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US: Providence, RI – Over 5,000 Intricately Carved Pumpkins and Spooky Nights at the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular
A fall tradition at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, is the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, attracting more than 100,000 visitors for this truly “spectacular” event.
Don’t miss this year’s show that includes more than 5,000 intricately carved pumpkins featuring scenes of wizards, fairytales, and the luminaries of great myths and legends, alongside superheroes, and historical figures who changed the world. Revel in the sights and sounds of the season, and celebrate this otherworldly experience. This seasonal art show aims to delight and amaze the whole family, and not to scare anyone. – Tickets on-sale now
You can also experience the Soaring Eagle Zip Ride during the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular. From 115 feet above riders enjoy an aerial view of the park and admire the plethora of jack-o-lanterns from above. Get an eagles-eye view over Providence and into Narragansett Bay in comfortable side-by-side seats.
There are also a number of Special Events taking place which are included in the price of admission (with the exception of Spooky Zoo and Boo at the Zoo Family Overnight). Kids and adults are encouraged to wear costumes; masks are not permitted for teens/adults over age 12.
Children’s Fairy Tale Nights – Wed and Thurs, Oct 10th & 11th @ 5:30pm-8pm: Meet beloved children’s fairy tale characters. Take pictures with Peter Pan, Cinderella, Snow White, Robin Hood and favorite Dr. Seuss characters such as the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch. As the sun sets, find your favorite fairy tales characters intricately carved on the pumpkins.
Wizarding Nights – Wed and Thurs, Oct 17th & 18th @6pm-8pm:
Wizards and witches get your wands, mount your brooms and fly on over to meet some of the characters from J.K. Rowling’s beloved series. Before you embark on the pumpkin trail, try a butter beer or a chocolate frog. Then travel the pumpkin trail, and identify characters and scenes from the wizarding world.
Super Hero Nights – Wed and Thurs, Oct 24th & 25th @6pm-8pm:
Comic book fans might meet Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider Man, and the gang, take a photo, and find out how they all save the world. As the heroes go back out to fight evil, find your hero’s pumpkin on the pumpkin trail.
Spooky Zoo – Sat and Sun, Oct 27th & 28th:
Spooky Zoo is back, offering daytime outdoor autumn activities for the whole family. Come trick-or-treat (while supplies last) beginning at 10:30 am on the Treat Trail by the red wolf exhibit. Kids and adults will enjoy a packed schedule of seasonal activities. Activities are free with Zoo admission and all children 12 and under dressed in costume get in for half price.
Boo at the Zoo Family Overnight – Sat, Oct 20th and Sat, Oct 27th, 2018:
Snooze at the Zoo for the wildest family overnight adventure in town. The night begins with pizza and ice cream before educators engage you and your children in an owl pellet dissection, program animal encounters, and give you VIP access to the world famous Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular. Set up your sleeping bags in the Meller-Danforth Education Center with popcorn and a movie to snooze to. You’ll need your zzzzs before waking up with the animals. A light breakfast will be provided before a morning Zoo tour.
The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular takes place 7 days a week. Take advantage of Value Nights, Mon-Thurs, which will save you a bit of money and are usually less crowded.
Location: Roger Williams Park Zoo, 1000 Elmwood Ave, Providence, RI 02903
Dates: Oct 4 – Nov 4, 2018
Times: 6 – 11 p.m. (last admission at 10pm)
Tel: 401-785-3510
rwpzoo.org/plan-your-visit/events/jack-o-lantern-spectacular
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: goprovidence.com
US: Wilmington, DE – Become a Junior Paleontologist in a Dinosaur Maze
Dinosaur Revolution is a traveling exhibition staged at the Delaware Museum of Natural History. This is a creative learning experience within a maze setting. The interactive maze is mentally and physically engaging and offers a fun and hands-on way to explore the fascinating prehistoric world of dinosaurs.
Uncover the facts, fictions, and fossils of Dinosaur Revolution as visitors can experience reptilian role-play activities by LIVING LARGE. Undertake three Mesozoic Missions spanning 150 million years that dinosaurs ruled the Earth and mimic dinosaur behavior; become a junior paleontologist and find evidence of dinosaur doings while learning why dinosaurs are one of the most successful survivors in earth’s history; and unearth a shocking discovery: dinosaurs may not be extinct!
Dinosaur Revolution blends learning and play, inviting visitors to investigate all things dinosaur while challenging your knowledge, presenting new discoveries, and debunking popular myths.
Location: Delaware Museum of Natural History, 4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE 19807
Dates: until – May 29, 2017
Hours: Mon – Sat: 9:30 – 4:30pm, Sun: Noon – 4:30pm
Tel: 302-658-9111
delmnh.org/event/dinosaur-revolution
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: visitwilmingtonde.com
Cosmos Tour: Prague Vienna Budapest – Prague Astronomical Clock
Walking through the streets of Prague, you will come across the Astronomical Clock. Each hour, the wooden figures of apostles appear in the windows and some of the sculptures move. When the apostles finish their story, the golden rooster crows and shakes its wings, the bell rings and the clock chimes the hour.
An urban myth which went on for centuries was that when the Prague Councillors found out that the 15th century clock maker Hanus (Jan of Ruze) was going to make another clock, they became jealous and blinded him. However in 1961, the real artist was discovered in an old document which described the astronomical dial and says it was made by Mikulas of Kadan in 1410.
Cosmos Tour: Prague Vienna Budapest – Good King Wencelas
St Vitus Cathedral
In Prague we learned about Wenceslas I, or Svatý Václav in Czech, who was the duke of Bohemia from 921 until his assassination in 935, purportedly in a plot by his own brother, Boleslav the Cruel.
In the optional excursion of Medieval Prague, you get to see the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, the biggest and most important church in the Czech Republic. It’s located in Prague Castle and contains the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors as well as the St. Wenceslas Chapel.
Due to the popularity of some books which elevated Wenceslas I to a place of heroic goodness and resulted in his being elevated to sainthood, was posthumously declared king, and then became the patron saint of the Czech state. He is that one and only “Good King Wenceslas” of the popular song which is a Saint Stephen’s Day carol written in 1853. over 900 years after he lived.
His death in September 935 (or perhaps 929) was committed by a group of nobles allied with Wenceslas’ younger brother Boleslav. Boleslav invited Wenceslas to a feast, they quarreled, and 3 of his buddies murdered Wenceslas on his way to church. Boleslav thus succeeded him as the Duke of Bohemia.
Since 2000, the feast day of Saint Wenceslas (September 28) is a public holiday in the Czech Republic, celebrated as Czech Statehood Day.
On the Cosmos optional excursion, one is wowed by the grandeur of the St. Wenceslas Chapel in St. Vitus Cathedral where his relics are kept. The room, built between 1344 and 1364, has walls encrusted with over 1,300 semi-precious stones and paintings about the Passion of Christ. The upper part of the walls have paintings about the life of St Wenceslas, and in the middle is a Gothic statue of him.
The Crown of King Wenceslas
There is a small door with seven locks in the chapel, which leads to the Crown Chamber containing the Czech Crown Jewels, which are displayed to the public only once every (circa) eight years. Seven different people have seven keys.