September 24, 2013

Vala’s Pumpkin Patch offers fun for all ages

Looking for the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?

Well, you won’t find him at Vala’s Pumpkin Patch. But, you will find tons of fun, gobs of food and, yes, pumpkins.

Vala’s, sits between Omaha and Gretna on 180th Street just south of Highway 370. The nearly 30-year-old pumpkin farm kicked off its 2013 fall season Sept. 19th. The pumpkin patch will open just past Halloween.

Thousands of people flock to the pumpkin patch. The Omaha area has several other pumpkin patches, but Vala’s seems to do it bigger and better annually.

The neat thing about Vala’s is that it caters to all types of folks. Of course, its primary clientele is families with small children. However, there are attractions for everyone – from toddlers to teens to older people without children. It could be a fun date night place.

Our family falls into the last group. Our children are adults. So, Lisa and I usually enjoy spending time there with nieces and nephews, who fit the younger demographics of Vala’s. However, on our first trip to Vala’s this season, our eldest daughter joined us. Our younger daughter plans a trip this season with a couple of friends, as well.

As I mentioned earlier, Vala’s offers tons of fun for people. There are rides geared for young kids, such as the corn stalk cars. These are small push cars that kids 8 and younger can sit in and scoot around.

A fairy tale trail welcomes families to check out some of the tales – Hansel and Gretel at the witch’s house, Humpty Dumpty and Hickory Dickory Dock. Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage offers people the chance to pose for pictures.

Since we didn’t have small children with us, we focused on the other attractions.

Near the entrance is a skeleton in a broken down truck. Scary!!!!!

The three of us enjoyed a round of miniature golf in the Graveyard Golf course. The attraction is pretty nice. There are several putting holes for people to try out. It’s set up as a glow-in-the-dark golf. Skulls line the wall, along with other scary items.

Who doesn’t love a good pig race? We watched three races, with competitors bearing names such as Grunter Hayes, Miranda Hambert, Pig Skywalker and Obe Won Pignobe. A new addition was a duck race, featuring a duck named Duck Rogers. Love the take on the celebrity and character names.

A family favorite is the hayrack ride. Our daughter really looked forward to it. It was different this trip, as we went farther into the pumpkin patch. The farm has about 55 acres set aside for raising pumpkins, so apparently they took us about as far out as we could go.

Not everyone got off the wagon when we arrived at the pumpkin patch. Some folks just wanted to take the ride. We walked around, looking at the different sizes of pumpkins. None of us was ready to get a pumpkin this early in the season. We’ll get some closer to Halloween.

After the hayrack ride, we headed to the corn maze. That was fun! We usually go to Vala’s later in the season, so a lot of the corn stalks have dried and fallen over. This time, we had plenty of corn stalks to roam through.

We visited the haunted house. It is aimed at scaring young children, but it was still fun to go through. The characters and attractions inside the house are fun to see. It’s great to hear the screams and shrieks of kids when they see these things.

Outside the haunted house is a haunted trail. Headstones have humorous names, such as “Trust Me.”

We checked out the pumpkin-smashing dragon. The host leads a sketch with a comic exchange between her and dragon. It ends with the dragon being fed some pumpkins and smashing them on a tree stump.

A family favorite are the petting corrals located throughout the farm. The corrals have sheep and goats. The petting zoo has goats, a steer, and other animals.

As for food and treats, there are a plenty! There are food concession stands located throughout the pumpkin patch. A variety of lunch and dinner items are available.

Snacks and sweets run amok at Vala’s. Apple cider donuts were our guilty pleasure. Kettle corn is available. Dessert items, such as pumpkin cake, cupcakes and other sweets line a counter at the bakery in the pumpkin weighing station (the main building for exit).

In addition to the main farm area, there are fee-based attractions, including the Pumpkin Creek Train Ride, pony rides, and candle making.

The pumpkin patch has spots available for campfires. Families and some businesses will have cookouts at Vala’s.

Vala’s works to keeps its position as the top pumpkin patch in the Metro area by improving existing attractions, as well as adding new ones. New this year are the Big Slide and Black Lite Haunted Paintball Shoot.

The pumpkin patch has added new party barns available for rent for group functions.

As the fall season kicks in and you are looking for a fun thing to do or a neat place to go, head out to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch. You’ll have a great time.

For a full list of things to do at Vala’s, check out the website at www.valaspumpkinpatch.com.