Medieval Times Atlanta

Last night we donned our armor and carried our swords off to experience the pageantry and thrills of Medieval Times inside the King’s impressive 11th century Atlanta castle (that just so happens to be attached to a very 21st century mall, but I digress). 




From the get go, the littles were completely awestruck.  In royal fashion, we were welcomed to the castle by the King and Princess themselves.



 
We were delighted to be transported back to the middle ages once inside the castle.  We received our crowns and knight color (blue) and then bee-lined straight for the impressive fire to secure a table right at the hearth .










While waiting to be ushered into the arena, we enjoyed watching the knighting ceremonies, visiting with the owl, moseying around the gift shop and exploring the castle. 

      
Finally, it was time for the King’s noble guests to be escorted in for the dinner and tournament!!




We were beyond thrilled to find ourselves assigned to the front row of the blue knight’s fans!



And before we knew it, maids and wenches were bringing our four course feast and the show had commenced!  The fare was plentiful (and surprisingly okay) and the littles thoroughly enjoyed gobbling it up with nothing but their hands.  After all, there were no forks or spoons in Medieval times!

 





As the six armor clad knights and their valiant horses galloped into the arena the littles eyes grew wide and I knew we were in for a memorable evening.  We faithfully cheered for our knight as he competed in thrilling games on horseback and engaged in combat of lance and shield…all on a noble quest to become CHAMPION!

     
        

 
I won’t be a wench and spoil your show by telling you which night became champion.  But the blue knight won me over with a pink carnation and was a veritable hero in the littles eyes :-)





If you go:

• We attended a 5pm Sunday show and it was only about half full.  The castle doors open at 3:45 and when we arrived at about 3:40 there was already a line.  Unless you pay for VIP seating (we did not), you will want to be there as early as possible since tables are assigned on a first come first serve basis.
• Front row seats generally require a VIP upgrade but they will fill them with other guests if not sold out.  We knew this before hand which is why we booked a Sunday show and were there when the doors opened.  And it completely paid off when we were ushered to the front row!!!
• There is not a bad seat in the stadium-style arena.  I read online that some seats in some castles were partially blocked with columns, but this didn’t seem to be a problem in the Atlanta castle. 
• If you arrive early you’ll have about an hour to wait before the show.  We secured a table by the fire and then took turns exploring with the littles.  There aren’t a ton of tables, so we were happy to have one early on.
• Once inside, there are loads of little gift type things that the littles will want – we purchased our armor and shields at the Dollar Tree for $1 a piece.  They were selling lots of light up things at the castle, so you might want to throw a few glow sticks in your buggy at Dollar Tree as well.
• It’s pretty hard to get out of your seats once in the arena.  Make sure to take the littles to the potty before the show.
• My crew gobbled up the food and loved eating with their hands.  They give you one napkin and one wipe.
• They only serve water, sweet tea and Pepsi (barf-o-rama) with dinner.  They come in large mugs filled to the brim and we had to drink half of the baby’s down before he could wield it on his own.  If you have a little one you might consider bringing a sippy cup or juice box or only having the mug half filled. 
• After the show the knights line up against the bar for pictures and autographs. 

It was an outing made for boys and I’m SO glad Santa gave us the tickets for Christmas :-)
xoxo