The spectacular walk through "Rise of the Jack O' Lanterns" is back in New York for 2014 and makes it's Los Angeles debut.  

Below you will find all of the info you need if you plan on attending in either LA or NY. But be sure to get tickets ASAP as this event does sell out. This event is sure to be fun for the whole family. 

Lighting up the night this October in Los Angeles is a unique all-ages nighttime Halloween extravaganza – RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns. More than 5,000 hand-carved jack o’lanterns created by professional artists and sculptors are arranged in artful displays throughout a 1/3-mile scenic trail within Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge (1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011). Set against a backdrop of the Rose Garden, spectators are invited to discover intricately carved images of favorite celebrities and sports figures as well as other large-scale displays based on popular themes. The entire family-friendly 45-minute stroll through the grounds is a multi-sensory experience that is sure to be a 
lasting annual family tradition. 

Tickets are available for advance purchase only at www.therise.org. Ticket prices vary from $18-28 depending on date and time. Discounts are available for kids 3-17 years of age and seniors 65 and older. Kids under 2 get in for free. 

The event is held for 23 nights beginning October 3 through November 2, 2014 during varying evening hours ranging from 5:30pm – 10:30pm. The RISE is a rain or shine event. Parking is available for free and refreshments and merchandise are available as well on site. The surface of the trail is stroller and wheelchair accessible. 
Some of the themes that will be featured at The RISE this year include: Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Kids Section featuring popular movie characters and child-friendly images, Sports Stars, Pop Culture such as the Kardashian sisters, Pre-Historic Dinosaurs, TV Shows such as The Big Bang Theory and Walking Dead, Wizard of Oz, and other popular iconic Halloween images. 

RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns’ first event was launched in Old Westbury, New York in 2012 on the grounds of Old Westbury Gardens set against the backdrop of a historic mansion. The RISE will once again be in Old Westbury and is introducing Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles as its newest venue. 

What is The RISE? 
RISE of the Jack O' Lanterns is a 45-minute walking trail filled with 5,000 hand-carved illuminated Jack O' Lanterns artfully displayed in the Rose Garden of Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles. The entire family-friendly stroll through the grounds is a multi-sensory experience that is sure to be a lasting annual family tradition. 

A little Bit More About The RISE 

• The RISE is an EXPERIENCE like NO other! 
  
• Family oriented… suitable for KIDS all ages from 1 to 101
  
• We SELL OUT every year 
  
• Tens of thousands of spectators experience THE RISE each year
  
• 21 unique, exciting themes/exhibits… Dinosaurs, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Big Bang Theory, Classic Horror Films, Outer Space, Video Games, and more!
  
• 1/3 mile walking trail that takes about 45 minutes to walk through
  
• Features the work of dozens of world-renowned and local artists 
  
• Refreshments Available 
  
• Free Parking
  

Lighting up the night once again this October on Long Island is a unique all-ages Halloween extravaganza – RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns!  More than 5,000 hand-carved jack o’lanterns created by professional artists and sculptors are arranged in artful displays throughout a 1/4-mile scenic trail. The entire family-friendly stroll is a multi-sensory experience that is sure to be a lasting annual family tradition.

Imagine seeing thousands of carved jack o’lanterns arranged within a variety of exciting themes.  Visitors will see a re-creation of the New York City Skyline, favorite sports stars from all of New York’s professional teams, amazingly carved images of famous TV stars, a giant graveyard made of jack o’lanterns, and a pre-historic arrangement of life-sized dinosaurs made entirely out of lit jack o’lanterns! The variety of themes are sure to impress visitors of all ages.

Tickets are available for advance purchase only at www.therise.org while supplies last.  Ticket prices vary from $18-28 depending on date and time. Discounts are available for kids 3-17 years of age and seniors 65 and older. Kids 2 and under get in for free.  The best time slots for The RISE sell out each year so it’s important to get your tickets early.

Below is a gallery of some of the great Jack O' Lanterns you will see during the event. All pictures courtesy of RISE. 

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Welcome to Part two of our review of Queen Mary's Dark Harbor. If you missed Part 1 of our coverage, click here. 

In part one of our update we walked you through the opening of the event, media night coverage, the all-new Encounters and the Freak Show. Today we are going to go through the mazes, which absolutely did not disappoint. 

We'll start off with the mazes on the ship. We are going to give two ratings for both, one for Thursday which was media night (and thus we were taking pictures) and one for Saturday when we were just there to enjoy the event as a member of the General Public. 

Submerged is one of the original mazes from Dark Harbor, and as far as I'm concerned, if it's not broke, don't fix it. 

The maze starts off in the "pool" which is apparently Haunted. A couple of pictures from our September Queen Harbor update to show you what we are talking about. 

Picture one 

And a second later, the same picture. Two people in our group have the same exact picture. 

So with that in our minds as we entered Submerged it just took it to an entirely different level. 

The first part of the maze doesn't really even need any props, it's spooky enough already. The pool room, creepy music and ghosts. 

Creepy dark hallways and monsters with the freedom to follow you through the entire maze. 

Submerged was quite simply the first maze this season to honestly "scare" me. While some other mazes have better effects, more talent or are equally creepy (Tooth Fairy at Haunt), this one really got to me. In a REALLY good way.  

B340 is one of the new mazes for 2014 and is based on one of the haunted rooms on the ship that something VERY bad apparently happened in. Again, the creepiness factor is here because you are on the ship. The maze has some very tight spots, some great talent and scenery, but probably needs some adjusting before next year. 

This is the room that made absolutely no sense to us. It was a bunch of foam that kind of looked like a brain, but it was never made clear what it was. It was cool to look at, just not sure how it fits into the maze. 

The rest of the maze had some great set pieces that really complemented the story well. 

Creepy

Soulmate is the 3rd and final maze on the ship and is also new for 2014. I really enjoyed this maze during our trips through, but for some reason I think it was better on Saturday. Maybe the talent was just finding their way. This has the potential to be as good as Submerged. 

The talent in the maze was really strong and exceptionally creepy. 

The maze ends at the most awesome Masquerade ball you'll ever see. 

This was the one maze that people had told me was the weak link of Dark Harbor, and I have to respectfully disagree. I thought it was pretty amazing. The talent in this maze was probably the best of the entire event, and you could tell they simply loved doing it. 

The haunted shipwreck theme is very well done and the nearby fire bombs add another cool element to the maze.

Lots of fog and even some sliders in this maze

Shipping containers create some great tunnels and enclosed spaces

The ONLY reason there is a lower rating on Saturday vs Thursday was due to the lack of fog in the tunnel below. It really creates an amazing finish to the maze. 

The end of the maze has the best tag-team scares we've seen at any haunt this year. 

These two guys are amazing, have a great time scaring people and we spent a good 20-30 minutes each night just watching them in action. 

Kudos to these two amazing scare-actors for their pre-planning and love for scaring people. We love that they get so much freedom at Dark Harbor. 

It seems that every haunt has clowns these days. So many people are afraid of them that I guess it makes sense. Just like zombies and vampires, I think it's time to move onto something else. 

However, Circus at Dark Harbor is just different enough to make it unique. First, it's not ALL Clowns and second, parts of it are an actual "maze" that the talent inside can move around to really confuse you. Overall it makes it very effective. 

Which way should we go? Hint, don't listen to the talent. Or do if you want to have fun. 

Beware the Ring Master

I thought this was pretty cool looking. 

Voodoo Village is the third new maze this year and our final maze at Dark Harbor. 

I feel that I need to explain the difference in ratings between Thursday and Saturday. When we walked through the maze on Thursday, there was a LOT of talent, they were on point and just really amazing. I was SO excited to go back through this maze on Saturday. 
Unfortunately when we went through on Saturday we only saw 2 or 3 people in the maze, and even worse we were just behind a group of EXTREMELY drunk and idiotic people. I know a lot of events like this don't sell alcohol (Universal as an example) and this was a prime example of why. It really took away from our enjoyment of the maze. 

All that said, the talent that is in the maze is great, and the setting is very cool. 

Lots of voodoo candles and a cool swamp scene

That's going to wrap it up for our Dark Harbor coverage. 

Overall, the event is phenomenal. Lots of great scares, different bands and talent that really is allowed to let loose make this a very unique event. It's definitely a must-see this year. We thought the mazes were very solid, maybe the best line-up of individual mazes we've seen this year. I got more scares at Queen Mary than at HHN, Knott's Scary Farm and Fright Fest combined. That's not to say those events aren't great (they are) but I just got more here. 

The way they regulate how few people go through the mazes is also great. Being pretty much alone through the mazes really insures a great walk-through. You won't find any haunted lines here. 

Be on the lookout for Living Social deals for the event. Our tickets for Saturday were only $12 and it is so worth it. Just be aware if you are going to go on a Friday or Saturday night you may want to upgrade to the Front of the Line pass for the mazes. Be sure to upgrade before going in as it also includes a shorter line for entry into the event. 

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We were invited out to Queen Mary's Dark Harbor last Thursday for their annual media night. Even as a huge fan of Haunt events, this was actually my first time attending the event even though I had planned on attending for quite a few years. This was the first year that circumstances beyond my control allowed me to attend. 



We enjoyed the event so much that we ended up back at Dark Harbor on Saturday night to just attend as "non-media". And there is a really good chance I'll end up back at Dark Harbor at least one more time this year. The event is THAT GOOD.

I know a lot of people don't really believe in Ghosts, or that the Queen Mary is actually haunted, but going through the mazes on the ship as well as Encounters really takes it to another level that can't be duplicated at other haunts. The addition of the 3 off-ship mazes that were as great as any other events mazes really make this a great well-rounded event that shouldn't be missed. 

We are going to have two updates for Dark Harbor, today we'll take a look at everything outside of the mazes, the "Freak Show" and the all-new addition for 2014, Encounters. On Wednesday we'll look at all of the mazes. 

As we arrived on Thursday, we headed to the media check-in. Unfortunately Fall has yet to descend on Southern California and last week was probably the hottest week all year. 

There was a nice reception set up for media as well as some entertainment and monsters out for us to enjoy prior to the event starting at 7pm. 

The monsters were out early for us, you can see how great the make-up is in the light. 

Insert "Gregg is too tall to ride this" joke here. 

The Rhythm Coffin opened up the festivities, just a really fun band playing awesome songs. 

The Ring Master welcomes us to Dark Harbor and introduces us to the stars of the show

Samuel Savage

Graceful Gale

And of course The Captain

What's an event without some awesome merchandise. 

Just before the event opened we were able to head into the ship and experience the all new for 2014 ... Encounters. 

Good!!! 

On to Encounters ... The experience is $15 and you do have to sign a waiver, which always means a fun time is about to be had .

Personally I thought the experience was great. As somebody who had never done Dark Harbor or even The Queen Mary it was a great "intro" to some of the great haunted places of the ship. 

There are also some "experiences" within those haunted places that play with your head, a LOT. I don't want to spoil anything, but it was very well done. 

Kind of hard to see, but the the Propeller room, which is supposed to be pretty haunted. Again, the experience plays up the actual haunted places in the ship very well. 

Each "Encounter" is hosted and we got "V" who was absolutely great. They do get away with some things during Encounters that you won't really see at any other event (language, etc) but overall we would recommend the experience. 
If you've done any of the Haunted tours on the Queen Harbor then it may not be anything new for you. But it's worth the extra $15 if you are a Dark Harbor virgin. 

If you'd like to do Encounters make sure you sign up early. 

At 7:00pm the gates opened and Dark Harbor began. 

The entry is kind of a Voodoo village which really sets the tone of the event. 

You can see the opening of the event and a walk-through of the entry area in the video below. 

Slider Alley is AMAZING. Check out our Instagram page for a short slider compilation we put together from Saturday night. 

Heading over to the Freak Show we are greeted by a 70ft fireball. It's VERY warm and can be felt throughout the entire event. Hopefully the weather will cool down before the end of October and it would be a welcome addition to the event. 

Heading to the Freak Show which is a $5 up-charge if you don't have the VIP entry. But it's SO worth it. Was probably one of the funnest things we did. 

Welcome to the show!! 

Interactive Skeleton was a LOT of fun. I did take a flash picture (below). We talked to him for a good 5 minutes since there really weren't a lot of people in the freak show. 

As it got darker you can see the great lights around the Voodoo village and the rest of the event. 

We'll have more from Dark Harbor on Wednesday as we walk through all of the mazes and share more about the event. 

In the meantime, make your plans to attend, you won't be disappointed. 

Click the link to find out more information about Queen Mary's Dark Harbor as well as ticket prices, dates, times and more. 

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