Orlando Dinner Shows

BY MIKE WARING – JUNE 2006

After checking out all the major independent dinner shows in the Orlando area, how do they break down? Each show has some aspect that is done well and other aspects that are not so great. Unless you’re expecting a performance of Hamlet, any of these shows will be at least minimally entertaining, most especially to the young ‘uns. The food is not going to win any awards, but surely no one expects otherwise.

None of these Orlando dinner shows are worth the full door price, in our opinion, especially since you could go see Disney’s excellent Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue dinner show for the same cost. Fortunately it’s easy to get a discount (in some cases, a huge discount) on all of the non-Disney shows. The easiest way is to purchase your tickets in advance through a reliable discount ticket broker such as Undercover Tourist.

Our grades for the four dinner shows:

SHOW

SHOW QUALITY

FOOD

FACILITIES

PRE-SHOW

OVERALL EXPERIENCE

Dixie Stampede (closed)

C

C+

A

B

C+

Arabian Nights (closed)

B

F

C-

not reviewed

C-

Medieval Times

D+

C+

C+

D

D+

Pirate’s Dinner Adventure

B-

B

B

B

B

Go for Pirate’s if you have kids who will enjoy participating in the show, if you like pirates and/or if you don’t care about horses.

We can’t really think of any particular reason to choose Medieval Times unless you’re crazy about jousting, but based on our reader mail, many people enjoy it immensely. Go figure.

To see full reviews of the four major non-Disney dinner shows in Orlando, visit the links below:

Part 1: Dixie Stampede and Arabian Nights (Please note: both of these shows have closed – we have left the review up for amusement purposes.)

Part 2: Medieval Times and Pirate’s Dinner Adventure

Undercover Tourist, a very reliable ticket dealer, offers discounts on some dinner show tickets.