The New York Boulders baseball stadium is transforming into Pumpkin World, a fall attraction for the whole family. There are hand-carved pumpkins, a scavenger hunt, music, and more. Find out all about it in this Pumpkin World review.
For more ways to make this the best holiday, check out all of our Halloween posts.
Pumpkin World is the newest Halloween-themed activity in Rockland County, New York. Over 5,000 hand-carved pumpkins line a half-mile walking trail at Clover Stadium, home of the New York Boulders.
Also on the grounds is the Pumpkin Village, filled with family-friendly activities.
Michelle took her family recently and reviewed it for us. Spoiler alert: It’s amazing and if you’re in the area, you need to take your family before it closes (on Halloween).
Pumpkin World Review
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Take it away, Michelle …
A few days ago, someone posted about tickets to Pumpkin World. This is the first time it’s being put on, so I checked out the Pumpkin World website to see if it was something my kids would enjoy. I saw that Pumpkin World is a walkthrough pumpkin patch with over 5,000 decorated pumpkins.
My kids love Halloween and I love adding to the fun by driving around looking at fun decorated houses, pumpkin picking, decorating, and whatever new stuff I can find, so I was excited for this experience.
You have to choose a time slot to visit Pumpkin World when you order your tickets. Time slots are from 6 pm to 9:30 pm, listed in half hour intervals. We decided to go during the week, so the 7 pm time slot was the perfect time for us. I wanted to make sure it was dark enough to enjoy the pumpkins, but not too late to mess up bedtimes.
I heard there are more food options and DJs on the weekend, so keep that in mind when you’re deciding on the best plan for your family.
My kids have been dying to wear their new Halloween costumes, so this was the perfect for them to do that. After dinner we dressed our 6-, 4- and almost 2-year-olds in their matching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes and off we went.
Pulling in the parking lot my kids were lit up with excitement. Once you arrive at the main gate you scan a QR code to sign a liability waiver for safety reasons, then pull up your tickets on your phone to be scanned, and you enter.
My kids would have ran in three different directions had we not brought my Wonderfold wagon, which easily holds all 3 of them. Bringing my wagon was helpful in carrying our snacks but also carting the tired children to the car afterwards. So definitely bring a wagon if you have one. It’ll make your experience so much easier.
A few steps in and I was hit with the wonderful smells of homemade lemonade, fried OREO cookies, and fried dough. You can’t bring in your own food or drinks, so I stopped right away to get the kids a snack because I figured once we started, they weren’t going to want to turn back. I purchased a lemonade and funnel cake for them. There is a beer garden and other places to purchase seasonal alcoholic drinks, if you’re 21+, so I grabbed an Arizona iced tea alcoholic drink.
While we waited for that our food, we saw was another sign to scan a QR code for an augmented reality scavenger hunt to find the Gourdies, which are animated pumpkin characters. This would have been fun for older kids but my kids were too eager to run around and see all the pumpkins on their own. Plus, since you have to use your phone for the scavenger hunt, they would have been enjoying the great pumpkin farm through a screen instead of with their eyes.
We walked around the entire pumpkin trail checking out all the different decorated jack o’lanterns. They were separated by theme and each theme had matching music playing.
We had so much fun seeing our favorite Disney and Marvel character jack-o-lanterns, but our favorite part was the Dinosaur section. The dinosaur section was spooky for my young children but still had fun. Some of the pumpkins were dinosaur shaped and others had dinosaur bones carved into them.
They’re not all just single pumpkins with a carving. There are huge stacks of pumpkins carved to look like life-sized Wizard of Oz characters. This would be something very cool to display at the Land Of Oz, since it takes place in September before Pumpkin World opens.
I kept thinking how incredibly talented the professionals that created those pumpkins were. It actually takes weeks for them to carve the pumpkins — which are actually made by Jack O’ Lantern Journey in Peekskill from molds from real pumpkins, so each pumpkin masterpiece will last more than seven years. There are also traditional pumpkins that are carved as well. You can actually purchase them and bring home for your doorstep.
There are plenty of photo ops throughout Pumpkin World. On the way out we stopped for most of them and watched the live pumpkin carving on the stage.
We saw people of all ages having a great time, including a group of adults, which I thought was a fun thing to do.
When we were leaving the experience, my 6-year-old asked where the candy was, so I explained this was not a candy Halloween event just the fun pumpkins. Despite, his no candy fate, this was still a great experience for him.
After, all my kids slept great. I definitely recommend going and look forward to adding it to our list in the following years.
Pumpkin World: Frequently Asked Questions
Pumpkin World is at Clover Stadium (1 Phil Tisi Way, Pomona, NY)
Pumpkin World is open September 29th to October 31st, 2023 on Thursdays to Sundays, and select Mondays and Wednesdays.
There is scheduled entry to the experience every 30 minutes starting at 6 pm (the last entry is 9:15 pm).
Access to the Pumpkin Trail starts at approximately 6:45 pm, but you can hang out in the main entrance area (with a interactive stage show, DJ, pumpkin decorating, Halloween trivia contests, and more) until the trail opens if you booked the earliest entry tickets.
Ticket prices are $24.75 for students, seniors, and military members and $27.50 for general admission. There is a discount for group tickets. Kids under 2 are free.
There’s also a VIP Flex Entry Admission option for $39.95, which includes a general admission ticket, skip-the-line privileges, and a $5 merchandise voucher.
Taxes and booking fees are additional.
The walkthrough portion takes about 45 minutes. Allot some additional time for the other activities on site.
Yes, it is.
There are clean bathrooms at the event.
There is plenty of parking in the Clover Stadium lot. Parking for the event is free.
Pumpkin World is a cashless event, so you’ll want to make sure to bring a credit card if you plan on purchasing any of the seasonal food items, light up necklaces and swords, or any of the pumpkins.
There are a bunch of amazing photo ops at Pumpkin World and you’re encouraged to take photos and videos. You are asked to turn off your flash, though, so you don’t distract the other guests.
Pumpkin World is a rain or shine event. The only reason it would close is severe weather (like really heavy rain) that would make the grounds unsafe or damages the infrastructure. In that event, tickets would be exchanged for another day.
More Family-Friendly Fall Attractions:
If you’re looking for more fall things to do that are near Pumpkin World, we have a few other attraction suggestions. There’s Stew Leonard’s Spook-tacular Halloween Drive Through, where you drive through and see Halloween inflatables. You can also get out of the car and check out the store itself, the food court, and the petting zoo area.
There’s also Sesame Place’s The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular, which has the characters dressed up in Halloween costumes and more fun for kids.
Don’t forget about Wild West City, which has a Haunted Wild West Fest all October and LEGOLAND New York, which has a Monster Bash in October.
Have you been to Pumpkin World in New York? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.