Medieval Times

While we were staying in Long Beach we figured we might as well do at least one of theme park concepts. Griffin is really into knights and castles, and always wants books and stories where they are featured. I don't know where this fascination came from. Outside of painting a castle on the wall of his room it is entirely of his own choosing, we didn't influence it in any way. So we decided it would be a treat for him to visit Medieval Times.

I didn't know much about it until I started reading the website , but it's a pretty interesting concept. It's a dinner theater so you sit down and watch a performance while you eat a three-course meal. There is a vague storyline, but it's really an excuse to have a bunch of knights riding horses, jousting, getting into swordfights and whatnot. It's quite dramatic with orchestral music, and lights and effects. Most people know of the place from that awful Jim Carrey move The Cable Guy.

They give you the little crowns to wear, and you get to root for the knight of your crown color, we got the Blue Knight. I have no idea how much the show changes from performance to performance, but there are two a day most nights so it must vary somewhat. Griffin was really into it. It was a little loud and overbearing for Matilda, but thankfully she fell asleep through most of it.

To really get a sense of what the show is like you should look at the videos. Photographs don't turn out so well because of the constant dimming and brightening of the lights, but I found I could get some pretty good images with the camera on video mode. Griff loves having the videos on the computer. I have one that's 2½ minutes of the Blue Knight battling, but figured it was too long to include here.