i think this rating will (hopefully) be temporary. i talked this place up pretty good and decided to take my MIL over the weekend. it was rather disappointing after we paid $5 each. first off, we couldn't feed the fish because of the season...totally understandable, and there was a new building they were constructing at the front so there was some landscape that was dug up (again...understandable), but once we entered the gate the garden was a total let down. the overall look of the garden was still quaint and pleasant, but it looked really unkept. the water was REALLY green...i mean like palmolive green. there were leaves everywhere when usually it is really pristine and lush like in the pictures shown above. the grass was all brown and dead (probably because of the winter season, but come on! it's phoenix! it's not that cold) and the place just looked really sad.
i was really bummed. we walked around once and left. the trip was seriously like 5 mins and there was no need to stay longer because it just didn't have the clean and beautiful atmosphere it usually does. i hope that this is only because of the winter season and that it goes back to looking as beautiful as the last time i saw it.