Live Oak Canyon Farm — Attraction in Yucaipa

So very expensive! Admission charge for 30th was $25 per adult and $20 per child if I remember correctly, totalled around $150! I didn't realize it is less to attend earlier in the year but still pricey for 4 adults and 3 kids. Plus everything requires tickets, corn maze (8), rides(4-8), petting zoo(?), hayride(?), games(?), obstacle course(?), bouce house's(4). 4 tickets minimum for most activities from what I could see, nothing less. 1 Ticket=$1. Meaning for 3 kids to bounce in the bounce house for 3 minutes was $12.... that's barely less than admission on the "cheap" dates in September. At the very least the bouce house's should be free since there are so many other ways the farm is generating income. I realize it costs to run such a large operation but the income vs outgoing ratio is massive. Food looked and smelled great, but it's grossly overpriced as well, my in-law paid $12 for a vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate!?!? I saw $11 for lemonade, glad I brought a water bottle or we'd have been thirsty. We couldn't even afford to buy food after admission and spending $40 on tickets. It costs 36 tickets to enter the corn maze (with no scares, no way to get lost because everything loops back to the main path, no dead ends, markers and signs the whole way). Leaving 4 tickets left, between 3 kids, there is no fair way to break that up, also no single ticket options to use the last $4 in tickets so we just donated ours to another family rather then have kids fighting over who got to do the last activity. I can't imagine how many people forfeit the remaining tickets they've purchased because there's no way to use them, feels like theft. As much as I would have loved to make this a family tradition because it has everything to make the experience a blast, there's just no way we can afford it, especially right before holiday season each year. I can imagine the conversation, "Okay guys we could go to Live Oak Canyon, or we could have Christmas and Thanksgiving this year, what do you think we should do?" My family left feeling like we could look at all the fun, and what we did participate in was mediocre and extremely overpriced. Kids were upset we couldn't get the food/ drinks/ ice cream, and just wanted to leave. After 2hrs spent mostly wandering around looking for the ticket booth and maze, and avoiding all the rides and games the kids weren't going to get to do we felt frustrated and depressed. The corn maze was so disappointing, my kids (3,5,6yrs)were so upset when after 6-8 minutes we came to the exit....so its a dollar per minute?!?! Idk, it was just very disappointing all around. What was suppose to be a fun experience became depressing for us as parents, and boring tantrum triggers for the kids. Spent more time driving there and back, and less on...

I visited the pumpkin patch on Saturday night, 10/19, and unfortunately, the experience was far from smooth. The event was poorly organized, especially given the large crowd. It took about an hour just to get from the freeway exit to the patch because there was barely any police presence or adequate traffic control to manage the crowds. The drive through the parking lots was slow, and we had to wait in long lines for a shuttle. At one point, a staff member told the crowd to form a zigzag line, which only created more confusion. Another staff member suggested a straight line would work better, but the "zigzag man" insisted, while the other guy conceded with, "You are the boss."

Once we finally got on the shuttle and reached the entrance, we discovered you couldn’t buy tickets online, which meant waiting in yet another line to purchase them, followed by another line to present the ticket and pass through a metal detector. To top it off, the detector beeped when I walked through, but the staff told me not to worry and waved me in without further checks.

Inside the patch, I bought ride tickets and headed to the maze. As I tried to confirm with my sister whether we should go in (since it was late and she had a one-year-old), one of the staff members said to a man behind me, loud enough for me to hear, “She is being cheap, so you have to wait.” It was unnecessary and rude, especially since there were two staff members scanning tickets and the other could’ve helped the person behind me since she was just standing not assisting anyone.

Bathrooms were dirty and lacking supplies, and the food, while decent, was overpriced as expected for fair food. On the positive side, the patch was cute for pictures, though it required some patience or editing to remove the crowds. There were plenty of pumpkins for purchase, and the highlight was the pie and bread pudding cart near the exit—absolutely delicious.

Leaving the patch was another ordeal. There was a massive line for the shuttle, and we waited nearly an hour to get back to the parking lot. Despite this, they only had one shuttle pick-up spot and didn’t allow walking. When one of our group members, who was parked closer, tried to walk, staff stopped her, claiming someone had been hit by a car the day before. The staff were rude and adamant, though it seemed like a traffic control issue that could’ve been mediated with better planning and maybe limiting alcohol sales.

Overall, while there were some good moments, the night was overshadowed by poor organization, long waits, and subpar customer service. If they improve the logistics and staff training, it could be a much more enjoyable experience. This was my first time here and needless to say, I won’t...

Overall, I really give this place more of a 3 1/2 stars. Let's start with the positives. Excellent halloween fall vibes. The train was especially fun, and whoever put the lights up was really thoughtful in the design and placement. The corn maze was huge and rather difficult to find an exit for (which is fine). The attractions were fairly unique and very fun as well! They had a good selection of pumkins to choose from and tons of photo oppurtunites. In terms of crowds, we went on a Saturday evening and night, and it wasn't too bad. The lines went fairly quick, and there was enough space to walk around. Now to name some cons. There is ALOT of dust. I had been sneezing almost the entire night because of so much dust in the air, if you have a sensitivity it, I recommend steering clear of large foot traffic areas, also for the photo opps, there were really cute and I'm sure they would look beautiful during the day! However at nigh, lighting can be a particular issue. I recommend bringing in some warmer lighting that shines directly on some of the main photo opp stands because harsh white light or barely any light at all doesn't do your well efforted photo opps justice. Especially having up some more mood lighting in the pumkin patch itself. Next up is the food vendors. Listen. I don't mind paying $20 for quesadillas but there SHOULD be an increase in portion size. Not ALL vendors minimize the size of food for the price such as turkey legs are generally always a safe go to food filler. I'm pretty sure the vendors are sourced out so it's not so much an issue with the farm. But more should be done to make sure your customers feel like a fair trade of $ and food is being traded. Perhaps I'm wrong and may be the only one who thinks this but I recommend doing a customer survey to confirm my intuition at the end of the pumkin checkout. It is pricey and most fun attractions cost a pretty penny. I understand supply and demand so perhaps not much can be done here. But it would be awesome if this farm can find evenly creative ways to lower the costs of what they already charge. Overall Very fun, very aesthetic, just needs more help in the light department at night for better photos. Great layout however alot of dust may be kicked up by other people, there should be a more equal trade of $ to quality and portion of food. Super fun train ride, which was my highlight of the night and. You shouldn't be disappointed in going here and you'll more than likely find something that's very fun for you and your kids, but you may leave with a feeling of not getting your money's worth depending on...