With my daughter out of school for the next few days I took a day off and hit Vala’s. Our family of four got in for a little over $70 by purchasing the tickets online before getting there, which saved us a couple bucks per ticket. Plus, Mon-Thurs is $18/person versus twice that on Fri-Sun.
I’ve been critical about their significant price increases year over year, because in the past I’ve always felt you really didn’t “get” much for your entry cost. Just like most entertainment or tourist type destinations you normally don’t get food, souvenirs, etc for the price of entry. But I’ve always thought of Vala’s as a sort of amusement park, and compare it somewhat to Adventureland, Worlds of Fun, and so forth. I completely understand they are certainly much different as Vala’s has never been known as a place for rides.
Sure you could send your kids over to the corn maze, let them shoot plastic balls out of air cannons, walk through wannabe haunted houses and do a few other things like ride pedal cars. But anything of substance imo wasn’t included.
Well, I would definitely have to say I want to change my opinion at least a bit after our visit today. I had heard you now get the train with admission (used to be like $4 I think). And they also added the carousel and those motorized Model T cars (which was one of my favs at WofF as a kid). Assuming you’d assign about $4-$5 per ride then I would have to say admission at the weekday rate is definitely fair!
My daughter loved the motorized cars and the carousel and the train was fun. Being a Wednesday and Millard schools being out it wasn’t too packed and we got there around 10am.
As for myself and my wife I would have to say the huge additions to the property are by far the best looking and enjoyable. The cars were great and the new cider building with the brewery inside was way nicer than I anticipated.
I think someone on here mentioned that Vala’s may have investor(s) backing beyond the Vala family now. I would say it shows if that’s the case - and in a great way for the business! Of course they likely do well enough that investors aren’t needed, but given the number of years it’s been open for business it’s definitely the biggest change that place has gone through in only one-year’s time.
The cider facility alone was likely over a couple million; very modern and almost Colorado-ish in design… looked like it belonged in the Rockies!
The cider ale was very good - $10.50 for a pint is steep to me, but I don’t go to bars often and I’d assume a beer at a sporting event would easily be in the same ballpark for price. We all got BBQ at their new place over by the expanded area and it was $12/person for the sandwich with a side of Mac n cheese. I’d also say that was pretty fair given the amount of food and I thought it tasted very good.
We ate the BBQ inside a barn type of building right next to the food stand, but I’m not sure what the barn is supposed to be when it’s finished. There was quite a bit of unfinished electrical work inside and it appears there’s going to be a decent-sized bar with a lot of beer on tap available. Doesn’t look like the building will end up being fully enclosed so I’m not sure what the plan is with it.
Also noticed on the train ride that they drained the pond or lake you ride around. Anyone know what the plan is with that space? I joked with my family that they’ll drop a roller coaster over there.
I guess my point is we had a blast, great food and beer and felt it was a good value on a weekday. With the renovations they’ve put into the place I can see why they’d raise rates on weekends… it will be busier and they’ll have a lot more staff on hand for the crowds. However, I’d still have a hard time paying $40/each to get in the gate on a Saturday even with rides included. My assumption would be the lines for them would be extremely long during peak hours. But if they add more rides (currently I’d say they really only have 3 as I don’t include pedal cars, bounce pillows, etc as rides) it may get to that point. My guess is if they drop a few more million into the venue then prices will increase again next year.
I’d give our visit today a 5 out of 5! I’d be interested to know who’s putting money into the place if they have outside investment support and what the plans are for next year. Given the amount of changes just from a year ago my guess is more new additions are planned for 2024.
