Fair Weather Growers Fall Fest and Corn Maze — Local services in Cromwell

We have been bringing our kids for years to the fall festival and this past year was such a complete let down. The festival used to be fantastic. You could spend an entire day here and there was plenty for kids to do. This year however, was so incredibly terrible that I don’t know if we would consider even going back. First, let’s start with the price. For a family of 4 with pumpkins included, it was $112 online. $120 at the gate. They do offer discounts to seniors, military and children under 2 are free. We specifically waited to buy pumpkins this year knowing we could pick them up in their easy patch (no cutting or trudging through fields) on the way out. Imagine my surprise to see that the entire “patch” was filled with sugar pumpkins. In years past, they used to have an assortment of large and small, pumpkins that were huge. All of them this year though, were grocery store size! In years past, you could purchase tickets and choose a la carte options. This year, the only choice was a 4 pack including pumpkins or a 4 pack without. The wait in lines was absolutely ridiculous. Most of the activities now are timed to allow kids to move through activities quickly so others have a turn. We spent nearly 30 minutes in the corn pit line, another 15 in the snack line, another 25 in the jump pillow. The wait times are terrible. You can’t help but to be frustrated with the amount of money you pay, knowing that you’ve spent nearly all your time, HOURS, waiting in line to spend 2 minutes doing an activity. It was awful watching a great number of children try to patiently wait for their turn. The food is beyond expensive. We paid $30 for 2 soft pretzels and 2 drinks - a water and a soda. Picnic table seating is dirty and they had the speakers playing music directly perched over the food area. You can’t hear yourself think let alone talk over the music. I’m not sure why they decided the placement there would work best. But, speakers on the perimeter of the property make sense. Not in the middle. There is a strict no outside food policy which really limits what your options are. You’re forced to stand in line and forced to pay ridiculous subpar food prices if you want to eat. While I understand they have a business to run, it’s also ridiculous to expect families with young children to wait in a food line, without giving them other options. Strollers are now allowed on the hayrides. Super convenient for families with little ones however, negotiating space for 4 or 5 strollers is a nightmare on the ride itself. It’s easy to see that staff is overworked and tired. There were multiple attendants in the corn pit, shouting into megaphones. There were attendants in the go kart area literally jumping in front of kids telling them time was up and pushing the go kart backwards to get them to stop. I witnessed one staff member yelling at a child who wasn’t quick enough to get off the slide. The child must have been no older than 3. Unfortunately, it’s because these activities are timed that employees are rushing. It’s almost an amusement park wait now. 20 minutes in line to spend 2 minutes doing something. Hurry up and wait in the next line. They’ve got to start addressing the crowds because of how popular this place has become. Whether it’s timed entry tickets to reduce crowds and wait time or specific days set up for children that are maybe 6 and under, there needs to be a designated day or time to eliminate the chaos. My other comment is about the added activities - it looks like they’ve added a few options that they have not had in the past. One of those is gem mining. Theres an additional fee. Honestly, for $112 for a family of 4, plus the cost of food plus the added activity fee, you’re looking at easily spending $200 on a day here.

The way this season has gone, I’m really surprised that they’ve still got loads of people coming in but I’m going to assume the majority of them don’t remember a time where the pumpkins were huge, wait times were manageable, things weren’t chaotic and staff...

Find a different corn maze/fall festival to attend.

The lines for all activities are very long, and the kids spent more time waiting than actually being able to participate. Waited 45 minutes for the jump pad to get 5 minutes of jump time, 35 minutes in the corn pit line to get 15 minutes of actual play time. The tractor ride goes around a small portion of the farm, and we were not able to do even all of the activities due to incredibly long waits. Our 6 year old left and told us in the car she felt like spent the whole day waiting instead of playing (and she was right!)

High entry fee of $30 each or $112 for 4 people, and it is advertised you get to take home a pumpkin. The pumpkins were small sugar pumpkins, and not all activities are included with your ticket price. There is a gem mining station that you have to pay additionally for on top of admission (this was an extra $10 per person). Parents pay the same amount as the kids even if you don’t do any activities.

I found besides the lines the entire process to be inefficient; for the corn maze and jump pad, all kids need to have their shoes on and be out of the holding areas before they let in the next group. This caused unnecessary delays that were several minutes at each station. Staff at the slide area actually pushed kids back against the height sign if a child wasn’t fully against it on their own; no staff member should be touching anyone’s child.

If you want to spend all day waiting in lines, and to pay a fortune to do so, this is the place for you. Otherwise,...

After reading some recent negative reviews, I was worried about plans to attend with my 15 month old, husband, and our neighbors plus their 5 month old. I am happy to say that we all had a wonderful time!

We showed up this past Saturday (last October weekend, so I was expecting long lines as some others mentioned) around 10/10:30am and we had no wait times at all to get in, go on rides/hayride, buy food, etc. All of the staff were extremely pleasant and we never felt rushed at all. The only busy spot was the corn pit, but there was no time limit and the kids still had plenty of space to have fun. It was really a great time! I guess you could say the pumpkins are small, but you could tell they were farm grown and still had plenty of sizes/shapes to choose from (my husband is still laughing about my "ugly" pumpkin, but I love it). The food was good and I think reasonably priced for homemade, you also can eat ahead to save some money. It was definitely a pricey thing to do but absolutely perfect for our little ones (kids under 2 are free). My daughter had so much fun, we stayed way past her nap and she never get grumpy once. She was just too busy running around in the pumpkin patch, going down the slides, going on the hayride, looking at the animals and of course hanging out in the corn pit. I also loved the diaper changing station, what a smart move! 4 stars but only because of the price to get in, I can imagine that is more difficult with older kids but the pumpkin included was nice. Definitely plan...