Thanks to the wonderful people over at Medieval Times – Buena Park, we were able to check out the dinner and tournament. A and I were so excited and the kids had no idea what to expect. We had no idea what to expect. This was our first time at something like this. We frequent Orange County quite often, so we wanted to see what other activities there were for families with kids.
We arrived early and were able to park in their parking lot. There was enough parking in the back, but it started to back up and have some traffic once more families started to arrive. It was conveniently behind the building. Not too hard to locate.
Birdie was so amazed by everything that she saw. We were chosen to be on the black and white knight’s side, so we got our crowns for that. We were offered photos with the royal court, which we turned down since Tot was sleeping in the baby carrier. He’s not a fun one to wake up, so we had to pass. Then we made our way to the Hall of Arms.
The Hall of Arms is this giant room – there are tables and chairs for you to wait, gift shop kiosks, and a bar for the grown ups. There was so much going on and things to look at. It was a bit overwhelming. Birdie wanted to shop at all the gift shop stuff and A made a beeline for the bar. Tot slept through the noise.
Birdie really wanted any of the items to put on her head, but she couldn’t decided. She also wanted to grab Tot any of the swords, but he refused to wake up to choose. So she decided against getting any of it. Her self control was really admirable at this point.
She then realized, that in the back room, you’re able to see all of the horses. So she dropped everything that she was looking at, to go check out the horses. Horses are more important to her.
He was not waking up at all. He just wasn’t having it. Our True North 1.5 sling supported the heavy, sleeping monster forever. It was pretty impressive. We put the crown on his head and it didn’t bother him at all. He just continued to sleep in the ring sling.
We got to our table a little on the late side. Birdie wanted to check out all of the horses that she could see. This was what the arena looked like. Everyone was going to their seats in their section. We had to locate the black and white section, since that’s who our knight was.
Our section was pretty full of people. It was also dead center, so we were able to see everything. It was really good seating.
Our table setting was perfect for the time period we were imitating. At this point, Tot finally woke up. Birdie was confused that there was no utensils though. She constantly asked if she could get a fork. Tot was excited to be able to eat with his hands and not get in trouble.
Dinner was pretty good. Our wench, Celina, told Birdie that it was a baby dragon – so for a week afterwards, she was telling everyone that we had baby dragon for dinner. It was the cutest thing. We had garlic bread and tomato bisque for our first course, chicken, potato and corn for our second course, pound cake for our third course and coffee for our fourth course. It was a good meal and we ate it all. It was a lot of fun to eat our meal with a show. A had a beer and I had the Dragon Slayer – pretty good drink!
All of the ceremony was impressive. I loved the accents and the way they seem to follow the script exactly. They had the attention of both children, who were totally following the movements down below. Birdie loves the horses, the colors and the princess. Tot loved the sword play and jousting.
Our knight was the black and white knight. He was pretty cool. He waved at us constantly.
The sword play was pretty impressive. I loved when the swords hit and you could see they were the real deal. There were sparks flying and everything. Tot thought it was the best thing in the world.
If you’re taking a family trip to Buena Park, I definitely recommend checking out Medieval Times. It was an experience that we loved. It was a lot of fun. It was entertaining and the food was pretty good.
Disclaimer: We received free tickets from Medieval Times, but our opinions are our own.
