KC Pumpkin Patch - - Gardner, KS Review

Fall means a few things to my family:

1) Football
2) Chili
3) Pumpkins

With two toddlers in the family, you can imagine that we would be more than happy to visit a local pumpkin patch to spend a time in the great fall weather while enjoying great pumpkin patch activies. Our first choice - KC Pumpkin Patch.

About

The KC Pumpkin Patch can be seen from I-35, and it has everything a kid could want. According to their website, they have

- Jumping Pillow
- Petting Zoo
- John Deere Tricycle Track
- Spook-tacular Haunted Barn
- Hay Loft and Horse Swings
- Pumpkin Cannon Viewing
- Mine Shaft Hill Slide
- Rope Maze
- Hay Bale Maze
- Jack & Jill Hill Slide
- Pumpkin Express Train
- Pirate Cove
- Corn Crib Play Place
- Humpty Dumpty Rock Climbing Wall
- Chicken Coop Slide
- Barnyard Brain Busters
- Bunnyville
- Three Little Pigs
- Duck Races
- Zip Line (weekends)
- Yellow Brick Road Train Ride (weekends)

It sounds great, and when the price was only $6/person, it really was a great deal! Unfortunately, greed has overcome them and the value is no longer there.

Our Experience

We haven't really had a bad experience. This isn't one of those cases where we had a terrible time and would never go back. It's been busy each time we've been there, but there's never been an experience that would force me to never go back. Well, no experience that involves the attractions.

Cost

This is the big thing for us. For the last few years, it has cost $6 for each person over the age of 1. That's not bad for 2 hours (or more!) of fun. Now, however, they have increased the cost to $8 for each person over the age of 1. That means you're paying more for your kid to go to the pumpkin patch than you could pay for them to go to the KC Zoo.

In addition to this, you have to pay for quite a bit of "fun" on this farm:

-  Mining Sluice ($4 sm bag/ $6 lg bag rough)
- Pedal Carts ($1 per ride - weekends)
- Gourd Gun ($1 per shot - weekends)
- Paintball Gallery ($1 for 5 shots - weekends)
- 9 Hole Mini Golf ($2 per game)
- 1,000's of U-Pick Pumpkins available for purchase!

Basically, a family of four with two toddlers will pay $32 for just two hours of fun. While I understand that they added more attractions (i.e. paintball gallery, mini golf, pirate cove, jumping pillow, etc), this increase is really unnecessary. I don't think they realize that other pumpkin patches in the area are either free or charge less than $8.

Overall

The pumpkins are fine. The attractions are entertaining. However, greed has let them get out of control and out of touch with their customers. Two years ago, this place would have been a great place to visit. Now, it's overpriced and  for many residents is located the same distance away as Lawrence, which includes a FREE pumpkin patch.

Side Note

They also have a corn maze, but you must pay an additional $8, although ages four and under are free this time around.