Jonamac Orchard — Local services in Malta Township

My wife and I have been coming here for years, since we were newlyweds. I’ll say, it used to be worth the long drive. This place has really changed, we’ve been there twice this year and have been disappointed both times. They’ve really commercialized it, it doesn’t have the same charm it once did. And beware, they say they close at 5:30, but they seem to just close whenever they feel like it. The first time, we were hosting family for an afternoon get-together and then a campfire, in celebration of my wife’s birthday. We arrived mid-afternoon since we had the campfire later. We did a few activities, took our time, and got to the apple shooting range a few minutes before 5. They were already closed. So apparently they shut everything down ~35 mins earlier than their listed hours. I could see if it was a huge place, but it doesn’t take us 30 mins to walk to the exit. And we had a 6PM fire pit reservation, wtf are we supposed to do for an hour if they just shut everything down? We just wandered the rows of spindly-looking apple trees, pretty disappointing.

We went back today for some family time, they have a camel there you can ride, so we were excited to try that. After doing a few other activities, we arrived by the camel a few minutes before 4:00. There was nobody in line, but there were some girls off to the side, who appeared to be workers (not in uniform, but we later watched them help take the saddle off the camel), who told us that they were closed. Confused, we questioned it, and they said they close at 4. No sign, no notice of that anywhere, and it wasn’t even 4. But to add insult to injury, we watched the workers then climb onto the camel and get a ride, and they were all smiles. You kick paying customers out of line while you’re still open, just to give preferential treatment to workers? Felt super disrespected.

So we picked some wildflowers and headed over by the pumpkin patch to grab some pumpkins before leaving. We got to the pumpkin patch a few mins before 5, and another worker tried to usher my wife and daughters out of the pumpkin patch, saying they were closing. We questioned it, and he said they leave at 5, so we had to “pick a pumpkin quickly”. Again, they close at 5:30. I snapped at they guy, having had about enough of the bs, and told him we would be taking our time picking pumpkins. He walked away. Then it was almost 5:15, and the hayride drops off another group of people who started picking pumpkins, while a group of workers still standing there chit chatting. So frustrating. Needless to say, we didn’t buy any pumpkins after that. I’d rather give my money to Home Depot at this point.

We stopped in the shop for some snacks before leaving, and I guess they were out of plastic shells for their apple cider donuts, so we got a sad-looking ziploc bag of donuts (now soggy because they were stuffed in the bag still warm). We took the long drive home, trying to enjoy our soggy donuts, feeling pretty defeated.

In short, if you’re coming from the suburbs, save your gas and go somewhere closer, this place is now just your average fall festival type place. About a dime a dozen now. We used to tell everyone about this place, it’s a shame we’re having bad experiences now that we have young children to enjoy it with. We’ll look somewhere...

I'm confused and NEED confirmation. I read this before we went into the facility... had no issues buying the ONE wristband and no staff there said anything.... but when we were confronted at the animals i just paid the $5 because i really didnt know if i needed to. 30 minutes left from us being there for the 2 hours and no one said anything about needing one.. No one had issues that we had one wristband bcus our daughter is 1.5 yrs old. On this sign it says 1 admission wristband and the child is free. Why were we made to purchase a second wristband? because both parents ig need it? No where does it say that all parents accompanying the kid needs to purchase a wristband. We saw loads of other parents walking around without it and only the one parent. Others had 2. Please clear this up because if I go by what your sign is saying...The girl made us spend an extra 5 dollars for the 30 minutes we were at the animal barn, the end of our trip. I think you guys need to make this more clear as I'm sure we're not the only couple with this issue. Everyone needs to be on the same page because I 100% don't think I needed a wristband and at that point the entire staff needs to be re briefed on what the policy is. So many couples with 1 wristband and 1 under 2 but WE had to waste the $5 to have 2 wristbands for our kid??? Make it make sense cause it ruined the rest of our day. Didn't even feel like buying donuts or cider cause it just feels cash grabby. We even had bought drinks from the cider house. We've given plenty money and then this B to come and tell us after the 3rd time we're with the petting animals that I all of a sudden need a wristband. Just explained how we needed it but couldn't show anywhere that that is the policy. Idk. Do better with your wording. Just odd that it was the only 1 staff out of the MANY that saw us that pushed us cause we needed a second wristband. W.e all I can say again...

Love the apples, so many choices! Sometimes though, they block off sections for apple picking for a while, which can be dissapointing, but in the meantime there are tons of other activities for adults and children. One of the adult things is you can buy cider in a wine or beer house (sorry I'm 13 I don't know these things too well) or something like that. The children can take a ride on the apple train, which is a bunch of carts hooked up to a tractor that goes in a very squiggly upside-down U shape path. The carts have seatbelts to secure the children, so no need to worry. They also have a maze, a tricycle track, a little playhouse with a slide and a few desks for playing teacher, a big slide, a quarter buried tractor without the parts that are mechanical, an open and safe silo with dried out corn kernels to play in, a little pvc tube thing where you hand pump water to move plastic ducks along the length of the tube (which is cut in half longways), a couple of large games like a big connect 4 and a bean bag toss, and they have a big haystack (secured and supported by metal beams for safety) that you can walk on and sometimes crawl through. I say sometimes because it has a different layout every year. You can also buy apple cider, apple cider donuts, and apple cider slushies. The prices are low, too. I seriously suggest you go, because I don't think I can describe it all too you, so you'll have to go there yourself to get the...