My Medieval Experience: Medieval Times, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Written: Jul 25 '01 (Updated Aug 09 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Plenty of delicious food, nice waitress, accents, dinner entertainment, dungeon, place to celebrate special events
Cons: Staff tries to sell things, interrupts setting; personalizing it even a tad bit could help
The Bottom Line: Great fun, great food, great family times. Go relax and celebrate, I'm sure you'll be cheering and booing away.
|
|
|
| baby.baby's Full Review: Medieval Times |
This experience relates to the Medieval Times in Myrtle Beach, SC)
What I expected/Before I got there
I had never been to Medieval Times, and would be shelling out some bucks I didn't have, in order to go there. My boyfriend had been there on his class trip and really enjoyed it. I had heard of it often (from other friends and the commercial industry itself) and wanted to go since I am very interested in this period of history. I had found coupons for each of us - $3 off preferred seating package and free entry to the dungeon.
Since I really had no idea what to expect or how much it cost, I assumed it would be around $50 and for dinner and a show and a medieval setting, that was ok. I didn't expect anything too fancy, just a "fighting show" and probably a small plate of dinner that wouldn't fill me up.
I expected the dungeon to be in the bottom of the building with actual set ups, reflecting what a real dungeon might have looked like.
The Actual Experience
In the beginning...
We entered a castle where people spoke with a comfortable accent. It was dimly lit and the mood was right. The cost was less than I had assumed - it was only 38.76/person. The preferred seating package we had tickets too was originally $5 and the dungeon was $2 or $3 per person. That's less than the bill for two people going out to eat at nice restaurants without entertainment or going out to eat and adding two movie tickets! The preferred seating package (limited availability) includes 1st or 2nd row seating in your color, a commemorative booklet, and a souvenir flag of your color, which you can wave around when cheering for your knight.
After you pay for your tickets, you're shoveled into a line where you receive a paper crown to set atop your head (the color of your crown determines which section of the arena you will sit in and which knight you will cheer for; we received yellow crowns). You were then tossed to the next person who coldly threw a robe over your shoulders and placed you next to the king where your picture was taken and next thing you know you're being shoveled away from the king towards the rest of the crowd. As you can see, I didn't particularly take a liking to this. Noone spoke, it was all a routine, I thought it could have been done a bit better.
We went into a carpeted room where a shop greeted you with its high prices and a bar right next to it. Again, a bit too impersonal, can we get off of the money??? We decided to take a walk through the dungeon. It wasn't what I had expected, but in ways it exceeded my expectations. It was a simply hall that was in the shape of a "U" and had little printings and pictures of the different torture machines. Some of the captions were accompanied by life-size machines, which was interesting. It was awfully dim, though, and therefore hard to see all the small print (and I have good eyesight). I wasn't aware of all the forms of torture and punishment people received back then and find it very, very frightening! The combination of these torture weapons and their justice system is so very hard to imagine... or maybe it's just hard to imagine a need for them, I know I wouldn't do anything that could get me slightly recognized by the rulers... how sad if someone was innocent! I recommend not taking younger children in here, or at least not reading about these machines to them. There isn't anything horrible or offensive that could too easily be recognized if one can't read yet. If your interested in the Medieval Period, forms of punishment, or history I do recommend going in and looking around, try to find a coupon though.
Soon after we visited the dungeon, the King and Queen starting knighting people. It was a nice ceremony, although it was quite long and uninteresting. I think if I had been knighted (and not known I was going to be) I would not have thought it so boring. I don't know how much this service costs, but I'm sure they get your money for it. I would still take a child or someone to celebrate a birthday or anniversary though. They knight you for anything, even nothing, that you ask for.
Soon after that, we were ushered into the arena by our colors. It was all a guess as to who would go next, supposedly whichever color cheered the loudest between the two colors the king yelled out.
Dinner is served; The Plot Thickens
Our waitress, or "waif," politely introduced herself and was dressed in a nice outfit. Other members of the staff were walking around their color already trying to find the parties they belonged to. These people were not so finely dressed, portraying the lower class of society. They had a harsher accent, though it still sounded real, and were made up to have cavity infested teeth (not too gross, I promise) and just a poor overall appearance. All the staff was relative nice by this time though.
The food came out piece by piece. Soup first and soda, with interludes between each part of the meal. Oh, I mustn't forget the best part, since we are in the Medieval Times, people do not (or so they say) have utensils - you must use your fingers and drink the soup. This isn't that bad and is actually quite fun - be a child again!! Your children will have a ball! The show started with competitions between the knights and the plot of the tale you're about to witness being carried out. They introduce horses and knights, you cheer for your knight. Each time your knight passes the test or competition, he gets some red roses to through into the crowd - aww!!! The real battles begin soon. After their games, an actual plot comes into being.
The basic idea is that this kingdom has overcome their long rival and slain that king. The son is still alive, though, and wishes to take revenge on our kingdom. Our kingdom is warned of this evil plot by the sorcerer type person (I actually forget what he is called) and we must protect against this. The knights (yellow, white, red, red and white/yellow, black and white, and green, I believe) are to fight against each other to see who is the strongest and who shall have the honor of fighting against the Black Knight. The king picks to knights to start off the battle and it continues by the winner challenging the knight he wishes to fight. Another knight can request to be in place of one knight, but the challenger must agree to it. If the king dislikes you or you don't obey the knightly rules, you can be thrown out of the contest.
Throughout the night we received hearty portions of the meal promised. Not only were they satisfying to our appetite, but they were delicious!! The ribs had no fat and the best sauce I'd ever tasted. The potatoes were great and the seasoning spiced it up perfectly. The chicken - a whole, medium-sized chicken, was all yours!! The sauce on the skin had an excellent taste. I couldn't eat it all, as hard as I tried. I ate most of it though. Oh, disappointing as it is, the place settings are plastic... when I saw them I was hoping for some heavy pewter plates and cups, oh well.
The action never died during the whole show, and even though I am quite shy in person and have never raised my voice or felt comfortable cheering for anything, I began cheering and yelling out at our knight just as everyone was!! It was a great experience.
Desert was great. It was like a plump, flaky churro with fruits and such in the middle. They simply called it a pastry. It's nearing the end of your night now, the knight has now won and will soon face the evil, black knight. If your sitting in the color section of the winning knight, you have a chance to get some more roses, be deemed his princess, and get up there with the king and queen who are seated up above the knights' entrance to their stage.
I'm not sure if every show turns out the same. Things aren't always as they appear, knights fake death, but "good always conquers" or so they say. I won't get to go again for a little while now. Don't read the bottom if you don't want to know how my show turned out before you see yours. Read it to know more of the action and plot though.
Will I go back?
Overall I had a great time. I didn't want or expect it to be as "routine" as it was, but it got better. The only thing I really disliked with a passion was how the staff kept walking throughout the whole show, flicking on and off their flashlights, looking for the person in their picture (remember when the pictures are taken when you first walk in the door?). When two of these people would meet up they would quietly tell each other how many they sold (in this case, they were all pretty disappointed, saying they only sold 5 between the two of them!). After they find everyone person by person, they come around with a camera and guess who is in your party. They then automatically take a picture of all of you together and the selling starts all over.
I do plan on going back. The food was great, very filling. The show was awesome. Since I've already been upfront and gotten the extra little goodies, I probably won't opt for that again unless I have a coupon. The knights usually threw the roses farther back most of the time anyways.
Tips
Be sure to call for reservations. They accept all major credit cards, of course.
If there is a pile of napkins anywhere near you when you first sit down, slyly take them and hide them, they won't be there long and you might need them.
Drink refills (soda) are free, you can ask for more or wait until they bring it around. You get coffee with your desert if you wish, it's also free. Alcoholic beverages are not, whether served in the arena or in the waiting area.
Look for coupons everywhere! You'll need one for each member in your group.
If you are not done eating when they come to collect the plates, do not worry, keep eating. You will still be served dessert when everyone else is and you can keep eating.
Don't just sit pretty to get a rose or think if you cheer the loudest when your knight is participating in his duties he will throw you the rose. Be that way when he comes toward his fans too. Hold out your hands and yell for those roses!
I don't know how normal this is but many of the horses were "throwing up" a little bit at times. My boyfriend said that had happened during their show too. I guess you don't need to be too worried about it; do be aware, though, that horses must go to the bathroom when they must go, and sitting in the front row can be a little too close for comfort :)
Things to try
Be knighted, or have someone else knighted
If you're knighted, say you're from Ohio and tell me what happens...they seem to like Ohio there in South Carolina.
The Outcome
If your show happens/happened differently, let me know in the comments.
Our knight, the yellow knight was the 3rd to go. He was tricked into thinking the knight he was fighting against was dead, when he raised his arms in triumph and glory, the other knight got up and the battle started again. Our knight lost :(
The green knight was the mischievous one, and there for the one the king disliked the most, for our show. It somehow ended up that one knight took the place of the white knight in the second to last battle and lost. It was then the green (and much disliked) knight against the white (very good and holy) knight.
It ended up being White Knight against Black Knight (good against evil). This is why I am wondering if anyone's show is different or if this was coincidence. White won. The Black Knight was taken to the king alive, but after repeatedly disobeying him, he was slain.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
baby.baby
|
|
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
I like reading, writing, gymnastics, swimming, and learning.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.