All Seasons Orchard — Attraction in Woodstock

UNFORTUNATELY I have to get on All Seasons case this year. My wife and I have been visiting for the last 5 years and the last 3 with our 3 year old daughter, and we used to absolutely love this place. Up until this season we have made it a priority to come to the farm and pick apples because of everything All Seasons has to offer. Unfortunately things have changed most noticeably in prices and size of apple bags used to collect apples.

In previous years, they would issue the 'plastic' bag that I remember being able to fit at least 12 apples in. This year they issued a small paper bag that looked like it would be lucky to hold 6 apples. Immediately we talked with management who was already speaking to someone else who was complaining about the same issue. That manager said the paper bags are the same size as the plastic bags they just use different bags to differentiate who is allowed into the different apple orchards. I still have a tough believing that, those paper bags are so small.

Also, the only children allowed to go into the orchard (free) have to be 2 and under. WTH? The orchard should not be priced per person in general anyway, it should be priced per bags bought. In other word we wanted to buy two bags for picking and bring our 3 year old daughter along to enjoy picking apples with us. Nope, we would have to pay for her, they said. That is just crazy. Even adults should be able to go to the orchard for free, as long as they are not picking apples.

A similar issue is for the adults having to pay for the barnyard when all they are doing is just watching their kids play on the pretty much kids only activities. We brought my wifes parents who just wanted to enjoy watching their granddaughter play and apple pick (not ride any horses, walk a corn maze, slide or anything else), just watch. They had to pay $14 each just to walk around.

One last little issue we had is that the orchard must own the inflatable bouncy gyms because I noticed this year that the bouncy's are getting very "used" and I saw safety netting ripped and holes in the bouncy areas (that were taped, were). In other words the equipment is falling apart.

As a whole, if we would have decided to pick apples and buy the combo pack we would have had to pay nearly $75 for three of us. It is just not worth it.

Me and my wife love this place and there are so many activities in the barnyard area for OUR DAUGHTER to do and we still made a good time of our visit this past weekend (9-26-15) but next year All Seasons better revisit their pricing for everything, who's allowed to go apple picking, and check the quality of their equipment. We have already decided that we will be visiting a new orchard next year if these things are not fixed.

Please, please, All Seasons fix these issues. We love you and want to come back but we just can't do it for the outrageous prices and restrictions.

Update 9/18/17, Nothing has changed and it is going to cost us $88 to do most things ($43 for apple picking and $45 for the barnyard). Even with discounted pricing it is $72. I'm sorry All Seasons but how do you justify this? Especially after our visit last year when the majority of the "bouncy house" attractions were ripped or taped fix. I think our family tradition has ended at All Seasons. I'm sorry but it doesn't make sense to keep...

Let me start off by comparing the two years (in a row) that I've been here. I went to this orchard last year with only one child + 2 other adults and we loved it so much we came back. We got a 1/2 peck bag with our admission fee. It is a nicely spaced farm with tons of activities for the little ones: zip lining, cute little cow train, inflatable slides, jumping pillow, corn maze, etc. There is a pumpkin patch, you pay per lb. Did not do it either years. But this place does have good (hot and cold) apple cider, doughnuts, and doughnut a la mode (YUM!). Parking is free. They also have typical cafeteria food: hot dogs, fries, salad, cheese pizza, bottled water, etc. I would recommend you bring your own bottled water. Plenty of tables to sit and eat. Condiment bars are kept pretty clean and organized. Restrooms are relatively clean too. Port-o-potties are also available by the wagon loading areas. Be prepared to leave your baby buggy behind when going apple picking.

I don't recall the price I paid in 2013, but I now know why there were at least 3x as many people this past weekend as there was the year before. CBS promoted this particular farm (yay for the farm), thereby flooding it with people this year and (thanks CBS) diluting my personal experience when I drove 2 hours from my Lakeview apartment.

This year, apple picking admission was $9 [without entry to the children's play areas], you get 1/4 peck in this flimsy plastic bag- which they TELL you will tear if not supported from the bottom. If you wanted access to the play areas, it was $13.50 per person (on the weekends, $8 on weekdays) for a wristband. I understand you're trying to run a business that's only open a few months out of the year, but last year, we were able to walk out to each "ride" and I feel like they are trying to rob you at every turn. I honestly would rather pay $5 to park, than $4.50 MORE per person to WALK the play area. It's not like I won't buy your awesome cider + doughnuts. *HELPFUL TIP: About the apples, where they drop you off, you will want to walk straight to the back of the rows of the apples you're looking to pick, cause the front trees are usually picked bare. Jonagolds are similar to honey crisps and very good. They don't brown quickly once chopped up, I like that. I personally liked these and their Golden Delicious (good for baking). They did not have any Fujis ready for picking, womp womp! =(

This time, I went with 3 little ones (my nieces) and 3 other adults. Due to the price increase, only 1 of the adults decided to go in the play area. Now my question to All Season Apple Orchard is... since one adult went in to supervise 3 children, considering I did not sign a release of any sort, what if one of the other children got badly hurt? Your staff operating these attractions/rides are physically incapable of monitoring all those children at one time, so should my kids get hurt, can I sue you? I know what you're thinking, well you should've paid the extra $4.50 to go watch your kid. But it's NOT just about the money, it's just the PRINCIPLE of it. Do you NOT want me to return next year? Honestly, from an child-free adult's perspective, I would never bat an eye in the direction of this orchard again. My PSA of the day: KID-FREE ADULTS, take your date...

I REALLY want to love this place, but there are just too many things I have issues with. While I was there, I made it a point not to dwell on the negative and I DID have an amazing time... But when I got home (over $100 later), there's a lot of negative I'm remembering. I realize I gave them 4 stars and all the negative I'm going to say will sound like a 2 or 3... But in spite of ALL the bad, given how much my kids liked it, I still enjoyed myself.

First, the positive... The staff I spoke to were incredibly helpful and nice. From the lady at the entrance who found me a sharpie to write names on the bags, to the patient lady who helped my kids make change when they were spending their own money for an extra donut... From the tractor driver who stopped to pick us up when we were walking, to the guy at the orchard who helped me find the apples I wanted... They were all great! My kids had an AMAZING time. They could've spent the entire day on the zip lines! There were a lot of bees, but they weren't at ALL aggressive and it was clear they do what they can to keep them at bay. The donuts are SO awesome, especially warm! We also love the apple pie preserves and the kettle corn.

As for the negative... It's hard to get over the price. I go for the experience, so I don't mind that I'm paying a lot for a VERY small amount of apples... What I DO mind is that I have to pay for MYSELF to go into the barnyard area. I paid for 3 kids (you know, the ones who ACTUALLY using the stuff there?) so why am I paying for myself too... I'm not riding the pedal cars and zip line... I'm just supervising my kids! My husband won't come with us anymore because he finds this so ridiculous.

I also get that not everything is available on weekdays... But it was pretty lame how MUCH wasn't open. ESPECIALLY the pumpkin and apple cannon. Those cost EXTRA anyway... You'd think they'd have that open. I would've paid for it! I do NOT get why the bounce house slide thing wasn't up. I also think the price during the week should be even cheaper since there is SO much not available!

I also understand that they rope off apples they aren't "picking"... But that sort of sucked. We went down an entire row and didn't find ONE apple that we could reach. Eventually we just went through to a roped off row and found tons and tons of delicious apples (I have no idea what kind they are, of course... Oh well!) The aisles that aren't being picked also haven't been mowed down, so we were dragging though some pretty tall grass/weeds. Afterwards, our shoes were totally coated in something orange... What is it??? I still don't know. The way the honeycrisp is roped off and treated like gold is ANNOYING. I didn't pay for that because I didn't think my kids would care (I was wrong of course) and when my son asked to go into the roped off area, my 6 yo daughter put it best when she said "you can't go there, it's all roped off... There's a guard and it's against the law!" I definitely felt like I had to break the law to get some apples.

Will I go here again? I wouldn't be surprised if I was back again this season, honestly. The kids had such a good time and the staff was so nice that it made all this negative stuff seem like not as...