Who wouldn’t love to celebrate the Christmas season during the summer? Imagine going to the Santa Claus Post Office to write a letter to Santa and later receive a letter back. You can visit Santa Claus Museum, Santa Claus Christmas Store or even grabbing a delicious frozen hot chocolate at Santa’s Candy Castle. Doesn’t this sound amazing!!
Believe it or not all of this and more can be found in a small town in Indiana appropriately named Santa Claus, IN. The largest draw to Santa Claus is Holiday World Theme Park and Splashin’ Safari Water Park. If you are thinking of visiting the town and theme parks, the most convenient place to stay is at Lake Rudolph’s Campground and RV Resort which is located next to Holiday World. The campground offers free shuttle rides to and from the theme park.
The atmosphere at the campground is extremely family friendly and very clean. As you read through this blog you will understand why they have won two National RV Park of the Year, named the best RV park in Indiana by Readers Digest, one of the 11 most family-friendly campgrounds by U.S. News & World Report and one of the top 10 best campgrounds for families by TravelChannel.com.
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Welcome
When you first pull into Lake Rudolph you will be greeted by their friendly staff. Make sure to grab a resort map to help you navigate to your site. You will notice all the street names are winter/holiday themed. As you explore the campground you will find some other little holiday touches like that throughout the park. Including a Coca Cola machine with Santa on it.
If you rented a golf cart, you will pick this up on the right-hand-side after check-in. Is a golf cart needed? Not necessarily, but they are fun to have. The campground is fairly large and there are some good size hills that would not be that fun to pedal a bike up. We recommend making your reservation in advance for a golf cart because they do sell out during the busier weekends. If you rent a golf cart remember to bring lights and decorations. A couple of times a week they have a nighttime golf cart parade.
Don’t want to rent a golf cart? That’s ok. You can still get around the campground by hopping onto one of the shuttle buses. There are five shuttle stops throughout the campground that loop around the campground with the final destination being Holiday World. You can hop on a shuttle and get off of it at the pool, Prancer’s Activity Center, etc.
Ways to stay
Lake Ruduloph’s campground sits on over 160 acres with RV sites, tent sites, cabins and cottages to rent. They offer both back-in and pull-thru sites with full hook-up. The tent sites are water and electric.
We have brought our camper to Lake Rudolph twice. Both times we had a wonderful experience. There wasn’t an area we didn’t really like. We camped on Snowball (site 85) the first visit and Tinsel (site 27) the second visit. Both of these sites are near the camp store, Blitzen Kitchen, pool, park, and shuttle stop. We found this area to be convenient and fairly quiet.
As we drove around the campground we loved the sites along Lake Rudolph. What’s really cool is the wooden roller coaster, The Raven goes along the shoreline of Lake Rudolph. You will get to see and hear the screaming people all day long as they fly by. This can be a pro or a con depending on how relaxing of a site you want.
This is also true for the campsites along Santa Lane and Icicle. The water park is on the other side of the fence. We did not spend much time up along the cabins but we would imagine the same is true for the cabins on Frosty Lane.
If staying in a cabin/cottage is more your thing, then you have plenty of options to pick from. All of the cabins are fully furnished with private bathrooms, heating and air, WiFi, TVs, pillows, pillowcases and fitted sheets. You will need to bring your own top sheets, blankets and towels. Some of the cabins are handicap accessible and/or pet friendly.
- Christmas Cabin can sleep 4 adults and 4 kids. There is one Bedroom with a queen mattress, a loft with a queen mattress and four twin mattresses.
- Holiday Cottage (handicap) is wheelchair accessible. This includes one accessible bedroom with a queen bed, plus twin bunk beds in the hallway and a twin sleeper sofa in the living room to accommodate up to 5 guests.
- Holiday Cottage has a queen bed in the primary bedroom, a twin-over-full bunk bed in the second bedroom, and a sleeper sofa in the living room. Up to 7 guests can stay here.
- Holiday Cottage with a Loft has a queen bed in the primary bedroom, twin bunk beds in the second bedroom, two twin mattresses in the loft and a full-size sleeper sofa in the living room to comfortably accommodate up to 7 guests.
- Cottage Cane Cottage has a queen bed in the primary bedroom, full over full bunk beds in the second bedroom and a queen sleeper sofa in the living room to accommodate up to 6 guests.
Amenities
There is plenty to do around the campground if you want a break from Holiday World. There will be a list of activities planned each weekend. Enjoy some karaoke, story time with Santa, coloring with Rudolph, or arts and crafts at the activity center. While by the activity center you can pop over to play mini golf for free. Head inside the Holly Hall Arcade to pick up your ball and putter.
There are also playgrounds, basketball courts, sand volleyball, horseshoes and fishing. A few of the activities are available at a cost such as gem mining, playing at the arcade or renting a paddle boat to cruise along Lake Rudolph.
The campground also offers its own water fun if you don’t want to head to Splashin’ Safari. There is Blitzen Bay swimming pool and Baby Blitzen pool for the little ones. The pools are free access. For an additional fee you can have even more water fun at Santa’s Splashdown Waterpark. This is located next to the pools. The cost is $10.00 per person if 42” and taller, $8.00 per person if 36” up to 42”, and under 36” is free.
Dog Park
We know your furry friends need to get some energy out as well. Head down to Lake Rudolph’s beach area to let them run around the fenced in dog park. You can watch the other campers fishing on the lake or The Raven flying by on the other side of the lake.
Food
Between all the fun at Holiday World and at the campground, you have probably worked up quite the appetite. We know you have your camper or cabin full of food, but lets face it, there are times you won’t feel like cooking. Check out Blitzen Kitchen near the pool for some great treats. They offer pizza, chicken fingers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries, nachos, pretzels, and soft drinks. Our personal favorite was over 32 flavors of ice cream and shakes. You can never go wrong with a cold treat on a hot day.
If you are having fun around the activity center they were nice enough to add a small ice cream shop named Frost Bites so you can cool off with some ice cream and continue with your activities in that area of the park.
Holidays in the Sky
Holiday World has a beautiful fireworks and drone show during the summer months called, Holidays in the Sky. You will be able to see part of the show from the campground looking over the trees and fence. Make sure to find a your spot because a lot of campers also come to see this nightly show.
Give yourself time
We recommend to give yourself enough time during your stay to enjoy all the amenities around the campground. If you think a quick weekend trip will give you enough time to visit the parks, the town and the campground, then you will be bummed when you learn you didn’t get to see a lot. You can easily spend a few days at Holiday World and another day exploring the town, plus a day or two just to enjoy the campground.
For a complete list of Lake Rudolph’s campsites and amenities, check out their official website.