My family of 6 visited Saturday afternoon at 3:00, October 24. My son and his family, which…read moreincludes two minors, pre-purchased 4 tickets. My wife and I purchased 2 tickets for ourselves at the farms. The parking lot was practically full. We entered the purchase line and waited an hour and a half to arrive at one of the only 2 windows open for ticket purchases. After entering the line, we observed that many people who entered the adjacent ticket pre-purchase line, which moved very fast, were being redirected to the front of our line by the staff to actually buy their tickets. This extended our wait and we complained to staff. We were told the two staff members cannot control the lines. There were thousands of people there at the time.
After the long wait, we immediately went to a refreshment cantina, waited thirty minutes, and were then told they were out of water & sodas, but we could buy beer. They were also out of many of their cocktail brands. I am 75 years old, I am allergic to beer, and I do not drink it. Neither do my grandkids. We needed water. A young man arrived and told the staff that they were out of water at the other refreshment stands.
We took a look into the distance from that location and could see nothing but extremely long lines waiting for their "good time". We made a decision to leave after only 30 minutes within the park, not visiting any of the venues, and to request a refund. It was clear that we could not get through that day without water, and could not fathom how so many people could actually get into the petting area, the corn maze, or other events. The crowd itself was a limiting factor for visiting all the entertainment venues offered by Dewberry.
We went back to the front line, spoke to the ticket agent, who cordially rejected us, and then to her manager, who also did the same (we know their names). They were sorry about not having refreshments and they commented that they were not prepared for such a historically large turnout. It is a severe safety issue for no water for hydration coupled with the notices that Dewberry does not allow customers to bring drinks into the facility. The Manager told us that we should file our complaint on Monday but really the only thing they can offer is to replace our tickets with tickets for the Christmas event. We declined. I mentioned that we were going to tell the people in line that, unlike Dewberry's advertisements, there was only beer and cocktails available and no water. The manager told us that if we did this, we would be escorted out. I told the ticket agent and her manager that Dewberry was conducting a fraudulent operation, confirmed by the fact that they did not want to tell the folks in line the truth. I videoed our immediate departure, noting upon leaving, the two mile line of cars apparently waiting to get into the farm. I told the manager that I will pursue our $113.58 refund by other means, and my son's family said they will do the same thing. I truly hope that others who attended the evening's affairs had a better experience. I would not wish our experience on anyone and I would not recommend visiting.