Old MacDonald's Farm & Fun Park — Attraction in Brentwood

We arrived at Old MacDonald’s Farm at 9.40am, 20 minutes before opening due to having to leave early because of the dartford crossing. Upon arrival we found all staff outside the venue smoking, where they stayed up until the moment the doors opened even with the queue of children waiting to go in.

It was our first visit to Old Macdonalds Farm and to say we was disappointed is an understatement, we paid £65 to get in with a 4 year old and a 1 year old, and it really was not worth the money at all.

We entered the farm and was met by quite a few empty animal enclosures, we found lots of animals in pens that were guessing they shouldn’t be in, because all the information for these animals were then found on different pens. We had completed the animal section in 40 minutes, that includes stopping at every single play park/maze on route around the animals. We was then left for 20 minutes before we could get onto anything else as none of the rides or attractions open until 11, which is silly considering the park opens at 10am?

11am came around and we decided to go on the train ride - best part of our day. The man who operated the ride was so lovely, chatty and made the children giggle the whole time. He took his time to welcome everyone to the train, offered to take pictures of each family in each carriageway and spoke to our children the whole way around the track. He honestly is a gem to Old Macdonalds Farm.

We then did a few other rides and then it came to crazy barnyard, and to put it straight the ride operator shouldn’t be working with children. She was soooo rude, so abrupt, rolling her eyes at the children, didn’t have a care in the world and clearly did not want to be there. My 4 year old even picked up how moody she was and asked ‘why is that lady so upset’.

We took our own pack lunch due to the reviews on how overpriced the food is, but even though we did this we couldn’t even enjoy our lunch due to the swarm of wasps that was everywhere in the parks! The bins were completely full, and full of wasps every time it was opened a swarm of wasps would fly at you. The bins clearly hadn’t been cleaned or emptied due to how full they was on quite a quiet day.

We visited on a day where we got circus tickets included - what a let down that was too! We was lucky enough to get front row, but that was a huge mistake, we was covered in baby powder, and water without warning. If someone has asthma there would be some serious trouble, having talc thrown in the air right in front of your face to the whole front row really shocked me and made it hard to breathe on such a hot day, and this definitely should be warned about before it happens!!! I was wearing all black, I left the circus with my clothes looking white! You could have a law suit on your hands if it happens to the wrong person!

The price of ice creams and refreshments was majorly overpriced. £2.50 for a bottle of water, £2 for a mini milk ice cream, £6.50 if you want a ice cream like a 99!

We then come onto the soft play, we thought this would change the day considering my children were so excited to get in there, and how wrong was we. It was filthy, old and run down. It was full of older children just running around and pushing our 4 & 1 year old over, and with it being unmanned nothing was being done about this. This resulted in us leaving after 5 minutes.

The gift shop was an even bigger scam, overpriced toys that would break in 5 minutes, hardly any merch to do with Old Macdonalds Farm, just toys that have no relevance to place at all.

We are very disappointed in our visit, the place is very over priced and needs a lot of work put into it. It’s a shame because it could be a really good day out of they had some more bubbly staff, more clean environments and actually displayed the animals they say. We only ended up staying 3 1/2 hours which is a big let down for the price we paid and the money we spent there. It’s shame but we would not visit old...

If I could give the Christmas Journey day more stars I would, we had the most magical day ever! I took my daughter and nephew who are both 3 yo so we are quite new with starting all the Christmas magic, but Old Macdonalds Farm is going to be on our annual calendar every year! We got our tickets with Black Friday offer so worked out only £20 a ticket but we would gladly pay the usual price which is approx £30 per person. It was brilliant value considering we spoke to Father Christmas probably about a dozen times throughout the day, he took the time to chat to the kids, dance with them, go on the rides at the same time, which the kids were mesmerised by. Already this was brilliant value rather than a 5 min visit to a grotto. Then the Anna and Elsa show and getting to meet them was beyond magical for my daughter who is Frozen obsessed, you would again pay good money just to meet them. They were great with the kids as they started off a bit shy, and their outfits and hair etc were perfection! Every single one of the characters/elves/fairy/gingerbread man etc absolutely made the day. It got to around 4pm and the farm was pretty quiet but they had just as much energy and engagement as though there were 100s of children. Our favourite part was dancing round the tree with them all with Christmas songs blasting! The Christmas show was also brilliant and perfectly written and delivered for kids to take part. All 3 actors were brilliant and we would have paid more to see the show knowing how well it was delivered. Having most of the rides being adapted to be Christmassy were also welcomed and added to the magic. The bag they received to take part in the gingerbread hunt was great too with lots to do in there and the book was lovely to bring home as a momento along with their nice list certificate from the Elves! Plus the little prize at the end for completing the hunt was included too. I could go on, but I’ll stop there. I can’t show my appreciation enough for making the day just as magical for me and my mum as well as the kids as they made the entire day so special and fun! To be honest they made me want to work there with their energy, seemingly enjoyment for what they do, and the camaraderie 😂 so thank you thank you thank you for a great day, we will definitely be coming...

OMG!!! What an amazing experience!!! Such an amazing day out and value for money! Old Macdonalds Farm was an amazing Christmassy day out. Not only for children but adults too!!! We went with my 2 boys, 3 nephews, 2 grandparents and me and my sister. All staff were amazing and in full character all the way through! *Upon arrival the children were given a bag full of lots of goodies, stickers, pencils, books, arts and crafts and a map to follow the gingerbread trail where they had to search for gingerbread characters for letters to make up a Christmas word in order to win a prize at the end. *There were still quite a lot of animals out. The children enjoyed feeding and meeting them. *There were rides that were being manned by elves and the children were able to ride along and around the Old Macs Christmas journey! *Lots of different stations for the children to get set in the mood for Christmas! Post Office - where the children mailed their letters to Santa, arts and crafts hub, Christmas carousel, train ride, reindeer ride, tractor ride, the amazing and hilarious Christmas show and not to forget the parade!! Santa was amazing and danced away with the children! It was like a Christmas party in the street! *The staff were amazing and all in character. When out and about they really acknowledged the kids and played with them. Asking what they would like for Christmas and really hyping the children throughout! A lovely tea and coffee stand that sold various types of hot chocolate, candy canes and fresh hot donuts! And another stand with hot snacks and bites to eat. Not to mention the resturant with lots more varieties to choose from. *At the end after finding all the letters on the trail, the children all got another prize and a golden ticket to come again! We ended the day with all adults super tired, siting and resting in the soft play area whilst enjoying our final hot beverages and the children played to tire them out even more so. It was a lovely quiet journey home as they all slept!!

Thank you Old Macdonalds Farm for an amazing Christmas...