This Sunday was the last day the Dinosaur corn maze was open at the Country Way Garden Center in Penfield. Luckily, me and my colleagues Caroline Tucker and Patrick Kelly were able to rise to the challenge last weekend. This was my first corn maze experience, and I was excited to put my navigation skills to the test despite dire warnings from our 11 o'clock producer (she was stuck in one at night at a young age and it took her three hours to get out. She continues to hate them to this day.)
So we paid the $10 admission fee, which I thought was very reasonable considering all of the activities (more on that later), and we went through an introduction to the various challenges in the maze, as well as the rules. "Repeat after me: I will not smoke in the corn!" a video proclaimed, and we repeated loudly. We were given our team flag, which was on a long pole in case they needed to send a search party after us, and headed to the entrance. Our first step: take a picture of the map at the beginning!
Our next strategy was to stay near the outer edge of the maze. It only worked for so long, and then we gave up on that idea. The ribbon not only guides you along the paths, it gives you an idea of where in the maze you are. The maze is divided up into a handful of color-coded sections, so in the picture above you can see we were in the white section. You can check your progress at several map stations hidden along the paths.
There are two additional challenges within the maze itself. In the word scramble game, you look for clue stations that will give you the answers to dinosaur trivia questions. Those answers then become part of a word scramble game to solve. We're at one of the trivia stations above, although I'll admit we did use our smartphones to look up some of the answers that we never found! The other game is a dinosaur rubbing challenge. In that one, you're looking for stations that have dinosaur etchings on the surface. You place your answer booklet on top and rub a crayon over the surface to produce images of different dinosaurs. We found about three quarters of those stations.
Several wrong turns eventually brought us back to the entrance, forcing us to turn around and try to guess where we went wrong. After going in a few circles, and seeing some familiar stations we had passed earlier, we finally got to a new section. And along with the uncharted territory came yet another challenge: mud! Parts of the field are lower than others, so despite not having rain for several days and most of the paths being dry, there were a couple of stretches that were rough going.
We finally reach an elevated bridge that provides two benefits: an aerial view, and an employee with a cheat sheet. We discover we're standing over the path that leads to the exit, but to get to it we need to go deeper into the maze. At this point we had already been walking for nearly two hours, so we swallowed our pride and decided to cheat. We traced out the correct route on a color-coded map, and wrote down all the turns on our answer sheet.
It turns out that the path to the exit started near the back of the maze. There was only one way to get on it, and once you were there was no way to mess up unless you turned around. On the home stretch, we finally passed under the bridge, and made our way out the exit. One of the fun parts of going through the maze is the tendency to develop rivals. We had entered at the same time as a mother and her sons, and bumped into each other on several occasions. We had a friendly rivalry going, but at some point they gained the upper-hand and beat us to the finish!
After the maze, the next stop was to ride the adult-sized trikes. Caroline and I raced around the track before she snapped this picture of me. We both had some near-miss tip overs, as it's hard to turn because your knees get in the way of the handlebar. Still, I was actually quite surprised how fast these things can move!
On the way over to the hayride, we passed the perfect alternative for our 11 o'clock producer! The mini-maze is a great option for the little ones, and for the faint of heart.
Once we reached the hayride, we were entertained by another attraction for the kids. This is a train of individual cars that look like cows that are pulled behind a tractor. The train zips around a separate track that weaves through the corn. The kids and the parents seemed to be having a blast.
The best part of the hayride was the chance to sit down and relax after a couple of hours walking through the maze.
Here we go! There was nothing scary about this ride, just a nice scenic trip around the farm.
Remember the mud I was telling you about? Yeah. Definitely will be wearing boots next year. Caroline, having been to these before, was the only one to plan ahead and wear appropriate footwear. Patrick and I would spend the next week picking dirt out of our treads.
It was neat to see the maze from the other side of the corn. We waved to several teams still inside. Although you can go through the maze at night with a flashlight, we were glad we opted for the mid-afternoon start. It turned out to be a much better choice than our original plan to go at four in the afternoon.
We couldn't resist one last bit of fun before calling it a day. Who could pass up the opportunity to have a duck race? I'm happy to report that I won the first round, but my luck ran out after that. At the end of the day, the $10 was well spent. We had about three hours of fun in the maze, on the trikes, enjoying the the hayride, and challenging one another to a duck race.
I would definitely recommend doing something like this, and for people of any age. Admission is less for kids, there are tables for picnics, and the owners even have an arrangement with a nearby pizzeria if you want to order one. There is a small concession stand, as well as pumpkins for sale. It's all a great way to enjoy a nice fall day. If you're interested for next year, be sure to bookmark the link provided below. I know I'll be going back, and maybe I'll even try the maze in the dark next time!
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