Family Fun Farm. Lots of Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins, Fresh Baked Pies, Wagon & Pony Rides, Petty Zoo, Maze, Face Painting, Carnival Rides & Games. Country Market Barn, Cafe, Fall & Halloween Decor. Sweet Corn, Orchard Pick Apples, Seasonal Vegetables. Tel: (905) 832-2548
Ages: All Ages
Major Intersection: Major Mackenzie Dr W & Bathurst St
Address: 1150 Major Mackenzie Dr. West, Vaughan, Ontario
If you make an inquiry, please mention that you saw this listing on the Melanie On-The-Go / Kids On-The-Go website. Thank you!
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Activities We Did:
Paid $1 per person to get in. Paid $13 for 10 tickets for fun fair rides-3 tickets/ ride(except for 1 which was 2). Wagon rides were $2 per person. Pony ride was $5 (we didn’t do either). Animated chicken show was broken. Corn maze was knee high.
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
place was way over priced. we’ve been to different pumpkin patches and the value and entertainment value was much higher. Too bad also that the website did not mention any price at all-was a shock to be hit with high prices. Food was also overpriced (and sorry, we don’t have cream for the lukewarm coffee)
Quick Tips for Others:
Go to a different pumpkin patch–please!!! And yes, go pee pee before you get there–trust me.
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 1/5
- Value: 1/5
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
wasn’t so impressed. thought everything was overpriced (including the pumpkins!! same ones at longos are less than 1/2 the price…) didn’t ride the rides. would have been interested in the pony ride and/or the wagon – but $5? crazy. also, most of the pumpkins were not great – a lot of rotten ones. noneless, we found a few decent ones we purchased – but i think we paid over $30 for 3 pumkpins! and then we stopped at the grocery store and they were $3.99… live and learn. didn’t bother with the bakery/food – looked ok, but again, overpriced… considering you had to pay for everything, it seemed ridiculous to pay $1/person to get in to walk around.
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2/5
- Value: 2/5
Activities We Did:
Played around the haystacks, school bus cut out, pumpkin area and carnival stye rides.
Good to Go!: The store selling pastries smelled wonderful, I didn’t sample anything but it smelled awesome and the parking was free.
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
Pumpkin patch you think more pumpkins than you could count, right?! Here, not so much, maybe 100, littered around with action figure cut outs nearby. The rides were short, small, and expensive and not everything looked safe. I just felt like I was being nickle-and-dimed — to get into the playarea was $1 (a few slides, a “corn maze” that wasn’t really a maze, a few tires that formed a tunnel together), every ride cost $$, the pony was $5, the wagon was $2 (the wagon to nowhere, just a simple ride around an empty grassy field). To really enjoy and do everything they had to offer, it would have probably cost $30.
I know I said Brooks farm was expensive at $12 per person BUT you could go on the wagon ride as many times as you wanted (not $2 each ride AND it took you to a real pumpkin patch with HUNDREDS if not a thousand pumpkins!) or bounce on the big infaltable pillow the entire time (no time limit or line) or played on the different zip lines and the quality of their play structures put the ones at Southbrook to shame (large climbing haystacks, pirate ship play structure, tire swing made into the shape of horses, tractor tires to climb).
Quick Tips for Others:
Good for a quick trip to the pumpkin patch, maybe good for a first time with a little one but once your kid has been to better, skip it.
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 1/5
- Value: 1.5/5
Activities We Did:
Rides, walked around and took photos
Good to Go!:
$3 admission ($1 for each person) includes taking photos at the various Halloween displays (there’s some displays with cut-outs for faces e.g. Simspons- you can add your child to their family tree), a toddler play area with slides and ride-in cars, petting zoo and small haystacks your child can climb on.
Pies are on the sweet side but were good. I tried the strawberry rhubarb and caramel apple pies.
Lots of parking and it’s free.
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
It’s a small area compared to other pumpkinfests. There are no big play structures, the haystacks are really small, the toddler play area was all wet from the rain, and the petting zoo was very small.
I think their fees are a bit high. You had to pay $5 for pony rides. That’s a lot compared to other places I’ve been that charge only $2 or $3 (like the maple syrup festivals and another pumpkinfest). The wagon rides are an extra charge. These are the wagon rides out to the pumpkin patch which I’ve never been charged for before. And of course the carnival rides are extra. We paid $13 for 10 tickets. Since all but one ride is 3 tickets, that was only 3 rides with 1 ticket left-over. I think that’s a bit pricey. It would have sat better with me if the rides were all 2 tickets.
Not a lot of food options. I had a hot dog and it was a tiny little sausage with a tiny bun that wasn’t even toasted. Yuck. Their beef patties looked decent but I didn’t have cash left.
A friend used the port-o-toilets and told us all to hold it after we came back.
Lineups in the bakery were long. I could have paid cash and gotten out of there faster but I had none left. Waiting in line for 20 mins with two cranky kids was a nightmare but I needed the pies for a Thanksgiving family dinner. Extra staff available to jump on the registers would have been helpful.
Quick Tips for Others:
Bring cash. Go to the washroom before coming.
For some reason the address wasn’t recognized by my GPS. It picked up Major Mack East not West.
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2.5/5
- Value: 2.5/5
I went to a couple of farms last year and one the year before (my first year here) and get them mixed up. However, I am almost positive I went to Southbrook in 2011 and it wasn’t as bad as you describe. I do recall paying for rides but remember a really fun play area for kids with ride on cars and such. The playground wasn’t great but the kids enjoyed it nonetheless. I do recall porta potties and having to walk to the car with my daughter to use the potty in the car (she was already potty trained) and holding it myself due to general fear of porta potties. I do only recall one farm with washrooms though.
I did buy a few things from the store and it was yummy and quick service.
We stayed til closing and it got really cold but all our kids didn’t want to leave. Maybe they liked it so much cause they were together and I didn’t notice how bad it was cause I was having fun with my friends and love seeing the kids happy? Or maybe it’s changed and gotten pricier and more run down?
It was busy when we went but lines moved quickly and there were no lines in store- perhaps as we were there later&bought before going home.
I am not going to bother going this year after reading all these reviewd.
There are so many other farms and Fall activities to choose from that why bother with a disappointing one.
I do wish the apple farms had bern an option this year to offset the poor pumpkin farm experience.
I know others who had a good time at Southbrooks and I asked them to share their thoughts on this page. I hope they do. I really wanted to give Southbrooks a better rating but everything was disappointing even though I’d been there last year. I guess it didn’t help that I’d just been to Brooks which has so much more and a much bigger space. I’m going to Downey’s tomorrow which is another popular one and Whittamore’s is in the lead right now for the Parent’s Choice Awards survey.
I know what you mean about the apple farms. Hopefully next year the weather will be in their favour.
Activities We Did:
just walked around and took pictures. toddler too young for rides which was too pricey.
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
place was chaotic esp when paying for our items, not enough cashiers and just mad crazy in there. rides/carnival seem old/outdated but way too expensive as each ticket was $1.50 each and most rides/attractions took at least 2 tickets so each ride was $4.50, not really worth it esp those shorter rides.
Quick Tips for Others:
probably best not to bring stroller and find one of their wagons if your child can fit and sit by himself/herself. my husband and i brought our back then 9 month old and liked it better, might not have been as crazy but maybe bc there was two of us caring for little one. don’t know how moms can take care of two in that chaos. probably best for kids over 3 as they can do much more and know what’s going on.
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2/5
- Value: 2/5
Activities We Did:
Wagon ride, kiddy play area (cost was minimal compared to bigger places), corn maze, photos with wooden displays (Elmo, Ariel (little mermaid), Dora, Diego and many others!), and then of course, picking a pumpkin. Lots to choose from.
Good to Go!:
No cost for parking or admission!
Not huge farm but has a wonderful store, wagon rides, wooden posters so you can take photos of your kids, and all kinds of hallowe’en figures so your kids can discover!!
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
Bathrooms are port a potty’s – but still better than having nothing. No changing facilities for little ones – we did that in the car – and it’s not far from the farm itself.
Quick Tips for Others:
At this time of year – dress them warm. The goodies in the store smell so good but we made the kids “pick one” and stayed firm on that. (Yes, it was hard to choose just one treat!) Bring your camera!!
It was a great day out for us. Older children might not have as much fun but with our kids being 6, 4 and 1 – it was a good day for us. The kids weren’t bored. They had something new to look at everywhere we went, and the kids rides are geared just for kids so that’s great. We had a fun couple of hours that they’re still talking about!!
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2/5
- Value: 5/5
Activities We Did:
Walked around, looked at the chickens, picked a small pumpkin from the bin.
Good to Go!:
- The Halloween displays are really nice- check out the pics above!
- I like that admission is free and they have a small play area setup for toddlers with some ride-in cars and slides.
- They had bins setup with already picked pumpkins and apples which was very handy for a cold and rainy day.
- Hot food is sold onsite including hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, funnel cakes, and of course there’s also ice cream, fudge, hot apple cider and freshly baked pies. I didn’t get to try any of it so I can’t say whether the food is good or bad!
Not so Much/ Suggestions for Improvement:
- It was raining on and off so the bouncy castle and a few other rides including the wagon ride weren’t operating. I bought 10 tickets for $12 cause my daughter really wanted to ride the swings but then she was too short and didn’t want to go on the ferris wheel by herself (the only ride she could go on) so I didn’t use any! (No refunds on tickets.)
Quick Tips for Others:
- If you need to bring a stroller, bring one with big wheels that can handle rougher terrain and mud.
- If you want to pick your own pumpkin, ask staff inside where the best spot is because a lot of the patch has been picked over already. There are wagons you can bring with you so you don’t need to carry a big pumpkin all the way back!
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2/5
- Value: 2/5
So we ended up going again when it was a nicer day. My daughter wasn’t feeling well but was getting really antsy so I decided some “out time” was in order. My daughter still didn’t want to go on the mini ferris wheel but she went in the bouncy castle for a bit and checked out the toddler section (little play houses, slides, rocking toys) beside the race car track before it was closing time. But the highlight was a Dora inflatable doll that my husband won her! Tip: Basically it’s a fishing game that EVERYONE can win (5 tickets = ~$6). I might have better luck with the rides next year when she’s older!
Additional Ratings:
- Amenities: 2.5/5
- Value: 2.5/5