You can find Jelly Belly stores in places like Las Vegas. This is an extra large store with a lot of novely items (like toothpaste flavor ) jelly beans and apparel.They let you sample any flavor. Some things are on sale and some things are very expensive.
I work for a manufacturing company and was expecting to see how they make Jelly Bellies, live and in person. I was disappointed. However, this is a fun tour, especially if you know what to expect. You ride on a small "train" around the Jelly Belly warehouse and there are films, showing how Jelly Bellies are made. Nice store at the end - check out the Jelly Flops (odd shaped Jelly Bellies at a reduced price).
The trip is around the warehouse on a small train - interesting, but not a factory tour. the mosaics of jelly bean portraits are super. You get a nice size package of free beans for everyone, which is a plus. The shop is a great assortment, but pricing is nothing special. The clearance table is very good on pricing. The sample table has everything they make - avoid the older ladies, one bean each. The younger kids and men are much more generous, especially if you're nice. Recommended.
The tour was very disappointing. A jelly belly train drives you in a circle around the warehouse making multiple stops to watch videos on the history, the family, and how the candy is made. The store on the other hand was a lot of fun, snack bar, sample area, and all kinds of jelly belly candies. Discounted bags of belly floppers and hodgepodges was a huge hit with everyone. I would probably take the 30 minute train ride if you're there but don't expect much. Plus they you a bag of jelly bellys.
Really enjoyed the tour on how Jelly Belly's are made. I'd recommend this to people of all ages. Great friendly staff and love the store.
We did the tour this Thanksgiving with my sisters, their small children and our family. I would recommend just skipping the tour and going strait to the store where you can buy any type of jelly bean they make and sample them for free. The tour involves watching videos of the actual factory in California while driving around a small warehouse. Don't bother if the wait is longer than 5 minutes, which it probably will be. Synopsis: Ronald Regan loves Jelly Belly beans, people make art with Jelly Belly Beans, cherry is the most popular flavor, it takes 7-21 days to make a bean, some beans have actual food for flavoring like coconut and cocoa. I now saved you a half hour plus the wait. Go to the store and enjoy.
Did the tour once. Maybe will do it again someday. But the fun is in the sample counter and just picking out the most fun flavors of jelly beans. And I never used to like jelly beans. New favorite are the Disney "Frozen" blend, still love anything orange (there are many, many different orange flavors!), and the soda pop ones are really good. For the coffee lover, cappuccino Jelly Belly! If you can't visit Wisconsin, you can order online.
We did not plan on visiting JB but when the weather turned miserable and had out of town guests it made sense. It was interesting & ended up being a great day after a bad start. We also stopped at neighboring cheese shops while we were in the area which went over well for guests.
PROS: free tour; free small package of JB at the end of the tour; cheaper irregular candies at the JB store; plenty of parking; CONS: like other reviewers have mentioned it is not a "factory tour" as all you can see are pallettes of merchandise inside a warehouse. there are short videos in 3 stops that would illustrate the process and history of JBs and the mosaic and women's dresses covered with JBs. I found the young employees more miserly with the free samples - 1 JB each while the older folk more generous .
The free 35-minute warehouse train tour of the Jelly Belly Center was the highlight of our visit. It was fun and informational. Shopping at the super size Jelly Belly candy store was made more meaningful with unlimited taste-tasting at their Sample Bar.