Windmill Island Gardens — Attraction in Holland

Back in July I went to De Zaanse Schans in the Netherlands and then in August I came here to Windmill Island Gardens - so I feel like I have a good way to compare the parks.

The windmill is identical to what is in the Netherlands. The only difference between this windmill and the ones in the Netherlands is that each level of this windmill has different types of jobs that were done that relied on windmill power such as clog carving and flour milling.

I feel like the people in costume don't really want to chat or start a discussion around the park except for one woman at the very top of the windmill who was giving out stickers and one doing the pipe organ demonstration - everyone else in costume were either chatting with each other or kind of zoned out.

Outside of the windmill, there's not much to do - we watched the short informative film and the pipe organ demonstration, but that's it for activities. We were told that the park had horses in the pasture but we walked the entire park and all the paddocks were empty.

There is a carousel for kids and there is a gift shop selling the exact same stuff as all of the gift shops in Amsterdam. Even though we were in Holland, Michigan, everything just says "Holland" on it - I even saw the exact clog magnet I purchased in Amsterdam for sale here! Even the paper shopping bags for small items are identical to what is available in the gift shops in Amsterdam. (The cheese is local though.)

One that that was pretty cool was looking at this big miniature town that they have on display from the 1930's. If you have never been to Windmill Island Gardens, then you'll have no idea of the significance of the miniature town in Nicole Kidman's basement in the film "Holland" that she starred in. It is set in Holland Michigan and features many shots of this particular windmill. My husband and I watched it after we stumbled upon it after our visit and having been here was kind of cool while watching.

Overall, I'd say you can do absolutely everything in 2 hours here, including walking the entire loop around the fields. It was fine but I'd definitely like more of the employees doing talks discussing Dutch culture, crafts, architecture,...

TL;DR = the windmill was cool see up close, but nothing much to see inside really and the view wasn’t great. You’re basically paying $13 to see the windmill and walk around a gift shop.

I love history, historic buildings and towns, and giant windmills… so I hate that I have to say this but…

In my opinion, visiting isn’t worth the price of admission. You’re basically spending $13 per person to walk into the “park” …go to the windmill, walk up then back down in 10-15 minutes… then walk around a gift shop.

Maybe it is entirely different during the Tulip Festival… but we expected it to be substantive. They said “you can watch them grind flower in the mill!” but it wasn’t happening. Lots of people walking up and down the windmill… the view from the windmill isn’t that great… lots of industrial buildings… no plants or flowers in the middle of summer in the fields around the mill. It just seemed super inactive.

Here is what you can see for 13 dollars per person…

The Windmill (you’re to the top and back in 10-15 minutes) The Dutch street organ that plays music every 30 minutes (however long you have to wait plus 1 or 2 three minute songs) A building that shows an unimpressive “miniature Dutch village” (60 second walkthrough unless you’re really enamored with hastily painted woodworking) The gift shop The restroom.

So, you’re paying to go see a gift shop. Didn’t see too many workers but did talk to one greeter as we were leaving and asked if we were missing something… he said “well if you’ve seen the windmill… did you try the free cheese in the gift shop?” But he was super friendly.

All in all, there just didn’t seem to be much there worth paying to see. (I’m sure it is different during the...

Visited Windmill Island Gardens this weekend during our visit to Holland, MI and it ended up being the highlight of our weekend.

Upon entering the property, we were greeted by a nice young man who gave us the lay of the land. After watching the 12-minute video in the Posthouse, we walked across the Amstel Drawbridge and up the paved path to the De Zwaan (the swan) Windmill. When we arrived at the base of the windmill, we found many signs informing us about various aspects of the windmill.

We then climbed the stairs to the windmill. The 4th floor was amazing. Being so close to the spinning blades was really cool. While walking around on the deck, we sparked a conversation with a couple employees wearing Windmill Island Gardens shirts. They turned out to be the miller’s responsible for operating the windmill. Their passion for the topic was obvious as they explained more details about the history of the windmill and the various uses of windmills throughout the Netherlands. After finishing our conversation, we headed up to the 5th floor and again found ourselves amazed by the power of the technology developed over 260 years ago.

After leaving the windmill, we walked around the grounds and visited the gift shop before heading out.

If you decide to go to the windmill, I highly recommend you take advantage of the information provided on the history as it made the whole experience so much more interesting...