Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort

Really a nice facility for the family. They have plenty to do plus you are not far from gift shops, Starved Rock state park and golf courses. We stayed in a Villa which was spacious but needed some updates. Communication could be better as the desk had no clue what the WiFi password was thank goodness the maintenance person knew it. I thought it was a bit pricey overall.

I was pleasantly surprised!!! Took my son who is four along with his friend who is six to have a little fun at the water park. It's the perfect size for smaller children and because we came on a thursday there weren't that many people there which made it even better!!! Nice size water park, game room and mini golf course. Bonus if you are a fisherman Starved Rock is less than a quarter mile away!!!!

My family stayed for Labor weekend. The water park was OK. The kids slide wasnt working and fountains as well. Rooms and beds were dirty and outdated. Needs improvement. Arcade was fun. The staff was nice. I like the most is hiking at Starved Rock Park. I will come back to finish all the trails.

Quick trip from Chicago for Labor Day weekend. The resort is older, but clean and well-maintained. Also visited downtown Utica and there were some cute little shops there (cupcake shop and the gourmet popcorn place). there was also a little "market" farther in town that had several vendors. Very friendly and nice people at the resort and in town. Good food and definitely will visit again

The water park was loads of fun. The room we stayed in as well as the beds could use improvement. The person that checked us in handled things very well and the staff was nice and accommodating. The arcade was fun too. All in all a good time for our family. A bit pricey though. Value could & should be much improved.

Ranger station toddler area was not working. Big disappointment for my toddler. Also had issues with our hotel room door not locking. Pizza was good at the restaurant. Rooms were very outdated but clean.

I just got back home from a weekend hiking at Starved rock. Grizzly Bear resort was awesome. We stayed in one the hotel rooms and it was clean and had a very woodsy feel. After a long day of hiking and wine tasting we came back and ate at the restaurant in the hotel. The restaurant had a choice of a buffet style meal... hamburgers, salad bar, pulled pork, fries, onion rings and dessert. Or off the menu, bar type apps..and pizza. It was edible but not the best food. But we were not expecting it to be great food. After dinner we changed and went downstairs to the water park. It was actually fun for us adult women. We sat in hot tub, went through the lazy river for about an hour, hit the wave pool and grabbed an adult beverage. Overall it was a great time. We were like little kids and slept well at night.

We decided to take an impromptu vacay before the kids went back to school. The rooms could use a bit of updating but they weren’t too bad. Most of the staff was friendly.... except the lifeguards. Not a one of them so much as smiled. Constantly blowing their whistle the moment they saw someone having fun! No one ever knew what they did wrong or who they were even blowing them at because they just blew their whistle and went on. It would also be nice to know when the waves were being turned on since many small children were in the pool at any given time. The waves were rough for even an adult much less a child. Some sort of warning would’ve been nice to allow those who wanted to to exit. Overall the trip was decent for a last minute thing. Next time, we will probably plan a trip to Great Wolf Lodge instead.

We usually go to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City but we wanted to try another lodge/water park. The waterpark wasn't crowded and it does have a wave pool. The kids were disappointed that the bucket drop wasn't working. According to other reviews it was down in June as well so it either broke again or they just haven't fixed it. The gift shop looked like it was closed (permanently). There were some racks of clothing in the lobby area which I guess serves as the gift shop now. The room (cleanliness, etc.) was ok. We didn't eat in the restaurant so I can't comment on that. The staff weren't overly friendly. They answered your questions but didn't really seem like they enjoyed their job in the least bit. The mini golf course was nice and the game room had quite a few games. Overall the stay was ok but we probably won't go back.