gilroy gardens family theme park

I have gone here a few times over the past few years. It is very pricey for what they have. They only have a few places to eat and the food/pizza does not taste very good. They do have an apricot freeze that is pretty good. When they have the guest days the lines are very long. But normally it is slow and empty. This park is best fro younger kids. I give a poor review mainly because of prices of tickets and parking aren't worth it. If you want a theme park the whole family can go on different types of rides, it is better to take a trip to Six flags, Knott's Berry Farms or Disney. You get more for your money.

As the title suggests, Gilroy Gardens is mostly for families with children, or at least that was the impression that I got. However, this is not to say that a single person or couples without kids cannot enjoy this park. On the contrary, this place was quite the treat and I had a very fun time on my visit. My main reason for stressing that it's mostly family oriented is because the majority of the rides and attractions were for small children. Before I went, I was excited to learn that they had a few water parks and so I packed my swimsuit and towel since it was a beautiful day. I was a bit disappointed when I saw that it was pretty much only kids playing around in the water while all the adults were watching or supervising, and I would have felt really weird being the only grown up splashing around with a bunch of toddlers. So if you're expecting a theme park more like Great America for example, then this is not what you're looking for. But as I mentioned before there is more to Gilroy Gardens than the rides and if you're into vivid scenery and lovely displays of trees, plants, and flowers then you should definitely check this place out. One of my favorite things was the various Circus trees they had on display. I never knew trees could be grown to assume such strange shapes but they were indeed very neat. There was a nice waterfall area where you could get a little wet if desired, and of course as I always mention in my reviews plenty of moments for some good picture taking. There's food to purchase but I don't know if it's any good since I normally pack my lunch for my adventures. It has all your basic accommodations like most parks. Apparently they light up the entire area very nicely during the holidays but I have yet to see that. And don't miss out on the skytrail monorail that takes you through a top view of the greenhouse. Lastly, one additional plus for this park is their free entrance offer for military on Veteran's day (or discounted tickets on regular days), so don't forget your military ID if you're a service member!

Very nice for young, up to 10 years old children, plenty of rides. Only quite expensive to get in and the food, so bring your own food.

This is the ultimate place to go in the Gilroy and surrounding areas with your family and friends. It is so peaceful!! The attendents are friendly, helpful, and seem to be very caring about your needs. I recommend it to anyone coming to the Gilroy area.

My boys are thirteen and eleven now. We have been going to GG since they were babies even when we lived in San Jose. The park is beautiful with waterfalls,circus trees and a huge lake. It is built around nature and agriculture and a pleasure to go to see the lights at Xmas time as well. The rides are fun, many geared to the younger set. Try to find a coupon though as entrance fees are pricey. They do have a membership. Food is expensive and not that good so bring snacks. Lots of parking.

Gilroy Gardens is a magical wonderland of fun rides and beautiful topiary and other scenery. We went around the holidays and in the evening so the lights and holiday decor made it even more magical! I highly recommend bringing scarves, gloves, and thick jackets (and maybe even some extra sweaters) since it gets pretty chilly in the evening.

This is a great theme park for families with young kids. The layout of the gardens is great and the park is just the right size to walk around with small kids. The rides are all age-appropriate and there are lots of other play areas including water activities in the park. Food is available for purchase within the park and the prices are ok considering it is a theme park after all.

Even though you purchase a 2014 pass, and you get a email to come and enjoy the Holiday Lights in Dec. 2014, you must purchase a 2015 pass to get in. Nothing in the email tells you that your yearly pass is not good for this event. Even though they are "sorry" for the "misunderstanding" that frequently occurs, there is nothing they can do - you must purchase next year's pass to get in. This apparently occurs every year, but management and marketing continue the deceptive practice. Please let management know that this is unacceptable by using you recreational dollars elsewhere.

My family has been here several times for the Christmas lights...always at night, in the winter. By his past summer, we finally decided to try it during "tourist" season. The crowds weren't bad for a weekday. The gardens were beautiful! What a difference the season makes! Everything was in bloom. Bit really was touring a garden, only this one had rides too. My younger kids, 10 and 13 had a blast. We will definitely go back next summer.

1. Plan to spend most of day here2. With small kids, it is good one time park3. We did with 2yr old and our parents.4. Everyone enjoyed inspite of very hot day, plenty of shade5. Carrying yout food is my advice, inside food not so great and is $$

This park is an outstanding park, especially for families. There are a lot of rides that younger kids can enjoy, and that is the main reason that I would frequent amusement parks.

For the 12 and under set, Gilroy Gardens is an enjoyable and even educational theme park. Small water features have been added for summer fun. Winter time has a holiday lights option. However, spending $35-plus to get in is expensive. Look for discounts on the web and advertisements.

Gilroy Gardens (Bonfante Gardens) is a nice botanical garden/amusement park tailored for families with younger kids. The park is small and my family was able to cover all of it in around 3 hours. Rides are more for toddlers and younger children. It's a garden theme so expect lots of flowers and other plant themed attractions. The good thing is that you don't have to deal with the teenager crowd. We went towards the end of the season on a Sunday but it was not crowded at all. The only ride that had a significant wait was the swan boat ride. Food and merchandise is in line with what you would expect from an amusement park.

Scrumptious and lush gardens draw you in and the fun rides keep the kids entertained. I would recommend the rides for kids, 14 years or younger. Read up on the history of the trees and their inventor before going. If you go in summer begin a swimsuit to enjoy the water play areas. I always purchased my ticket ahead which made checking in a breeze. If you plan on going more than once I would recommend the yearly pass. There are times we have gone when the line are no existent so my kids had several turns at the same ride, especially the mining town roller coaster (their favorite). Great place to spread out, relax and not have that manic pace of other amusement parks.

Went here with my two youngest grandkids ages 2 and 3. This was my first visit and we went during their Oct themed event. I love Disneyland and in no way would compare the two so going in I had a very objective mindset. The park is relatively small and runs in one big loop from the entrance. There are many rides geared towards mostly solo riders. The rides run from carnival kiddie type rides to a few amusement park rides (i.e. small kid style roller coasters, train, etc). There are only a handful of non-spinning or swinging rides that as a grandparent I would be able to go on (teacups, tilt or whirls, octopus and like type rides are not for me). They do have the standard Carousal and Ferris Wheel rides as well as their own version of the mono rail..in all 21 rides.Being that they youngest was two we could not find many rides that he could go on because of the height restriction. The other child was the right height for most of the other rides but as a group it was difficult to find anything other than the train, paddle boats and the cars that we could do together. The have lots of activities geared towards the 3-7 ages. The playground seemed to be the biggest hit and will say the best thing they have here is their water park. As for food we hit up the Sugar Plum Farm restaurant. My dd had a salad and I had the veggie wrap, the boys split a pizza and 3 drinks in total were ordered, all of this for $38. About the standard amusement park price. The wrap and salad were great, but the boys wouldn't eat the pizza I tasted it and found it to be doughy, under cooked and the cheese felt a bit too hard..so skip the pizza but the wrap was pretty decent although it needed a dressing of some sort to accompany it. Also hit up Skeel's Funnel Cake for the sole purpose of trying their famous Orange Freeze as touted on the website..to my disappointment they don't sell it anymore..why even advertise it? They graciously split a cone for the two boys but 3 cones was $12 which seemed a little steep. But the cones the boys received were almost the same size as the reg adult ones. The crowd was minimal and the decorations noteworthy but nothing over the top. The butterfly area was transformed into a spider kingdom and loved the scary music piped throughout the park.Price for admittance is $35 but if you can get a discount from your credit union, costo or like services than you can pay anywhere from $23-29. I don't feel the price of the reg ticket is really worth it, especially since the parking is additional $12 and the petting zoo is another charge. I believe if I was a parent I would probably buy the group pass and spend most of my time at the water park as that really is the most noteworthy item and then secondary would be the rides followed by the general park itself. It's a great place for the little guys but nothing I would go out of my way to spend any vacation time towards. There are so many other local activities worth doing for about the same price or even free but it was nice to go at least once.