Santa Claus, Indiana – The Best Girls’ Weekend

“We were provided overnight accommodations as well as complimentary park admission to facilitate this story. As usual, all content and opinions are our own!”

It’s Easy to Get Flustered When Planning an Epic Summer Trip. After All, There Are Thousands of Destinations to Choose From. Here’s Why We Chose Santa Claus for Our First Stop!

If you haven’t heard about Santa Claus, Indiana, let’s have a little chat. It’s a small city located about three hours south of Indianapolis, and it’s family-friendly, exciting and a hotter summer-break destination – I promise. We recently had a chance to visit Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort, as well as Holiday World, and we’re going to tell you all about it!

We have lived in Indy for about five years, and every summer we’d see multiple billboards around town displaying wonderful pictures of families having a great time at Holiday World. We always wanted to check it out, so this summer I loaded up the girls in the 2017 Prius Prime and headed south! We couldn’t wait to explore the infamous Santa Claus, Indiana.

One of the most appealing aspects of Holiday World, for me, is the crazy amount of value you get for the price. When planning a family vacation I am always looking for ways to get the most bang for my buck. Holiday World offers free parking, free unlimited soft drinks and water, free sunscreen (yay!) and free wifi! And let me tell you, we took full advantage of all of them.

Nestled in farm country, Holiday World truly has something for everyone. The park is divided into holiday-themed sections, which makes it so much easier to get around with the kiddos. We’ve been to several other parks that were really hard to navigate without a map, but not Holiday World!

Having kids of very different ages can make visiting a theme park difficult, given the rides’ height requirements. At Holiday World, there are a ton of rides that my five-year-old could ride. There were just as many options for her as my 13-year-old, which surprised me in a positive way! The rides are scattered throughout the park, so you’re not just contained to one area which is perfect for families with kids of all ages. Plus, most of the rides that were for the smaller kids, seemed to be fun for everyone. I can’t tell you how many times we all rode the Reindeer Games ride.

I’m thankful we spent two full days at the park, considering it’s much larger than I initially imagined. On the first day we attempted to ride all of the rides, but we didn’t quite make it. Having really short lines and hardly any waits made this goal much easier.

The second day was spent at the water park section: Splashin’ Safari, which is included in your admission price. SCORE!

I’m not even sure where to begin, there was so much to ride and splash in. I was super impressed by how clean and well thought out the park was. When you first arrive in the park, they have lockers you can rent to leave your valuables in. Also, there’s no need to worry about keeping track of a key thanks to an awesome wristband system. Simply swipe your card, enter the number of wristbands you need, and swipe your band to open your locker. Easy-peasy! I didn’t want to bring my phone along and risk damaging it, so I, unfortunately, didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Once your stuff is secure in your locker, it’s time to head over to the free sunblock station and lather up. The sun is sizzling, and with all of the fun that’s happening it’s easy to forget this step, but don’t worry, there are sunblock stations everywhere. And just like the rides at Holiday World, Splashin’ Safari has a ton of slides and other water attractions for the little ones, as well as the bigger ones. They have a neat red light, green light system to let them know when it was ok to go down the slides safely, and kids can choose to either go alone or with a parent. I was always watching, but it was refreshing to see many lifeguards on duty.

 

With a couple dozen water slides, water playgrounds and a lazy river, you can imagine the amount of fun that was had. I practically had to rip the kids away to grab a bite to eat. I think I counted over 20 different places to get food or snacks and they are all allergy friendly!

Check out their Allergen-Friendly menu here:

 

After a long day of fun in the sun, there’s no better place to rest up at than Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort. Voted one of the top ten best campgrounds for families in the United States according to TravelChannel.com and it’s quickly become our favorite yet.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUsXvOGl6Bk/?taken-by=lifeispoppin

Lake Rudolph’s multiple family vacation rental options include 275 Cabins, Cottages & Rental RVs. The resort also offers 187 full-hookup RV sites as well as 40 tent sites with water & electric.

Types of Cabins

• Legendary Cabins
• Family Cabins
• Rudolph’s Christmas Cabins
• Handicap Accessible Rudolph’s Christmas Cabin

We were lucky enough to stay in one of the beautiful Rudolph’s Christmas Cabins. It was almost as if my dream of living in a country cabin had finally come true. Even if it was for just two nights. Rudolph’s Christmas Cabins feature a master bedroom with a king bed, a large loft with a queen mattress, four twin-size mattresses, three flat screen TVs, an electric fireplace, gas grill, fire ring, and a very large covered deck! These cabins sleep up to eight people. 

Be sure to bring your own pillows & blankets as the cabins do not provide them for you. Learn from our mistake! Thankfully the nice staff at the Camp Store helped me out with some rentals. While we were there, we grabbed a pizza from the Blitzen Kitchen to take back to our cabin. Blitzen Kitchen offers pizza, 34 & more flavors of soft serve ice cream, shakes and slushies, nachos, pretzels, mini corn dogs, funnel cakes, and fountain drinks.

We arrived to our cabin the day before we explored Holiday World, so we had time to explore everything Lake Rudolph had to offer. Which is a lot! First thing the kids spotted was Santa’s SplashDown WaterPark and the two swimming pools. I think it’s awesome they have a kiddie pool, as well as another full-size pool.

With this huge list of amenities, there really is something for everyone to enjoy. Take a look at this list:

• Santa’s SplashDown WaterPark
• Blitzen Bay Family Pool & Baby Blitzen Kiddie Pool
• Two Playgrounds
• Two Basketball Courts
• Horseshoe Pits
• Fishing Lake
• Gem Mining Sluice
• Beach Volleyball Court
• Golf Car Rentals
• Miniature Golf
• Paddleboat, Kayak and Rowboat Rentals
• Two Game Rooms
• Nature Trails

Once we parked the Prius Prime at our cabin, we didn’t have to drive again thanks to the free shuttle service to and from Holiday World Theme Park & Splashin’ Safari Water Park. Lake Rudolph offers four shuttle stops that are conveniently located throughout the park.

If you are interested in creating your own memories at Lake Rudolph, be sure to head over here to make reservations. I promise you won’t regret it!

More great photos from our trip: