I finally got to visit The Pumpkin Blaze this year!
I’ve been wanting to go for years since I found out about them back in 2018 but it’s a little far and out of the way being a little upstate NY and I’ve never had an excuse or opportunity to visit the area, especially since my fall schedule is usually packed. This year was a combination of stars aligning so I finally got to go. They finally opened up another location on Long Island, I stopped going to conventions, and my bday trip was just a quick getaway trip this year due to marathon training taking priority, which helped give me more free days back in my schedule as well as kept me more local this season to do fall things in state.
So what is The Pumpkin Blaze or The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze? Their website describes it as “a walk-through experience of thousands of hand-carved pumpkins in elaborate displays that light up the night at two historic locations in New York. At Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson and Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Old Bethpage, larger-than-life installations, along with synchronized lighting, create a magical, family-friendly experience for all ages.”
Accurate to its own description, I found it basically a fun Halloween trail filled with lit up pumpkin carvings as you walk through to view everything. I decided to visit the Long Island location for obvious proximity reasons, since both locations have the famous coveted pumpkin tunnel all the Instagrammers flock to on display, and let’s be real, that’s what we’re all here for. And yes, it absolutely did deliver! One important thing I would note is that you can only walk through the trail once - you can only go forwards, not backwards - but you’re allowed to take your time since the walk-through is self-paced, so I would definitely not rush through it and take as much time as you need to really enjoy the experience. Read everything, take as many pics as you want, linger a little, whatever you need. It can get crowded at times, but I also did find some breaks in the crowd where there was less foot traffic if I just waited a few minutes so I was able to get some shots in. So if you’re trying to get that shot, my advice would be to go on a weekday, book the first time slot, arrive at the venue 30 minutes before your time slot, and BE PATIENT when you get up to the tunnel. We were lucky and showed up before parking opened at 6pm, for the 6:30pm time slot on a Thursday evening, and we were basically the third car in line. We were able to park incredibly close to the entrance so it was a short walk, and walk in and hang around the gift shop and got some photos of the displays at the entrance before it got dark. The following 2 photos were taken just 30 minutes apart at 6 when we got there and 6:30 when they officially opened and let us start walking the trail so you can see how fast it gets dark at dusk this time of year. From there, within the hour, it got completely dark by the time we got to the tunnel.
Once it got even a little dark though, that’s when photos became a challenge especially if you want to be in the photos. So another tidbit to also note, is that the pumpkin tunnel is not at the beginning of the walk, but more towards the middle-end of the trail. And of course you don’t want to rush through the trail to get to it and miss all the great displays on the way, which I absolutely don’t recommend you do - definitely take your time and enjoy the displays at a slow, leisurely pace to get your money’s worth - but by the time you get to the tunnel, at this point in the season, it’s definitely past dusk and the light will be gone. I recommend a small hand held light if you have one, to help light your face up for photos. Just make sure your light isn’t intrusive and blinding to other guests. We used our cell phone light to help light me up in photos and it worked out nicely. I was able to get some nice portraits on my camera, but if you have night sight or live photo on your phone, those settings definitely help get some nice photos too. They just don’t allow tripods and drones as listed on their website’s FAQs, just FYI. Also another good tip, I highly recommend NOT wearing black if you’re trying to get photos in the tunnel of yourself. Lighter colors show up better and help reflect light to light you up.
Despite it being dark though, that’s when the pumpkin displays really shine! I forgot some of the displays were pumpkins at some points in the walkthrough because they were so well done and fit into the background. And there are SO, SO many of them. We got in at 6:30 and left around 7:20pm, so you definitely can spend some time looking at everything. There was great ambiance with the music they have throughout the trail, with a lot of screens on display, giving you tidbits of history of the island and background info of some of the artwork. For our particular venue, we saw shelves of carved pumpkins, each with a unique face, a pumpkin portal tunnel with a lightshow as you entered, a field of skeleton pumpkins, a firetruck, police car and ambulance pumpkins, a giant spider field, the headless horseman story carved out on display as homage to the original Pumpkin Blaze upstate, a haunted house inspired by the Amityville horror house, a sunflower field and corn field of pumpkins, a Long Island Hall of Fame, a giant grandfather clock, the Statue of Liberty, an entire zodiac of pumpkins, a lighthouse, sea creatures made of pumpkins, a dragon, and a circus train full of pumpkins with a moving carousel at the end.
Originally I felt the sticker price of admission for this was a little high, which it is for a pop-up, starting at $29 for adult admission on a weekday, and go all the way up to $54 for weekends. The timeslots are also priced differently; the earlier you want to go, the higher the price. If you don’t want to pay as much, I’d recommend going later in the night if you don’t care about your photos as much and just want to go for the experience. But if you’re there for photos, I’d recommend the first time slot on a weekday. That being said, I do think the price of admission is worth it here if you visit on a slow weekday, as it can get pricy for a family of 4+, I imagine. I appreciate all the work that went into this and making it a really nice experience. I also want to note this is a really great family friendly non-spooky event. There are no scare actors, nothing too crazy, just good fun and beautiful displays to admire. It might be a little scary for some young kids due to how dark some areas can get and some parts with witches and haunted houses, but there are tons of fun parts too that I think all ages would enjoy, like the sea creatures, alien pumpkins and bubbles blowing towards the end. The gift shop at the end is a really nice touch too. It’s cute and has some cute souvenirs like home decor, keychains, magnets, hats, shirts and even little treats. There’s a pumpkin carving area too to watch the masters at work. The ladies we met were really sweet and gave us some great tips for when we carve our pumpkin later this month for Halloween. All in all, I think this was a lot of good fun and I would enjoy attending again.
Full disclosure, this visit was not sponsored. I attended and paid full price admission, this was not an invited press visit so all opinions are my own and honest thoughts. If you’re looking for a fun fall activity, this definitely makes for a fun date night! I went with my husband for an early birthday date and we both really enjoyed it. Usually he’s very skeptic of IG traps but this was a great time and a very cool experience. I definitely recommend this for all my Halloween lovers. If you go, come back here and let me know how your own visit went!
