Jelly Belly Candy Store — Attraction in Fairfield

Pretty cute place. You walk in and can pay for a tour it’s $7 per adult or $3 for kids I believe. They give you paper hats you must wear. We were also given a pack of jelly belly’s. You then go upstairs and they take your picture. Which they will try to sell you at the end for around $30. The tour is self guided you walk around this long hallway above the candy makers. You see all sorts of machines and things happening. They have videos every now and then you can stop and watch that explain what’s happening in front of you. There’s also things to stop and read. There was a few interactive games. They also had these cool funnel things that you pressed and would release a smell. They actually worked and smelled like a flavor of jelly belly. It’s a decent walking tour if you actually stop and watch things and read what’s around you. The tour you look out windows. I liked there was also windows below those for smaller individuals and kids to see out of. It was a small touch that I found sweet. We didn’t pay for the pictures at the end. Seemed to expensive, once done you walk downstairs and can explore the store. They sell the belly flops in bags. Which are the irregular beans that didn’t meet the look for the store packaging. They also sell the Harry Potter candies. Which besides the Bertie bots I didn’t know they made anything else. They have every flavor of jelly beans you can imagine. The create your own mix definitely needs to be cheaper. Even if you pick a cheap container they make you pay for that container plus the weight of what’s inside of it. Over towards the food court there’s a California welcome center and you can buy some cheaper items like the empty tins of the Harry Potter candy. You can also go to the museum across the parking lot for free. Overall a fun experience, wish it was all cheaper though. So I can’t say...

Was here almost 20 years ago with my one granddaughter... Went with a group this time, but it just felt different... I know!

We went on a Wednesday, and apparently they randomly decide day by day what operations will be open based on call offs, when's low, what's backed up, etc, so we missed our on more than half of the making of the jelly beans. If been taking it up with people, so everyone was looking forward to it, but it was a bit disappointing.

The inside is still pretty much the same... You're greeted by a giant jelly bean over by the gift shop, and the "paintings", made it off jelly beans are ah-MAZ-ing!

We did the self-paced tour, so we just meandered along at our own place, particularly as we had a few with challenges with us. They've added a few games along the way, which were fun... My two granddaughters that went ended up being high score on the one game 😂 ... Playing Beat Saber def paid off 🤣

I did their wine and chocolate pairings, and was quite pleasantly surprised! They host local wineries and give a nice explanation of the wines in your flight, and you get a giant wine glass as well! No, I fill mine with water 🤗

We also did lunch through their café... Everything was the same price and came with a healthy portion, except the jelly bean pizza... Def on the small side.....

My biggest dislike! It's somehow turned into a Reagan memorial... Because he likes jelly beans. But honestly, I really dislike any human being turned into some sort of god/goddess... Sorry. They're humans. And quite frankly it doesn't say much about that human of they have to be built up because they like candy... Everyone likes good candy. But that's just...

This entire place has clearly gone downhill over the years. Not only did they go from free tours to free self-guided tours, they now have decided to go to charging fees for their self-guided tours where barely anyone even does any work in their factory. Most of the things are done by machines and with that, barely anything is happening with these machines. Pretty sad little factory now.

Not to mention, the entire place is rather run-down with little to no care from their employees on making it a fun experience for any of their patrons. We went to visit today, on Veterans Day and were denied a Veterans discount even though a sign clearly said that all veterans would be getting a 20% discount today. Even with photo proof, they denied it. Gross service. Then later, after the very sad little tour where all the workers looked like they hated their jobs, we purchased some jellybeans and merch and were promised a veterans discount. Cashier apologized for not giving a discount earlier and blamed it on her manager, but after checking our receipt post-purchase, again, we were not even given the promised discount. We don’t depend on the discount but if you say you’re going to honor it, do it. Cashier’s name is Esmer (presumably Esmeralda?). Another young fella saw people in checkout line and ditched to go to another line. Super unorganized and borderline rude.

Bottom line, We won’t be coming back, nor do we recommend this place to any of the veteran community, nor our friends or family, nor anyone else for that matter. No need to wish this place luck as they are just going downhill on their very own. Faceplant down, keep...