Heap's Giant Pumpkin Farm

Heap's Giant Pumpkin Farm in Minooka is a fall family stop on US Highway 52, with admission required for the playgrounds, animals, corn maze, and, on open days, hayrides and the u-pick patch. Play spots include Milo's Castle and pirate ship, the Heaps O' Fun straw and corn barn, a train station playground, Tire Mountain, a giant farm slide, and another playground. Pre-picked pumpkins, mums, straw, and corn stalks can be bought with no activity ticket. Evening tickets split into a flashlight maze, a haunted corn maze, and moonlight hayrides, with Heap's Home Cookin' on weekends and Columbus Day. Bring a flashlight only for the flashlight maze; the haunted maze does not allow them.

Our take: Come on a weekend or Columbus Day if the hayride matters, since weekdays are a walking path to the patch, and keep the flashlight for the flashlight maze only.