Irvine Park Railroad

This park have everything for all ages!
We went there for barbecue and had so much fun, my 20 mo and 5 mo enjoy so much from the train ride.
My oldest also went to feed the goats at the zoo and pony ride and he loveeee it!
Awesome place.

This review is for the train ride and rental bike costs, i think charging 5 dollars for a train ride that last an average of 15 minutes is too much, specially when it is implemented even for infants, we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. i think children under 3 should ride free. now the bikes 30 dollars for an hour? i can rent A CAR for 45 dollars and for the whole day!!. you can spend a good 50 to 70 dolars in less than 1:30 hrs… (5 dolars for parking)… you can get a better deal at knotts on a slow day.

Ok. Drove an hour to check this place out. Knew the pony rides were closed on Monday but expected the train to be open since it says open daily. Get there, pay the parking fee, check out the zoo then go find the train. No signs about being closed, NO ONE around at all. Pretty deserted. Couple cars in the lot. So I decide to call their listed #. It says it’s closed due to the rain today. I was there at 130pm. It hasn’t rained since before 10am!
My kid was so excited to ride the train and it sucked to tell her there was no train. Previous reviews said the train was still open on rainy days…

We absolutely love this place! We have gone several times and they always have something fun for the kids. I have been taking my son here since he was 3. Each year they have events for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. The train ride is a ton of fun and gives you a great tour of the park. They have little pony’s for the kids to ride (look for Rocky he is the sweetest pony). Lets see… the ZOO. This is a gem you can actually see the animals up close. I lived in San Diego for 20 years and if I have to hear about the Zoo and Wild Animal Park one more time… Big news here you can actually SEE the animals up close, not from a tram or some walkway 100 feet away.
The prices are a bargain for what you get to see and experience. It is very busy on weekends and holidays but worth it. Great place to come to for the entire family.

We love brining our little guys here
They love when it’s decorated for the pumpkin patch
It costs to get into the park and sometimes parking at the railroad is crowded but the boys love running around and watching the train

Went for the 20^th anniversary today. Crazy busy with about one million people. Took about 30 minutes just to pay for parking and get into the lot. Once in, though, the lines weren’t too bad.
Normally, they have horse rides for $ 5, train rides for $ 4 and wheel of fun rentals like bikes and water pedal mobiles. Parking is $ 3 on weekdays and $ 5 on weekends.
They have party rental packages for their park table seating and bouncy houses. Nice atmosphere.
The holidays get buys, though, so expect crowds, lines and delays.
They have typical junk food like hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, fries and ice cream/​ices. Kinda pricy, but isn’t that everywhere these days?
We had fun with the face painting and gold mining and bouncy jumping. They had two games, wish they would have had more. They also had raffles every hour. We couldn’t win if our life depended on it.

Absolutely love this place!!! Last year we went to the pumpkin patch and christmas tree farm. My daughter loves going on the train. All of the workers are very polite and so nice! Nothing but 5 stars for them!!! Excited to go see the Easter bunny in March!

Santa train was a mess. We waited for half an hour to get on the train, then over an hour for Santa. There were no activities while waiting for Santa, so my toddler just ran around the dark grass area. Once we saw Santa, we waited about 20 minutes for a train back. And it was a disorganized rush to grab a seat. Kids were running, parents throwing bags in empty rows to saw for their friends… In fact, my friends who were right behind us didn’t even get seats on the train back, so we had to wait for the next train. They seriously need to put activities or carolers or real food where Santa is. We got there at 715, and left at 915 and the only thing we did was ride the train to see Santa and ride back. We didn’t even visit Santa’s village or play games. We paid $ 32.50 ($ 12.50 per adult plus a $ 7.50 surcharge) for just two adults not including a Santa photo.

My son loves trains, and this was no exception. The train takes you to see the sites around the park (it was Christmas themed when we went). It’s $ 5 per person, but if you sign up to receive coupons on their website you can get a B1G1. I was prepared for terrible parking. When I arrived at 9am on a Saturday, the parking was a breeze. We were one of the first cars to arrive.
There were several other holiday themed activities right next to the train station. This included a bounce house, a hay maze, cookie decorations, games, and 1 or 2 other paid activities. The maze was free.

I’ve been here several times. I like to bring my kids for the Christmas train. I had family in town this year and thought it would be great to take them.
I was disappointed to find out that the power was out and there were only half the lights up. I know that’s not their fault, but they should have offered some solutions for their disappointed customers.
They refused a refund. They only offered a reschedule, but my family was leaving town. What else was I to do with 10 tickets??? They didn’t even offer a discount. We $ 12 per train ride that was worth $ 3 at best. They also charged $ 5 per cookie. When did this dinky place get so expensive? At least upgrade…
Such the antithesis of festive. At best, they should’ve at least emailed me of the situation. They had this power outage all day and it could’ve saved us the long drive.
I would not recommend this for the future. Customer service is everything and they should’ve done better. Sorry guys… Was really rooting for you, but I won’t be back.

I came specifically for the pumpkin patch and have done a post regarding that already. This review is for the train. I bought some tickets for my 2 y/​o because she adores trains. I was pleasantly surprised on how well kept it was and also on how sturdy it is for everyone to ride in. It was a nice little tour. I just think it was very short. It’s only a 5 –10 min ride when they tell you it’s a half an hour. There’s some really pretty scenery along the route along with glimpses of peacocks and other wildlife. My daughter loved it and I’m glad to go whenever she wants.

This review is specifically in regards to the pumpkin patch event.
This event has become a tradition for our family for the past six years. There are lots of fun activities for the kids to do, the setting is beautiful, and there are many great photo opportunities. In addition, there is a free small hay maze and a free small haunted house. There truly is a lot to enjoy.
However, the activity tickets are expensive. This year, the tickets are $ 5 each, and the discount ticket book is now $ 65 for 15 tickets. The «pay» activities cost one or two tickets.
$ 5 to ride the train? Ok, I guess. (That’s $ 20 for our family, if we choose to do this).
$ 5 to decorate a cookie? Or play a carnival game with a 1 $ guaranteed prize? Or bounce in a bounce house for 10 minutes? Or $ 5 for a small balloon animal? Pricey!
Also, this event gets more and more crowded every here.
This year, we arrived and the parking lot was full. So full they wouldn’t even let us drive into the park. Instead they wanted us to park at the college. The real kicker? They wanted to charge five dollars to park in this huge, empty parking lot, (same price as it would cost us to park in the park) and then walk over to the park in 95° heat. No shuttle, just pay to park, and then walk with young kids for 20 minutes to get to the over-​priced pumpkin patch.
There is no pedestrian walkway to get into the park, however, so people were pushing strollers on dirt paths, and at times sharing the road with other cars.
To add insult to injury, the parking lot next to the children’s garden had 14 empty spots in it… And this was just one of many parking lots.
One great way to improve the situation would be to keep the pumpkin patch open later, like until 7, especially on weekdays. We would come up after school on a weekday if we could get here on time to enjoy the event, but currently the pumpkin patch closed at five on weekdays.
I’m certain other Orange County families would do this as well, dispersing crowds and making visiting the pumpkin patch a better experience for all.
In addition, if parking offsite is required because of overcrowding, then either provide a shuttle, or do not charge to park. Asking people to pay the same price to park offsite as you would pay to park in the park, and then expecting them to walk it was the real stinger to the day.

Cluster F to the third power. They have kids with orange signs directing us to a lot to then take a shuttle to their pumpkin patch. On the way in a mute parking attendant takes our $ 5 for a spot. We walk to the line for their shuttles. After standing for 30 min we ask one of their employees how long to get to the park? She says «we only have a couple shuttles running so you’re probably about 30 more minutes out. Oh by the way «the shuttles stop at 130pm.» Which I then ask how long of a walk is it back to the lot if we miss the shuttle. 30 min she answers.
So if I understand this correctly you open at 10, charge me to park, make we wait an hour to get on a shuttle, to go to the park, to immediately get back in the shuttle line to get back to my car because if I miss the shuttle I need to carry my 3 year old and her pumpkin on a 30 min hike to my car.
Top it off on the way out when I tell the people charging to park to let people know they need to be on 130 shuttle back to their car the dbags give me attitude.
I so wish to be a fly on the wall there at 130 when all those families learn the shuttles aren’t running and they need to trek to their cars family in tow.
Hopefully dbag parking guy pops off to the wrong parent and gets a knee in the ball$.

A nice little sit-​in train. It’s well done and well maintained. I especially love the peacocks and the mini tour that the conductor does.

My girls so loved it here. We come for pumpkins. The zoo. The train. The duck feeding. The fun walks to ride ponies and also see turtles. Picnic areas. Paddle boat lakes. Peacocks. So much to do. Inexpensive and truly fun. Reserve picnic areas and even the mini cities can be reserved for parties. Lots of parking even for corporate events. So much to do. For so little cost. Lots of areas. Too much for such a short time to do.

This place is great for kids and the whole family. They have events going on throughout the year and they’re usually a lot of fun.
This is located inside the Irvine Regional Park so even if there isn’t a special event going on, you can still go and enjoy the park. Lots of walking trails, open spaces to play, bbqs, playgrounds and even a small zoo!
The Irvine Park Railroad area is where they do the fall’s pumpkin patch and srping’s easter eggstravaganza. Both of these events are great for the whole family, especially if you have small kids and like to take photos.
We recently went to the Easter Eggstravaganza event, it’s our third time there and we had a blast. More info and pictures are here:
We ended up doing a lot more activities than in previous years because our daughter is older and she is able to do more things. Her favorites were the bouncy house, cookie decorating and the main event, the easter egg hunt.
All in all, this place is awesome, it’s fun, safe and really well organized and maintained. The only reason I didn’t give it a five star is because I think the prices should be a little bit lower, but this is Irvine so I can’t realistically expect that they will ever lower the prices.

This 15 minute train ride through the historic park is awesome! Great for kids of any age! My 8 month old twins LOVED it!
The conductor points out historic parts of the park and spouts out interesting facts with a sense of humor!
Weekdays are best if you want to avoid crowds! Super cheap too! It was only $ 2 when we went yesterday because they were celebrating their anniversary so not sure what price is regularly but I’m sure its $ 5 or less.

I was Unilocaling a beautiful pumpkin patch to go to for fall time and/​or halloween photo opportunities and I came around the Irvine Park Railroad pumpkin patch. I was browsing their their website and I was enticed by the description of all of the activities they had going on. I imagined a rather large pumpkin patch that was borderline carnival-​like… WRONG!
This pumpkin patch was quite basic =/​
I have been to many pumpkin patches with my niece and nephew and I am usually impressed, even at the little ones in the large parking lot of some shopping center. I would think a pumpkin patch at a regional park would top that… and the annoying thing is that this place costs more to be at than other patches I’ve been to.
PARKING: $ 5 on weekends/​vehicle
Jamboree was so backed up. There was only two ticket takers into the parking area and it took forever to get into the region park. After paying, it took a while more to search for an empty spot, even though we were willing to park far from the pumpkin patch.
HAUNTED HOUSE: free
It’s nice that it was free but the haunted would was so small. It was just a small dark house with 3D portraits and glow in the dark webs and black lights. Nothing too impressive. But it’s nice that it was free?
STRAW MAZE: free
The straw maze was really short… I feel like a tall kid could see their way through this maze. It’s nice that it’s free but it’s really small… not that exciting…
COOKIE DECORATING: 1 TICKET ($ 5)
I didn’t personally waste money on this but I saw little kids hold their decorated sugar cookie. For $ 5 bought a whole batch of cookies for my niece and nephew to decorate at home… so I think this price is unreasonable for one cookie.
MOON BOUNCE: 1 ticket ($ 5)
They only had ONE moon bounce and it was the small standard size one… Other pumpkin patches have multiple moon bounces and the cool big moon bounces too! I expected more from this place… tsk tsk
TRAIN RIDE: 1 ticket ($ 5/​person)
There was a fairly long wait and the ride wasn’t as scenic as described. I was actually trying to be really optimistic and excited for it… but it was just ‘meh’
PICTURE SPOTS: free
The website made it sound like there were sooooooo many spots set up for photo-​taking opportunities… I disagree… I have quite the eye for camera-​whoring moments but. no… no no no… barely any photo ops –_​–
PUMPKINS: EXPENSIVE!
Wow. I printed a $ 1 off coupon from their website. But when I saw the prices (refer to my photos) I was like neverminddddd I’ll just go to Albertsons or Ralphs. For the same-​sized pumpkin, it was significantly more expensive here.
I’m shocked … I think pumpkin patches are better in the I.E. Maybe there is just something more family focused about the more boring areas?

Pretty awesome park!!!
Attended a baby shower in one of their private outdoor pavilions and it was nice.
Park is big with lots of parking spaces. Even though there can be many different parties going on, you still get your semi private area and you can rent a bounce house.
We also rode the train around ($ 5pp) and discovered more of what the park has to offer: 4-​wheel bikes, water bikes…
Great place for an outdoor reunion!

Day 1 of our «Adventure is out there» quest!
Come ONE come ALL! This park is jam packed with activities for the entire family; it’s huge. Don’t be fooled by the name of the park. It’s located on Irvine Park Road, but it’s in the city of Orange… go figure.
TID BITS:
1) Parking: $ 3 M-​F; $ 5 Sat-​Sun No INs and OUTs.
2) Free admission
3) Snack bars and bathrooms available. I’d recommend packing snacks, lunch, drinks so you can enjoy the whole day here.
4) Go on website and find coupons for activities.
VIEW: lakes, trails (ranges from children trails to hardcore ones), greenery, foliage, big trees.
ACTIVITIES: paddle boat, biking, hiking, train rides, pony rides, zoo ($ 2 per person; 2 and younger free; get coupon for buy 1 get one free), picnic, playgrounds. You can also host birthday parties here!
RENTALS: bike (all sorts from individual to surrey), horseshoe/​volleyball, horse
HOLIDAYS: Halloween, Christmas and Easter — they put on quite an event.
There are long lines and very crowded if you go too close to the actual holiday.
If you have the luxury, go during the day/​weekday or a few days before the holidays.

CON:
1) Only one entrance into the park. On busy days, there is a LONG line of cars to get in.
2) Holiday events are a bit overwhelming. We had to wait at least 1hour to see Santa.
IPR is beautiful and relaxing. Another great park in OC for everyone to enjoy the OUTDOORS.