Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch

I had a much more detailed review but Unilocal shut down and didn’t save it so I lost it. Guess I need to look into reviewing them. Anyway the reindeer ranch was a lot of fun. Family owned and oriented. Our kids, 8 – 13, really liked it. The reindeer tour really isn’t a «tour». Just a feeding and petting area. The corn maze is a treasure hunt type event which is really entertaining compared to most. Allow at least 2 – 3 hours with kids. No complaints on our part. Great way to spend the day and totally worth the two hours we drove to get there.

Smooth visit, a mere 4 $ to take the reindeer tour. They have several things out for photo ops including the reindeer. Came with the wife, sister and parents. Easy way to kill a couple hours and do something you don’t get to do all year round. Would gladly return as the staff was friendly and attentive.

This place is SO cool. The reindeer are gorgeous and extremely well-​natured. The tour was a mere $ 4 and worth a lot more than that. I really don’t understand how anyone could rate this less than 5 stars. Reindeer!
The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, as is (the dog) Huckleberry.

I have never written a Unilocal review but after my experience today I felt I needed to not only to explain my situation to the staff who was unwilling to listen to my side (let alone let me finish a sentence) but also for those of you who may be thinking about making a trek, as we did. I apologize for the length but this is for management to read as well.
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THE QUICK STORY
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Hardy’s has a place where you can grab a wagon and saw, and then two different entry ways into their tree farm. All of their signs near the wagon and saw said nothing about cutting down anything under 4 feet tall.
There was a small sign on the left entryway that said you can’t cut anything underneath 4 feet tall. There was no sign anywhere near the right entryway.
After reading all the signs near the wagons and saws, and proceeding to enter the tree farm on the right entryway (with no signs) we were scolded pretty harshly for cutting down a tree less than 4 feet.
After apologizing and agreeing to pay, I was rudely interrupted numerous times while trying to explain that the markings may not be very clear if you are entering the park from the right side. I was also scolded for not talking with someone before taking a wagon. How was I supposed to know I needed to check in with someone?
The employees were VERY difficult to talk to and although the manager lady wasn’t too bad to talk to, she definitely didn’t allow me time to suggest to her that maybe her signage wasn’t very effective.
When we pulled our car up to pick up our trees, there was another gentlemen who was having the exact same issue we were, so it was a recurring problem. They ended up pulling the sign out of the ground and moving it to where the other signs and wagons were… probably where it should have been in the first place.
I don’t even care that I had to pay $ 40 for a tree that was 2 feet tall. I am disappointed that I was treated so poorly as a customer and listened to so little.
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THE LONG STORY
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My girlfriend and I went to Hardy’s two years ago and it was a pleasant experience. We dealt with the owner (a male) and he was very kind and helpful. This year was a different story.
We arrived and walked up to where they keep the wagons and saws. Our favorite part is cutting down our Christmas tree and we drove 2 hours to do it (we live in Chicago). Yes, there are closer farms but I had liked this place the previous couple years.
I would say my girlfriend and I are a bit nerdy, in that we are pretty careful to do things correct in really everything we do. This involved reading all the available signs around the wagons about the size of trees, cost, etc. We did this, didn’t see anything funny, took a wagon and saw, and went on our way.
There are two walkways to enter the tree farm. One to the left, and one to the right. We took the walkway to the right so we could see the Reindeer.
We cut down one big tree and one small tree.
After arriving at the tree shaker we were met by two very rude employees who intended to scold us for cutting down the small tree. «There are signs everywhere telling you not to do this! You will have to pay full price ($ 60) for this 2 foot tree!) they said. I apologized and told them I was sorry and I hadn’t seen any signs. I was reminded they are all over.
While my tree was being shaken, we walked around and again read all the signs to see what we missed. We still couldn’t find anything that said we couldn’t cut a tree down that was smaller than 4 feet.
I went back and asked the lady nicely „do you mind showing me where the sign is? We cant find it“ She says rudely „there are signs all over“
„I understand“ I say. „But since we can’t find them, we’d like you to show us where they might be“. She answers with, „well did you talk with one of us before you grabbed a wagon and axe!?“
„No“, I say. „Was I supposed to? I didn’t know there was a requirement to talk with anyone. I figured it was like a pumpkin farm and we could take a wagon and go, since I’ve been here before a couple years ago“
„If you’ve been here before, then you know you can’t cut down a spruce shorter than 4 feet“.
„Ma’am“ I say…“I live in Chicago. I dont even know what a spruce is amongst the others, let alone that I’m not suppose to cut anything down under 4 feet. The only sign you have posted about this is on the left entryway to the tree farm. You have no sign anywhere near the right entryway to the farm»
«Well I’ll give it to you for $ 40 instead of $ 60 like I should. Merry Christmas» she says sarcastically.
I was really looking forward to this but these employees really ruined our experience. We won’t be returning and we won’t be recommending this place to our friends anytime soon.
Shame on you Hardy’s. You shouldn’t make your customers feel bad when it’s your fault for not labeling your directions and rules properly.

This was are first visit, we had no small kids with us .Is more for smaller kids I guess. They are understaffed .The people that worked there where friendly. We enjoyed the Corn maze .I think the prices are high.

I just stumbled across this place while doing a google search for a kid or family attractions in central IL. I was looking for place to stop with my 2 & 4 year old to break up our 5 hour road trip. This place was perfect. They played in the sand, climbed the straw bales and could have cared less about the reindeer. We did not take the tour and from what I saw, the reviews are pretty accurate. Still we loved the hay ride. But again my kids are young and the resident dog, huckleberry, came along for the ride and that helped. Afterward we got to witness the pumpkin launcher in action. Only one pumpkin though: /​we are spoiled and used to at least 3 when one of those launchers are fired up. Overall we had a nice time, it was better than a park.

This place is sooo cool!
I was visiting Illinois for family reasons and we came here for one of the events. I got to feed the reindeer (there is a fee), and there is a pumpkin canon, and hay to crawl around on, and lots of things to look at in the gift shop. There is a dining hall where we had a group dinner, that included all kinds of good wholesome food.
If I ever go back to Illinois, this is a place I am going to visit again.

Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch wasn’t super exciting, but could be fun if you have kids. I was mainly curious to see a reindeer in person. They are just kinda lounging around in a few fenced in areas.
There is a corn maze, which was around $ 6 person. You could also pay for a reindeer tour, which meant that you get to feed crackers to a reindeer. It didn’t really seem worth the extra money, since you can just look at the reindeer for free without feeding them.
They also have cut your own Christmas trees and Christmas-​y gift shop.

Our family has made a Christmas tradition of visiting Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch. The $ 3 tour not only allows you to get up close and personal with the reindeer (you feed them graham crackers and pet their noses), but it supports a portion of their care throughout the year. The gift shop is cozy — a good place to stop in from the cold. You can sit around a potbelly stove sipping cider that’s for sale, browse through the lodge and country decorative items, and then finish up by buying a Christmas tree. The pre-​cut tree selection has been a good one in year’s past. The guys will trim it, wrap it, and get you on your way. Or, you can cut your own if you prefer. There’s a little café on site that has very limited hours; my husband likes their chili. Plus, it’s a pretty ride out into the country.

I’m sorry Hardy’s. Don’t be fooled by the Reindeer Tour. For $ 3 (or $ 12 if you’re a family of four like us) you are entitled to the experience of standing in a crowded pen with several other families whie you feed graham crakers to the reindeer for about 10 minutes. But first you’ll have fight your way through to the man with the crackers, as he gives them out ¼ of a cracker at a time, and there will be at least a dozen other people in there with you.
If you and your kids simply must see reindeer this holiday season, which is admittedly a cool sounding thing to do, please save your money and stand outside the pen and look at the reindeer. The reindeer are interesting to see — their antlers are pretty incredible. But uh, the experience as a whole left us rather underwhelmed.
For another $ 3 a person, you and your kids can ride the pedal cars around the little track. Unless your kids are under the age of 5 or 6, because they only have 1 car small enough for littles, and it’s broken. Most of the rest of the cars have flat tires, too, so. .. .
Some hay bales to jump on. A sand box with some broken digging tools. And some tire swings. My kids enjoyed the tire swings the most. Next time I’ll just take them to the park.

Looked forward to taking my three year old grandkids to Hardy’s. We took the «Reindeer Tour» which consisted of standing in a small corral to «feed» the reindeer while the owner doled out a cracker at a time to people. We paid three bucks a head (including the children) for this experience. The café was not open, though it is part of their ads, and no one there seemed apologetic about that fact. It was a cold day but there was no fire in the potbelly. My son-​in-​law treated us to a «hay ride» which consisted of driving around harvested fields for about five minutes. Items in their gift shop were all overpriced, too. Not a very pleasant experience. It was interesting to be up close and personal with reindeer, who seem to be nice critters, and my grandkids seemed to enjoy them, but the reality of Hardy’s Ranch did not live up to the ads. Be forewarned.

So, uh, I went to a reindeer ranch in central Illinois… and enjoyed myself. First off, the idea that there are a bunch of reindeer just chillin’ on a random farm that also grows Christmas trees is so surreal it has to be believed. Then there are kitschy Christmas items in the gift store, pedal powered racing carts, and a gigantic corn maze. You can spend your money as well on snacks or paintball shooting. It’s literally a nonstop kitsch fiesta, but as a one time lark, it’s worth it. They also change that damned corn maze every year, but it freaked me out that I think it was a one time only thing for me.

Definetely a place I would visit if you are in central Illinois for just the fun of it. There is a corn maze there which is totally awesome. totally affordable at $ 6/​person! And they have other things like reindeer and hay rides. And only one exit up on 57 from UIUC.