It’s A Whole New Show At Medieval Times – Orlando, Florida

What do you get when you combine dinner (sans utensils) with a royal duel? Why Medieval Times of course!

Medieval Times has been thrilling Florida audiences for 29 years with nightly shows featuring a royal court and dueling knights on horseback, and now the Orlando attraction is ready to entertain with a brand new show. Featuring a king, a princess, jousting knights, an evil invader and, of course,  a triumphant winner the new show packs a lot of action (and dinner) into an evening of fun for the whole family.

It’s been nearly 10 years since my husband and I attended our last show at the castle, and we were eager to take K to her first show. She was eager too as soon as we told her that we were taking her to a castle to see a show. (Note to self, don’t mention castles and princesses before leaving the house when the drive is nearly an hour! Are we there yet?)

At Medieval Times, the fun begins even before you take your seats for the show. I was a little worried that K would get bored standing around waiting for the show during the “cocktail” hour before taking out seats. But I should not have been. There is something exciting to explore around every corner. From an outdoor village, to roaming knights and (of course) a gift shop there is a lot to see and do. The challenge wasn’t keeping her busy, the challenge was trying to see everything. (We never did make it to the outdoor village, although I hear it is nice.)

Let’s talk about dinner. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t expect much in the way of fine cuisine from a dinner show. Feeding that many people is tough. I’ve been to many a wedding at fancy hotels where dinner was blah because feeding the masses is a challenge. (So they say.) Guess what, the food at Medieval Times is really good. No, really it is. In fact, when I told a friend I was going she said, “Ohhhh they have good food there.” I was surprised! I mean maybe not 5 stars, but it sure is tasty. You get tomato bisque soup (so good I had my daughters too), bread, half a chicken (yes, half a chicken), potato wedges, ribs and an apple turnover for desert. My friend is a vegetarian, and I was even more impressed by the veggie meal. Take that people who say it’s hard to feed the masses.

BTW – I loved the menu, it is printed right on the napkin. How is that for saving trees?

Just be prepared, as I mentioned before there are no utensils. It’s part of the fun. You have to drink your soup and eat the rest with your hands. (Although interestingly the veggie meal comes with utensils.)

Of course the main event is the new show, and it was great. We were all truly impressed at how easy the knights made jousting and other medieval horse tricks look. It was easy to get into the spirit cheering on our knight as he battled his fellow knights for the honor of his color. And the best part – on that night our knight won! Go red/yellow knight!

At its heart, Medieval Times is a tourist attraction. Plain and simple. But I think we locals sometimes forget about visiting tourist attractions in our own town (other than the theme parks, of course). We locals are lucky ducks, people come from all over the world to explore what we have in our own backyard. Yet we often take these shows for granted. Whether you are visiting Orlando as a tourist or you are a long-time local, Medieval Times is just plain fun. Take it from this local, check out Medieval Times and get out and see some of our local attractions we really have some fabulous gems!

Disclosure – I was invited to attend a media preview event for the new show, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.