Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock

It was bad nothing open in the whole hotel. No stores or waterpark and not told in website ahead of time

I heard mixed reviews of the property so I proceeded w/ caution. Upon check in I was informed that the big water slides were down as "something happened over the weekend". I was also told the restaurant will not be open despite my reservation saying free breakfast was included. There were not many people there, there MIGHT have been handful of guests overnight. We are in their off season so I understand. The waterpark was fun, we were the only guests there for the last hour and had it to ourselves. The arcade is a legit arcade where you can get tickets and all. The only drawback is that you need to buy a prepaid card that you swipe to play the games. The cheapest option to get a card is $25. The crane game prizes are stuffed far down and are next to impossible to get. The room was dated, needed some TLC. There is no cable TV. All they had is a very slow Vizio streaming interface on a small TV. The wifi is very slow and trying to pull anything up on the TV, along with the slow interface, was painful. Plan on bringing you own streaming stick. The room was passable but for picky travelers, they may not like it. I wish this place invested some money into upgrades. It has all the potential to be a family central Illinois destination

Water park way over crowded ran out of towels both days. No place to sit or put you things. Kids crafts where horrible. Kids ran up and down halls all hours screaming. We had 2 rooms 1st room tv was so old it barley worked beds where broken down so uncomfortable and shower barley trickled water. 2nd room remote had to be replaced 2 xs before it worked. The tub held water after shower drain plugged up nasy foot of water had to drain before next person could use it. Food was way over priced no flavor. Very run down. Sunday the pool was closed down all together. Big bucket was broken down for 2nd year in row. Very under staffed unfriendly on site general store no inventory. And the beds are olds lumpy bad pillows horrible would not recommend at all. Big let down for over priced lodging

The staff here were super friendly and the facilities would potentially be ideal for a family weekend. However, cleanliness was a let down; the room was dim and dusty and the pool area was pretty dirty with food trash, beer cans and even used bandaids discarded around the facility.

We were there to celebrate my sons birthday. Upon arrival (over 1.5 hrs drive) we were told waterpark wouldn’t be open till Thursday and were told they couldn’t do a cancellation.

Took my kids to the waterpark & had extreme chlorine levels which caused my child to go to the emergency room coughing and sick . We couldn’t even stay in the pool longer than 15 mins without eyes burning and feeling like you cannot breathe. Completely unacceptable for what you pay here

Was charged $211 for a room that was quoted less than $100 Lady on the phone was rude as well as the front desk. I get nothing was open because of the season so that okay the water park was irrelevant but being charged 200 for one night at a place that was supposed to be a resort but not even getting a tv remote in the room is a bit strange lol. Overall id just go anywhere else unless youre okqt with rudness and everything being closed but them not telling you till they take your money..

Unfortunately our visit coincided with the extremely COLD weather of January 2024.Because the resort was no where near capacity, the restaurants were not open every day. When we did dine at Jake's, the service & food were good. We dd not avail ourselves of the water park, but those who did seemed to be enjoying themselves. Suggestion was made that we return in the summer.when all activities are available. We still enjoyed ourselves. Our ratings are based on the weather factor.

We had a mouse in the villa we were staying at, talked to a staff member was told that maintenance will be there first thing in the morning no one cane checked out and wont be thinking about going back ever again.