Springs Preserve — Attraction in Las Vegas

My wife and I went to the plant sale that they were having. My wife loved the Springs Preserve ever since she first moved out to Vegas a couple of years ago, and she was really excited to attend one of their plant sales for the very first time. We got there and she very happily went looking through the plants available, passing a few employees on the way. We waited in line for about 20 minutes, and when we were finally getting to the front of the line, an employee by the name of Star off-handedly stated that they did not accept cash. We never use cash when we've gone to the Preserve, so we didn't know that cash was not accepted, and as it was our first time at the plant sale, we'd had no idea they wouldn't take it; we'd even specifically gone to withdraw cash for the event. To add insult to injury, there was nothing posted showing that they didn't accept cash at the event. When my wife stated this to Star, the response she got was, "Well, it was like this last year." Of course, my wife was understandably upset with this response. I took the cash we had and made a trip to deposit it while she waited to the side of the line, waiting for me to return. When I did, we were attended to by a cashier named Sarah who was very understanding and sympathetic, and for a moment I thought the day could be salvaged. Enter George from Guest Services who, upon hearing from my wife that she was upset, immediately called over a supervisor by the name of Sonja, instead of attempting to listen to my wife's complaint or even attempt to empathize with the situation. As for Sonja, her response was merely, "Well, we haven't used cash in 5 years." She then went on to state that only certain areas of the Preserve took cash and that there were notices posted on windows and buildings near the entrance. She also stated that it was listed on the website. My wife checked the site and was only able to find one mention of them not taking cash, in the section about purchasing tickets to enter the Preserve. The plant sale takes place in the back and is nowhere near the entrance where said notices of "no cash accepted" are posted, and as pass members, we would not be looking into purchasing tickets, and so Sonja's assertion that we should've paid more attention to the site was, needless to say, less than useful. On top of that, the plant sale is hosted by the Preserve, but you don't have to be a member OR purchase a ticket to attend. We left with our plants (I was not going to let her day be entirely ruined) and headed home, thoroughly disappointed with the lack of customer care that was shown today. I would also like to mention that we were not the only people who were unaware that it was a cashless event, and I would not be surprised to find out that others were treated the same way we were. The only reason this isn't a 0 or negative star review is because Google...

This place is big and has a lot of potential to be great, but unfortunately they have lots of work to get to there operationally.

The person at the ticketing booth informed us that the 1st train ride would be at 9am. We waited around 8:44am at the train stop while planning out our day's activities/tours. The line started building up with others also waiting for the 9am train, but when the conductor arrived around 9:05am, he said his 1st departure would be 9:30am. Not wanting to wait another 25 mins in the heat and to maximize our time, we headed out for the 9:30am Garden Tour at the Solar house. The signs are lacking and uninviting to many of the buildings being locked which you won't know until you try the door. We waited ~9:15am at the Solar House, but no one showed up. Attempted to do the 9:30am Desert Dwellers Pop Up Activity but nothing there either! We stopped an employee named Zack who helped us find anyone who was running any tour so we wouIdn't waste any more time waiting for nonexistent activities. Zack helped us connect with Cindy at the garden center who graciously rescued the day by giving us an impromptu tour of her garden. Cindy Dixon is awesome - you can tell she genuinely likes what she does and likes to teach! (Kudos to Zack and Cindy for rescuing our morning as none of the listed events existed - an intern didn't show up for one of the activities, not sure what the excuse was for the other events.) We did end up catching the train ride at a much later time (it runs every 30 mins), but the unenthusiastic sounding audio recording was inaudible most of the time due to the train noise. The audio recording could use a revamp to get people's attention otherwise it was basically a train ride around the complex - no stops, round trip back to where you start. We also tried to visit the souvenir store based on the maps, but you won't know it's no longer there after walking around in the heat and seeing the only door sign stating it's in some other area which we just came from and again no signs anywhere there as well.

I'm glad the entry fee was only $10/person as it's not worth any more than that - a huge disappointment for such...

If your looking for a great place to take the family for a day trip,look no further then the springs preserve.A campus that has two museums,a playground,train,two gift shops,a full sized indoor outdoor restaurant,hiking trails & live exhibitions with animals. Me & my family went for my birthday & had a great time.If your a local,you pay 9.95 for a day pass,18.95 if your a non local,but both include the train rides & butterfly garden exhibits which is nice.Keep in mind though,the ticketing office & the gift shops do not accept cash payments anymore,which I found shocking,but payed with a card anyway but still stunned.Every staff member we interacted with was amazingly helpful,you can tell they love their jobs.The cafe food is reasonably priced & tastes okay,but the open air dining is nice to feel the breeze on your body as you eat or relax.Plenty of picturesque open spaces to picnic; you are allowed to bring food in,but coolers that have wheels not sure,we brought trail mix,cheese & crackers & bottled waters & no one said anything.Very nice design.There is a tortoise exhibit,but unfortunately when we went we were told he was hibernating so he wasn't yet on display.We spent nearly four hours here,& still didn't get to see it all.I recommend going when they first open & staying until close so you can really take your time to emerge yourself & explore without feeling rushed through it.The boomtown addition is wonderful,makes you feel like your on a Hollywood movie set.The train ride is just darling.There are soo many great photo opportunities here,use the boomtown buildings as props for an old western style photo shoot,or snap a few pics in the botanical garden full of flowers & tree strewn arbors.I bought a membership for my family since well definitely be back for the educational value & yearly holiday...