The entire family will love the Great Pumpkin Fest at Kings Dominion!
This post is sponsored by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company in conjunction with Blog Meets Brand, and I have been compensated for my participation. All opinions are my own.
It's not Halloween in our house until we've watched (and read!) It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. And this year we've had the chance to have an awesome day inspired by our favorite Peanuts characters thanks to our friends at Kings Dominion and the Great Pumpkin Fest! If you and your kids are Great Pumpkin fans too you don't want to miss this super fun event for the whole family.
The Great Pumpkin Fest at Kings Dominion
As soon as we stepped inside the gates I knew we were in for an awesome day. Even though I've been to Kings Dominion many times, I'd never been during the Halloween season. The park looked amazing and was all dressed up for Halloween, with skeletons peeking through windows and a giant spider greeting us from above. My boys were totally thrilled and ready for a Halloween adventure.
After a quick trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower we headed straight to Planet Snoopy to check out the Great Pumpkin Fest activities.
We already knew from our visit to Kings Dominion in May that Planet Snoopy was full of rides and attractions that my boys love. They couldn't wait to fly in Sally's Seaplane, take a spin in the Woodstock Whirlybirds, and of course ride the Great Pumpkin Coaster again. But the Great Pumpkin Fest had all of that and so much more to give them all the Halloween fun they could handle.
The first thing we did when we arrived at Planet Snoopy was check in at the Great Pumpkin Fest headquarters to pick up our treat bags and a map to help us find everything we wanted to do. The boys were measured for their color coded wristbands - this is a genius way that the folks at Kings Dominion help parents and kids know which rides are appropriate for each child. It's so much easier to just check your wristband color at each ride than to be measured every time.
And yes, even though my boys are twins they are about 2 inches apart and had different colors. But that didn't stop us from enjoying everything!
Next stop - a hug from Snoopy in his Halloween finest.
Then we headed to Franklin's Scarecrow Hollow. This is a super cute little maze that is sized perfectly for kids! It's not too scary (or big) so they could navigate it themselves. My boys loved this and stayed in here for quite a while. Perfect to burn off that excited energy!
Next we headed to Sally's Pumpkin Painting Patch. This was an awesome spot where the boys could choose a real pumpkin to decorate.
These weren't small pumpkins either! They were good sized and the boys had a blast picking their own pumpkin and decorating it with markers.
We made sure to check out the petting zoo, played some ghostly games, and took a spin around Van Pelt's Derby too. We also got to ride all our favorite rides on a picture perfect Fall day!
And of course, since my boys are dinosaur obsessed, we had to visit Dinosaurs Alive. We even got to take a break and dig for fossils!
Planning Your Day at the Great Pumpkin Fest
We had a pretty awesome day at the Great Pumpkin Fest - it was the perfect way to spend a Saturday and a day my boys won't soon forget! If you're thinking of checking it out, it's happening at Kings Dominion select weekends through October 29.If you're planning your trip, here are some helpful tips that made our day easier.
- If your kids are age 3-5 be sure to register for a FREE Pre-K pass before you go to the park. Your child will get free unlimited visits for the entire 2018 season and free admission to Dinosaurs Alive! Click here for details.
- Make the Great Pumpkin Fest Headquarters your first stop to get your treat bags and wristbands. The wristbands make going on the rides so much easier as you'll know which ones your child can ride solo. And you'll get a special map for the Great Pumpkin Fest activities.
- Head to Sally's Pumpkin Painting Patch towards the end of your visit. You get to take your pumpkins home with you and they get heavy after a while.
- We paid the extra $5 for preferred parking and it was totally worth it, especially after a long day with two very tired kids. We definitely were not up for a long walk to the car at that point.
- Download my free printable amusement park checklist before you go to make sure you bring everything you need for a day of fun! You can get it by clicking on the button below.
FREE
Check out all the great activities happening at the Great Pumpkin Fest at Kings Dominion this month! Click here to see it all and get your tickets today.