Milburn Orchards — Attraction in Newark

I have been going to Milburn Orchards ever since I was a child with my parents. Coming here for a "fall outing" - its wonderful 10/10.

However this review is not about that, this is about using this venue as a party site. If I could have given zero stars, I would. As previously stated, I have been coming here yearly for at least the last 28 years. I have always seen that you can host parties here and as an adult, I thought, " How could would it been to have my childs birthday party here?"

Well, I was finally blessed with a child who has a birthday in the beginning on November. I booked the pavilion for it months ahead of time to ensure I get the date I needed. The venue told me the time of booking the pavilion, an employee would reach out to me and go over final details - they did not. I had to reach out to them. I was okay with that. However, they only allow a 15 minute set up window. FIFTEEN MINUTES. That was annoying, but okay - that is their policy. I did not like it but i simplified the decorations for my sons first birthday party to accommodate the small window frame to set up.

We arrive, my husband lugging a wagon full of pizza in one hand and a cooler full of drinks in another. Not one employee asked us if we are here for a party - we had to wait in the long line. Again, annoying - but I was determined to make it work because it is my first child's first birthday party.

We get to the top of the line. The two employees in the booth were not aware of my party I have prepaid for and confirmed with via email just earlier that week. These employees did not know if it was the pavilion I rented or a tent. These employees were not informed of any party going on. Then I was asked to wait with my child in my arms and my husband lugging all these pizzas and cooler of drinks while they call another employee to verify what I am telling them. Mind you, I only had a 15 minute window to set up and now they are breaking into that window because they apparently had no communication whatsoever!

Then I am assuming who is the party host? Comes over as we are frantically trying to set out the party items to ask me multiple questions. I politely tell her I am trying to set up before my guests arrive and she still continues to ask me if i got add-ons, etc. She tells me she will come check on us throughout the party - she did not come back until 15 mins past the rental of the pavilion lol.

The first 10+ guests told me the entry booth gave them a hard time coming in as if they STILL didn't know there was a party going on. The latter half of my guests did not seem to have that problem so there must have been some communication that occurred.

All in all, it is not worth having a party here. I am truly disappointed at how mine was handled. My husband and I rented the pavilion and paid for all of our guests to come (41 people to be exact) so we kind of expected the smallest of accommodations such as the employees knowing of the party, my guests being able come without being hassled at the gate, not having to wait in the same entry line as of the rest of the non-party guests and us being checked on after the party started.

My family decided we will come back as regular guests but we will never host another party here ever again.

That is the end of my sob story lol

Sincerely, a...

This place is so cool! Great for kids AND ADULTS!

We came on the first day of their Fall Festival, a beautiful sunny Friday around 11a and the place was clearly popular with some established history, but it deleted fresh and new. It felt like a local farm, with just enough modern conveniences and attractions to keep it special. It’s not too big or over-commercialized.

As a boy, I grew up on a farm, but haven’t been to something this special to bring back memories, in a very long time.

We went to meet up with some college friends, and waste time with them as only friends can do. We don’t have kids, so we got to be the kids, climbing, crawling, petting and riding our way around the farm.

We even cheered for a goat to cross the pen on its climbing structure (be sure to check out all the photos and videos with this review for context).

So here’s the specifics:

STAFF ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Friendly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ACTIVITY LEVEL ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kid spaces ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Adult spaces ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Climbing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Running ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Petting ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Riding ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The activity levels here range across all ages, small and tall alike. There are slow activities (explore at your own pace, Hay Ride, petting areas, Corn Maze, Bale Maze, etc.) and fast activities (Duck Race, Rope Race, Giant Pipe Race, etc.). One of the highlights I thoroughly enjoyed was what my wife loving called the “Hobbit Holes”, which is a hill of tunnels that go through a mountain, and there are small yellow slides to go from the upper levels to lower levels.

CLEANLINESS & ORGANIZATION ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sanitizer available ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Untended messes were basically nonexistent, everything was well-maintained. We were there before the bigger crowds, so that might change, but the fact that there wasn’t overgrowth shows that they were prepared for visitors; I for one am grateful for the care they took ahead of time.

ACCESSIBLE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ They do a really good job of making the routes easy to navigate, not too steep. There are a few structures that require steps vs ramp, but I noticed that their hay ride trailer even had a lift to those with physical limitations to be able to enjoy the rides.

FOOD ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ They have a plethora of food choices, but I removed a star only because today it seemed very limited in menu options, and I didn’t see anything specific to highlight dietary restrictions. Granted, it’s a farm, so if gluten is a problem as it is for my wife, you still have plenty of fruit/vegetable options. They have pizza and seasonal beverages and ciders. We purchased some of the sparkling apple cider and it was a 5-star delight of flavor, not-too-much carbonation. And the Apple Cider donuts were also a delightful treat. They have a market on-site and a side window to order the pizza with a nice patio to sit and enjoy.

I’m sure there are many more details from our 2.5 hour excursion, but overall, it was a win and we hope to return again with...

Went today with our family. For 3 of us, I paid $69.00 to just get in. When I asked why so much they said that since it's the first 3 weeks in October, they up the price. An employee straight to my face admitted to price gouging. They had outside vendors for food. One of them was $6.00 for a taco. There was no option for a hot dog or burger. Paid for a dozen and half of apple cider donuts and was only given a dozen, I checked while still at the window. I asked for the other 6 and I was told the small bag was 6 and the big bag was 12. I handed back the big bag and said only 6 where in there. You'd though I was stealing their own donuts. Then, the donuts themselves where so greasy that it almost felt like it disintegrated the actual donut part. It clumped up the cinnamon sugar so it was more like just a crust of cinnamon sugar. Overall, I was highly disappointed. I get needing to charge a fee, to cover some of the things like the mini hale bale maze, horse hula hoop, but the duck races weren't working and others items were in disarray. I couldn't find a single handicap port a potty.

Update: Milburns Orchard you seem to be missing the point. Your dynamic business model, isn't Dynamic. In fact you never mentioned addressing the fact that even your own staff called it price gouging, treat customers rudely, and can't be bothered to maintain the activities.

Finding staff that wasn't working the hayride, concession stands or front entrance booth was next to impossible. So I am not sure who I am supposed to report the issues too. As you mentioned the third party vendors are there for their own business, so they can't/won't help.

One disability port a potty is ridiculous and probably why it was so hard to find, since there is only one. Imagine being down by the corn maze or back by the hayride and having to attempt to get to the one port a potty in the front with a disability.

My donut situation was handled in an agressive manner. As I mentioned it was as if the staff thought i was stealing them. Despite being "fresh" they ended up being inedible because the donut had disintegrated and all that was left was a cinnamon sugar crust. They tasted like straight oil. In fact I'm happy to dig the dozen that never got touched out of the trash and bring them back.

Paying $69 to have to hunt down staff to fix broken activities, attempt to find the one disability port a potty, be treated with disrespect when pointing out a mistake and having the staff say the prices are ridiculous and again I quote "price gouging customers" seems to be an excessive amount of money to pay to do that. In fact I can do those things for free literally anywhere else.

Your dynamic business model should allow you to forecast the amount of guest expected to visit. Meaning you should have enough staff on hand to help mitigate issues and maintain the property...