Medieval Times Or Arabian Nights?

[cher_r_r]

My family and I will be visiting WDW/AK/MGM/EPCOT(4days), USF(1day), IOA(1day), & SEAWORLD(1day) on Feb 8th-16th. I've got 3 boys (8, 3, & 14months) do you think the breakdown of days is fair or would it be best to change it up some? ALSO, which do you think by son's would prefer- MEDIEVAL TIMES or ARABIAN NIGHTS? I look forward to any comments or replies you may have. THANKS.

 

[PammyK]

I responded on your other post but I'll reiterate my thoughts...

Of the two I prefer Arabian Nights as they have better food (and actually give you a choice which is nice), a better drinks selection included with the meal (wine in addition to beer and other nonalcoholic beverages besides regular Pepsi) and the arena itself seems to have fewer "bad" seats. The food at MT was pretty bland, the only choices for drinks were Pepsi or cheap beer (at least that is all our server offered) and the dessert was an apple flavoured hockey puck. Plus our seats were horrible which negatively impacted our enjoyment of the show.

Of the local horse themed dinner shows, I much prefer Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. Great food, beautiful horses and a fun show. The arena is well designed with no bad seats, plus except for the first row, the seats are individual chairs which makes it much easier to get up and use the restrooms if necessary. My understanding is that they have just added a children's meal option to their standard meal which may be a plus with little ones.

 

[Unofficial627]

Although I can't really give you a definant answer, since I have only been to Medieval Times, I would say that MT is very good. The food wasn't great, but I thought it was pretty good. Portions aren't huge but they're big enough. Also, we were in the last row, which you might think would be bad, but actually, I enjoyed that more. We were under a sort of canopy with poor lighting (we really only had a candle to see) but it sort of added to the whole feel of the experience. The entertainment was great too. Some parts were a bit boring (such as the horse-dancing), the action sequences weren't dull at all though (sparks were actually made when the sword fights took place!!) One other thing that might actually help with the little ones is that fact that where you are sitting is color coded, for lack of a better phrase. So, for example, I was in the blue/black section, so we would cheer only for the blue/black knight, there were others like black/yellow, just blue (I think) and so on. You also get a crown with your knight's colors on it, so that's a cool little souvenir. But, this is a bit biased though, because I really like that time period and I really enjoy that type of thing, but hopefully some of this info will be helpful to your decision making. Good luck!

 

[sunny04]

I went to MT as a child and loved it, and Arabian Nights on my honeymoon and loved it too. I don't think you can go wrong. And answering to the above post about Dixie Stampede, I have gone to the one in TN and it's fun as well. However, I would vote Arabian Nights above it, just because the stunts are truly amazing. And it's a fairy tale story.

Arabian Nights fits well with a WDW trip because it's a princess and prince and a wedding and you have "wedding cake" for dessert.

Medieval Times is awesome too, but it doesn't have the same fairy tale feeling to it. MT is knights competing for the Queen...you have a color knight for your section that you cheer for. There is no silverware because it's supposed to Medieval Times!

Dixie Stampede in TN is the North vs. South competition with audience participation in different games...I'm not sure how it's done in FL.

Hope the descriptions help some.

 

[Sandyincanada]

My family and I will be visiting WDW/AK/MGM/EPCOT(4days), USF(1day), IOA(1day), & SEAWORLD(1day) on Feb 8th-16th. I've got 3 boys (8, 3, & 14months) do you think the breakdown of days is fair or would it be best to change it up some? ALSO, which do you think by son's would prefer- MEDIEVAL TIMES or ARABIAN NIGHTS? I look forward to any comments or replies you may have. THANKS.

If you can, put Seaworld in the middle of the trip. Its a much slower paced park and with your busy schedule you will appreciate the break.

I could never get our kids interested in Arabian knights but they had a great time at Medieval Times. Its a good place for kids, they are allowed to eat with thier hands, booooo the bad guy, kids love the sword fights and action. They also enjoyed Pirates for the same reasons, fast paced, lots of action.

I did want to mention that most of these shows make for a full night. Every toddler is different, of course, but I know mine would not have been able to sit through a dinner show at that age. There is really no room for them to roam so they would be stuck in thier seats the whole time....just a heads up

 

[PrincessJasmine5]

I have never been to MT, but a couple of years ago my family went to Arabian Nights. It was awful. The show was very boring; I hardly remember it. The only thing I remember was waiting to go into the theater. The food was gross, and when it finally came, they turned off the lights (because of the show obviously) and you couldn't even see what you were eating!

 

[ashjohnson80]

Ok I've been to both and I would have to say Medieval Times HANDS DOWN. It involves the audience more and the time that I went to Arabian nights the guy whipped the horse so many times before he would do his trick that it made me sick. Yes the food is a little better at AR but Medieval Times much much more fun.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

We only went to Arabian Nights and the kids and I loved it. They didn't want to go to Medieval Times because of the whole eating with fingers thing.