Just a little ways east of McKinney, north of Frisco and Prosper lies the growing town of Celina. Known mostly for its farm land and Balloon Festival, it hasn’t been completely taken over by strip malls and restaurants… yet. But it’s in Celina where you’ll find one of our new favorite Fall Activities; the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm!
If you’re looking for a great place to take your family to enjoy a variety of Fall activities and snap some pictures, you can choose to head to the Dallas Arboretum for Mommy & Me Mondays or Toddler Tuesdays, or you can head north where it’s a lot less crowded! The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm sits on a large plot of land, and has been family-0wned and operated since 1997. Sunday-Saturday, you’ll pay $8 admission per person. (Ages 2 and under are FREE!) With your admission cost, you’ll receive feed for the animals, a tractor-led hayride, a large hay maze, and 1 hot dog. If you come during the weekday, you’ll also receive a mini pumpkin to take home as a souvenir!
When you arrive, the first activity you’ll run into is the petting zoo. You’ll find animals on both sides as you walk down a small path leading you out into the farm. You’ll see longhorn cattle, cows (including a calf when we were there!), goats, sheep, and chickens. Your cup of feed includes two different type of food; large pellets for the cattle and small feed for the goats and sheep. What I loved about the petting zoo was that the animals had no fear! My son loved that they’d stick their heads right through the fence to lick the food off of his hand. The sheep were his favorite!
*If the idea of feeding animals with your hands bothers you, don’t worry! The farm has hand sanitizer set up all at all of the pens, and there’s a restroom to wash your hands when needed!*
There are so many activities to choose from, so we decided to take a few pictures before heading over to the hay ride and maze. Although the areas set up for photography aren’t as large as the Arboretum’s, we were still able to capture some really great shots with our son among the pumpkins, tractors, and hay bales. We also found some cute spots around the farm with a large pond and farmhouse in the background. Several other families were also using one of the pumpkin patches as a background for their photos which I thought would have been really cute if I’d thought my son would have looked at the camera rather than the pumpkins!
After taking some pictures, we immediately jumped aboard a trailer for our hayride. The farm has 2 large trailers they attach to a tractor for the hayride. We noticed there were several roped off lines nearby just in case of a crowd, but the Saturday morning that we went it wasn’t needed! We didn’t have to wait in a line, and were able to board right as the tractor pulled up from the last run.
Our hayride took us around the entire farm where we were able to view the pumpkin patches, a large pond, the wedding chapel, indoor pavilion and barn for private parties, and large hay maze. And as you go along, don’t forget to pay attention to the signs that pop up along the way. The farm owners have added a little humor to the ride!
Before reading this post, I would have told you that my favorite pumpkin patch is either the one at the Arboretum or the one right down the street from our house, but it looks like they’ve both met their match! My 16 month old would love this place! We live in North Dallas, and Google maps says it’s only a 53 minute drive (and we all know Google maps drives slow :). Thanks for the fun review!