Shadelands Ranch Pumpkin Patch

The customer service here is sorely lacking. We came here on October 30 and the selection was limited to their 24 – 45 $ pumpkins, which looked a bit tired and were ridiculously priced. Don’t waste your time or money. We headed to Safeway and bought pumpkins for 6.99 that were the size of this place’s $ 40 pumpkins.

No stars, or negative stars actually!
Outrageously expensive! I haggled for a cheaper price & I think that’s why they stole my debit card number! Avoid this place.

So cute I love it ! Free popcorn, free petting zoo and free movie night on Fridays.

This pop-​up pumpkin patch brings you back to the 90’s. Think movie nights, hay horses, petting zoos, free popcorn, and of course pumpkins! Perfect family spot to bring kids (pets allowed!) or for couples looking for a cute pit stop on a date!

I’m sad to say that I had an awful experience at Shadelands Ranch today. On the surface it’s a cute and charming little pumpkin patch where you can enjoy getting into the Halloween spirit with the kids. However, what isn’t so pleasant is the owner (the guy). In fact, he’s a downright miserable, awful, grump.
And believe me when I say that my experience was not an isolated experience. In fact, this morning prior to going, my friend warned me that the guy who owns the place is a bit of a jerk and that I shouldn’t go, but seeing as I like to make my own mind up about a place, I decided that her experience was probably a one-​off and there’d be no issue.
SO … what happened? Well, heaven-​forbid, while my 2.5 year old was busy petting a pig, I tried to pet one of the goats in the petting zoo. This one goat in particular kept running away, but I thought if I tried to approach it slowly enough I might be able to coax it into letting me pet it, after all, it’s in a petting zoo, so I figured it was ok to pet, but just a little shy. As I was giving it one last try after already attempting a couple of times to slowly approach it, the owner comes in angrily and with a slightly scolding tone as if he were addressing a 5 year old, he says, ‘Don’t chase the goat.’ Seeing as what I was doing could hardly be described as ‘chasing’, I was a little taken-​aback and I looked at him confused. Again, a little more angrily, he says, ‘Don’t chase the goat!’ I replied, ‘I’m not chasing the goat’. Anyway, he kept saying it like I was some idiot (oh and we had an audience too — so he was publicly chastising me for something I wasn’t even doing).
So I said again that I wasn’t chasing the goat, then he tells me he doesn’t want me to go near it or touch it or anything. I explained to him that I was under the impression that we were in a ‘petting’ zoo and that if you don’t want people to ‘pet’ a certain ‘pet’ in your ‘petting’ zoo, then either put a sign up or better yet, remove it!
His better half (by a long shot!) is his wife who obviously felt bad and tried to fix the situation by being extra nice to me and my 2.5 year old. I almost didn’t write this review for her sake, but I’m just so angry with the guy that I can’t help myself.
I guess this guy yelled at my friend a while ago for letting one of her kids sit on a pumpkin, saying something like if you break it/​bruise it, you pay for it. He’s a complete a$$hole and obviously does not like his customers very much.
It really is a shame because it’s such a charming little place!

The owner is AWFUL. I would never ever bring a family here. He made my son cry because he was rolling a pumpkin. He even CALLED THE POLICE. The people here are crazy and I would never suggest anyone go to this place.

The people here were very friendly and nice. I brought my dogs to look for a pumpkin. They had lots of cute photos ops and lots of pumpkins. They even had a petting zoo area with a goat and a pig. I love that they are dog friendly!

For two years, my review has been the first one that pops up here on Unilocal for this business. It was a rave review with 5 stars, as our first visit was nothing but positive! I’m so sad that each year, as we return to this pumpkin patch, it just keeps getting worse while the prices go up.
This year, was just bad and sad… I was checking in, and felt like the woman manager there was not cluing me in on where to begin with our crew. So, I paid $ 150 for our 11 kids to «choose» a small pumpkin, enter the petting zoo area, ride their cow «train», and climb on hay bales. I mentioned that my review was a 5-​star, first listed review here on Unilocal and thanked her for my receipt. I asked if the kids would get popcorn, she replied «when they exit». I explained that we usually get it upon arrival, and we will be eating a picnic lunch when we exit, so could she make an exception and serve it early. Her reply: «The kids will be served popcorn when they exit.». She then told me that they only have enough of the small sized pumpkins left as what we will be taking, so they are in a wheelbarrow, ready for us to take as we exit. Um, why did we come here? So the kids could choose a pumpkin, that’s why! I told her (twice, because they got put away again) the pumpkins need to be put back out so the kids could at least «feel» like they were choosing their pumpkin. It was so lame. How do you think the 8^th kid feels who is staring at 3 or 4 pumpkins to choose theirs. We had a reservation… order enough small pumpkins. I usually treat my assistants and any chaperone parents to a small pumpkin at this yearly outing, but they didn’t have enough so I couldn’t even do that.
The Manager then did a quick tutorial on how a pumpkin grows. She was good with the kids and tried to keep them engaged, so that was good. Complete with high-​fives and smiles. *It would’ve been easier if it had been done like previous years, in a little sitting area. We were all just standing around her, with no place to sit while we listened. The kids being reprimanded if they sat on a pumpkin. Then she complemented my hair and asked if I was «happy». We proceeded over to hay-​bale bleachers for our Halloween songs.
Cow Tipping: the «train». Really, it’s a small tractor, towing 4 little cars, all painted in cow print. Very cute! I asked if they wanted us to have the kids ride single (1/​car) or double up (2/​car). The charming hostess said «whatever you want to do, its fine either way». We divided the kids so we would take up 2 train rides. The first train returned full of smiles and laughs. The second train was so delayed, we were getting quite worried when it came limping in, the last car having had a wheel broken off. The last kids in got their popcorn and we headed over to picnic when the kids started telling us that the train had tipped over when the wheel broke & they had all fallen out. I had to go back to the entry and really dig for information as to what happened. I was asked if everyone looks OK, and was told the kids had been «checked» and they’re all OK. I couldn’t believe my ears… I said I’ll wait to talk to the driver and find out exactly what happened. I’d say, I remained quite calm while explaining that I need «as much information as possible» because I am «responsible for each child in my care». I had to go into the fact that injuries can show up much later than the incident, including broken bones, and concussions. So, the fact that the kids «seem fine», isn’t enough for me. I need to be able to relay all information to their parents”. I would think they might have an «Incident Report» on hand, but no. I had to make due with pulling info from the terrified-he’s-going-to-lose-his-job kid driver, while being waved off by the manager chick. I was not offered, nor did I ask for a refund. My bad there.
FFWD: Our visit was 4 days ago and I was still uneasy about it. I called for Kevin, the owner, today and he called back. We talked at length. I relayed the entire pumpkin patch trip (the good and the bad) and expressed all of my concerns. He listened to my frustrations, as well as suggestions. He expressed his perspective and apologized for not having called me the day of our visit, confessing he forgot. Bottom line: He has offered a partial refund with a voucher for next year. I have about 11 months to decide if I want to use it.

Went to the patch. Found a pumpkin I REALLY wanted but left because it seemed too expensive.
*I go back 30 minutes later and the pumpkin has now moved from the patch to «display”*
It was «display» only, so I couldn’t switch it out for another one and buy the one I wanted.
The annoying/​rude woman’s reasoning for me to not buy the one I wanted:
1) it was a display — gotcha
2) it’s been there since September 27^th and APPARENTLY all their pumpkins are rotting from the bottom {what kind of terrible salesmanship is that?!?}
3) «we are getting a bunch of new pumpkins tomorrow»
WOMAN. It’s a week before Halloween and you won’t sell me a pumpkin!!! How the hell are you going to get rid of all your stock in one week? I’m offering my money! Take it. I’ll take my pumpkin.
Just kidding, I don’t want to waste my money here. Such BULLS**T.

Went with my wife and 2 year old this afternoon and thought it was great — much more convenient (and shaded) than the one in Clayton we’ve gone to as well. They were great and let our daughter pet the pigs and bunnies. It’s not as cheap as a grocery store for pumpkins, but not ridiculously overpriced either — we got a medium/​large and pineapple sized pumpkins for $ 13 total. They also had all sorts of pumpkin varieties I’d never seen before if that’s what you’re into. They do free movies on Friday nights at 7 too.
All in all we spent about an hour there and had a great time playing around. We’ll be back to see what they do for Christmas tree season as well.

The old man is a dick and I don’t mean his name is Richard. We were there with another family and He wanted to charge our friend $ 18 for sitting on a pumpkin because it was now bruised. All he had to do is ask to not sit on it. Then he wanted to charge us $ 12 for our kids playing in the corn stalks. Unbelievable! He can keep his bad attitude cause we won’t be back.

Their brochure and website look great but it was not at all what it was chalked up to be. I took my preschool students there. It was just a tiny area closed in right next to a very noisy main road. They started off with a presentation that we could not hear. When you’ve got a big group and are speaking next to a busy road, you need a microphone or an Opera singer. The petting zoo consisted of two pigs, a goat, and next to it were some chickens in a pen. I envisioned more for a «petting zoo». The children got a paint a pumpkin. They did enjoy that. There was a stack of haybales with a slide and U-​turn maze below. Many of the preschoolers were climbing around the hay happy to be up high. It became a problem when one of my two-​year-​old students fell through the top and his mother had to rush up to free him. They then informed us that the children should not be up there climbing around and jumping. If this was the case, they should have had it blocked off so the children could only climb up to the slide and slide down. They also had a cow train ride yet would have to charge families an extra fee so we opted out. The children then got a bag of popcorn. At least that was good. The children had fun and that is what counts but I am sorry, we will not return.

This location has some charm, about the same as it’s old location. However, I went today with my toddler and his granddad and due to a field trip that was visiting, we were not allowed to enter the petting zoo. Which was odd since the children on the field trip never went into the petting zoo during the 30 minutes we were there. Furthermore, the pumpkin painting table was closed due to the same field trip, so even tho we spent $ 5 on a little tiny pumpkin, my 3 yr old wasn’t allowed to paint it. When I asked when these parts of the patch would be open to other visitors the owner replied, after 3pm. It was 12:30 at the time. I will not ever again go and support this location. There are too many other options like Clayton that is so much more customer friendly.

This place looks like fun as you drive by. BUT. it is NOT kid friendly. Kids aren’t allowed to pull the pumpkin wagons, the pumpkins are EXTREMELY overpriced, and my wife and 2 year old girl were escorted out of the petting zoo area when my little one saw the pigs in the petting zoo and she made a little noise about it… We would not ever go back, and not recommend anyone go there that wants to have a good experience with their family, unless you like lots of crazy rules, overpriced pumpkins and very rude operators.
The other review from Tyler S. sure seems like it’s the owners or friends of them writing about their own facility, from a very biased viewpoint.
Liked: Disliked:

This is a wonderful local pumpkin patch run by the same people who had the one at the corner of Ygnacio Valley and Montego for many years. After Halloween they turn into a tree lot called Pete’s Trees. They have now moved to a location next to the Shadelands Historical Museum, right off Ygnacio.
The same simple and fun atmosphere is found here as at the old location. Admission is free. There is a petting zoo, which this year has two little pigs, two goats, a tom turkey, five or six rabbits and a bunch of baby chicks. They also have a small hay bale «fort» that little kids might enjoy going through, and two hay bales set up with saddles that can be ridden like horses. There are two big tables where kids can paint pumpkins. The paint stuff is free, but you have to buy the pumpkins.
They have a really good selection of regular orange pumpkins in many sizes and a whole bunch of other types, bluish gray, white, multicolored, little gourds and so on. Also a lot of dried indian corn cobs. The prices are more than a grocery store but not too bad. $ 12 for a medium sized pumpkin, $ 20 for a big one. The point of this place is to «make a trip of it» and have a fun time, not to get a super-​cheap pumpkin.
It’s not a huge lot, it doesn’t have a train ride or a tractor ride, but it’s right here in town and very quaint. Everything is decorated, with cartoon character cutouts, scarecrows, dried corn sheaves, and so on. The people are very nice and helpful. They also show free movies (with free popcorn) on an outdoor screen every Friday.
If you’re looking for something sweet and charming, especially for little kids, I highly recommend it.