Ring up all of your jack-loving besties and find those pals obsessed with pumpkins: Two popular Orange County patches are making their debuts in the days just ahead.<\/p>\n
Both the Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch and Tanaka Farms open for the season on Sept. 12, with outdoorsy activities, autumn-inspired photo spots, and other diversions that tell us the season is almost here (if the toasty temperatures say otherwise).<\/p>\n
Tanaka Farms<\/a>, located in Irvine, will be open daily through Nov. 1. That is “weather-permitting,” of course, and admission begins at $23 for guests who are 3 and up.<\/p>\n Pumpkins are not included in the entry price, but if you’d like to leave with one or two or 20? They’re going for $1.39 per pound.<\/p>\n The animals of the Barnyard Educational Exhibit<\/a> are a delightful draw, as are the wagon rides, which are, oh yes, “unlimited” boy oh boy.<\/p>\n Important to know before you go? Weekend parking passes, beginning Friday afternoon, are required and available for purchase on the site.<\/p>\n Just a scoot and a hop and a 25-minute drive to the north is Irvine Park Railroad<\/a>, another patch-tastic place for families to fall-it-up over the next several weeks. <\/p>\n Reservations will be required on select weekends and cost $16-$22. <\/p>\n There are several free days coming up, with a bevy of free weekdays and a couple of free-entry weekends, including during the Great Pumpkin Weigh-off on Sept. 19.<\/p>\n There is a fee to park<\/a> at Irvine Regional Park; price information is on the attraction’s site.<\/p>\n Wholesome activities for the tots are available for purchase; think train rides, carnival games, and John Deere Racers.<\/p>\n And a one-day-only festival, an event that is free, is gracing the Bowers Museum<\/a> in Santa Ana on Sept. 13 starting at 11 a.m. and wrapping at 3 o’clock.<\/p>\n