone…Found out that small 2 oz. sauce cups worked the best…We got detail brushes, fat brushes and other sized brushes for all the different ceramics that was ordered…This looked to be a lot of fun…I saw the Crafts Center for the first time and the first thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the big red wall where all the ceramics and t-shirts were…Who in their right mind would paint the wall such a color…So drab…Below is the office/supply area…I just had to dig my way through all of this and see what was good, bad, used, gonna be used, etc…
We met a lot very nice workampers who is working the summer/fall season with us…Some are staying during the winter season as well until Spring 2012 comes around…The managers were CJ & Paula and the assistant managers were Frank & Alice…Then there was us, Activities Directors…In charge of Housekeeping was Bob & Anna…In charge of the Cafe/Kitchen was Dudley & Charlene…Many other couples were George & Barb, Billy Joe & Julie, Don & DeeAnn, Bill & Annie, Mac & Trish and many others who at this moment, I just can’t think of...Tracy was Paula’s daughter…
Tracy and Trish came to work in the Crafts Center with me…We did a pretty good job with just the 3 of us…We all had a blast…It was a blessing to be able to work with 2 other fantastic staff…We could laugh and joke and just have fun…The tall lady is Tracy and the lady on the right is Trish…We also found out that the campgrounds red logo tees are wrong with guests…Red made the guests mad while tye dye tees let the guests be very calm for the most part…
After the season was done with a co-worker, who is a very talented artist by the name of Tracy Farmer, started sprucing up the colors…We decided to paint all the shelves all different colors, the railings got painted bright orange & yellow…Tracy painted and did her artist work on the paint/register counters…Richard put some paint around the windows & 2 sets of doors, Tracy did her artist work on the office doors and I painted 2 sets of doors and Tracy, Trish and I painted all the shelving…I started with some splash work on the red walls but Tracy finished it off…The crafts center by Spring Break 2012 really looked good and brighter…
The brighter shelving really looked good against the dark red walls…The shelving was originally a blue color which just didn’t look right…
I painted this door but Tracy did her bubbles work and the Employees Only lettering…It really made the room stand out along with the bright green doors & light purple doors, which 1 set of doors was on the right side and the other set of doors is on the left side of the coke machine, that lead in to the Yogi Kitchen…The room was just so bland and for a Crafts Center it seemed it needed more color…
The railings were painted so that the guests could see them more clearly…A few years back the guests could go in the ceramics area and pick up and look at what they wanted to buy but it was such a mess afterwards so before we got there a railing was put up and the staff could get whatever the guests wanted..Made it a lot nicer and easier…
After being there for several months and realizing how messy the painters were, it was time to “cover” the tables to help with clean up…A pretty thick black plastic was the perfect fitting…Cover the tops and when it was time to clean up after each party left, the paint would just come up with no problem…The Jellystone tees were put in a more neat order with cardboard in between the shirts to make them look neater…There were 3 tvs with surround sound and we could play movies and we also had a nice traveling music player on wheels to where I could play a mp3 player of songs or I could play music cd’s on the portable cd player…All the tables in the beginning were all put together with no space between them…This made it tough on the staff to get around the tables to get them cleaned off…In the beginning, all the tables were in their rows but were all abutting one another…In time, we found a way to spread out the tables and make it easy access for staff to clean them…I think it also gave the guests a bit more room between the rows so that they didn’t feel all squished together…Over a few months, we did get a few compliments on how the crafts center was maintained and managed and how it looked compared to previous years…So that made my staff very proud but those compliments were few and far between…
Richard and I had our fun there…Granted, I think about 80% of the guests were rude, obnoxious, ungrateful and drunk…The kids were rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered…No manners at all…I want this and You can give me that…Wow! I use to live in Killeen, TX way back when for about 1 1/2 years and I thought way back when that the Texas people were very nice & polite..They would wave if you let them by or go first or whatever…However, once we got here, we were told that Houstonians were very different…That they thought they had money and they were willing to spend it…They come to this campground and they spend a lot of money to be here and everyone should kiss their butt and give them things for free…Wow! What a culture shock…but we did our jobs and was polite and said “have a nice day” even if they were rude to us…They can provoke you in to a fight just by saying “You’ve been rude all day” even if they weren’t in the crafts center all day…but we did meet some very nice people…These nice people would say that they’ve been having a great time…That the staff has been nice…That they can’t wait to come back to this campground…That it was a pleasure to have so much to do in one day…It was amazing to see people drink from the time that they arrived until the time that they left…It was amazing to see parents forget about their kids cause they were drinking…
Campfires were great too…Everyone would have a campfire…You could take a walk or golf cart ride around the campground and smell all kind of smells….We were lucky enough to have a few campfires…We found out about this stuff called Mystical Fire which are crystals in a little black envelope that you toss in to the campfire after your initial fire dies down some…OMG! The colors are so b e a u t i f u l…Just amazing…Of course, a campfire is a great way to get rid of all sorts of paperwork that needs to be shredded…lol We did put on the grate, one time, some hot dogs and they were the best tasting hot dogs ever…There isn’t anything like a real good campfire that you can cook over…A camera photo does not show the colors of the crystals that were put in to the center of this fire…but the colors were greens and blues…I think I still may have one pack left for future use…
So the summer went by…We did our jobs…Richard talked to a lot of people cause he is Mr. Friendly…lol He met a lot of nice people too…Richard did the paper games like I Spy, Scavenger Hunt, Guessing Game & Photo Contest along with the Wet-n-Wild Hayride, Candy Bar Bingo, Bingo, Let’s Make a Deal Bingo and Karaoke which turned in to Yogi Dance Party…He tried to do Chucko, Tug of War and other games but one can not compete against the Water Park…The summer did get very hot…I think at one point the temperature reached 116° for the day time high…The first a/c unit in the front of the crafts center broke down so the second a/c unit had to take the full brunt of the heat…but we had plenty of water to drink and we could wear our tye dye tees which were cooler than the campground’s red shirts…We both enjoyed helping out the kids & having fun with the kids…We knew, being Disney cast members, that if the kids are happy then the parents are happy…So we aimed to please all the kids…We had fun with the adults as well but found out that not a lot of adults have a sense of humor..Below is the water park area…Splash Zone, Pool, Serpentine Slide and on the other side is the big Blue/Yellow slide (forgot what it was called)…
After summer left, we had Halloween…Five weekends of Halloween fun…A trial run started at the end of September 2011 to make sure everything worked…Campers, tenters and cabin people would bring in their halloween decorations and decorate up their site(s)…During Halloween weekends there was a contest for the best decorated site/cabin…There was the Costume Contest on Saturday nights for all ages…and Wow of Wow! Did we have some awesome costumes!! Even adults got dressed up for it…We had to make up small numbered pieces of paper for the judges so that they could pick the winners for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place by their numbers instead of by their costumes…The Haunted House and the Trail of Terror was up and running…A few fixes on the Trail of Terror after the wind tore up the trail’s black covering…The couple who made it look and run awesomely was Lisa and Tony…Wow, what a great job they did…So after the Dance Party, the Haunted House/Trail of Terror would open up at 8pm…There was Trick or Treating for everyone between 7pm – 8pm…Kids were everywhere…It was a great time…Guests make their camping reservations almost a year to 6 months in advance to make sure that they get their spot or a good spot just for all the fun and decorating…It was something to see…
Guests getting ready for the Costume Contest…and then Trick or Treating…
A pair of winners for ages 1 month – 5 years old…How can one not pick this pair to be winners…Ain’t nothing like Raggedy Ann & Andy…
First place, second place & third place winners for the adult category…I’m not sure who is more scarier, Chucky or the Joker…lol
Halloween came and went…Next was winter time…Everything closed down for the season…The next biggest thing going on was the Thanksgiving weekend…The campground supplied the turkeys and ham and the guests have to bring one dish for a family of 4…I heard it all turned out great…We were in WV visiting our daughter and granddaughters…I was learning how to take reservations on Campground Manager…Notes notes and more notes…Ms. Alice put a book together for me and I read it over, highlighted some stuff and made lots of notes as the days went by…For the months of November/December, I was working in the Ranger Station from 9am – 4pm…Helping out any guests who were visiting for the day or coming in to see what the park looked like or answered questions on the phone…Slowly I was getting this Campground Manager…the one thing I did learn quickly was “Do not touch the ENTER key” or use the mouse very little and only when necessary…The “TAB” key was your friend…lol By the first week of January, the reservations office was open and I was in there at my own desk…I got the hang of it by now except for a few little things but it was coming along…Yes, I am very glad that I got the chance to learn Campground Manager…I am glad that I now know how to make reservations…but at times it was also very boring…Calls were few and the days dragged…but thank goodness I had a Nintendo DS with games and my newly acquired Kindle Fire with games on it…I got to be acquaintances with Angie who lives in Waller, TX and with Annie, a nice elderly lady who came from the United Kingdom…Angie is a local and Annie & her hubby, Bill, are full time rv’ers…We all got along great or I thought we did…lol The next big event coming to Yogi Jellystone Park was Spring Break…
Spring Break started on March 9, 2012 and ended on March 18, 2012…It took me one week to get the crafts center in shape…Ceramics were ordered, a few colors of paint were needed, new brushes were put in place, water cups were ready and paper towels were cut and ready to use…The paint squirt bottles were filled, the games were all ready, the coloring pages all set with some new crayons and new fabric markers were put out…We were ready for business…On March 9, the crafts center opened up at 4pm and was closing at 8pm..This was a first time for this but we wanted to see how it would work for guests who were coming in between those times and needed the kids to go somewhere while they got all set up…We had some people which was great…but the worst part was that it rained and rained and rained and rained for 3 days straight…A lot of guests who were tent camping had to cancel their plans…The rain was horrendous…The crafts center was a complete mess but nothing we could do about it…Richard did his Candy Bar Bingo in the Yogi Kitchen along with other indoor stuff for all the kids to do…We met a family who had a blast and enjoyed everything we did for them…Actually, the wife was from Baltimore…so we had lots to talk about…another family was awesome too…The girls called us “uncle richard and aunt shelly”…The girls were cheerleaders and did a spectacular pose with one of the bears…We got to talking with the parents and just connected…They even came back before they left to get pictures of us with their daughters…Now how sweet and special is that…and this wasn’t the first time during the Spring Break season…It happened to us 2 more times..Pictures with the guests kids…Awesome! The one family was Steve, Natasha, Haelin (spelling is off) and Britni…The second family was Charlie, Cindy, Charlie Jr., Caroline & Cyleigh…The third family was Deanna, Mary, Laura (?) and I just can’t put my finger on the other girls names…So sorry! This had made our last 10 days here at Yogi Campground very special…We actually went to Charlie & Cindy’s campsite to visit with them and tell them bye before they left the next day and wound up staying there for several hours and meeting their friends, James & Barbie..and btw, they all are Disney fans…Now what more can one say about that…On Sunday, March 18, we got our last bit of guests from 10am – 11am and everyone was heading home…My staff and I got everything cleaned up and ready until Memorial Day Weekend…The doors were locked and everything turned in at the office…
This is my Spring Break staff….on the left is Trisha who last year worked in the Ranger Station and the Water Zone…In the middle is my good friend, Alice…She is a full time rv’er and we met her and her hubby, Bill, when we worked up at Lake Ridge RV Resort in Hillsville, VA…She was part of the Activities staff when we were there in 2009..
So after 10 1/2 months being at Lone Star Yogi Jellystone Campground, we finally made our move heading north towards our next destination of Monroe City, MO…A new journey begins for another 7 months and a new place to visit and see and take pictures…
