The Rise Of The Jack O’ Lanterns

It was a very nice time with my wife; the walk was very relaxing and the artistry they put into the carvings is very impressive. The park itself is beautiful and seeing it lit up by these Jack O’ Lanterns is a great experience.

Why does this have only a 3 star rating? I have to say that I really loved this exhibit… I took one star off because it’s really not worth the full price of $ 40 but i got a groupon and went for $ 18 which made it DEFINITELY worth the price. I loved the spooky feeling of walking through the Westbury Gardens late at nigh surrounded by glowing pumpkins — perfect start to fall!
This exhibit was both great for the family as well as romantic couples. the walk wasn’t too long or too short and the exhibits were so impressive. This could be for kids but there are lot of things for adults as well. I will definitely go again next year. My only tip is to skip spending money in the tent/​shop that you have to walk through to get into the exhibit. Also, because the shows got sold out so quickly this year (and you can’t buy at the door) I really recommend adding more dates if possible.
The staff really decorated every part of the park (even hanging strings of decorated pumpkins from the trees) and I don’t think that they could have done a better job. Amazing. Very Impressive.
Highly recommended.

I love the Old Westbury Gardens, and have been there a few times, yet hadn’t made it to the Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns.
I actually was volunteering to work a promotional event here, so I didn’t have too much time to walk through the tour, but got to before the doors opened (and it was’t completely dark yet).
The jack o’ lanterns are masterfully crafted, really wonderful work and go in between being ‘scary’ and pop culture reference.
My slight disappointment comes with how short the walk is. I was left wondering ‘that’s it’ when I came to the end. Ticket prices are a bit steep, so I would have expected a bit more.
It is still a fun seasonal activity.

This was a cute venue. But definitely not worth $ 26 a head though. It was an impressive event where you saw 100 pound pumpkins carved with different themes.
It is crowded with tons of oboxious kids being kids, but eh… they’re kids. As long as I got to see all of the pumpkins, I was okay with everything.
The site’s videos made it seem like it was a huge venue. But you can literally walk out of there in 20 minutes. I admired a lot of them and took my time. I was there for 45 minutes.
No flash photography, no pets, no selfie sticks are allowed for people’s safety. Yes, no flash! Firstly, the venue is meant to be in the dark. Secondly, when u flash, it will be hard to see for a few mins since all you’ll see are the flash remnants. No selfie sticks because again, it’s in the dark. You WILL poke someone with it. It was hard enough with people bumping into each other already.
If you have money for this, I’d at least go once.

Great event but would not pay full price per person. It’s good for families and friends. There was ample space to push a stroller through. I unfortunately did not have a chance to get a reduced price ticket either via Groupon or friend referral so paid full price.
There is ample parking at this event. When you purchase tickets for a time slot, you don’t have to come right at the starting time. You can come later. In fact, they emailed us saying to not come earlier than the time slot. There is a small tent with refreshments before starting the event. However, it was all sold out by the time we finished. I would recommend this event selling more refreshments and snacks as I would have definitely bought some. However refreshments and snacks seemed very limited. Would have loved maybe even a food truck there.
You walk through the path looking at the pumpkin creations the side. It is very similar to sitting in a car driving through Christmas light shows except with this you are walking through it. There were displays with safari animals. My favorite was the dinosaur display.
I heard that this event has 5000 pumpkins while Blaze in Westchester has 7000 pumpkins.

I feel totally disappointed and ripped off. First hint, during check in, zig zagging lines longer than at the airport. Literally hundreds of people pouring in by the half hour. The path is so crowded and people are rude, I was blinded twice by camera flashes (which are not allowed by the way). My kids could barely see anything unless you worked your way to the sides. It’s stressing and it lasts for about 20 min, then a silly ghost path to take you to the exit and thank you for coming.

This was my second time visiting The Rise and had a great time! The artwork carvings is so impressive. The staff is polite and helpful. There are refreshments souvenirs for the kids. Can’t wait til next year!

By far the best jack-​o-​lantern display in the Northeast.
The Yogi Berra pumpkin was nice to see.
The multi-​pumpkin displays are incredible with the detail. The safari exhibit was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The carving skill is off the charts impressive and makes me ashamed I have trouble with getting even triangle eyes on my pumpkin.
Don’t run through. It’s a display to observe, not pass by!

This was an absolute waste of time and money. For $ 30you get a 20 minute tour of some pumpkin carvings. It was over before you know it. You can see most of the pictures of this place online so you won’t be at all surprised when you get there. It is dark, you can’t see anything but the pumpkins.
Don’t be stupid and throw your money away at this farce. Its a complete money grab and you will regret going.

I really wanted to go this year but we scheduled our day on Friday October 2^nd and we had torrential rain that day. They said it was a rain or shine event so because we hadn’t received am email we assumed it was still on. We drove over an hour out of the way just to find the gates locked. No notice. Then they chose a rain date for the following Thursday. We booked ours on a FRIDAY because that’s a day that works with our schedule. They refused to give our money back or change the day. I’m so livid and I hope more people speak up because I know I’m not the only one in this situation. I don’t recommend giving these people your business because they’re thieves! They steal your money!

I absolutely love finding the simple joy of childhood! However, the drive leading up to this place scared the living crap out of me. My GPS got me completely lost and I ended up in the middle of nowhere and all you saw was pitch black (no joke, I had to high beam parts of the road). Luckily Google Map saved the day! I doubt I’d pay the full fare of $ 26 for admission, but Groupon gave me an amazing 50% off deal. The whole thing was about a 40 minute experience for me. We really took our time admiring what I call «a graveyard of Jack O’ Lanterns» and the entire walk of the place was probably 30 minutes long. Then we spent about 10 minutes outside snapping pictures! I would highly recommend staying longer at the beginning part of the tour (right before the ghost walk) and snap more pictures then. The ghost walk was ok. They play this creepy music in the background and I was terrified that something was going to pop out at me. After the ghost walk, you have the safari Jack O’ Lanterns but it wasn’t as cool as the earlier part where you have sponge bob, sports players, sesame street gangs, star wars/​star trek figures, minions, and more. I think this place is so creative and I’m glad I was able to come!

Amazing attraction!!! Family friendly. Just be aware of their returns and cancellation policy. It was a fight to get a postponement because of a hurricane warning… geez…

NOT Worth the money!!! Unless you cone here on a groupon deal, you will be so upset at what you paid for this place.
Yes it is beautifully done, great work, however it is very short 20 – 30 minutes tops. Everyone in line leaving had the exact same thing to say «that was it?» «its over?»
Youll likely spend more time driving there then actually seeing the pumpkins.
I really wanted to like this place and was excited and looking forward to it all week. However, it was disappointing. Wish it was longer.

This was soooo amazing!!! From the music to the pumpkins they hit the nail on the head!!! All the thought and craftsmanship that went into this, I will definitely be back next year. These negative reviews are so ridiculous. people like to find any reason to complain that truly are not valid. There were over 5000 pumpkins carved!!! I don’t realize people understand how long that takes. It was totally worth the $ 20 ticket price. Give me a break you angry Unilocalers let’s see if you could do anything so incredible.

Worst customer service ever! Event was postponed an hour before and with no contact number to inquire further details. Refused to refund me even when I explicitly stated that I am unavailable to attend other dates. You just lost a customer who had high hopes of visiting this place.

I was very impressed with the art of the carvings as well as the paintings. However I did drive from Westchester and I have to say it was not worth the drive. Drove 45 minutes over a bridge and took about 20 minutes to walk through. Also the amount you pay for what you get is a little much. Large families that go must pay a fortune for an event that lasts all of 20 – 30 min most. Will not return.

Fantastic experience. Walked through with my wife, brother, his girlfriend, and her kid. They had a great display throughout the different sections. I had never seen anything like this before. Very impressive how they were able to put together all the pumpkins to form different characters. Highly recommend it for a family to go out at a cheap price and enjoy something extremely creative.

People on here are such downers. Don’t listen to them. This is a fun, memorable, stunning experience and it’s well worth the cost. My friends and I have gone every year for the past three years; it’s become a tradition for us. These folks work so hard to put this show on and change the themes every year so it remains interesting and new. I can’t even imagine the work put into it (some people claim some of the pumpkins are foam; I have no idea if that’s true and to what extent, but even if that’s the case, it’s still an amazing thing to look at, so who cares?!) It’s such a great fall activity, and it’s a little spooky because it’s in the middle of the woods. It’s worth checking out at least once. They usually have coupons and pre-​sales so you can get a good price.

Despite the bad reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed this place. It probably takes about half an hour to see everything but I took my time and walked back and forth several times to actually try to admire the pumpkins. It’s quite amazing what people can do. They have very unique pumpkins. They also have different sections ranging from sports, Disney, horror to sea animals.
The only downside is that it’s super crowded and since it’s also dark, you have to be careful and not bump into people.
There is a tent that also sells glow sticks, apple cider and apple cider donuts! Of course, I got a bag of apple cider donuts!

The Old Westbury Gardens is a spectacular venue to have a lights show. To me, I give the rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns 3 stars not because its okay but I felt like they needed to add more to the exhibit because it didnt have too much variety in it. BUT, as for the carvings, displays and artwork, 5 stars. The set up was executed through different themes. The Halloween theme, the scary movies, video games, dinosaurs, disney princesses, underwater theme, a memorial for famous people who have passed on and from time to time lovely carvings of random things here and then.
The cravings are amazing. The details are so precise and the placement of how they use the area was used to the fullest extent. Outside the exhibit is a place where you can buy several items that are halloween themed. Pastries, mask, coffee, toys, exhibits. It was a fun event. I love music and art so for me, I enjoyed these exhibit.