What is Jack-O-Lantern Junction?

When first time Halloween season visitors arrive at our ticket window, and we offer them our combo ticket allowing them admission to Jack-O-Lantern Junction, they often ask us, "What is Jack-O-Lantern Junction?" This week's post is an attempt to answer that question as thoroughly as I can.

Here at EnterTRAINment Junction, we have two big attractions for the amusement of our guests. The main attraction is the EnterTRAINment Journey, which is our train display, kid's play area, and railroading museum. (Look for an in-depth post asking, "What is the EnterTRAINment Journey" in the coming weeks...) The other attraction we offer changes with the seasons. For that reason we refer to it as our Seasonal Journey. During the Halloween season, from roughly the middle of September to the beginning of November, the Seasonal Journey becomes Jack-O-Lantern Junction by day, and Junction Nightmare by night, on the weekends. (Look for "What is Junction Nightmare?" next week, or later this week!)

Junction Nightmare is a full-fledged, terrifying haunted walk-through, complete with actors, dramatic lighting, intense sound effects, automated scares, and much more. It is intended for teenagers and adults, and as you can imagine, would not be the friendliest environment for young children. So during the daylight hours, the lights are turned on, the scary details are covered up, fun children's music is played, and the candy is set out. Jack-O-Lantern Junction allows our youngest guests of all to enjoy the fun of Halloween, without the scary monsters, lights, or sound effects.


When you first enter Jack-O-Lantern Junction, you are invited to take one of our trick-or-treat goodie bags. As you walk through the attraction, you will come to various stations where candy is set out, waiting to be enjoyed by children of any age.


In the middle of all of it is a place where the kids, or adults, can sit and do some coloring on one of our coloring sheets, or they can take some home with them to work on later.



And of course, as I said earlier, everything scary is covered up, and the theme for the whole walk through is very fun and whimsical.



And after you get through the first half where the candy and fun decorations are, you go one through the second half of our Seasonal Journey, which for now is the same as our summertime Funhouse Junction, including the mirror maze, vortex tunnel, chain-link maze, curtain maze, and more!



And that's a little taste of Jack-O-Lantern Junction! Jack-O-Lantern Junction operates from 11am to 5pm everyday. So bring the little ones and come on out for some old fashioned, silly, Halloween fun!

Remember to check back here every week for all sorts of topics of interest. Next will be an in-depth exploration of Junction Nightmare! Look for that before the end of the week, but for subsequent updates to happen somewhere around the middle of the week. Some ideas I have lined up for future blog posts include a profile of our president and owner, a look at John Mackay's Mighty Small Circus, currently on display here at EnterTRAINment Junction, and a sneak peak into our new hobby shop!

Let me what you think, and we all look forward to seeing you here soon!