Shows - any recommendations?

**lesley15** · 30-08-2004, 01:34

We are going to Florida for the 2nd time next July and want to see some shows, something we didn't have time for last time - has anypone got any recommendations?
We defintely want to see the Cirque de Soleil but what else is worth seeing? Our boys will be 15 and 12 by then.
Thanks.

**Nostromo** · 30-08-2004, 02:43

I assume that you include Dinner Shows in your question, of which there are quite a few. The shows are generally good, but almost as a rule the food is mediocre at best. Popular Dinner Shows are Arabian Nights, Medival Times, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, Pirates Dinner Adventure and Sleuth's Dinner Show. Disney's Polynesian Resort do the very good Polynesian Luau Dinner Show (where the food is also good), but it is an outdoor event and will be cancelled if it rains (with partial refund). Wilderness Resort used to do something called the Hoop-Dee-Do Musical Revue, but I am not sure if this show still exists.

On a slightly different note, you have the Masters of Magic Show on I-Drive and the Outta Control Magic Show at Wonder Works (although the latter is really for the kids).

If you adults want to see something different on a night out without the kids, I suggest trying the Comedy Warehouse or Adventurer's Club in Pleasure Island.

**lesley15** · 01-09-2004, 01:46

Thanks for your reply - Yes sorry I did mean to include dinner shows - Arabian nights sounds good, if anyone has reviews about any of the shows please let me know - it's a big decision as we can't do everything!

**Nostromo** · 01-09-2004, 10:56

Arabian Nights used to be the best show in town with its 'modern' Arabian Noghts theme. The food was the worst of the lot though. But in the past couple of years, the show has increasingly become an American post-9/11 political rhetoric to the point of distaste. Paradoxically, the food has improved a bit.

I have not been to Medival Times recently, but heard that it is good.

But if you want to be sure, I'd suggest the Polynesian Luau. Good atmosphere, good food and a good show....just that risk of rain.

**eagleydo** · 19-10-2004, 17:34

Just done a visit to Arabian Nights. Food was fine, everyone agreed, you just had to wait such a long time for it. Mind you others got served and had finished before we received ours so you could put that down to our server (she was miserable, slow and moody)
The show I am afraid was not good, the American people there loved it especially the screaming girls in the front. Even my 14 year old daughter who loves horses hated it. As it was my treat I tried to keep a low profile. Even now they keep asking me what they had done wrong for me to punish them this way, hubby tells them to be careful as it shows that I have a wicked side.

**SunLover** · 19-10-2004, 19:41

If you are planning to see Cirque, I would definitely book in advance, especially if you are visiting in July.

Check out the Orlando Park Tickets link above the car hire banner at the top of this page.

Enjoy ~ the show is unbelievable

**poohbear** · 06-12-2004, 16:01

we thought arabian nights was terrible. but we went to the pirates dinner show and thought it was great in fact we are going for the third time to see it in may.

**pigletsplace2003** · 25-02-2005, 01:34

Medievil Times was a good laugh but the food was absolutely awful , stiff garlic bread , sloppy chicken leg and a rubbery potato , YUK [msnmad]

wrpac00 · 06-03-2005, 22:24

See a review of the pirates dinner show.

Pirate Dinner Adventure Entertaining If You Can Survive Dinner

By Justin Crittenden

Pirates in the 17th century had rough, but exciting lives. Piracy offered to the common man a hope for getting rich quick and freedom from the oppressive society of the times. But it also had a downside: imminent violent death, horrible living conditions at sea, and for those who could take it, regular servings of disease-ridden food.

I went to the Pirates Dinner Adventure off International Drive in Orlando and it seemed as though I had relived history: an exciting show . . . and bad food. Maybe they were just trying to be historically accurate. Let me tell you all about it.

Pirates is pretty similar to your standard setup for the numerous dinner theaters here in the area -- like Medieval Times or Arabian Nights. You wait in a large area decked out with lots of memorabilia, and where you have an opportunity to grab some snacks, check out the gift shop, and see some of the pre-show activities. Then everyone heads into the main theater to eat dinner and watch the show.

The waiting area is decorated as a tropical village carnival -- very nicely, I might add -- and even has a maritime museum, where you can see pirate swords, gold coins from the Atoche, and read facts about pirate life. Some of the characters from the play come out and set up the story for you, which basically is that you're in a town that gets hit by a pirate attack. The mateys kidnap the guests and also take a princess and gypsy dancer hostage on their ship -- all while you're looking at the shops in the town and eating hor d'oeurves. I should have known the food wasn't going to be so hot when I didn't recognize what most of the appetizers were.

You're then shanghaied into the main arena and dining area, which is made to look like ships are all around you. In the center is a huge ship surrounded by water, where the action takes place. You sit in sections around the main ship; each section gets a pirate that you're supposed to cheer for throughout the show. The color clothes he's wearing corresponds with the color of your section.

There are waiters or waitresses for each row of your section, who serve all your food and drinks. The dinner served is either chicken and beef or chicken and shrimp, along with potatoes, veggies, salad, desert, etc.

Now, dinner theaters are better known for the theater than the dinner, but I have to say this meal was particularly bland and tasteless, a definite thumbs down, even for this veteran of the local dinner theater scene. Maybe if they had added rolls, at least. They didn't dim the lights when the show started, so it was tough to see the actors at first. Maybe that was done deliberately, so you wouldn't have to look at the food while you're eating it.

Now, in their defense, the waiter we had was very attentive, so the service was good. We always had full drinks, which included unlimited sodas, wine and beer. I'm not sure if the original pirates would have liked Pepsi, but I'm sure they would have appreciated an unlimited supply of beer.

The show, while starting out on a corny note, got pretty entertaining by the end of the meal. The pirates were competing to see who got to be the captain's first mate, and who got the princess. There was rope swinging, performing acrobatics on a trampoline, sword fighting -- you name it. Action galore. There was a lot of audience involvement, especially kids getting to go up on the ship dressed in costumes, plus lots of backstabbing, mutinous behavior and even a little romance; all in all, not a bad show.

There is much we can learn from history, or we are doomed to repeat it. Pirates Dinner Adventure is a prime example of that. Exciting pirate fights by mates forced to eat bad food, and now us, the audience, watching an exciting pirate show while eating bad food.

And did I mention they have a disco dance party afterwards? It's probably just as well.