Plan on leaving any sort of grown-up attitude as soon as you drive-into a mid 19th century castle smack in the middle of Buena Park. Also, leave that fashionista frock at home...at this castle the audience wears the middle America staple of T-shirt, shorts, and the most casual of shoes.
Trust me, leaving who you are for a few hours of made-up fun just makes the whole experience that much more interesting.
Once you check in, even with tickets in hand, you are asked if you want to upgrade to better seats. Not sure what better seats look like, because our seats were literally third row up from the center and couldn't be better.
Immediately after the awkwardness of check-in (because, heck, we had tickets - no need to sell us on upgrades)- we were lined-up like school kids to get picked for each team: Yellow knight, blue knight, red knight...well, you get the idea. Not sure about the science behind all this, but I swear the middle-aged mom behind us screamed "I want the sexy Knight."
To add to the corniness and absolute over-the-type fantasy of it all, you can take pictures with the queen and king, get knighted for your birthday, buy a proclamation and a divy of dungeon and dragons inspired knick-knacks that can be found all.over.the.place, and this all happens BEFORE you get seated to watch the actual show.
My hubby and I opted to do the most grown-up thing: buy drinks to kill time before the show started; because unless you are there with kids (and everyone on this particular night seemed to be there with at least one kid), you will want to buy a drink to make light of the comedy of it all.
The margaritas, much needed after a few preteen screeches, were, not the best drinks ever, but my favorite part of the meal. -wink-wink- We even ponied up for the souvenir glasses in bright purple, because corniness, and they looked good in the light (don't judge), plus the bartender, which was the bestest, told us that for a few extra bucks we could refill as many times as we wanted before, during and after the show. Who are we to turn down a good deal?
Once the doors were opened, we were asked to walk in by the color of our crown. Trust me on this, five year olds are more organized.
Inside the arena the excitement hit us: We were going to see a show. A show with horses, and knights, and princesses, and we were going to get into the show, gosh darn it, and cheer for our knight. Yes, sir-e, the Margaritas had done their job.
The food was suited because of the theme of it all: I guess folks didn't have forks and knifes but had a puff pastry for dessert wa-ay back then, but I digress....
Medieval Times needs (NEEDS!) a section for a grownup happy hour with show option, because there is no need for the food.
Now, as for the show. It was SUPER cheesy, OVER acted, but VERY good.
Hubby and I actually got into the cheering, and even the single mom sitting next to me whistling at our knight didn't make me as uncomfortable as it should have because you are in the middle of one big cheese fest, and gosh darn it, it's super fun!
So if you haven't gone to Medieval Times, whether you have kids or not, I suggest that you make plans to go soon and celebrate a birthday, a Friday, or just life in general - because life is just that much more fun when you have a sexy knight fighting for you :)
Ana Lydia
