Uncle John's Cider Mill — Local services in Greenbush Township

Uncle John's Cider mill was a huge disappointment. Their website advertises train rides, a hay ride, and many activities for the kids. We purchased the $10 VIP wrist bands that gave us free train rides, access to the bouncy stuff, a hay ride, and one trip to the apple cannon.

The kids' activities included with our $10 purchase, which consisted mostly of bouncing on things or sliding down a slide, were pretty satisfying to my friend's five-year old son. However, their "carnival" attractions are not included in the price. They are a bunch of small, cheap, and not particularly thrilling rides, ranging in price from two to five dollars and all of them overpriced.

There is no "train" as there are no tracks; the "train" consists of a tractor with a fake locomotive skin that pulls a couple of trolleys on a path around one small part of the compound. Part of the path is on the drive that cars use to enter the compound and we got stuck in traffic. Pretty sad.

Their wasn't much for us adults. Wine tasting? Great if you like drinking at 1:00 in the afternoon, and the point really is to get you to buy wine. Cider press? Interesting, for about three minutes. There is a gift shop and bakery where you can buy cider and donuts. The one thing I really wanted to do was the apple cannon. I waited in line for over an hour for that.

There is almost no shade on the compound and almost no place to sit other than the table for the food trucks, which were almost always full. There were four porta-potties for the perhaps 2,000 people, so I had to wait there as well. There were sanitizing stations nearby, which were empty by 2:00.

The corn maze is all brown, not surprising at this time of year (October). It's also about four feet tall, making it a maze in name only. And yes they do have a huge pumpkin patch, where you can buy a pumpkin (of course), just like any of dozens of other farms and orchards.

The hayride is a long walk down a big hill. We never made it, as we were by then worn out from over-priced rides and waiting in line in the sun and all.

Finally, unlike many cider mills and orchards, there is no picking your own apples (which they do tell you on their website).

Overall, I felt it was cheap and commercial. It's not so much a cider mill as a giant machine that is intended to separate you from as much of your money as quickly as possible: buy donuts, buy cider, buy carnival rides, buy gifts, buy wine, buy a pumpkin... I felt like it was never-ending. And do it all standing in the sun, because we don't care about you. Believe me, there are other, better orchards and cider mills. I will never go to Uncle John's again and I recommend you...

Hello y’all, This has to be the best orchard. When I’m in the area I always stop in. Specifically, I go out of my way to pick up cider and the old school donuts which can only be found in the white apple pressing barn, second floor.

The cider is an amazing blend and is pressed on site. It is not watered down. It is advisable to shake the jug up to mix the apple resin back into the cider (trust me, you want it in the cider) as they sell it to go and it will settle. It is all good.

The donuts are three flavors, pumpkin, cider and cinnamon and sugar. The donuts are not covered in frosting, this means they have to taste good (think cake ) without the camouflage of sugary frosting.

They cinnamon ones is the only one that is dusted with the spices.

Everything is in house. This is not a Walmart operation. I do not know about any of the other things they sell as I am laser focused on scoring the above mentioned items.

I have been getting cider and donuts there since 1982. One of my first memories is watching them crushing apples (which is awesome ) and the brown piano plying by itself.

When I am in Michigan it is a must do stop.

FYI. You need to keep the cider cold as it is not pasteurized and/or full of preservatives. That is why it tastes amazing. It’s like drinking an apple. I take a big beer cooler with some ice to bring a few gallons home.

If you have kids there is a bunch of stuff for them to run around on so they hopefully will be tired out.

The people that run it are all good folks.

The place is kept very clean and is run orderly. The only thing they need is a police detail controlling traffic exiting onto the highway, and at the turn around, as many people are trying to head south on the weekends. They are that popular. I hope this helps y’all figure out what to do this weekend. I like to go during the week if possible but that is just me.

Good...

This was my First time ever going to this Cider Mill. Just went today on a Saturday, in October, it was super busy! Expect to do a lot of walking and waiting. It was Hard to park and to leave, because you were waiting for people who were walking in the parking lot. We went to check out the giant jumping pillow and buy cider and doughnuts. The parking lot is in the center and all of the activities are around the outside of the large parking lot. Plan to do a LOT of walking, wear your tennis shoes. Doughnuts are $2.19 a piece. Pies $18 plus. I didn’t see where the Apple cider was sold at, so I didn’t get to buy any to try and no employees offered any help, too many customers in the store. Hard to see the signs around so many people walking. Finally seen the signs for the wagon rides, Followed signs to walk to find the wagon and train ride, and then we were walking through the parking lot just like everyone else was.

I didn’t like that you have to walk through the parking lot to get to the different activities. It was fun on the train ride which was only $1 per kid and I liked the wagon ride best, it was $2 each, good prices for those. But the pumpkins were expensive and so was the food, Lots of food trucks to pick from. No animal petting zoo area, unless we just couldn’t find it? The large jumping pillow is super cool! Lots of fun but my kid’s socks got all dirty from the sand surrounding it and I didn’t know to bring extra socks so I ended up having dirty, sandy, wet socks in my pockets and kids with bare foot in their shoes. The play area is small compared to the amount of people who go there, packed full but was free. Could use a bigger play area. My kids didn’t get a chance to swing on the cool large saucer swings either, because they were all full each time we walked by. We won’t be back again on a Saturday near Halloween. We might try going again but...