Yesterday I took my older 3 kiddos to Gardner Village’s WitchFest to do the “Ride to a Witch” activity.
I received complementary tickets for “Ride to a Witch” from Gardner Village over a week ago and was REALLY excited to take my kids out for a fun, different Halloween activity. However, I got less and less excited for it as the end of the month drew closer. I thought it probably wouldn’t be anything “that” special and I kept dreading dragging my small children through the swarms of people that always seem to be at Gardner Village this time of year.
Thank goodness I had told my kids about our tickets to “Ride to a Witch,” though, because they wouldn’t stop asking to go and yesterday morning was an absolute disaster of us trying to stall and not take them until next week due to having lots of other things going on. FINALLY, out of pure frustration I threw my hands in the air, hauled my kids in the car and we drove to Gardner Village.
I’M SO, SO, SO GLAD WE WENT!!!
After driving through the whole village to find parking, we ended up discovering a little parking lot reserved JUST for people doing the “Ride to a Witch” near where the ride starts (on the west side by the exit). It was like reaching the promised land! There was hardly anyone in the parking lot. So now when you go, you’ll know the best-kept secret of “Ride to a Witch.”
My hat goes off to the brilliant people who created this activity. Especially as a Branding Expert, I was THRILLED at how well Gardner Village understood and catered to their target market for “Ride to a Witch:” moms with younger children. While waiting to get our tickets, my kids could stand on bales of hay watching the pony rides (warning: be prepared ahead of time for how to answer your kids begging to go on a pony ride). After getting our tickets, we were directed to another area to wait for our turn on the ride. Again, Gardner Village got it right: the whole area was full of hay bales and rocks to jump and climb on. My kids happily played while I stood in line to hold our spot. Genius, Gardner Village!
Inside the waiting area there were lots of spots for photos, too. As a camera-happy mama, I loved this!
The “tickets” were hilarious. Each of us were given a little plastic bug.
“Ride to a Witch” takes you on a hayride to a “witch village” called, “Cricket Hollow Swamp.”
In the village, there are different stops to visit witches. The first was a witch who showed us her spooky home with all of her “delicious” potions and “snacks” (like little children’s ears, lol).
There were fun “witchy” things the kids could touch and even put on. I loved how hands-on it was. I didn’t have to be a frantic mess, worrying about my kids touching or breaking something. PHEW.
After this we went to meet another witch who was teaching us “witch disco.” The older kids were really having fun at this stop. My kids were feeling a little inhibited and were the wallflowers watching everyone else dance. The witches were cute about those who weren’t dancing though, saying things like, “oh, is this the part where we freeze?” trying to include them.
The witches costumes were awesome! They had so much detail and were really unique. All of the witches were really nice, too, allowing us to take photos randomly with them. Norah LOVED that (lol).
The part my kids have kept talking about though, was the witch who let them help make a spell. Each of the children there got to pick out a “magic bean” and then they all stood around the cauldron while helping the witch with her spell. My kids thought it was hilariously disgusting that so many crazy things were in the witches “brew.”
The whole experience was DARLING and SO worth the time and energy to take my kiddos there. “Ride to a Witch” costs $5 per person, which was a great deal for what a fun, safe, young-kid-friendly Halloween activity. I’d definitely take my kids again… in fact, as soon as we hopped off the hay ride to head home they were begging to go again. Now that I know what it involves, I’d love to be more prepared next time and strategically plan to go to “Ride to a Witch” when outdoor photography lighting is best (around twilight) and I’d bring my kids in their Halloween costumes so we could get some really fun, unique photos for Halloween.
Who knows, we may even end up heading back there this week before Halloween is over. Be sure to check GardnerVillage.com to know the dates and times so you can be sure to go when the “Ride to a Witch” is happening. It was SUCH a great activity and I highly recommend it. In fact, if I talk to you this week, you’ll probably hear me asking you if you’ve taken your kids yet to “Ride to a Witch.”
My friend took her kids who are ages 8 and 11 and they enjoyed it, too. It’s probably best for kids ages 2-10 (kids who are too young for haunted houses).
I’m very tempted to make Gardner Village’s “Ride to a Witch” one of our family’s yearly Halloween traditions.
