Hi friends, welcome back! Jon and I took a break from unpacking and headed to The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in the Hudson Valley this past weekend. It’s about an hour and fifteen minute drive from NYC, so we put on a Halloween playlist and were on our way. If we hadn’t moved the same weekend, I would’ve planned a whole day out of the trip and visited a cider mill or go out to dinner like we did the prior year. The event is open Sep 16th – Nov 20th and tickets are $48 per person. I bought ours at the end of July because the weekends sell out and you can’t buy tickets on-site.
The event parking and logistics is some of the smoothest I’ve ever experienced, and I remember being impressed last year. We parked, and then walked right in to start our tour. This year wasn’t as crowded as last year and it was really nice being able to take in the pumpkins without bumping into people or having to slowly shuffle along the path.
The setup was the same as the prior year, but we thoroughly enjoyed the 7,000 carved pumpkins nonetheless. It’s the perfect way to feel some spooky spirit!
Some of the highlights include this cool functioning windmill complete with hundreds of pumpkin flowers.
Then through the river of jelly fish.
Over the bridge.
The Museum of Pumpkin Art is always a crowd favorite.
This fire breathing pumpkin dragon is one of our favorites.
Then under the pumpkin planetarium, this is one of my favorite parts.
I also love the pumpkin carousel spinning to spooky music. This is made of 555 carved jack o’ lanterns and the horses are made in the “Flying Horse” style in honor of the neighboring Sleepy Hollow and Headless Horseman.
This Jacksmith Shop was new this year featuring sound effects of him smashing bones.
The Headless Horseman trail. This spot is about halfway through the tour.
T-Rex and his prehistoric friends.
I’m terrified of spiders, but these pumpkin ones aren’t so bad.
Lady Liberty shining bright.
A dog walker and his pack.
The Van Cortland Manor lights up every few minutes for a spooky show.
The last exhibit is the Headless Horseman Bridge complete with spooky galloping horse sounds.
I hope you enjoyed this spooky adventure! We love going and it’s a fun way to get in the spirit. They also opened a location in Long Island, but we’ve only checked out the Hudson Valley one. As we were leaving, Jon said “Bye pumpkins, see you next year”, so I think this is going to be an annual Halloween tradition 🙂
Glad you took a break for some fun Lyssy. No matter what work awaits us, there should always be time for fun. Happy Friday. Allan
I agree! We needed some fresh air and fun 🙂 Happy Friday!
Wow! That is some place!! 🙂
It’s such a fun fall activity! 🙂
It looks it and knowing how much you like Hallowe’en, I am pleased that such a festive place lies close by to you! 🙂
What a brilliant and creative idea! This makes for a wonderful Halloween tradition; wish we had something like this near us here in the UK. Enjoyed a virtual tour with you.
It is so fun to walk through and great tradition 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the tour!
Wow, this is so cool I enjoyed the virtual tour. It has put me in the Halloween holiday spirit. Happy Halloween!
So glad you enjoyed the tour 🙂 Happy Halloween!
Mike and I would love to see this! Wow. It’s unfathomable how much work goes into carving the pumpkins and building the displays. I think $48.00 a person would be well worth seeing the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze. Your pictures are great, and I loved the post. Thanks for sharing this with us, Lyssy.
It’s definitely well worth the price of admission and fun fall activity! I’m guessing a lot of the big displays are made with fake pumpkins, but it’s still a lot of work to set up. You’ll have to do a fall East Coast road trip and see it one year 🙂
Fabulous! What you can do with a pumpkin.
It is amazing! I can barely carve a basic looking pumpkin.
I’ve never tried. I’m sure I’d be missing digits at the end of it.
What an enchanting place to visit Lyssy. I wish we had things like this here.
It is so much fun! YOu’ll have to have a fall East Coast trip to see it and the foliage one year 🙂
I really will!
Have to admit, the $48 walk-thru price tag made me pause, but I’m guessing this elaborate of a display can’t be found in many places around the country. Did you have a favorite? I wanted to choose from your photos but every display is pretty darned cool.
The event is a well oiled machine and I believe a lot of the proceeds go to the Hudson Valley Historic District too. Too bad the ticket isn’t tax deductible like my membership to the Newport Historical Society. I think the planetarium is my favorite because it was pretty and I never get to see stars, but it’s tough to pick. The Windmill and carousel are so cool too.
What a fun event to get into the Halloween spirit. The pumpkin planetarium looks beautiful. Glad to hear that it wasn’t as crowded this year, which can definitely take away from the whole experience.
It was so much fun and defiantly put us into the Halloween spirit! I was very surprised it wasn’t crowded because we went closer to Halloween this year.
This looks amazing, and I am really impressed at the designs the pumpkin carvers made from pumpkins. This seems like a perfect activity to do for the Halloween season!
Such an amazing event! Perfect way to get into the holiday spirit 🙂
Ha! These Halloween lights makes me smile..Anita
Glad to spread some spooky cheer 🙂
Incredible photos
What a fun and kooky event, Lyssy. I really need to experience Halloween in the U.S. one of these years, you guys take it to a whole other level. Incredible pumpkin art all round.
It’s amazing, it will give you great ideas for decoration. I imagine a Little Jack O’Lantern Blaze in your flat
amazing place
I’m so glad you got to go! I went before Covid. It is a really great display and you captured it well.
Aw lovely, and ‘bye pumpkins, see you next year’ sounds like a family tradition has definitely been established 🙂
So glad you posted this ~ I remembered it from last year!