Stone Mountain Park Pumpkin Festival

Stone Mountain Park's Pumpkin Festival is the play-by-day, glow-by-night fall event at the Atlanta park, with storybook characters, a pie-eating contest hosted by the Mad Hatter, and a hay maze. Daytime also includes fairy-tale scenes, the Summit Skyride cable car, mini golf, a dinosaur trail of more than 20 life-sized figures, and the Happy Family 4D film. After dark the grounds add thousands of glowing lights, massive jack-o'-lanterns, a giant pumpkin tree lit by Cinderella, a Dino Glow walk, and themed storybook areas. The night ends with the Enchanted Glow-a-Long Parade and a fireworks finale on Memorial Lawn, plus a pumpkin drone and light show the park calls the world's largest. An attractions ticket or Mountain Membership covers the festival.

Our take: Ride the Summit Skyride before the festival grounds open, then stay for the parade and drone show on Memorial Lawn.