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We have visited Center Grove orchard every year for the last several years. We usually purchase a season pass, this year we did not as we were not sure if we would use it. Today, September 20th, was our first visit of the year and it will be our last.
In previous years I've been impressed by the variety of activities, staff involvement, cleanliness and overall experience. This year was not the same.
I expected adjustments due to Covid, unfortunately they missed the mark. Very minimal attempts were made at social distancing and masks are not required. Although there were distancing markers taped up and a few signs, nothing was enforced by staff, other than on the hayrack ride.
Many activities were not supervised by staff, the activities that were staffed utilized very young staff who were not paying attention to the kids or their safety. I did not see any adults supervising the farm areas or the very young staff.
The hay maze, pedal cars, animal feeding area, duck races, and several other areas were unsupervised while we were there, which was most of the day.
When we came to the pedal tractors there was a small child playing in the engine compartment of the large tractor parked in the middle of the area. Someone must have opened the engine compartment and the child was tinkering in there with the parts and trying to remove the oil filter! I suggested that was not supposed to be open and secured the latches to the engine area since no staff were anywhere in sight.
At one point there were 20+ teenagers running around the top of the bales while small children were going through the maze. The teenagers were jumping from bale to bale over the heads of the little children. They were destroying the bales and many had already starting falling apart into the maze. I asked a worker in the food stand nearby if it was being supervised and was told it was not. I brought up my concerns with the teenagers running and jumping over the little kids heads only to be told by a young staff member that what they were doing was allowed and acceptable. Their actions were clearly dangerous. Several parents, including myself, removed our small children from the area for fear of a teenager landing on their heads causing a serious injury. The group of teenagers were a part of a youth group with no direct supervision. The 2 chaperones with them were in another area with more kids they had brought. Chaperone guidelines should be set for large groups and more experienced staff members.
The U pick orchard was closed during our visit but apples were being sold in the store, which is the only way to exit the farm. The store was overcrowded with people not wearing masks. It was frustrating to maneuver through a sea of non-masked people to exit the farm.
I would like to see more experienced staff supervising the younger staff, enforcement of social distancing, masks required and safety being made a priority before we will...
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Revisited, this place in 2020 when we first moved to the area and we visited again in 2025 , they continue to expand and impress all visitors. On our most recent visit there were a plethora of young people enjoying the sites and creating instagram worthy memories and images. Plenty of places to eat and get treats and sweets as well as their market area which has all homemade baked goods and other fall options. I wish there were more locations on-site that offered a corndog. Currently, that's only in the out field hayride area and the last time we were there, they ran out before noon. 😞 They offer homemade fries fresh from the field, Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, ice cream drinks, coffee, chicken tenders, lots of soft drink options, & applesauce Just to name a few.
Train, hay ride, Pumpkin Patch, corn maze, orchard to pick your own apples, apples & pumpkins call be 'valeted' to the entrance so you aren't lugging them around the whole time. Games, shows, fairy tale park, animal feeding (very safe), slides, plenty of places to sit all over the campus and much much more!
The lines move very fast and it can be difficult to find parking but nothing a little walk can't fix. Disability parking offered right up front. No pets allowed.
I do have one suggestion , and that is that they might wanna think about offering a glow in the dark nighttime zombie paintball , potentially in one of the maze fields or alternatives. Even if it was offered 1 or 3 nights Close to the end of your season or around halloween would be amazing.
What it would take to offer this is? Of course, it's likely after 7pm, a hay rack that has paintball stations mounted to it, People being able to purchase paintball filler or just a package deal set up for groups. In the field, you might wanna have a few workers that dress up in certain costumes and have pads or protective gear, as well as a variety of cutouts of celebrities or politicians in a Halloween decorated sort of way.
This has been a very big attraction in other parts of Iowa , and i'm not sure why the des moines area haven't...
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Updated 10/6/2024: 5 stars for parents with babies and kids old enough to enjoy the farmyard activities (corn maze, train to see animals, tractor basketball, zipline, hayride, corn pool, haystack pyramid). This is basically like a fall themed Adventureland for the 3-12 aged group.
2 stars for sour apple cider and the expensive pricing for couples who just want to pick pumpkins and apples.
5 stars for pumpkin and apple selection and apple cider donuts.
Tips to make the most of your experience:
10/2022 review I am now missing limbs. I knew they had started charging to enter and pick apples and/or pumpkins, a previously free thing. But I did not know that they had started charging arm & a leg prices! The price of admission was even more expensive at the gate than the price listed online. How is this even affordable for parents with multiple children over 3??? $22 per person to enter?? The worst part is that they're charging barnyard prices to everyone, including people who can't or won't even use the barnyard (corn pool, slide, etc). I used to love coming here. I am now taking my business elsewhere. Their cider isn't even that...
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