Aesha E.
Yelp
Halloween Disney. I'm sure this place is held in fond memories for a lot of folks, but it is a lot.
We arrived about 15 minutes before they opened, on a Friday. Before the clock struck 11 (opening), there were hundreds of cars and hundreds of people in line to get in. It took about 30 minutes for the line to cease to be a line (when you could then just walk into the entrance and someone could help you almost immediately). Beth is the person who let us in and she was really rude. She asked how many in my party and I told her two; then she asked how old the kiddo is and if I bought a ticket for the babe to which I said no since she's under two years old and is free, and she said well that's why I asked how many are in your party, so I asked if she wanted to know how many tickets we bought... can you just be clear in your communication and not rude when people are confused by what you're asking? The folks we were here to meet had entered about five minutes before and were waiting for us inside, but had gone through the same line and also said she was rude.
There's a lot here, perhaps too much if you're easily overstimulated. I could not imagine visiting on a weekend day. But not a ton of this was stuff that our kids could do, because they're both under 18 months and most of it is geared toward older children. There are at least half a dozen rides, and it's nice that they're free since it costs $27+ (in 2024) to enter. There are animals around (we saw some cows, a pony, goats, piglets...). There's a little hut where you can take a complimentary photo and have it sent to your phone via SMS. We saw a booth for face painting, and there's a place where you can kind of pan for treasure (not gold)--you buy a bag of dirt, of which there are four different options, and then get some goodies. They have pig races, which take place on the hour and was fun (plan for about 20 minutes from start to finish). There's a general store which is not at all ADA accessible or stroller friendly; there's about 10 steps to enter. There's a hayride and maybe the animals situated throughout the park aren't the petting zoo but it's in another area of the place, in which strollers are not permitted so we couldn't visit. There's a corn pit where kids can play around, and that would have been fun but my kid is young enough that she still puts everything in her mouth so next year, maybe. There's a playground, but we didn't go in there since ours are still learning to walk.
The pumpkin patch was disappointing, to say the least. What they call the patch is a section of field where they've placed a bunch of pumpkins. You're not in an actual pumpkin patch, where they grow. There are a couple small tractors here, some picnic tables, some backgrounds to take photos with. There are some backgrounds and photo cut-outs scattered throughout the rest of the park as well.
There are a lot of food booths from which to choose. You can find barbecue, pizza, apple cider donuts, alcohol, beverages, pretzels, tacos, and more. The loaded chicken elote was pretty good and something--perhaps the pizza--smelled delicious. I'm not sure if they allow you to bring food in or just don't question it, but I brought some food for my little one because she's somewhat picky at the moment (and is of the age where whole milk is a staple of her diet, but they don't have that here) and I needed to be sure she'd eat, but she gobbled the elote down too.
It's pretty gross to me that they only have port-a-potties here. There's no way you could convince me that with the number of people they have here in a single month--hell, even a couple weekends in October or summer--they don't have the money to put in flush toilets. They have a sink-like thing near the portable toilets so at least that's good, but the portables gross me out... and some of them are sitting on an angle.
I can't say we won't be back. You couldn't pay me to visit on a weekend though, and I might select a day earlier in the week than Friday next time. But I'm not sure if I'll come back for a year or two... it depends upon whether my daughter grows 7 inches in the next year because I know at least some of the rides had a 39" minimum. If not for my friend wanting to go, I would not have wanted to go this year because there just isn't much for children under 3 or so to do here, and it's not a place I needed to go for my own amusement.