About Menagerie Farm
Menagerie Farm offers a diverse range of farm-based activities including pony/horse rides, train rides, animal feeding (goats, fish), a playground, sand pit, and seasonal attractions like a pumpkin patch and hay rides. It's frequently praised for its beautiful, clean, and spacious grounds, and its highly accommodating staff, especially for birthday parties and field trips. However, parental experiences for birthday parties, particularly with large groups of younger children, can vary significantly, with some reporting excellent service and others experiencing severe understaffing and safety concerns.
What parents should know
Summarized from real visitor reviews.
Best for: Birthday parties for elementary school-aged children (especially 7-8 year olds) looking for a farm experience with diverse activities.School field trips for large groups of children seeking an interactive farm education and entertainment experience.Family outings on a beautiful farm with a wide array of activities that can engage both children and adults.Parents looking for summer camp options for their 8-year-olds.Ideal for elementary school-aged children, specifically 5-8 year olds, based on birthday party reviews and summer camp interest for an 8-year-old.
Why families love it
- Wide variety of activities including pony/horse riding, train rides, playground, sand pit, animal feeding (goats, fish), bonfire with smores (for parties), hay rides, and a pumpkin patch (seasonal).
- Beautiful, gorgeous, clean, and spacious grounds.
- Staff is often described as amazing, kind, genuinely caring, and highly accommodating, particularly for birthday parties (helping with unloading, setup, reloading cars, and solving unforeseen issues like forgotten cake utensils).
- Owners are noted as awesome, kind, and genuinely caring people.
- Capable of hosting and managing large school field trips with over 200 children.
- Offers summer camps, generating excitement for an 8-year-old.
Insider tips
- Wear proper clothes and shoes, as your feet will get dirty from farm activities.
- For birthday parties, especially with younger children (e.g., 5-year-olds) or larger groups, explicitly confirm the staff-to-child ratio beforehand and ensure a clear party plan is in place.
- If booking a themed party (e.g., 'unicorn'), clarify exactly what is included and provided by the venue to manage expectations.
- Don't worry about forgetting minor party supplies like cake utensils, as staff are reported to be very resourceful and helpful.
- Consider Menagerie Farm for summer camps for elementary-aged children.
Good to know before you go
- Booking birthday parties for large groups of very young children (e.g., 5-year-olds) without explicit confirmation of adequate, experienced staff-to-child ratios.
- Expecting elaborate or highly specific themed party elements (e.g., unicorn) without detailed clarification of what is physically provided and how activities will be structured.
- If a high staff-to-child ratio for safety and engagement is a top priority for your party, especially with younger children, exercise caution or seek assurances.
- Severe understaffing for birthday parties, specifically cited for a group of 12 (potentially 26) five-year-olds with only two staff members, one perceived as very young.
- Inadequate staffing led to safety concerns, with parents feeling they had to supervise their own children to prevent dangerous situations.
- Crowds
- Capable of hosting very large groups, evidenced by a field trip with over 200 children, suggesting spacious grounds can accommodate many visitors.
- Value
- The value is generally perceived as excellent for the range of activities and staff support for successful events and field trips. However, specific themed party elements (like a 'unicorn') incur additional costs. The value can be extremely poor, leading to demands for full refunds, if understaffing results in shortened activities, safety concerns, and a disorganized experience for parties.
- Food
- Outside food (e.g., birthday cake) is permitted for birthday parties, and staff are very helpful with its setup and service. No information available for general admission visitors.
- Accessibility
- No specific accommodations mentioned regarding physical accessibility or sensory-friendly options.
- Safety
- Staff showed awareness of safety by removing a pony from rotation when they felt understaffed for the activity. However, a major safety concern was raised by a parent due to overall insufficient staff for a large birthday party of young children, where parents felt compelled to personally supervise their children to ensure their safety.
What parents say
"We had the best time at the Farm! My granddaughter had her birthday party there last night and the kids didn’t want to leave…..neither did the adults. They had pony rides, playground time, fed the fish, rode the train, and made smores by the bon-fire. The adults had just as much fun. There is literally something for everyone. The place is absolutely gorgeous! The staff was amazing! The owners were awesome….so kind and genuinely caring people. We could not have asked for a better time! I found out they also have summer camps and we will definitely be signing up our 8 yr old. She is so excited "
a year ago
"I had my daughter's 7th birthday party at Menagerie Farms, and I just have to say that everything was amazing. The staff was so great getting the kids through all of the activities! I've never had a party somewhere where they were more eager to help me unload and set up and even reload my car! I'm so used to doing everything by myself that it was hard to let the ladies help! The kids had a blast with the horse riding, goat and fish feeding, and the train ride! They also LOVED the playground and sand pit! Plus we had a special visit from a unicorn that my daughter got to ride the whole time t"
5 years ago
"I waited a few days to see if I still felt the same way as I did on the birthday party day. If I could have given it zero stars, I would. If the 26 five year olds would have shown up as the rsvp list indicated, it would have been a total fiasco. Did you really think two staff members, one about twelve years old could handle it? My idea of a birthday party is not giving 12 five years old food to feed a goat followed by giving them food to feed fish. This was followed up by a very short train ride. You had a whole farm to ride around and you make two short circles, bringing the kids back at 2:10"
a year ago
Reviews sourced from public Google data.
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