Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Show In Dallas, Texas: A Review

It was on the middle of the highway that I and my friends drove around in the busiest highways of Dallas, TX. We were heading on Stemmons Freeway which is the same thing as I-35 in Dallas. We drove past by the American Airlines Center and we found this huge castle right in front of the freeway. At first, we were curious and we wondered what was going on, because there was a huge line of people outside of the castle and we also the billboard saying that "Kids & Teens" were FREE with every paying adult. This seemed an unbelievable deal, but the same weekend when I was in Dallas, I decided to do my own research about the castle and the promotion itself they were having there. So, I logged in to www.medievaltimes.com, and then I clicked under the Dallas location. Medieval times is a dinner and tournament show based on the eleven century, where ladies and lords eat their meals without silverware items. The guests eat with their hands and savor all their meals with the fingers only. But don't worry about it! They provide tons of napkins and wipes at the end of the show. According to their website, they are running a special where kids and teens go free for the month of August until Labor day, on September 1st, 2008. The guests can eat book the reservation online at Medieval Times' website or over the phone by dialing 1888-WE-JOUST (1888-935-6878). I also found out that you can buy the tickets at the door from one day to the next show. Because they usually sell out quickly on busy seasons like holidays, weekends, and some weekdays as well. This year is a special year because Medieval Times Dallas turned 25 years of Anniversary this year where they had the special deal publicized on TV where all seats are $25 per person regardless of being an adult or child.

By the way, if you decide to book a reservation online or over the phone, they require full payment with a debit or credit card by the time of reservation. They do not hold the tickets without payment. Their system is a little bit different from all different hospitality industry. They secure your tickets by the time of purchase, but they will assign the seats by the time you get there. All seats are based on first come, first serve basis. But here's the deal: there is not bad seat in the house, but you can always upgrade that into one of the VIP packages that they have available in the house. Those VIP packages guarantee you and your party preferred seatings within the first two rows in the front. It varies in prices depending on the packages that you would like to upgrade to. For instance, they offer the King Royalty Package where it guarantees you preferred seating on the front row seats, you also get a behind the scene DVD of how they get ready to perform for the show, you will get a precious group picture with the King Alfonzo and Princess Leonor, along with a knight cheering banner, so you can cheer for the color section or knight where you are representing at that evening. This King Royalty package is an additional $20 package per person in top of the general admission price. The general admission price for adults nineteen and above was $57.02 and kids are $41.08. These prices include the four course meal and the two hours live show.

So, we booked our reservation over the phone, the castle squire was very helpful and knowledgeable and he walked me through during the entire reservation. I agreed with him to have the tickets e-mailed to me and they did e-mailed them to me right away. The tickets were in my inbox in the next couple of minutes after I hunged up the phone with customer service representative. I was amazed to find out that the castle's arena fits up to 1200 people into one single show. This means business to them and entertainment to the guests. Nevertheless, I attended a show that was sold out on the day that I went to. It was really exciting time! We arrived at the castle on the day of the show one hour before and we lined up into the line where people usually get in. The main entrance was packed of people and the exit gate was opened for people that were getting out from the previous show. We lined up and continued walking and as we got closer to the entrance, we were more excited and more thrilled about the show. Since we had our tickets handy, we just had to verify our name and they sent us to a different line. Oh, by the way, if you do not have your tickets handy or if you cannot print them out, you have the choice of picking them up at will call or box office window. You just need to have your confirmation number along with your picture ID and they can take care of everything there. We got there and we were crowned and welcomed as the Lady and Lord of the castle! We then took our pictures with King Alfonzo and Princess Leonor. We smiled with our happy meal smile. We could not wait to see what was going on inside the Hall of Arms (Lobby). Then we were directed to the Lobby. It was amazing and gorgeous. They had medieval flags' colors everywhere and the roots are adorned with pictures and figures of the 11 century. As soon as we got there, to our left hand side, there was a "Tavern" or bar available where we had the chance to purchase few drinks. The bar offers alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and they are all extra from your pockets. While you purchase your drinks, you mingle around with your friends and family members. This facility was full of pre-show activities when we arrived there. Then to our left hand side of the bar, there is a stable of horses and you can actually view the horses there. The horses are Andalusians style horses and they were born of different colors and sizes. It was really interesting that they were standing and doing nothing. Then, in front of the horses, they have benches where you can sit and relax while you take your drink at a slow motion excitedly.

Nevertheless, they also have a "Dungeon," which means "Torture Devices' Museum." There is a $2 admission fee per person and this is a self guided tour that you do for about 15 to 20 minutes, and you look around the devices weapons, which are imitated weapons of the eleventh century and this museum is not for everyone. It is a PG-13 museum and parents need to be aware that children can get traumatized by the weapons and you know your children more than they do. But it is educational, so just use your judgment about the tour to the museum. Some kids are strong and they can handle anything horror pictures, but some children cannot even see those weapons on pictures. In the meantime, to our right hand side, there is a gift shop (Marketplace), where you can go and purchase items or souvenir of the eleventh century. Items vary in prices depending of what you would like to get then. They sell shirts with Medieval Times logo on them, sweaters for the cold seasons, hats and plastic weapons for children, souvenir for the house, car or office. All those products or merchandises are brought straight from Spain and they are worth to buy. Also, while you walk around the Hall of Arms, there is also a weapon store, this store sells real swords, and real weapons used by Medieval Times' knights on the actual Dinner and Tournament. Then, the King is doing a Knighting ceremony for the ladies or the lords that want to get knighted that evening. As a matter of fact, no everyone knows who is going to get knighted. What do I mean by that? Well, the lord Chancellor calls the knighted person to come up forward to the King during the ceremony. So if you don't have any idea that you were going to be knighted, then you'll get the surprise when they call your name. What they do, they will call you to kneel down in front of King Alfonzo and they will put a cloak in your back, you are proclaimed as the Lady or Sir of the Night of the Castle. If you happens to be celebrating a birthday, then they will announce your birthday when the Knighting ceremony takes place and during the actual Tournament as well!! This is really awesome because you are standing in front of everyone and you are there being honored as the Lady of the House, and the coolest part of this Ceremony is that you will a photograph with the King and you get to take that picture home for free! It was a really investment that my friends did for me! It was really worth to invest $20 on the Knighting Ceremony! On the other hand, they also have a Master of Falconer, where he exposes the facts of the Falcons of the castle and how they are stored in a cold room in order to survive for some good couples of year.

Finally, when the waiting time was finally over, we were seated 15 minutes before the start of the show. We were seating in an awesome area, where our knight was energetic and really to win the tournament! We were seated on a long big row with chairs like stadium seats. The wench of our section welcomed us and guided us to our location. The plate, bowl, along with the cheering banner and a commemorative program were all placed in the table when we got there. We were excited, hungry and happy of being there. At the sound of the trumpet, the lord Chancellor came out of the balcony and welcomed all his guests. Princess Leonor and King Alfonzo also welcomed everyone for being their guests of honor that evening. We all raised our cups and cheered for the success of our knight! Game started and the wench started bringing out the Bill of Fare one by one. She started out with Tomato Bisque Vegetable Soup, along with a delicious Garlic Bread, then our second meal was based on a huge half Roasted Chicken , then Spare Rib with a Pepper Seasoned Baked Herb Potato. We ate all our meal with our fingers while we enjoyed the jousting, sword fighting show. We were also cheering for our knight as he threw some carnations to my friends and I. The food's temperature was all right. The soup was hot enough and the bread was buttered and watered melting once you put it inside your mouth. The chicken needed a little of seasoning on the breast part, but it tasted good. The rib was truly made of Barbecue Texan style. The herb baked potato was juicy and tasty too! At the end, we had a Pinneaple Turnover for pastry of the castle along a round of coffee. then we had the choice of getting either Pepsi, Iced-Tea or Water. Medieval Times is a Pepsi Corporate company, so those were the only options we had for beverages. Now, if you want to purchase alcoholic drinks during the tournament, then that is okay, as long you do not forget to pay that at the end! As the show went on, there was a lot of rivalry between the Green and Red and Yellow Knight. The Princess waited for her husband to come back and he finally did at the end of the show! The Princess's husband ended up eliminating the bad guys of the show and there were no more betrayal going around in their throne. You got to see the show, and the whole entire show lasts for two hours. When the show is over, the winning section cheers for the knight of honor. Then the King, Princess and Chancellor say good-bye to all their guests. They thank everyone for coming and hoping to see them again! When the show is over, the knights of every single section come out to take pictures with the guests and sign autographs with the ladies of the knight.Then on the other side of the castle, they have a Knight Club available for the guests who want to dance and shake their bodies after the show is over. You can burn some calories on the dancing floor until the castle closes its door one hour after show time.

This was my experience and hope you enjoyed reading the excitement that I had during my visit to the Dallas' location of Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Show! Keep an eye on their website, because they run special and promotions all the time through their website. Thanksgiving is coming up soon and that is a perfect time to take your family to enjoy the show where all seats will be at a special price! I am a huge fan of Medieval Times and every time I go there, I experience something different!!!!