Evans Orchard and Cider Mill — Attraction in Bluegrass Region

My family drove about an hour to Evan’s for the first time this October. We had heard great things. Overall, we liked the grounds and the pumpkin patch had a big selection. We planned to get lunch there and enjoy ourselves. We knew the pumpkins would be pricy, but that was ok because it was the experience. What we didn’t anticipate though was that the play area would charge the adults the $16 entry just to supervise our children. Granted, that included the hay ride, but we would have rather had the option to pay just for that separately as adults. Instead, not only did we spend $20+ for two pumpkins, but then we spent another $65+ on the play area which was just ok. Our kids enjoyed it but it was nothing spectacular. Had we not been charged that amount we likely would have done the U-pick apples AND also spent money on lunch and the inside the store. But that really put a bad taste in our mouths to be charged as adults to go in with our kids. It just felt like a greedy money grab. And having driven an hour to get there we couldn’t disappoint our kids. I may have even splurged and bought the kids the highest level tickets to include the apple cannon and such for $25 each but not after I found out adults were also being charged no matter what. I heard a lot of other guests voice their distaste with this as well.

As a small business owner myself, I completely understand the need to make a profit. You cannot work for free and farming is a ton of work year round—and has a lot of expenses to boot year round. But I strongly encourage you to rethink this element of your business going forward. It really doesn’t feel right. Perhaps there is another way to make up the difference. But again, I will say, as adults who had no choice but to supervise our kids, my husband and I would have loved to have bought some drinks and snacks to enjoy while our kids played. We just couldn’t justify spending more after feeling like we were taken advantage of. The logic is you and your kids wait in a long line, the kids are so excited to play, then you are stuck paying as adults because who wants to disappoint their kids like that? Money is very tight for a lot of folks right now,...

It really does pain me to leave a review like this, but I feel like families with small ones will find it helpful. The orchard is beautiful, they have wonderful products in their gift shop and they have a decent enough cafe that you really don't need to make separate "meal plans" But..... Accessing any of it will be difficult. Lines are not just long, they are be prepared to be cussed out by other patrons long. Let me explain-my sister and I along with our 2 small children and our mother met at the orchard for the afternoon. My 2 year old just isn't cool waiting in line for 30 min+ for anything. To remedy this I walked around the store with her, walking back and checking in with my mom and my sister periodically so I can pay for the items I wanted to purchase. Mind you, I was purchasing maybe three items. About Midway through our wait the woman behind us very loudly started cussing out our family with whomever she was speaking to on her phone. She thought I was cutting. My sister very politely turned around and said "oh, ma'am we are all together" at which point the lady started screaming at my sister about being nosey and poking it on her conversation. This grandmother was evidently there with her own grandchildren (but they were a big enough to be outside) could have certainly controlled her mouth in what should be a family-friendly environment. Honestly her frustration was from the obscene lines to get anything or to do anything at the orchard. It does not excuse her behavior but I can understand where her frustration grew out of. As a side note she told her husband and grandkids to shop around and add to her basket when she got up to the register (the same thing everyone was doing, and apparently what we did that completely enraged her🤷). So if you want obscene lines to go to the bathroom, to buy something to eat, to go to the gift shop, to purchase pumpkin then you're fine. But if you have small children I think Evans Orchard is a hard pass for this year unless they remedy this situation. Between the lines and that particular woman, the afternoon was less...

Evans Orchard knows how to entertain and puts together a great day of activities. My family and I visited today (10/12/24) to see what there was to do and get a pumpkin or two for the kids. It was fairly crowded but with plenty of space, it hardly felt busy other than the lines to check out. They had a decent sized pumpkin patch, wagon rides (no hay), apple picking, a large play area, live music, and more. This would be a 5 star review if not for the exorbitant and downright predatory pricing methods in place. I expected some mark up and things to be more expensive than they should be, it's more about having fun with the kids and enjoying a nice day then trying to cheap out. You know what you get yourself into at places like these. However, with the wagon rides starting at $8 per person and then each additional activity being an add-on from there, you can quickly spend a lot of money. By far my biggest issue came with the kids play area. You have to spend $16 per person (including adults, age made no difference) to be able to get in. Now, it is a great play area with tons of things to do, it even has some barn animals towards the back. But charging adults to walk around with their kids is just ridiculous, especially at $16 a piece. In full clarity, the $16 does include the wagon rides and corn maze. If you just want the play area, you are out of luck. We didn't try to sneak in, but watched as others did. They have spotters walking around making sure everyone has a wristband in the area. I feel this is downright wrong and Evans Orchard is trying to act like an official amusement park instead of a family friendly activity.

As a side note, there was no food to feed the animals so they are mostly uninterested and keep to themselves though (which given the costs of everything else, we are probably better off). It excites the kids to see them but you'll have to get lucky to pet one.

In all, it was a good time and the kids had fun. At the end of the day, that's the most important part. But given our experience, we will be looking elsewhere in the future...