FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
The RISE is short for RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns! A 1/3 mile walking trail filled with hand-carved illuminated Jack O'Lanterns in the gardens of one of Long Island's most treasured historic sites, Old Westbury Gardens!
The RISE returns for 17 nights in 2013! The dates include October 4-6, 11-13, 17-20, 24-27, November 1-3. Times vary per evening.
Tickets go on sale in August. Early-bird discount tickets will be available for folks on our email list. To sign up, add your email address here.
Hurricane Sandy Affected Ticket Holders: Folks who had tickets for October 28, 2012 and November 2-3, 2012 who submitted a request for vouchers for 2013 were sent their vouchers on May 15, 2013 via email. You must go to the website in the email to redeem your vouchers for actual tickets to 2013. Hurricane Sandy Vouchers will be redeemable for various times on October 4-6, 2013 while supplies last. It's important that you redeem your vouchers as soon as possible before tickets go on sale to the public in order to have the best chance of getting a date/time of your choice.
The RISE is more of an art show. It's not like a haunted house where scary things jump out at you or there may be graphic elements which are not suitable for young children. The RISE is a bunch of really cool hand-carved jack O'Lanterns lit up with some really great music behind them! We do have some music that we consider "eerie" but not "scary". It is Halloween you know! We think it's appropriate for children of all ages but only you can know if it's suitable for your child.
Tons of people! The RISE SOLD OUT in 2012!
All ticket sales are final. We do not offer refunds and we cannot exchange tickets for different dates or times. Sorry, we cannot make an exception for one person without making an exception for everyone. Our tickets are transferable so you can give them to your friends or family.
Because we are limited by the number of parking spaces and the amount of space on our trail, we are not able to sell additonal tickets for sold out time slots. Once the time slot is sold out, it's sold out. We are holding back a number of tickets in reserve for each time slot for visitors who have already purchased tickets for those time slots and need another ticket or two for a someone. If you have tickets for a date/time, log in to TheRISE.org, click the Tickets menu, choose your date and time, and you should be able to purchase 1 or more of the reserve tickets if there are any still available. We suggest that you do this asap because they will likely sell out. Any Reserved tickets that do not sell out within 48 hours before their date/time will be made available for purchase by the general public at that time.
We are also holding back a number of tickets for each timeslot for folks who wish to become new members of Old Westbury Gardens. These reserve tickets are only available for folks who would like to become new members of Old Westbury Gardens. Exisiting members can find early-bird discount tickets here: http://www.therise.org/owgmembersFAQ
The RISE is a rain or shine event. We do not offer refunds or exchanges. We do have the right to cancel or reschedule a night in the case of an extreme weather situation.
Only kids under 3 (2 years and under) come free.
Yes! When you purchase your tickets, be sure to select one of the free tickets for children under 3.
Yes! We pre-sell the tickets so we can limit the number of people who are on the trail at any given time. It's a safety thing. We will not be selling tickets at the door.
The RISE is an outdoor event in the gardens.
About 45 minutes to 1 hour! Once you get on the trail, you can stay up until 11pm. The trail is a little longer than 1/3 of a mile.
Some take a few minutes, others take up to 20 hours!
We don't! Each week we have to replace the deceased pumpkins with fresh ones. That's a lot of recarving!
We use literally TONS of real pumpkins to make our Jack O'Lanterns. We also use carvable foam pumpkins, called Funkins, as well because they last longer. All 5,000 of our Jack O'Lanterns are hand-carved by our talented staff of carvers.
We compost it all on site!
We do have some volunteer positions available Tuesday - Friday 8am-5pm in October. If you're interested, please fill out this contact us form.
You CANNOT just show up with your voucher. You need to redeem your voucher online for a ticket to The RISE. You should redeem ASAP because our timeslots are selling out quickly. Here's where you go to redeem your voucher:
Living Social: http://www.therise.org/LivingSocial
AmazonLocal: http://www.therise.org/AmazonLocal
Groupon: http://www.therise.org/groupon
We'll have refreshments and a small gift shop!
We may be able to provide a discount for groups of more than 15. Please contact us.
Sorry, tripods and monopods are not permitted at The RISE.
Yes. Just keep in mind that some of the trail is grass and some of it is an uneven slate surface so you'll need to decide based on the equipment you have.
We love pets, but we do not permit them at The RISE.
The Old Westbury Gardens pass that you can take out at your local library is not valid for The RISE.
Members of Old Westbury Gardens must purchase a ticket to The RISE. Old Westbury Gardens Members can get discount tickets at http://www.therise.org/owgmembersFAQ
You don't have to buy a separate pass for Old Westbury Gardens. You just need your RISE ticket.
Yes! Parking is free and we have a lot of it!
Yes! Take the Long Island Rail Road to Westbury Station, then a taxi to Old Westbury Gardens, 71 Old Westbury Road (approximately 2.5 miles from the station).