RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns — Attraction in New York

2023 had great improvements over last year. All real pumpkins, no fake plastic here. There were so many more regular jack o lanterns, trail lights and "displays" compared to last year. While last year's special multi pumpkin carvings were amazing to see, there were so many dark patches with nothing going on and not well lit trail areas. Thats all gone this year. From the time you start walking to the time you leave, the entire trail is light with cylinder trail lights, and random smaller sized traditional jack of lanterns. HUGE IMPROVEMENT! Also last year there were areas devoid of any decorations or pumpkins. This was NOT the case this year. EVERY few dozen feet was another spectacular multi-pumpkin carving, life size "cardboard" type art works, animatronics, display screen, music. TREMENDOUS upgrade over last year. NEW animatronics - A+ Specialty tech sequences multi pumpkin display which caused almost 50+ pumpkins to alternate colors - AMAZING. Videos and songs to go along with some of the specialty multi pumpkin carvings - Phenomenal. Particularly helpful for the kids who may not have ever seen Guns n Roses, the simpsons or whatever else is new to them. Really helps them appreciate what they're seeing. There an open air awning/pagoda spot where several animatronics, spinning disco lights and music were playing. Everyone was having fun dancing with their kids here. GREAT ADDITION !!! They needed to have another one of these or maybe more of a mix of songs. Suggestion to the staff: instead of two projectors saying thanks for coming, have one playing some of those bounce line/music visualizations to give it a "fake club" vibe to enjoy.

Nice to see an open bathroom that was clean in the middle of the trail. Also nice to see staff and security along the path at various points just to help keep an eye on things. Great to see much improved food and drink option. They also allowed emergency swapping of tickets and while we didnt' need to use it, it gives a nice sense of peace of mind when ordering that we know we can change if things come up. There was also noticeably less people this time versus last year. Both time we went at the 645 time slot, and they stated they spread the time slots out a little bit more so people are more spread out.

My only other suggestion is to carve more "kids" type things. While they had some characters from the childrens shows, there were typically only one character from show like bluey, paw patrol, peppa pig etc. There are so many kids show that are crazy popular with numerous charecters they could do like blippi, ms rachel, daniel tigger, paw patrol, bluey, spongebob, cocomelon, dora, tumbleleaf, llama llama, baby shark, word party, number blocks, sesame street, blues clues, sing, turning red, zootopia, bubble guppies, octonauts and more. This is a largely untapped part. And since theyre " kiddie" they specialty pumpkin carvings dont need to be 16 pumpkins, they could be smaller and closer to the trail so the kids can see it.

Read the instructions, yes there is a lot of walking and yes there are hills. If you can't handle that, there is no shame in thinking that this isnt the site for you. Our family appreciated how much more we got for our money this year compared to last or...

We have been going to Rise since its inception at Old Westbury. Over the years it became Disney crowded and the experience didn’t change much. When the Blaze opened on LI we tried that instead, and then we just stop going. In this time of rising costs, we’re scaling back and not doing things just to do them. It has to be something we believe is worth it.

Last year, the Rise moved to a new home and promised lots of updates- but we waited until this year to check it out. As a long time goer- here is what I loved: new location- some money goes to the camp!, the staff were well trained and courteous (big improvement especially in the parking lots), trail itself was longer. The show was way more interesting than in the past~ while the pumpkins are always impressive, what was lacking in the past was what is now being added- video clips (loved the old Mickey Halloween cartoon and Jumangi commercial), the disappearing swinging girls and the ghost were very cool, animated pumpkins- loved. Hopefully, you do these differently each year! The popcorn and apple cider donuts were delicious (thanks for no-plastics).

Here’s the MAIN thing we loved it was not jam packed with people. There were times where we felt almost alone on the trail. We chose an early date because we’d hoped for it to be less crowded but I hope for it to always feel that way. The last time we went was a sea of people and that was explicitly why we stopped going.

Only downsides are the uphills might be challenging for some people, and while there were a variety of pumpkins for sure~I can’t say that there was a display that was my favorite- there were 2 or 3 of a ‘theme’- except for a few - or at least it felt that way because of how they were set up. This is my personal comment and maybe subjective. Others can comment on their own experiences. But, hey, Taylor Swift is hotter than anything right now and she had one pumpkin and an old video- it didn’t drag me over the way a huge friendship bracelet or something would have- you know- more contemporary, I guess.

Anyhow, we had fun. Thanks for reading my novel if you’re still here. I recommend checking it out. Get a promo code so you don’t...

So disappointing! We went to Rise the first few years at Old Westbury Gardens and it was simply amazing! So many real jack-o'-lanterns of varying sizes, shapes, and presentation styles. They covered almost everything in our world and pop culture. So much that I was barfing jack-o'-lanterns by the end lol. Last year we took our 3-year old and my mother to Blaze (not Rise) at Old Bethpage and it was equally amazing if not better in many ways because they were real but instead of carving everything under the sun they had different scenes. It was awesome!! (that was Blaze). This year to save $10 per ticket and because of its own description we went back to Rise but we're so disappointed. There were two types of presentations. The rectangular displays and the individual jack o lanterns on poles. Somehow something seemed different. First all of the hundreds of individual ones were just typical jack-o'-lantern faces. Just a few would have been enough but they were throughout. Very nice backdrop but thoroughly unimpressive. Secondly, they were craft pumpkins and while the carvings we're great they weren't the detailed pop culture ones. Just a few of these would have been enough to see, and I do mean 3!! But even if they were real it was the big displays that were amazing but very disappointing. I thought they were real parts of pumpkin shells that were carved and assembled in a rectangular frame but my family insisted they were fake. Either way the main rectangular displays while amazing if it were at my house, did not impress for a professional display and got boring one after the next very quickly. Wanted to give you and honest review and wish you all the best. $70 saved but wasted. Next year I will pay more for Blaze. Also if it isn't already posted on the site please let people know about the two parking lots. Displaying that on a few signs as you enter also would be...