Lake Rudolph at Holiday World, Santa Claus, IN

[indiana_campin]

Just stayed 4 nights at Lake Rudolph, which is adjacent to Holiday World theme park in Santa Claus, Indiana. I believe the campground is owned by the same people that own Holiday World, thus the two are integrated.

The campground sounds nice - good sized, new pool, across the lake from the theme park (you can see the Raven wood roller coaster from many campsites!), free mini golf, volleyball, horseshoes, and paddleboat rental. Free shuttle from the campground to Holiday World. The campground has won awards for cleanliness, etc.

The campground features regular campsites, deluxe (with concrete pad), and rv's and small cabins for rent. Decent camp store. Most sites have water, sewage and 30 amp service (deluxe have 50amp).

The campground map is deceptive at best. http://www.lakerudolph.com/default.cfm?page=htm/map.htm I'm used to camping at Indiana state parks, which provide maps with accurate depictions of campsite size, proximity to other sites, and text descriptions of each site. We stayed in 34P, which appeared to back up to trees and then a playground. It actually backed up to 1P, and there was maybe 20' between our camper and our neighbor's camper in 33p (I'm glad we were with them as a group). The campsites all appeared to be too small, in my opinion.

Be aware that the theme park actually backs up to cabins 1-4 and campsites 26p-29p. Translation: loud roller coasters while Holiday World is open.

I like to relax when I'm camping. I like a semblence of being in nature, away from civilization. I didn't get that at Lake Rudolph. The camp rents golf carts and I felt like I was camping along main street in an Indiana small town. Golf carts -- loud golf carts with bright lights, I should add -- drove by our site every 2-3 minutes all evening, until quiet time at 11pm. Lots of teenagers cruising the campground. It was extremely annoying.

Finally, the shuttle to/from Holiday World is good - if you don't have a stroller, or don't plan on leaving the park at closing time. It took our friends FOREVER to catch the shuttle after the park closed. It was quicker to walk the 1/4-1/2 mile back to the campsite.

I'm going back to Holiday World - it's an awesome park. But next time, I'm staying at the Lincoln State Park, just 5 miles west. Holiday World has free parking, so I can come and go as I please!

http://www.lakerudolph.com/

[trumpet87]

Just stayed 4 nights at Lake Rudolph, which is adjacent to Holiday World theme park in Santa Claus, Indiana. I believe the campground is owned by the same people that own Holiday World, thus the two are integrated.

The campground sounds nice - good sized, new pool, across the lake from the theme park (you can see the Raven wood roller coaster from many campsites!), free mini golf, volleyball, horseshoes, and paddleboat rental. Free shuttle from the campground to Holiday World. The campground has won awards for cleanliness, etc.

The campground features regular campsites, deluxe (with concrete pad), and rv's and small cabins for rent. Decent camp store. Most sites have water, sewage and 30 amp service (deluxe have 50amp).

The campground map is deceptive at best. http://www.lakerudolph.com/default.cfm?page=htm/map.htm I'm used to camping at Indiana state parks, which provide maps with accurate depictions of campsite size, proximity to other sites, and text descriptions of each site. We stayed in 34P, which appeared to back up to trees and then a playground. It actually backed up to 1P, and there was maybe 20' between our camper and our neighbor's camper in 33p (I'm glad we were with them as a group). The campsites all appeared to be too small, in my opinion.

Be aware that the theme park actually backs up to cabins 1-4 and campsites 26p-29p. Translation: loud roller coasters while Holiday World is open.

I like to relax when I'm camping. I like a semblence of being in nature, away from civilization. I didn't get that at Lake Rudolph. The camp rents golf carts and I felt like I was camping along main street in an Indiana small town. Golf carts -- loud golf carts with bright lights, I should add -- drove by our site every 2-3 minutes all evening, until quiet time at 11pm. Lots of teenagers cruising the campground. It was extremely annoying.

Finally, the shuttle to/from Holiday World is good - if you don't have a stroller, or don't plan on leaving the park at closing time. It took our friends FOREVER to catch the shuttle after the park closed. It was quicker to walk the 1/4-1/2 mile back to the campsite.

I'm going back to Holiday World - it's an awesome park. But next time, I'm staying at the Lincoln State Park, just 5 miles west. Holiday World has free parking, so I can come and go as I please!

http://www.lakerudolph.com/

Just to let you know: Lincoln SP is one of the noisiest SP's we've ever camped in!  It is BEAUTIFUL, but the sites are smaller than most and you will find yourself up against other campsites in almost every site.  The best ones (largest too) are on the outside of the bottom loop, down by the lake.  There are 2 kind of off by themselves but they are almost NEVER not reserved.
I agree with you on the golf carts, they are very annoying, LOL!  But we enjoy going during October, or "Halloweekends".  This is something that every family should get the chance to enjoy at Lake Rudolph. My husband isn't much on noise or Lake Rudolph but really enjoys this weekend.  But you have to reserve well in advance - we started reserving for the following Oct. while we're there for Halloweekends. We got a site we liked and don't want to give it up, LOL! You'll have to read up about it on the site if interested.

[indiana_campin]

I agree with you on the golf carts, they are very annoying, LOL!  But we enjoy going during October, or "Halloweekends".  This is something that every family should get the chance to enjoy at Lake Rudolph. My husband isn't much on noise or Lake Rudolph but really enjoys this weekend.  But you have to reserve well in advance - we started reserving for the following Oct. while we're there for Halloweekends. We got a site we liked and don't want to give it up, LOL! You'll have to read up about it on the site if interested.

I'm disappointed to hear that about Lincoln SP...

We actually reserved a site for a Halloweekend in October BEFORE our first trip to Lake Rudolph and haven't cancelled it - yet. So maybe we'll be there. We'll check out Lincoln while we're there.