I remember loving it almost 40 years ago. It was my parents only “must do”.
To be honest, I think that was the only way my mom could talk my dad into going into the park at all.
We would bee-line for the ranch and park my dad on a bench while my brother and I ran around the park for 6-8 hours. He’d spend the entire time there napping or people watching, just enjoying the “forest” feel of it.
We discovered the ranch the same day we became APs on an impromptu 3 day weekend trip we took for DS’s 3rd birthday. We had just been to DL 5 weeks before to “get one last trip before he turns 3” and that had been our 3rd trip in a year and we hadn’t bought annual passes for any of it because it just seemed to crazy of a thing to do. We learned our lesson that 4th trip though, got APs & since DH’s birthday is the day after DS’s we were at the BBQ the day of DH’s birthday.
It always held a special place in our hearts after that and only became more dear the more we explored back there & when I thought I couldn’t love the respite it offered anymore, the Miss Chris character that owner the ranch declared that my kids were “the true spirit of Disneyland” after interacting with them on a busy day. It was part of the best of the charms of Disneyland and I will always miss it and always feel gutted that even though Star Wars is awesome, I would’ve been happy to keep it and the goats!