Life Goes On ...: Medieval Times

To celebrate our 12th Wedding Anniversary and the finishing of Rob’s 2nd year at the College we decide to go out for supper at Medieval Times. This is something we had wanted to try for some time and needed an excuse to do :) It was a nice evening out and we had a nice time, although both of us agreed that we were glad we got the tickets for a good price as we would not have felt it worthwhile at full price.

We really had no idea what to expect so in that sense I don’t know really what made us disappointed. I think we did expect more of the fighting, although it was neat to see some of the riding and footwork of the horses and skill of the riders. I think the biggest turn off for us was how they were in your face trying to sell you something the whole time. People spend a decent amount for a meal and entertainment and then to be bombarded by them trying to sell you pictures of yourself (they take a picture of you beside the King or Princess when you come in and then once your sitting try to sell it to you) or other types of souvenir items. They tell you to be there one to one and half hours early to get a good seat. We were there right when the doors open and we did not have a very greatest seat. They also try to get you to pay more to be able to sit closer to the front …. it is not how far forward you sit that makes a difference but where you are situated around the arena. The reason they want you to be there that early is again to try get you to spend money. So there you sit for over and hour and hopefully you will buy a few souvenirs at the various shops or spend money to go see the dungeon, or pay to have your picture taken while being knighted by the King … or best of all buy a few overpriced drinks! When people are in our faces trying to get us to spend more money then what we intended to it’s an immediate turnoff … it may work for many people, but for us it has the opposite effect.

The other thing that we didn’t like so much was the fact that you “have to” cheer the whole time. I say “have to” since nobody is making us, but if your section doesn’t cheer loud enough they keep standing there encouraging you to show your devotion to the your knight until you are loud enough. I’m trying to eat … not yell!! Sorry, I’m not much into the cheering and yelling thing. I was expecting to be able to sit and eat and watch a show.

I will say that the food was delicious. We were told there would be tons of food, but I would not say this was the case. There was adequate food and we were properly full when done (our good hearty dutch appetites were satisfied :… but another piece of garlic bread or spare ribs would have been nice as they were yummy! :) The lack of drink selections wasn’t all to impressive either (coke or water at supper and coffee only afterwards), but we did receive a response back after we filled in the feedback questionaire that other options should have been provided. And yes, you do have to eat it with your hands, no utensils are provided, but it is all food that is easy to eat by hand.

So if you decide to go to Medieval Times don’t worry about being there extremely early if you already booked online, be prepared to enter a touristy setting of trying to sell you souvenirs, warm up your voice for some yelling and cheering … and don’t pay more then half price :) Hopefully you have better luck hearing and understanding what was being said the entire time. Sometimes we couldn’t hear them properly and sometimes due to the accent we simply couldn’t understand.

Regardless Rob and I had an evening out with just the two of us, getting away, relaxing and enjoying each others company …. or at least sitting beside each other seeing as we couldn’t really hear each other talk much and we were busy yelling when we weren’t chewing :) So here’s some pictures:

12 years of marriage