dinner theater . for the historical time period see middle ages . medieval times dinner and tournament industry dinner theater founded december 20 1983 ; 32 years ago 1983 12 20 kissimmee florida u.s. headquarters irving texas u.s. number of locations 9 area served florida california new jersey illinois texas ontario south carolina maryland georgia number of employees 1 000 website www.medievaltimes.com the medieval times building in exhibition place toronto canada . the american locations however are all housed inside replica 11th century castles . the introduction of the knights medieval times dinner and tournament is a family dinner theater featuring staged medieval style games sword fighting and jousting . medieval times entertainment the holding company for the nine theaters is headquartered in irving texas . 1 in 2016 there are nine theaters located in buena park california ; dallas texas ; schaumburg illinois ; lyndhurst new jersey ; hanover maryland ; myrtle beach south carolina ; atlanta georgia ; orlando florida and toronto ontario canada . 2 each location is housed in a replica 11th century castle 3 with the exception of the toronto location which is housed inside the cne government building a beaux arts structure built in 1911 . 2 shows are performed by a cast of about 75 actors and 20 horses in each location . contents 1 history 2 north show synopsis 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit in the 1960s a medieval re enactment dinner theater was set up by jose montener on his estate on the island of majorca . later a private company was formed and with the support of investors the show moved to the united states ; the first of nine medieval times theaters opened in orlando in 1983 . 2 in april 1997 medieval times owners sought bankruptcy protection after losing a court battle to the internal revenue service that required the buena park location to pay 7.5 million and the orlando location to pay 2.5 million in back taxes . according to the irs medieval times improperly deducted royalties loan interest and management fees in the 1987 and 1989 tax years . when asked why the company was filing for bankruptcy the company s bankruptcy lawyer alan friedman said one of the primary reasons for filing was to prevent the irs from beginning to seize any assets . 4 the chain was featured in the 1996 film the cable guy 5 and the 2004 feature film garden state . it has also been featured in episodes of tv shows such as cake boss 6 hell s kitchen 7 and celebrity apprentice . 8 in 2006 the ninth theater location was opened in atlanta . 2 the shows change about every six years ; the most recent change was in october 2011 . the music for this version of the show was recorded in kiev ukraine and mixes an orchestra and show choir with electric guitars and rock percussion with russian influenced melody . for the third time composer daniel may took part in its development . 9 north show synopsis edit this section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience . please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information and removing excessive detail that may be against wikipedia s inclusion policy . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message the arriving guests are served bread and soup as they wait for the show to begin . the show opens with the narration of the horse followed by an andalusian stallion running in the arena horse at liberty guided by the master of horse . next a light show sets the theme and also divides the west side yellow black and white red from the east side blue red and yellow green . each color represents a different city in the kingdom . lord chancellor adviser to the king and the mc for the show then introduces the knights of the realm and gives a back story to each color s section . king don carlos knights squires and various serfs and wenches parade out ; the king and chancellor then make their way to the dais where they introduce princess catalina and call for a toast . the long reins or long lines part of the show demonstrates the skills of the horses including the trot in place the passage and the capriot . then the royal falconer releases a falcon which flies about often directly above the guests heads . a feast of chicken corn on the cob potato is then served . the king s guards perform choreographed maneuvers and the chancellor and the princess make paid announcements of birthdays or other special events . fog and haze fill the arena and the herald of the north appears ; he announces that his king lord ulrich promises don carlos a gift if he will accept it . don carlos agrees although the princess warns him of the threat lord ulrich has posed to other kingdoms . next knights on horseback compete at games including throwing lances through rings flag passing and javelin tossing . after each game the princess gives the winning knights flowers to throw to the ladies of their section . the knights of the east and west then compete in a relay challenge . the princess gives each winning knight a ribbon which they present to one lady ; these are the queens of the tournament . 2 10 at this point the promised gift from lord ulrich arrives a trained andalusian stallion . the master of horse and the stallion perform various tricks . the herald of the north then announces that lord ulrich wants to unite the two kingdoms by marrying princess catalina . knowing of lord ulrich s previous nefarious dealings don carlos tells the herald to return to his king with a refusal . the jousts and fights begin ; the winners change from show to show . large nets protect the audience from the wooden splinters from the lances and flying weapons . for the jousts each knight picks an opponent from the opposite side ; the winner is determined by the last one to fall and he is given the opportunity to strike the opponent with the weapon of his choice in the subsequent fight to the death on foot . for the fights a knight throws a glove to another knight and the two battle on horseback or on foot . the winner of the final match is named champion of the tournament and chooses one of the ladies from the audience to be the queen of love and beauty . the herald of the north now declares that he must either return to lord ulrich with the princess or die in battle against a knight of the king s choosing . the king asks the champion of the tournament if he will accept the herald s challenge . there is a climatic fight with the champion and his squire against the herald and his two squires . the squires are slain and the champion defeats the herald . the king asks the herald now in chains to return to his king and withdraw his request but the herald says that he would rather die . the king decides that the herald is too valiant to be slain and sentences him to imprisonment for life . he is dragged away to the dungeon . the show ends with a celebration of the champion knight ; then all of the characters appear in the arena to take their bows . see also edit list of dinner theaters references edit castle locations . medieval times entertainment . retrieved on april 29 2010 . a b c d e how medieval times survives in the digital age paper version headline all in a knight s work . toronto star christopher reynolds aug. 7 2016 . pages b1 b3 . duncan kimberly allyson ; rentz lisa tomer 2008 . insiders guide to myrtle beach and the grand strand 9th ed . . guilford ct insiders guide . isbn 978 0 7627 4407 7 . james granelli 1997 04 26 . medieval times owners file for bankruptcy . los angeles times . retrieved 2009 08 11 . ramey lynn t. 2007 . race class and gender in medieval cinema . p. 111 . tournament of knights and a tasty tiramisu cake boss tlc june 14 2010 15 chefs compete . hell s kitchen episode 3 . season 9 . july 25 2011 . fox . getting medieval . the celebrity apprentice . season 12 . episode 2 . february 26 2012 . nbc . palisin steve 2012 05 31 . medieval times ready to roll out new show . the sun news . retrieved 2012 06 01 . medieval alliance . international medieval alliance . retrieved on april 2 2007 . external links edit official website v t e greater orlando attractions amway center bok tower gardens bright house networks stadium camping world stadium cfe arena dr. phillips center for the performing arts fun spot america theme parks gatorland holy land experience legoland florida medieval times orlando eye orlando museum of art orlando science center ripley s believe it or not seaworld orlando universal orlando walt disney world colleges and universities daytona state college lake sumter state college seminole state college of florida university of central florida valencia college media central florida future the daytona beach news journal florida today orlando sentinel osceola news gazette wesh wftv wkcf wkmg wofl wrbw wucf airports daytona beach international airport deland municipal airport kissimmee gateway airport leesburg international airport orlando apopka airport orlando executive airport orlando international airport orlando sanford international airport counties flagler lake orange osceola seminole sumter volusia cities and towns 25k alafaya altamonte springs apopka buenaventura lakes casselberry clermont daytona beach deland deltona four corners kissimmee meadow woods ocoee orlando oviedo palm coast pine hills poinciana sanford st. cloud university the villages winter garden winter park winter springs cities and towns 10k 25k azalea park conway debary dr. phillips eustis fairview shores goldenrod horizon west hunter s creek lady lake lake butler lake mary leesburg lockhart longwood maitland mount dora oak ridge orange city pine castle southchase tavares wekiva springs this populated place is included in the orlando deltona daytona beach fl combined statistical area . see also florida retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title medieval times & oldid 743427470 categories restaurant chains in the united statestheme restaurantsdinner theatrecompanies based in irving texastheatrical joustingmedieval themed fairsbuena park californiavisitor attractions in dallasschaumburg illinoislyndhurst new jerseyvisitor attractions in myrtle beach south carolinavisitor attractions in orlando floridavisitor attractions in torontovisitor attractions in orange county californiahidden categories wikipedia articles needing style editing from august 2014all articles needing style editing navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages suomi edit links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 16 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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