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 🙂
