Tread Heavily

Last weekend I turned 35. The last milestone before the dreaded 4-0. Not that 35 means anything beyond another year, but anything above that; I feel is ‘close to 40,’ and not so much young anymore. So now, I am at that in-between period where birthdays mean less than nothing. Not something to avoid and not something to look forward to.

As my birthday present, we decided to take the kids to the Georgia Renaissance Festival for the day. I say we, because my wife doesn’t really like the whole RenFest thing. She doesn’t mind Medieval Times, but she’s not one for the fantasy mix that you see at the RenFest. We were worried about the weather and the drive down to Fairburn, but we decided that it would be the last chance we would get before the Festival would be over.

If you’ve never been to a Renaissance Festival, let me explain: You have a fairly rural area with a huge parking-lot (pasture) and a festival area with tents, booths, small wooden structures, and lots and lots of medieval-like decorations. This is all walled in with hedges and fencing so you can’t see in from the outside, and can’t see out from the inside. In this space (usually very large, loud, and colorful,) you have hundreds of people milling around shopping at the numerous shops, playing semi-thematic games, and eating food from the many vendors.

What makes this different from any other festival is what people are wearing and what they sound like. Many of the folks there are dressed in period costume, or decked out in fantasy clothes that you’d also find them wearing at Dragon*Con. Next to a group of Knights, Lords, and Ladies, you might find a big troll, a gnome, or a group of girls with pixie wings. And yes, I take my kids there. All of this merriment and entertainment basically revolves around a single storyline where the King has called for a Joust between his Champion and some random bad guy from Spain or France.

I really enjoy these things. I’ve been to several in different states and think that the Georgia one is pretty good. It has been around for a while, so the show side of it is very well done and everyone who works there seems to love what they do. The accents are…well, if you like fake British accents, you’d love it. Me? Well, at least they have on nice clothes.

Our day started out with my kids being completely shell-shocked. None of them would leave the side of the stroller, talk to anyone or play a game. They just stood there looking at everything. The baby started screaming and my wife got really frustrated with me. “Is this what Disney is going to be like?” She asked as she tried to feed the baby.

Then it started raining.

I don’t know what happened, but in the rain, all of the kids just opened up. The Monkey wanted to play a game, so he and I went over to the bean-bag toss. There we won a big stuffed dragon and some beaded necklaces for the Princess. eBaby quited down and looked like she enjoyed sitting in her new sling, and the Monster sat in the stroller laughing and looking around at everything. From then on out, it was an absolutely perfect day.

We loved the shows and games, and the kids liked meeting and talking to everyone. If you want to have a good time yourself, here are a few tips for the Georgia Renaissance Festival that we learned this trip:

1. Go to the Peacock Tea Room at the back of the Festival. It is a covered, cool, secluded restaurant that serves tea (with refills) and pretty good finger-food. It is also right next to one of the entertainment stages and you have a great view of the show.
2. Play a game for your food. If you like playing the games and are good at it, why not spend the $6 you would have paid for that Turkey leg and try to win one. For that same money, you not only get the food, you get the satisfaction of winning it.
3. In the same vein as #2, play the beanbag toss and win your drinks instead of paying full price. I played the game twice and won free drinks both times. We traded these in for the dragon.
4. If you want to cheer on the good guy, sit on the left side at the joust. This may not matter to you, but my son was devestated that he had to cheer for the bad guy. For the second round of the show, we had to get there early to get a seat on the left.
5. Shop around. There are several vendors who sell the same stuff, so you might get a better deal if you ask the folks down the path. You can also haggle, depending on the vendor.
6. If you want to try and win free stuff and you like swords, go to the pirate ship before 4 and get your raffle tickets. They also have an auction on some (all?) days.
7. If you have kids, avoid the Dead Bob show. I hear he cleans up his act for Georgia…but he is still too blue for what is otherwise a pretty family event.

I hope the tips help. Oh, and if you check out their website you might find some money-saving coupons or special days for when you are going.

By the end of the day, we decided that if things go this well at Disney, we’re going to have a whole lot of fun. We spent too much money (The Princess had to have a new dress and tiara, and the boys had to have swords.)

So, what did I get for my birthday? I got a great day with the best kids in the world!