Pumpkinville

Pumpkinville
19270 James Monroe Highway, Leesburg VA 20175
Leesburg, VA
(703) 433‑0002

Pumpkinville is more about a day of fun than about the pump­kins. If what you really want to do is just pick out a pump­kin then I rec­om­mend going some­place else, but if you are look­ing to indulge your chil­dren and pro­vide them with a big adven­ture then Pumpkinville might be the place.

I have been two years in a row (2006 & 2007) and will prob­a­bly con­tinue to attend annu­ally as long as we remain in the area and my kids are interested.

I love home­made, cre­ative or unusual play fea­tures, and they have some great ones: a tur­tle shell for the kids to climb in, a scream­ing bus, big white hay slides, an angled climb­ing wall into what appears to be a hand­made fort, buoys on ropes for swing­ing and more. Despite my rav­ing about all that fancy stuff my kids were taken with the older play ground area (has any­one else found a round about fea­ture in a Loudoun play­ground?), and would not have left the moon bounce fea­tures with­out encouragement.

Caveats

• I am sur­prised that they don’t require a lia­bil­ity waiver for lit­tle kids to play on some of this stuff…
• I have met par­ents who com­plain about the ani­mals nib­bling fin­gers while their kids were feed­ing them. The park seems to have responded to this con­cern by increas­ing sig­nage on how to safely feed the animals.
• A big over­stim­u­lat­ing day like this is a great place to see bad grown-up and kid behav­ior. Makes for some fun peo­ple watch­ing as long as you can let it roll!

Recommendations for an easy trip

• Since it attached to an ani­mal park/ pet­ting zoo… bring a lit­tle con­tainer of biodegrad­able soap or hand san­i­tizer along.
• There’s a lot of walk­ing on grassy hills so either avoid a stroller all together or bring a jogger/ all ter­rain stroller.
• Bees joined us for lunch both years — if you have a life threat­en­ing allergy you may want to keep this in mind.
• Stay hydrated and well fed.
• Dress for the weather.
• Take care of your­self so you don’t get cranky and mean.
• Leave before you and your kids hit your wall.