I have no idea if I spelled Bonafante right but I was wondering if anybody has visited this place in Gilroy. I was wondering about pricing and age appropriateness (for those who don't know I have a 2 y/o and a 4y/o.) I was also wondering what your general impression of the park is. Thanks!

I absolutely love this park. Michael Bonfante himself is usualy there when we go - it is very much a labor of love. This park is most definitely your best choice for kids your age. The rides there are tailored for toddlers and school-aged children, and there is a mellow, gentle ambience that appeals to adults. Beautiful, beautiful place.

They are closing the beautiful paddle boat rides after next weekend because or the lousy insurance company :( , so the sooner you go the better. I think they still have the adults admission for the price of a child if you bring a coke can on weekdays.

If you would like to see some pictures, I have a report from a year ago with some of the attractions. My kids have both grown quite a bit since then! Teri's pics of Bonfante Gardens, 2001 (http://http://pixiedustinn.com/BonfanteGardensReport.html)

They also have a website at http://bonfantegardens.com with history and pictures.

Also, if you haven't been to the Felton Big Trees Railroad, I think they are still having the Thomas the Tank Engine steam train rides up there. It isn't tooooo far away.

My girls and I went two weeks ago. It was our 2nd time...we went last year as well.

We really enjoy this park...and my girls are not babies anymore (11, 16 and almost 19). It is a very relaxing, calm, enjoyable park...with beautiful gardens. The circus trees are great to look at, and we enjoy reading about each one.

I do have to say, that the park didn't seem as "fresh" as last year...that is there were some brown spots, dry areas and such. But overall, it is a very clean, well kept quiet park. We enjoy the nice gift shops...and the food is very good, and not over priced (as is almost everyother theme park).

This is not a Disney park...so they don't load and unload people on rides quickly...but the younger employees who work at the park (most likely local high school kids there for summer jobs), are very friendly and curteous.

The only ride to avoid..."The Skytrain"...only a few seats available...and it takes forever to load and unload. We went on a very uncrowded weekday...and it took a good 45 minutes to load a 7 minute ride, that was all that good anyway. The rest of the rides are cute, and aptly themed for this "garden" park.

The dramatic entry way of a long wooden bridge, covered in beautiful green trees is beautiful. I just got back our pictures of the last time we went...and made sure to have my girls stand on that bridge...turned out great.

I would recommend this park if you want to go to a no hussle and bustle place that families can enjoy together. And, if you go on a weekday, take a coke can for every adult...you will get in for children's prices if you do. ($19).
:D

ps, Teri, your link to your pictures didn't work. I wanted to enjoy your shots of the park...:)

Bonfante Gardens causes me grief. (I'm sure it's a wonderful place, but hear me out.)
I know I live up in Monterey, but I keep campaigning to my partner about going to Disneyland, going to Disneyland, going to Disneyland.
He keeps telling me: 'Let's go when we can spend a lot of time there.' 'It's too far.' 'You just went.' etc.
So, after he gives his excuse about why we can't, shouldn't etc go to Disneyland he always adds: 'Well, let's go to Bonfante Gardens instead.'
Arrrgh! It's his default answer whenever Disneyland is brought up.
So, I refuse to go. Because, if I like it even the slightest bit... he'll want to default to us going there rather than Disneyland...
Oy vey.




In all honesty, I'd love to go there. It sounds great. :)

Hmmm. that is strange... try this.

http://www.pixiedustinn.com/BonfanteGardensReport.html

Great pictures teri!

We've been looking for something to do around here that we haven't done and they just ran a small piece on this place on one of the news channels. Thanks for expanding on it. The park looks wonderful and a definite must-do for us! Thanks again.

Originally posted by teri
Hmmm. that is strange... try this.

http://www.pixiedustinn.com/BonfanteGardensReport.html
Cool pictures!
Thanks, teri. :)

My pleasure. :cool:

Those were great pictures....I am glad you went back and put in the right link.

I got my pictures back yesterday from there...the picture of my girls on the bridge turned out great....Course its not hard to get a great picture there with that beautiful setting.

They don't have the cars in the covered area any longer. It is now an area with small children activities...and it has some great animal wood carvings.

I enjoyed the cars better...:)

For those of you that don't know, because the park is losing money they are ending the season Oct. 20 this year instead of the original planned Jan. 1. A holiday celebration will be held in December but most rides will be closed. Also, the broadway show "Here's to America" will be removed on Labor Day. It is a very well-executed show and is worth the trip if you haven't seen it yet. Let's just hope the park will make more money next year so that they can have a longer season!

We did our part today - we went and shopped in the gift shops, ate, bought snacks galore. The gift shops there are terrific - sometimes I wish I didn't have the kids with me so I could do some serious Christmas shopping.

Most rides had a 1-cycle wait time. For a beautiful, sunny Sunday, the place was not crowded at all. Business isn't so good. We had a very nice time though. We rode the paddleboats for the very last time - today was the last day.

Darn... If this wasn't the first week of school... they are having Garden Days all week, with tours and talks by experts, for $10.95 admission. Limited rides operating, but all the gardens will be open.

Went to the Gardens Fri, Aug 23. One of my favorites on a mini-tour of amusement parks. Was surprised by the seeming - uh, "youngness"? - of the employees. And by how beautiful the park was. Got pretty tired walking around (hit Marine World Thu and Great Amer Wed), but pretty much stayed till closing, 9 on that night. Also like how every eating place had posted hours so you knew where to go to eat.

Hope it can stay open.

Bonfante Gardens is a sweet little park. We saw Mr. Bonfante strolling around, living out Walt Disney's belief that park managers should not be sitting in an air-conditioned office away from the park and its guests. I like that the rides and things are themed to regional history and that the queues offer some educational material - that's a very Walt thing. Michael Bonfante is imitating the right guy, and his imitation never comes across as crass. Give BG a few years to mature and for the entertainment offerings to evolve beyond the community-theatre quality level, and it'll be a crackin' park. There's no reason not to visit right now, though.

PS, How cool it was to visit a brand-new theme park. The handrails hadn't even had a chance to wear yet. Everything looked perfect. Never had that experience.