Medieval Times ~ food, horses, Knights, swords, jousting, torture museum ~ something for everyone!!
by - Written: Jan 20 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun show with decent food and a vegetarian option.
Cons: Extra cost for pictures, flags and the torture museum.
The Bottom Line: The Medieval Times is a great place to spend an evening with your family and/or friends! You can even get knighted like I did!
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| 2buzy's Full Review: Medieval Times |
The MEDIEVAL TIMES show and dinner is a great family outing! We went while we were in Orlando and the whole family ~~ from toddler to adult ~~ had a terrific time.
TICKETS ~~ PRICES and BUYING THEM ONLINE
The regular ticket price is $47.08 for adults and children 12 and over and $29.96 for children 11 and under. I bought our tickets online through floridaorlandotickets.net for $32.00 and $24.00 which was nice as I had to buy seven tickets! I will write a separate epinion on their service if I can ever find a place to submit it under.
We had the choice of an 8:30 or 6:30 (only on the weekends) and chose a 6:30 Saturday show so we’d be able to get the younger ones back to the hotel by bedtime. I was told they open at 5:30 and advised to arrive early if we wanted to look around.
BEFORE THE SHOW
We got to MEDIEVAL TIMES about 45 minutes before the show. There was a small line but we were checked in fast. They took our tickets and asked if we wanted to move to one of the front three rows for an extra $5.00. I am not even sure if that was per guest or per family as we declined and asked to be sat toward the top to be a bit farther from the noise as not to scare our youngest.
We were given seven yellow crowns and a card with our table assignment on it. Yellow was a good, “safe” color, as we had one that wanted black, one that wanted red and one that wanted blue!!
We were directed to this area where you were told to stand, one by one and face the camera. You need to hold up the little ones ~~ their picture is still separate, but they need to be held to be “high” enough for the shot. After the pictures were taken, we were free to roam around until we were called to sit down.
THE GROUNDS
There are several little out buildings you could go in and explore. They were divided into different area like the workshop area where we saw them actually working on things using the same techniques used in medieval times, a kitchen where they were spinning, a barn area etc.
But there was one area I am still hearing about ~~ the torture museum! This area cost an extra $2.00 per person to go and view and we had 3 that just HAD to go and see it! I passed but am still hearing about (and even got to see pictures when our film came back) all the different techniques used and EXACTLY how they worked!
Outside they had an area where they were raising geese and a couple of knights were walking around with a falcon from the show. They were more than willing to pose for pictures and talk about the birds to all those who asked. We were making our way back to the craft shop, when I heard my name over the speaker to head back and see the King! Oh, this was a bit alarming!
THE KNIGHTING
We make our way inside and a knight ask me if my name was called. I tell him, yes, and he asks me to follow him! I look first at my family and as soon as I see their way too smiley faces, I start searching for the nearest EXIT! But before I can locate one, I am called through the crowd and up to the King and Queen who are standing by their thrones. It is then announced that my birthday is on Dec. 25 and that I am to be “knighted” right then and there! Before I can run, they throw this heavy red cape over my shoulders and have me knee down! The King (who looked a lot like Santa Claus) takes out his sword and precedes to give this little speech (insert name and occasion here) “knighting me as he goes from shoulder to shoulder with his sword. Meanwhile, I can barely see as they FLASH 2 shots of me and my family (who found great joy in all of this) were all snapping away too!
After the “ceremony” the King takes my hand, helps me up (LOL) and announces me to the crowd as LADY Kristy. A worker takes me to the side (and the next poor victim is called up) and asks me what I would like as my gift. I had the choice of a sword, 2 tall golden goblets or a princess hat. My children’s choice and MY airport security nightmare was (of course) the sword! I went with the golden goblets and the guy gave me four instead of the normal two “for being such a good sport”!
As we are eating, they bring me up an 8x10 picture of my being knighted along with a scroll (all filled in with my name, birthrate, etc) signed by the King to remember it by. I find out later that my family had set this up after reading about it and that the cost was $30. They also announce your name before the show and everyone in your color cheers and the knight throws you a rose. All in all, my family got their money’s worth in giggles alone!
THE FOOD
Before we are called in, we purchase some of the little yellow flags ($1.00 each) and a couple of the larger ($4.00 each) ones to wave during the tournament.
We are led in and we are on the top ~~ the last two rows behind us are empty. This is a sign of the lower tourist numbers as they usually sell out on all the shows.
Everything is served Middle Ages style ~~ on pewter dishes and pre- silverware fashion. This was of course a delight for my son who didn’t have to hear one time about keeping his hands out of his food!
As soon as we were seated, the waiter came by and asked if we wanted Pepsi or beer. Now faced with five kids and these choices….
I asked if we could have some water also and they came out with 2 pitchers full, which they left with us. This was great because after one glass of Pepsi, I switched the kids to water so I’d be able to get them to sleep before 2 AM!
Next came the food and there was a lot of food! The soup was a vegetable beef, filled with lots and lots of vegetables and it was served first. Next came our plates, which had a ½ of a chicken, 4 spare ribs, broiled potatoes and 2 big pieces of garlic bread. Dessert was hot apple and cherry turnovers.
Now, two of us don’t eat meat and so instead, we got a plate with a vegetable pasta dish, rice and steam vegetables and even better, a fork!!
While we were eating, they came out with our photos they had taken when we came in. They had taken our faces and put the on the bodies of Princesses for the younger ones, queens for the older ones and shirt-less muscled knights for the guys! These were hilarious and of course you get sucked into buying them! They are $8 each or $40 for all seven.
One note here ~~ my son took one look at his and his Dad’s pictures and said “these are ROMANS, what were they thinking?” but even with an 11 year old to point that out, I still bought them!
THE SHOW
Before the actual show starts, we were shown the animals used in the show. They had some wonderful horsemanship and some great dives by the falcon.
They then introduced the six knights and everyone cheered and yelled for theirs. They start out by doing some accuracy feats while riding and were rewarded a flower for every one they hit. They then in turn, throw them up to “their” cheering sections. This continued for awhile (fortunately long enough for all my girls to catch one) and then the jousting tournament begin!
They announce that the battles will “be to the end” and suddenly I realize our knight could be removed in the very first battle! Not to worry, the brave yellow knight wins his first match and we all cheer and yell at his victory!
The next two come out and they end up killing each other! Glad we didn’t get one of those two colors! The last two battle and the Black knight wins.
So, now it is down to two ~~ black and yellow. After getting knocked off his horse the yellow knight strikes at the black knight as he rides by, causing him to fall also. Now they have a sword fight until finally the yellow knight falls to the ground and the Black knight wins. Although we didn’t get to have the winning knight, I was grateful he didn’t get out in the first match, after all we had bought all those flags!!
Just when the Black Knight is accepting his cheers, out comes a Knight (the other King’s son) from another kingdom to fight a battle with the winner. This goes on both from their horses and from the ground with the Black Knight (shock, shock) winning. While this is happening, a person comes up and asks me if my 8-year-old daughter could be the knights’ choice for a princess. She of course was nearly jumping out of her seat with excitement!
They took her down to the front and when the Black Knight had won they announced he would know pick a princess and he rode his horse around the ring a couple of times and stopped in front of my daughter. She then got to go up with the King and Queen and sit in her own throne, after waving and throwing kisses to the crowd! She was very thrilled and they gave her flowers and a crown to take home!
She was lucky because they usually choose a child from the “winning” section but there were only very young (or teenagers) girls in the black section so they searched one out of the 2nd place section. It was an added bonus to a great show!
Recommended:
Yes
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