Kirby Family Farm — Attraction in Florida

I am torn writing this review because it seems the Kirby family really wants to do well in the community. That being said, I want to be honest about my experience. If I had to sum it up: I felt like I was entering a twilight zone carnival horror movie. My husband and I take our two girls to lots of different events and I was really looking forward to visiting the Kirby farm. From the moment I got out of the car my insides just felt uneasy. It was dark with some bright lights here and there, but very easy to lose a little one. There were many lights that were not working and overall the lighting was dim so there were a lot of shadows which made us uneasy.

I felt overall the stage was set for child abuse to happen. There were many dark corners, rides in dark areas, and the Christmas maze was the same: dark corners and no way out if a child is terrified or loses an adult. The decor was makeshift, old and dirty.

At one point I saw two people struggling in the shadows outside and wasn't sure what was happening. After watching for a bit I realized they were just rough housing, but again it adds to the whole uneasy feeling of old haunted carnival. The vendors for the games were pushy, overpriced, unhappy, and just creepy. I felt really uncomfortable to have my daughter near any of the volunteers. There were a lot of creepy looking men too. I know this place means well, but it seems like a place that would very much attract abusers because the opportunity there is quite incredible. Dark shadows, a kids-only store that only kids can enter in to get a gift, a maze with dark corners and all this surrounded by woods and darkness. We felt unsafe for our kids.

The new Christmas maze attraction seems like a recycled Halloween horror maze, and it felt pretty similar. The makeshift structure takes you through different characters. The snowman really scared my daughter. The costume was dirty and it just looked creepy. The princess looked very uncomfortable and the other girl in the room was really pushy about asking us if we wanted a picture. There was a super creepy life-sized grinch in one of the rooms which I wasn't sure was a person or just a doll so I didn't want to continue through the maze because I didn't know if the grinch was supposed to be a scary attraction or what. However when we tried to go the other way we couldn't because there were so many people coming through. I was able to get past it just fine, but I was uncomfortable forcing my 2 year old to pass by this super creepy life-size Grinch.

On a positive note, my toddler loved the train and some of the lights were really cool. I think they could have something really great, but the unhappy volunteers and the old carnival equipment added a very eery feel for us. One of the pools for a fishing game had water that was green and super moldy. I couldn't wait to leave and neither could my husband. Our insides were super unsettled. I have honestly never felt unsettled like this since having kids. I believe in maternal and paternal intuition and our hairs were raised here. I am convinced because it is an easy target for child abusers. We won't ever return to this farm.

I hope they can make things look brighter, cleaner, and safer. I think they are going for quantity over quality and when it comes to a place for children quality is most important because their safety matters the most. For the prices they charge I think they can do better because we have been to farms that charge the same and the experiences have always been wonderful. Oh, also the broken down carnival equipment and military vehicles all over the property added more to our uneasy feeling. It seems people really like this place, I really...

Ok so I have been very excited to go on the Christmas train, I've heard great things about this farm and the train. I bought 4 adult tickets the other night for myself, my boyfriend, and our nephew and his friend to go check out all the hype. Buying the tickets was the first negative experience about our trip. $20/ticket for adults, so I paid $84 total for the 4 of us, I was really expecting something amazing at this we event. We live in Bell, which is a an hour drive to Williston. So of course we had to spend more money on gas to drive there and back, another added expense (this was our decision to drive there, so that expense/problem was on us just to be clear). We were all very interested to find out how good this Christmas train was going to be during our drive. We get to the farm, parked (which was free by the way, and easy to find a spot). Then we checked in at the gate, and walked straight to the train line. The line wasn't that long of a wait, which was good. Once we got on the train is where the disappointment began (besides the ticket purchase and prices). I was expecting lights EVERYWHERE, a Christmas wonderland, especially because I had spent $84 on tickets. It was nothing like I expected it to be. The train ride was maybe 15 minutes. The lights that were set up were just pre-lit stand up designs (such as reindeer, ornaments, a dragon, Santa, flamingos, ECT). To me, it looked as if someone just threw it together that night. I'm really not trying to be disrespectful, but I don't feel like you should charge adults $20/ticket for a small train ride. Honestly, we drove by better decorated houses driving TO THE FARM. To me and my boyfriend, nephew, and friend, it definitely was not worth $84. I feel like I wasted a good amount of money on something that got a lot of hype for nothing. I wouldn't waste my money to go to this event again. Also, my boyfriend got sick last night before we went to the farm, so he didn't even end up coming with us. When we checked in at the gate and let them know he couldn't join us, they just said they were going to donate his ticket $ instead of refunding us like they should probably have done. I know the website does say "no refunds or exchanges,BUT, I feel like there should be some leeway with that. Things happen, emergencies happen, and with the amount of money they charge people, they could offer refunds. In all, I was super disappointed in our trip to the farm last night, and very upset I had spent $84 on pretty much, nothing. Waste of money...

Kirby family Farm is by far one of the best hidden gems to ever be located here in Florida! My mom and I had a little getaway trip on the 21st-22nd after hearing so many good things about this place on the radio and even seeing it on local news outlets, boy, did it not disappoint!

We attended the 13th annual Christmas Train event, the volunteers were very friendly and welcoming, the property was beautifully lit up and festive, the food and drinks were pretty good, the rides were very fun and the shows were a real joy to watch. Despite how cold the weather was, it certainly gave us an authentic taste of a winter wonderland.

The character meet and greets were a wonderful sight to see as it made a lot of families smile, us included. My favorite character meet and greets had to be the Grinch and of course, Santa Claus himself! You can never go wrong with those two.

The biggest highlight of course was the train itself. We were lucky enough to get the chance to meet Mr Kirby himself who was a delight to talk to as he explained the history about the train and the farm itself. The train ride was nice and relaxing as our conductors set up a bright atmosphere throughout the entire journey, we passed by the historic Ringling Bros trainset on display to our left side alongside the wonderful Christmas light displays as we traveled through the farmland countryside and the woods, our favorite display was the grand finale with Santa and Rudolph singing, that will never ever get old.

In conclusion, I'm proud to say that I highly recommend visiting Kirby Family Farm! All the money spent goes to charity supporting kids with disabilities and to help expand the property for future generations to come, they also have more fun events such as their Six Guns Wild West events amongst many others that we'll be sure to return for the next time we're in the...