Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia

I arrived at the castle around 6:30 PM and there was already a huge line at the entrance of the castle. This was because of the big group of Middle school kids there before us. However, the line was very smooth and we only waited probably between five to six minutes until we got our crowns and table card number at the door. As a matter of fact, I think it was a pretty good idea to have that the left lane opened, so that the big group can get in quicker. What I found more interesting was that the left lane was only opened for the big group only, so this means the big group got to take their entrance photo with Princess Leonor that day, while the individual reservation's guests got to take their pictures with King Alfonso only. So when I got there, I did find something different about the Knighting Ceremony. I did not know that you can't bend your knee on the pillow during the knighting ceremony; you can actually request a mini chair, so you can sit down while you do the Knighting ceremony in front of the king. What I noticed different during the knighting ceremony was that most of the time...it was little ladies that needed to have a mini chair in order to have their knighting ceremony done! So if the guest comes up with the excuse that they have a cast on their legs or they can't bend their knees, they can actually sit down and still get knighted and have their picture taken as well.

On the other hand, I think King Alfonso should have a microphone on him while he announces his speech to the guest. Because you can't really hear or read what he is saying to the guest when the knighting ceremony takes place? I think the Lord Chancellor did a pretty good job on his announcements, and he even told the trumpeters to do not blow the trumpets that hard before the show, because there was a lady carrying her baby on her arm standing right next to the mini stage during the time that the trumpets were about to be sound! That was an interesting detail of the Lord Chancellor! I am sure that the lady was happy when the Lord Chancellor took her baby into consideration that night. I also thought it was pretty neat to see two ladies wearing costumes that day! We should encourage the guests to do so more often! Then, we also toured the Dungeon Museum too! When the moment arrived, we (I, Scott, and Monserrat) sat at the Blue Section and we were sitting on the first row on that section, but what I found interesting was that the row where we were sitting at was divided into blue and yellow. My neighbor was sitting on the yellow section, the couple had a child that was probably three or four years old......and the child had a fabulous time sitting on the front row seats! I think sitting on front row seats was a huge deal for me because the show was full and you do have a better view of the show if you are sitting in the front, especially if you have kids in your party!

Okay, going back to business, our server at this time was Trevor- He looked very serious and seriously I thought he needed a microphone on him. He was standing right there and it was not very clear to hear what he said- so my guess was that most people did not hear a word of what he said. Enthusiasm does not hurt anyone at the castle and Trevor needs to show more enthusiasm when it comes to opening the show at the table! Last time that I attended the show, Dimitri was my server and I loved his enthusiastic attitude!!! Next, the sound and lighting effect from the beginning toward the end was awesome! The white, red, green and colorful light effect was projected at the right time and at the right moment! What I found interesting was that the guy with the whip walked through our row, which is on the blue section and then jumped down to the arena to be whip the husband at the show! I also noticed that the table cloth was different- it has more like golden color all around it and it looks very nice. I think the golden color matched with some color of the costumes! By the way, the costumes were awesome too! I loved the idea that every time the Master of horses come out to perform with the horses, he was wearing different costumes with diverse colors (dark blue, black and white, and golden colors) were fascinating to me! Now, here are my questions that I had about the knights and the actual show: were the knights supposed to drop their weapons on the middle of the tournament? Were they supposed to tease each with the horses or laugh around during the show? Were they supposed to drop part of their weapons at the beginning of the tournament? Why do they have protective nets only on the Black and White and Red and Yellow sections only?

I liked the idea of having King Alfonso asking his guests to cheer for their knights. I liked the choreography of the show! I think there should be more snows at the show and it should fall like it was real =) I liked the part where the Yellow Knight came back alive, stronger than before to defeat the Green Knight during the show! Ha, the Green Knight is not the guy on the bad picture anymore! I also noticed that there are more swords fighting than before and the return of the husband made it interesting! The sword fighting was thrilling at the end and I saw much more action toward the end, which it involved the guests to cheer for the two knights on stage at that time.

I also noticed that the pastry of the castle was different and at little bigger than normal! Man, my server did not ask me whether I wanted coffee or not. He did not ask me by the time he served the pastry, so I went ahead to wash my hands and by the time I came back, coffee was already served on the table. Unfortunately, I missed the coffee of the castle = ( and my server did not get back to me when I got back to my table. I don't remember if I have seen this before, but normally the servers would ask the guests whether they want coffee before they serve coffee at the table. I got the impression that Trevor asked the guests if they wanted coffee by the time he was serving the coffee at the table. If not, Trevor should have offered the empty coffee cup by the time he handed out the napkins. I guess you can stack the napkins in top of the empty cups, by facing the cups upside down. I mean you can't assume someone doesn't want coffee just because the guest was not there. What would you do if the guest is coming to the show for the first time with their friends and family; you are serving coffee and the guest is not there? Would you come back to the guest and ask him/her to see if he/she wants coffee or do you assume that because their friends do not drink coffee, that person will not need coffee neither? Or do you assume that the guest was gone for that day?!?

Lastly, I am not sure if I didn't pay to the end or got caught up at the moment, but I do not remember seeing the King and the Princess saying goodbye to the guests in person. However, I did hear the Lord Chancellor saying goodbye to the guests and it was really cool to see the light effect projecting him and the horse getting ready to race back to the gate of the castle after he said goodbye to everyone!! But I think the Lord Chancellor ended the show in a very excited way! He did not stand there while he said goodbye to the fellow guests, he was gone by the time the light was on! By the way, we all live in a busy world filled with technology and laughter, so if you missed your Knighting Ceremony during pre-show time, you can always do it at the end of the show!!