This place is a scam. The gondolas are listed as open and working but when you get there you find out they're not and haven't been for two years. They offer you a ride up the mountain on a shuttle for $2 USD, but you have to book in advance or wait for the next one, which they say can be hours.

Before you go inside you are swarmed by some guys in neon green shirts who pull you away to the side of the parking lot as far from the park staff as possible where they try to scam you into taking their own "taxi service" to the top so you don't have to wait for the bus. They charge $25 per person, not per ride, even though you're all in the same car. We are a family of four and didn't bring that much cash on hand because we had anticipated the gondolas working and paying the listed fares, so the green shirt guy said he would take and hold on to my credit card until we came back down the mountain. I told him that wasn't happening.

The park staff seem to not like having these scammers around but do nothing about it. The green guys will follow you into the building and tell you not to talk to the staff or read the signs about the actual pricing, and they will talk over the park staff to prevent you from communicating with them in an attempt to keep you confused and scammed.

If you tell them you will just take a regular taxi, they tell you only their taxis are permitted to take you up the "private" road to the top. This is another lie. The road is public and open to anyone and there is a free public parking lot at the top.

When you get there and try to take in the view and the gardens, the same green shirt guys will try to force you into having some guy from the gift shop to take pictures of you with your own phone or camera. He won't take no for an answer. When he's done, he tells you he isn't paid for his "services" and that he only gets paid when you buy something in the store. We said we didn't want to buy anything but we could give him a tip now instead. He said he couldn't take tips, only commission from purchases in the shop. When we looked in the store a little later, everything was stupid expensive. There were some okay dolphin charms my wife was going to buy, and when she asked the price of one the guy said $5 each. She liked them so she said she'd get two, and then he says two would be $15. She said no, it would be $10 since they're exactly the same. The guy then adamantly repeated it's $5 for one, or $15 for two. She laughed at him and said forget it because that makes no sense. When we went to leave the gift shop with nothing, the green shirt guy got in the way and said we needed to tip the gift shop guy "for his time." A few minutes earlier the guy said he couldn't take tips or money for any reason other than commission, then when he was caught red handed trying to rip us off he insisted he get paid for his "time."

What time? We asked him for a price and he lied to us, so we left. We gave him a dollar and decided we had had enough of this place and left with a bad taste in our mouths.

It's unfortunate the park staff tolerates these aggressive scammers intimidating and lying to tourists like this. Make sure to check in advance that the gondolas are working before going or take your own car or registered taxi to the summit. Taking the park shuttles is an option as well, but unless you can guarantee a spot in advance you won't get one or be prepared to waste your day waiting while being relentlessly harassed by the neon green scammers.