Aamodt's or Pine Tree Apple Orchards?

Mush-Tastic

Which one's better?

My aunt and her best friend are in town from Michigan and want to do an orchard tomorrow.

I've never been to either one. Which one do you like best? We're looking to get pumpkins too tomorrow...hopefully they have those?

THANKS!  

kateandluke

I have never been to Aamodt's, but I was just at Pine Tree Apple Orchard last weekend and it was fantastic!  They have a corn maze ($3/person), and lots of fun activities for kids including a hay ride.  It's right on the lake, so it's got a great view and picnic tables to relax at. 

First we picked out our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch (I believe they were 40 cents/pound), and they sent them to the pumpkin pick-up so that we didn't have to carry them around with us and we could just pick them up when we were on our way out of the parking lot.  Then we went to the shop and walked out of there with apples, caramel, apple cider chocolate chip cookies, and a gallon of cider.  You can walk around the orchard and they've got neat facts around.  We only had about an hour and a half to spend there, but next time we go, we'll make sure we have more time!

 If it's nice out, be prepared for there to be a lot of people, but since the place is so big, it doesn't really feel that crowded :-)  Have fun tomorrow!

 

Mrs. Sarah&Micah

I like Aamodts because they also have Saint Croix Vineyards on the same site and have free wine tastings. I do know that you can no longer pick your own apples this season at Aamodts. Have fun.

BeccaMarie

I have never been to Pine Tree, but I was disappointed in Aamodt's last week.

One of the things we were excited about were honey sticks, and they didn't even have any.  (I asked and they were out)

We chose Aamdot's because they offered so many kid-friendly things (per their website) but none of them were a 'wow' by any means.  We bought tickets for their hayride that was supposed to start at noon.  We were first in line (at 11:45) and didn't get on the hayride until 12:45.  When we asked about the wait, they just shrugged and said, "yeah, it is supposed to start at noon"

They advertised a 'hay mountain' for kids to play on, but it was super wimpy - fine for my 1 year old, but I would be annoyed if I had older kids.

They also advertised 'wagon rides' - we called and were told it was like a train of little cars that the kids could ride in.  It looked cute when we saw the actual 'cars', unfortunately they weren't running the day that we were there (even though their website and the person on the phone said that they would be)

We bought some desserts in the bakery, and they were all just 'eh'.  The apple jelly that we brought home was good.

Unless wine tasting is a huge draw for you, I would head somewhere else.  I know we won't be back.

MrsGo4Hockeychick

I love Aamodt's for all the reasons Becca hated it. 

The hay bale maze is easy enough that my 2 year old had fun with it. The hay mountain was fun for her, and not overrun by big kids. The train wasn't running when we first got there, but we asked about it, and they sent someone out.

Kennedy is so small for her age as is, she gets really overwhelmed in play things with big kids. She won't go near the main section of Eagle's Nest, she'll only play at McDonald's playland if it's quiet and she loves our neighborhood playground (the big kid one) but won't go near it if there are more than a couple of kids playing on it. She gets knocked over all the time by big kids and is now scared of a lot of those things.

Aamodt's was nice because it is meant for little kids (and I mean like preschool age). Pine Tree (and most of the other orchards) have their activities based for kids at least kindergarden age, and then the kids are just so much bigger it's not fun for any of us. 

 

If you don't care about any of that, because you're all adults, I don't think you need to worry too much about which is better. I'd probably go Aamodt's over Pine Tree because I love the vineyard. But I do agree that Pine Tree's bakery is superior.  

ariel06

I've never been to Aamodt's, but I love Pine Tree.  Their pies and donuts are amazing!

Kimee13

We were very disappointed in Aamodt's, they hardly had any apples (or anything else)when we were out there and what they did have didn't look or taste very good.  We got better Honeycrisp from Byerly's a few days ago. 

Sunflower22

Pine Tree, but I'm biased because I worked there for 6 years in junior high & high school & grew up just down the street from there. But really, it is fantastic.