Arabian Nights or Pirates Dinner?

[FingZing]

Anyone have an opinion on which one is better? I'm leaning towards the pirates - I have a 9 year old son.

Thanks!

 

[cranleys]

We went to Arabian Nights a few years ago and it was fantastic...one of the highlights of our trip. The food is excellent and the show is fantastic. If your son likes cowboys and indians, or adventure of any sort, he will love it

 

[inkkognito]

Ouch...this one is hard...personally I like Arabian Nights a lot better, especially since I am a horse lover, but a boy would probably like Pirates better. If you want him to be able to participate in the Pirates show, you have to pay for the VIP upgrade. At Arabian Nights they have a VIP upgrade too, and it gets you pre-show access to the barn and horses. I haven't done my review of Pirates yet, but here is Arabian Nights: http://bit.ly/i09yn

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I gotta give another vote for Arabian Nights. My parents took me when I was younger and I loved it. But then I also am a huge horse lover. If you wanted a compromise between the two you could look into Medieval Times (I think that is what its called). Its about a tournament with knights on horses and they do a lot of cool fighting.

 

[tamajinn]

I would say depends on how much tolerance your son has for "cheesiness." I have only been to Arabian Nights, and all I can say is that my husband and I were grateful we got discount tickets for only $26 a piece. Here is my review from TripAdvisor.com (always a good place for honest reviews!)

To sum up the Arabian Nghts expeience-- cheesy show, cool horses, sub-standard food. My husband and I brought our six-year-old daughter, who enjoyed it enough to make the visit worth it. I was amazed at the amount of people there without kids (though many were senior citizens, with nothing better to do?) and would have squirmed with embarassment through the show had she not been there with us. The main reason we picked this show over others available was the inclusion of a vegetarian entree for myself, a "pasta primavera" which turned out to be bland and mushy. My daughter ate her chicken fingers without complaint, distracted by the show. I am not a cynical or sarcastic person, but the awful plot including amateur genies Abra Cadabra and Hocus Pocus had my eyes rolling so far back into my head I thought I'd have to pry them out with my fork. There's your token "bad guy" (no character development or explanation), and a princess who dreams of a romantic prince. In the end, the prince turns out to be real, but where did he come from? Ah, it doesn't matter, as none of the show makes sense anyway. If that's not enough, the show insults your intelligence when they ask for someone to "volunteer from the audience" to come ride one of the trick horses and stand up while the horse is trotting. As the co-owner of a karate school, I am familiar enough with things like insurance and waivers to know that this had to be a "planted" cast member sitting in the audience, as is made clear at the end. Puh-leeze!!!

Though portions of the show were enjoyable to grown-ups, and some of the costumes were good, it didn't make up for all the crap. Another reviewer had a good idea of making the show more of a history of mankind's relationship with horses. Of course all the blathering that goes on to further the nonsensical "plot" eats up a lot of time, so they will probably keep the current format. I hope the horses are treated well. I can't imagine they enjoy having to endure the very loud, blaring music that they play throughout the show.

The auditorium was quite chilly, visitors would be wise to bring sweatshirts or jackets. I agree that it was annoying to be badgered to buy photos while you are trying to eat and watch the show. I wasn't expecting four-star dining, but the food really was poor. The dessert was such a let-down-- a square slab of cheap vanilla ice cream with three lines of Hershey's syrup squirted on it. At least we got a good deal on discounted tickets, or else my annoyance probably would have been more like anger. If I had paid full price for this show, I'd be kicking myself.

If you have young children and can get discount tickets, this show may be worth your while. The bottom line is that if you have been spending your Florida days seeing great shows at Universal and Disney, Arabian Nights may fall flat in comparison. This was evidenced by the number of people we saw leaving the show totally drunk, so watch out in the parking lot!

 

[FingZing]

Thanks for all of the great responses and travelocity quote!!
I think we'll try Arabian Nights with our 9 year old son. :=)