Pumpkin Patches, Haunted Houses & Halloween Activities for Kids in Florida

While Florida may not have spectacular displays of fall color and the autumn nights lack that spooky chill in the air, there are still plenty of activities for families to celebrate the Halloween season. You can pick out your own jack-o-lantern at a pumpkin patch, go on a hayride, visit a not-so-spooky haunted house, see what goes "boo!" at the zoo or even attend a Halloween party hosted by Mickey Mouse himself.

  1. Pumpkin Patches

    • Pick your pumpkin right of the vine at the Pickin' Patch (dunnellonpumpkinpatch.com) in Dunellon. This family-owned farm also offers hayrides, hay forts and a corn maze just for kids. The Painted Oaks Academy (paintedoaksacademy.com) riding school in Orlando puts on a Pumpkins and Ponies festival every year, with pony rides, hayrides, face painting, pumpkin painting, games and crafts, and they have a patch where you can pick out a pumpkin to take home.

    Haunted Houses

    • Every year the Miami Children's Museum (miamichildrensmuseum.org) hosts the Not So Scary Family Halloween Bash, which allows kids to dress up and trick-or-treat throughout the museum's galleries, as well as exploring a family-friendly haunted house. Fort Taylor Zachary Taylor (floridastateparks.org/forttaylor) in Key West offers a haunted fort with ghostly reenactors creating spooky scenes from its Civil War history, but on Kids Day, there is a toned-down version, which won't scare the little ones.

    Zoo Boos

    • The Central Florida Zoo (centralfloridazoo.org) in Sanford throws an annual ZOO Boo Bash, which is meant to be fun and not-too-scary for even the youngest zoo visitors. Trick-or-treat stations, a costume contest and a haunted hayride are among the attractions. Spooktacular at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens (jacksonvillezoo.org) also offers trick-or-treating and kid-friendly Halloween fun and games, but it has something for older kids, too, with "scare zones" for children ages 10 and up.

    Amusement Park Halloween Celebrations

    • At Walt Disney World (disneyworld.disney.go.com) in Orlando, the world's most famous mouse plays host at his own Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, featuring a Halloween Parade, fireworks at the Haunted Mansion, and trick-or-treating throughout the Magic Kingdom. Legoland Florida (florida.legoland.com) also gets into the Halloween spirit with its Brick-or-Treat event, offering a costume contest, a dance party, the world's largest LEGO jack-o-lantern, and of course "brick-or-treating" for tasty treats and fun surprises.

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