We had fun today with a visit to Stone Mountain for Pumpkinfest! We got there and checked into our hotel at around 4 or 4:30, and then pretty much immediately headed over to the park. The hotel was actually in the Stone Mountain Park, so we're right there. This was great for afterwards too.
Check out this pumpkin tree! You can see a lot in common here with the fall decorations at Dollywood. It's a fun walk through the Stone Mountain area, plus some shows and other things to do too.
The show projected on the huge granite wall of Stone Mountain was pretty awesome. It featured a lot of classic Halloween songs and television shows or movies - all kinds of stuff!
Plus fire and fireworks. We were so far back here, and it's crazy how far back you can feel that heat from the fire!
But here was the super cool part of the show tonight, a themed drone show that was just jaw-dropping. It featured plenty of Halloween imagery set to music, and was really really cool!
These were even animated somewhat, which is to say Frankenstein's monster here was actually moving forward. Pretty cool!
This was at the beginning. The parade floats were going across the field below. Later on we saw the train go by as well, but about those floats, they had all just come from the parade we saw moments before.
We had followed the parade out onto the field right after a small dance party. As for the parade, the three of us sat along the marketplace area and got to see the parade go by, and that was pretty cool. There were plenty of costumed characters, and these interesting floats as well, all lit up.
Before that, we were walking along and seeing all the pumpkins set up to tell various fantasyland stories like Cinderella or the Little Mermaid or the Front Prince. There were many different ones along the way, and of course all the different lights in the trees and elsewhere.
Ah, the time machine! We're going back in time for a bit, going to a time where dinosaurs roamed the earth, each one decorated with black lighting paint, guarding their colorful bright pumpkins.
This was - oddly enough - one of my favorite things tonight. I think it was just so weird that I loved it. It reminded me of a Tim Burton movie. Mom and I holding hands, walking through the dark trail, surrounded by growling, glowing dinosaurs. It was quieter here, I think, as the trail ws further away from the rest of the park. I'm actually really glad we came along this way, as it took a bit to get there.
Okay, this is no dinosaur. It's a mer-thing. We're in Neverland, or at least a small area dedicated to all things Neverland, and here's Maddie with Peter Pan.
Ah, and here's the dangling strings of light in the woods. I think it's called the Enchanted Woods. There were pumpkins in the woods as well as these lights and music too. We were listening to Beetlejuice on the way through here.
This pumpkin tree was pretty cool to the left, with projected singing pumpkins. Projected on the face of Stone Mountain there was Fairy Gourd-mother, who started the ceremony of lighting the pumpkin tree.
And that's when the storm warnings came - we were in serious trouble because of a PUMPKINADO! That's right a pumpkinado, a tornado made of pumpkins. These happen from time to time. The good part of this is that you wind up in Oz.
So all was well there in the merry old land of Oz. The idea here is just to walk around. There were shows and things to actually see too, of course. But the star of the evening were the actual decorations themselves, all orange and pumpkiny. Yes, "pumpkiny" is now an adjective.
Oh my gosh, and here's that super trippy area of Wonderland. Okay, this was cool. They gave us these glasses that make everything 3-D, and so these pictures won't do it justice. But we walked through this painted area, and it was pretty wild! Plus, we got to see some familiar faces like Absolem, and of course the Cheshire Cat too.
Curiouser and curiouser. There were a lot of different stories being told - with pumpkins - throughout the entire park. Like the tale of poor Violet Beauregarde!
We did stop to eat, and that worked out fine. Maddie had chicken strips and fries, while Mom and I shared a basket of fries and a sweet tea. The entire time there was this kid in his glowing costume, just sitting there in a chair, looking on.
Since that was next to the train, you know we rode that. My thing is that we always have to ride a train if we can. The last time Maddie and I rode this one, it was around Christmas time. Here, Mom and Maddie and I were riding the full train around Stone Mountain itself. You can see above a short story told with the Big Bad Wolf, who apparently isn't as bad as the stories make him out to be. For some odd reason, that's been a theme lately, with the GTA doing a play of the same story. It's not his fault, right? He's not all bad like we've been led to think? Anyway, it was cute, and the kids on the train were screaming out to him, which was fun!
The train ride was pleasant, and everything is cooler now. Mom was getting lots of compliments on her hat, and I was getting compliments on the jacket too.
Right next to the train depot is the mini-golf course, which tells the story of the Great Locomotive Chase as you go through eighteen holes of train-themed golf. We chose our Halloween names for the score card, David Pumpkins, Maddie Leota, and Zero.
There's that yellow brick road! It was a nice crisp, fall day today. The weather was sunny, and the crowds were initially pretty light. Things were spread out such that when we had our big show at then end with the projections and drones, that's when you realized there were actually a lot of people there. But initially, as you can see, we had a lot of places where there weren't as many people, and that was nice.
And the decorations were fun too. I mean, where else in this entire world - I challenge you to look anywhere, I tell you! - where else can you find a knight with a pumpkin for a head fending off an animated pachycephhlosaurus? The answer is nowhere, my friend. Nowhere but Stone Mountain!
So all in all, it was a fun experience for us! Traffic to get there through Atlanta was horrible, of course, and that's pretty much a given. But here's the great thing about our stay: we're spending the night in Stone Mountain Park. We didn't have that far to drive afterwards. Our room is nice and big, and we got back to it for a light snack, and some reading. But everyone was tired, so yeah, time for some sleep.
This morning I gave blood for some tests, and that went easily enough. We were also planning for our Christmas play with the preschoolers. More on that in a bit, but it will involve Mom and I this year. This is fine because thus far the only thing we're doing is the Christmas Spectacular, that massive event for mid-December. We'll be a little bit busy, or at least Mom will certainly be. But we're working on it now, so that's good. I've already been making music for this pre-school thing, and some of it should be fun!
Okay, time for some rest. But before we close out, here are a few pictures from Maddie's phone, many of which feature our friend Joey:
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