Piney Acres Tree Farm — Attraction in Fortville

Piney Acres is really doing a good job with their haunted attractions, they have improved year over year, and this year was no different. The actors in both the Haunted Loft and Maze were very professional, in character, and quite clever. We got a few laughs and a few scares in each attraction.

I spent $88 for a family of four to do 2 attractions...a bit higher than i expected. I think i could've saved $2 per person buying online, so that's on me. By comparison, though, i spent $27 / person for Hannah Haunted Acres, which offers 5 attractions including the hayride. Kings Island was $35 / person for all day, including all rides, and along with more haunted houses than we could get to. So, personally i think $22 is a bit high for 2 attractions. But...Piney Acres is close to us so we can get there and back without making a whole day of it.

The Haunted Loft - Very well done, actors work hard to stay in character and follow the theme. Props were suprisingly good...as good as or better than other haunts we have been to this year (excluding Hannah Haunted acres' Hayride). Scares were well done, with some creative characters. There was good interaction between visitors and actors, not just jump scares. The only complaint i have about the Loft is the wait to get in...you have to wait until the group in front of you completes the attraction before you can enter. This seemed unnecessary; pace is controlled by the actors so it seems possible for two groups to be in and still be separated, or maybe its just a sound issue give the size of the place (?). Actual time in the attraction was maybe 5-10 minutes.

The Maze - actually this is more of a haunted trail than a maze...which is better than your standard corn maze. The trail is long with many props and actors and stops along the way...a lot of interaction between actors and visitors. It was entertaining and spooky, and the actors worked very hard to provide a good experience. They deserve a lot of credit for making this attraction as good as it is. The location is great as well...meandering through corn and woods, as well as Pine trees with low overhang, and man made structures. A great mix of environments to keep it unexpected. The only complaint about the Maze..the walk to get there could have some signs, lights along the way...the little solar lights don't do much to guide you and stepping on rocks and bumpy dirt paths in the dark isn't spooky, just troublesome. Hang a few strings of orange lights, or put a couple of props to light the path.

Highly recommended for people who like outdoor attractions and don't want to rush. I'm guessing it took at least 20 minutes to complete the trail, not including wait time.

Overal this place is recommended for those who don't want to travel to Indy or elsewhere. I would give 4 1/2 stars if possible. It offers a lot given the location, and we are always pleased with the family and staff that run it. There is food on-site, nice clean restrooms, farm animals, and a shop. A bonfire outside to warm you up if needed.

We have done the hayride in the past, but not this year, so no...

This was our first year going to this tree farm, and last! When we found out you could pre tag your tree, we were all in. A lot of farms in the area are not doing pre tag right now. We tagged our tree mid to late October, it was a great experience, all went smooth and the ladies working inside were very helpful. However that experience was overshadowed by Christmas tree farm hell on the day of pick up! Get there, wait in a long line to pay for the remainder of the tree minus the deposit. Get to the register after about a 20-30 min wait in line to be told they couldn’t find the info from the portion of ticket I was told to bring on the day of pick up. Another lady stepped in and ask if I had waited in the other line outside to pick up the tree yet, No I had not. No signs in place directing this info. We were told when we pre tagged to bring our ticket stub and receipt on pick up day, pay the balance and they would retrieve the tree wrap it snd take it to your car. So I go out wait in the outside line for another 30-40 min, just to be told I need to go out to the field and retrieve the tree myself. However the guy working the gate knew I had already waited in line a long time and tried to assist in getting a gator to take me out to get the tree. Ends up, no gator available, so I was told one of the guys driving the tractor with a wagon would take me out, ok. After standing around another 5 min I ask where the tractor driver was at, go figure the restroom, I’m thinking, is he the only tractor driver on this farm! Anyway he finally comes out and we get under way. I tell him exactly where the tree is at. We get out close to the area he stops and drops me off, starts to take off and I ask if he is going to cut the tree down, “no you have to cut it down” I say with what, the hand saws are in a tub attached to the wagon, I grab a saw, he starts to leave again, I said you don’t wait, no we will be back around. 30 min later a different tractor comes by, I drag the tree over to the wagon and the teen just stands there looking at me, I say do I need to load it myself also. No I need a tag,🤔🤯 give him my tag they load it, finally underway to make several more stops along the way. Get back to the front they ask which tree is mine I show them and give them my tag to match numbers. He hands the tag back no new info on it and tells me I need to go pay and come back out to pick up. I ask don’t you need to put a price or height on it, cause I don’t want to wait in line just to find out it needs this info. Another man steps over and says yeah you right the height and price on the tag. Go inside to another 5-10 min line, pay and finally get the tree. What should have been 30 min tree pick up at most turned into 3 hours. Will never go back to this Tree farm again! Terrible communication and employee training. I had to keep reminding myself to stay calm, don’t lose your mind🤯😡🤬 snd ruin others Christmas...

The crazy thing is this place charges an absurd amount of money for a tree, which if you're going to give me an excellent experience for my family and myself then I'm all for, but it is particular instance that's not the case.

Let me walk you through the experience, when you first show up there are very little signs and almost no employees to show you where to go to start your Christmas tree journey. After looking around for several minutes and noticing the signs pointing vaguely to the left you realize the check in station is just a cart with a board on it showing you the different types of trees. When you approach the sign a woman will show up and tell you to look at their YouTube video and point you through an opening in the fence. Again very little instruction and then expectation to load up a video on your phone to understand the process after having already interacted with your first employee.

After figuring out what you're supposed to do the next step is to get the tools of the trade, primarily a saw which is difficult to find but not too difficult, and a cart or a sled, now this is going to be a real problem. You would think for the $250 they're charging every family that comes through there they could afford to buy a few more sleds, but sadly that's not the case. I think for the 200 plus people that were there there might have been six sleds, maybe it's more but that would be impossible to tell because you can wait several minutes and not even see a sled. Why am I spending this much money? A sled Surely cannot cost more than $50, each tree you sell could buy you five sleds why are you not buying more sleds?

Also, I can't imagine they pay their employees much more than nine or $10 an hour on average especially considering most of them are under the age of 17. Customer service here is not the rule rather the exception, I think one person was even remotely nice to me the entire time I was there and it was the girl at checkout, I'd like to say she was very nice and did a fantastic job considering the circumstances. But they really should hire more people, and people who were more qualified, which would require probably paying a little bit more money but at the end of the day you are charging an exorbitant rate so it should be doable. The whole thing left me feeling like somebody was getting rich and everybody else was suffering which is not what you want to feel when buying a Christmas tree with your family.

All I can say is that piney acres needs to do better, and that starts at the top so...