Last Updated on November 1, 2022 by Suzy McCullough
I will start this by saying that all my reviews are honest. In this instance, I am writing a blog review about our experience at the Medieval Times Dinner Show in Orlando, Florida in a lot more detail than most reviews go into.
It’s obvious not everyone has had a great experience but not everyone states why! It’s hard to read a truly honest review about this place unless it’s on TripAdvisor. I would love to say that this is one for your bucket list but we have seen much better shows.
Our visit to the Medieval Times Dinner Show in Orlando, Florida wasn’t particularly planned. It is located on West Vine Street in Kissimmee, which it turned out was near to where we were staying. We drove past it quite a lot of times on the way to Wal-Mart or back from the Disney parks.
My husband suggested one day that we book tickets for the following evening. Due to our son being ill earlier in the week, we had to change some of our Disney plans and as he had been fishing we hadn’t seen much of him over the days previous. So I jumped at the chance to book as our son loves jousting and we needed some time together. Sadly my husband ended up leaving before the show started! I will explain more at the end of my review.
The Medieval ‘Banquet’ – About Medieval Times
Included is what they state it to be, a four-course medieval banquet. I only counted three courses and I checked the website to see if we were missing anything and we weren’t.
Medieval Times Orlando Menu
To start we were served some garlic bread with a bowl of soup. As there is no cutlery apparently in medieval times there was no cutlery available. This is actually incorrect information and it was a bit of a shame for my four-year-old as he struggled to drink from the soup bowl and there was no way I was letting him rip meat off half a chicken without first checking for bones. Which I couldn’t do easily as it was so dark in there.
It was all a bit stressful for me sorting his food out. We were also given an overcooked corn on the cob and herb-basted potato. It was all very dry and disappointing, especially after reading such rave reviews.
There was a vegetarian option of rice and beans.
Dessert was a slice of cake which luckily provided our son with some food he wanted to eat.
The Entertainment – Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, Orlando
You are given a coloured crown of which there are four different colours. This is your designated team to cheer on during the tournament. We were cheering on the greens.
The entertainment was action-packed and there was always plenty to see and join in with. The jousting was a little disappointing from the perspective of someone who has seen jousting in the UK. The knights were dressed well and certainly looked authentic.
The arena is quite large and at times it was difficult to see the action properly. I can imagine that this is when it would pay to have front-row seats. They had a beautiful horse display and we especially loved the fighting with swords. If you cheer and wave your hands about enough you may even be thrown a flower. I can’t tell you how desperate my son was to catch one! He loved joining in and cheering the greens on.
Here are some photos from the show itself.
The disappointing thing is that you feel that there is always someone walking in front of you. Either a server or one of the members of staff trying to sell you something. No member of staff ever came to ask if I actually wanted to buy any drinks (see end of post!).
They even have someone taking a photo of you, they then try to sell you the photo they took from when you arrived and then later on the one they’ve just taken. There were glowing toys including flowers and they even tried it on for gratuity at the end which really should have been included.
Important Information
Included in your ticket is a three-course meal (the website states four courses in reality it’s three!) and two soft drinks (Coke, water, lemonade). There is also coffee at the end of the meal. If you want a reasonably decent seat you are advised to get there early. However, with plenty of room to spare, we were only given the choice of one bench. Children under 3 are free if they sit on your lap and share your food.
There are other pricing options where you can get VIP seating, a cheering banner, a group photo, a VIP lanyard and more.
So what went wrong?
As we were so close by we left it relatively late to arrive but not too late so that we’d not be seated before the start. As it turned out everyone had been seated very early and we were one of the last to arrive. It annoyed us a little that they immediately started to boss us about. We asked if we could buy drinks at the bar and they demanded that we sit down and we could buy drinks then or enjoy the coke or water included with the meal.
We arrived in the arena to a stink of urine. There were toilets on this floor but they seemed to be a suitable distance away. They really stunk though. We took our seats and patiently waited for someone to take our drinks order.
I think we must have asked on about 6 occasions and each time we were told the bar staff members were close and coming. In the meantime, they tried to sell us every tourist trap product under the sun. We knew this was going to happen so we weren’t shocked. It was just frustrating when all you want to do is order some drinks.
Frustrated I headed on down to the bar where a server basically refused to serve me, a 41-year-old woman, any wine because I didn’t have any ID. Now I know Florida has rules about ID but we had ordered wine on and off-site at Disney etc. and never once been asked. Plus I’d been told that you don’t need to show ID if you are over 40.
My husband couldn’t believe it and asked if he could also buy wine (he’s 48). Again no. I mean really! She was so rude about it as well. He was so frustrated he asked for his money back on his ticket. Which we never received even though they insisted they’d refunded us. No money ever reached our account. I stayed with my son for the duration as it would have upset him to leave. I spoke to another staff member on the way out who stated that they wouldn’t have insisted on ID!
It all left us feeling very disappointed and bitter about the whole experience. I write honest reviews and this is what I am doing here. For the price we paid, we felt very let down.
Comments