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Sunday, October 19, 2014

10/19/14: Roger Williams Park Zoo Jack-O-Lanterns A to Z

Last night we went to the Roger Williams Park Zoo Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular Jack-O-Lanterns from A to Z.  This is a truly amazing display of carved pumpkins.  Every year I am in amazement of these Jack-O-Lanterns and can't imagine the amount of work that goes in to them. 
 The kids absolutely love this event and so do I.
I wanted to share some tips from our years of attending this wonderful display.
1.  Go on a WEEKDAY!  Attendance is much lighter during the week and the quality is the same as daily they are fixing any pumpkins that need fixing.  When we left last night on a Saturday at 7:15 the line was enormous.  It had to be at least a 2 plus hour wait and was outside the Zoo.
2.  Go toward the end of the month, the attendance is also lighter then.
3.  If you do chose to go on a weekend make sure to get there early to get in line.
4.  A better plan if you do go on a weekend is to go to the Harvest Buffet as we did.  You go in at 5 pm and get the VIP entry to the Spectacular.  You can find more information here on the Harvest Buffet.  It runs on Friday-Sundays through October 31st.

The great thing about the Harvest Buffet is you get to eat there, plus get VIP entrance to the Pumpkin Trail.  They lead you past the line of people entering the Pumpkin Trail and let you right in.There is turkey, cranberry sauce, squash, vegetables, and mashed potatoes.  Plus hot dogs, hamburgers and pulled pork.  The food was really good.  Plus there is brownies, apple crisp, soda, water, coffee, hot chocolate, and hot cider.

After we left the Harvest Buffet we headed on to the trail.
They started with some famous Horror Movies.
 Look at the detail on this!  This one is one of my favorites.
There is always a theme.  This year the pumpkins were displayed with themes in alphabetical order, with highlights from history and popular culture, and another section will honor inspirational figures.  It started with Alice in Wonderland for A.

B for Butterfly and Birds.
C for Christmas time.  Complete with snow fashioned out of bubbles coming from above.
 Santa!
D for Dinosaurs.
 
 Absolutely amazing.
Chickens in the coop.
 Beautiful animal pumpkins.
 
 M for Mythology.  Love the Medusa one.
 
 U for unbelievable had Larry Bird!  This was my husband's favorite.
 Tom Brady, another one of my favorites.
 V for Vampires.
They also always have a tribute to those who have passed in the last year.  Here you can see Robin Williams.
 The Laughing Tree is the most amazing sight and is so hard to capture with pictures.  I have some video at the end of the post also.
I do have some video as I love listening to the music and looking around at this tree.
 The intricate carvings are amazing, and the sheer volume of how many pumpkins there are is amazing.
 Absolutely beautiful.
 I tried to take a picture at a distance to show how high the pumpkins go.
Here are some more details:
The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is open 6pm - 11pm, with the last admission at 10pm.
On Saturdays, admission will be extended an hour, with the last admission at 11pm, and the trail closing at 12am.
Pricing: 
Monday - Thursday are $12 adults, $10 seniors and $9 for children ages 3 – 12, with children under three admitted for free.
Admission prices on Friday - Sunday are $16 adults, $14 seniors and $13 children ages 3 – 12; children two and under are admitted for free.
This is an absolute must see!
  Here is some video of the Laughing Tree:

 It continues till November 2nd!
 Check them out on Facebook: 
Disclosure: I was provided tickets to the Harvest Buffet for my family and I in exchange for promotional review.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

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