Pirates Dinner Adventure
6400 Carrier Drive
Orlando
1-800-866-2469
This is one of the best web-sites into which I have looked. Great information. Visit their Photo Gallery. Their pictures are much better than mine! There are numerous upgrades. We chose not to do any of them.
Fun factor: 5 star
Feast: Quite Good
Admission: Regular Gate Price: Adults $61.95, plus tax; Children (3-12) $37.45…plus tax**(See last paragraph)
Many “Upgrades” available
Winner of several local “BESTS”
When we did my Birthday Extravaganza for my 65th in the Kissimmee area in November, we found a pirate ship at Town Old with some left over coupons from Halloween—great value, super price savings. I suspect they should not have been there, but I picked up a couple in the hopes that I could get some friends together to go. Unfortunately, life gets in the way of life and no one had available time before the expiration date of the coupon. One friend had just been there with another of her friends. So, Steve and I decided that we would go. Well, if truth be told I wanted to go. Steve, not so much. But the choice came down to his coming with me or stay home by himself. Monday looked like a good day. We called for reservations. And, Monday, we left early to head to Orlando. We are always early, but this time we had no idea where this place was located. We wanted to make sure we had checked out its location while it was still light. It is always harder to find new places after dark.
We got there quite some time before the doors opened. The one thing that I did not care for and actually found tacky was that they charged for parking. Albeit, it was only $3.00. Most of the other dinner/theater, as I recall, have free parking. However, most of the other attractions in the area do charge for parking. So, I guess I have to live with that. We were so early that when ushered into the area with the pre-show, bar and gift shop, we were almost the only ones there. Steve looked at the tickets and realized that we would not be dining until well after 7:30 pm. He is used to eatin’ around five-ish. And, he had not eaten much lunch. So, we left and walked around the neighborhood where there are tons of restaurants, attractions, and gift shops/”super” markets. Heading into one he bought a bag of chips to tide him over until it was time to eat.
The brochure indicates a Pre-show and appetizers. Musical Entertainment & Stunts. 4 Course Pirate Dinner Feast. Dancing at the Buccaneer Bash Disco Party. Audience Participation.
The Pre-show. Musical Entertainment and Stunts
The pre-show is actually an introduction to the real show. It is the prologue to the story that eventually happens aboard the ship. It certainly whets ones appetite for seeing more. A scripted play starts the evening. Then a contortionist has a very good program. How can anyone bend in those directions! A bit of pirate mischief and mayhem. Those pirates are some good lookin’ dudes!
Appetizers
When we returned from meandering around the block, we discovered wait staff walking around and through the waiting area (holding area somewhat like cattle, except the bar, gift shop and small stage make it a bit more interesting). Beef tips. Chicken nuggets with mustard sauce. Teriyaki wings. Carrots and broccoli. We got back just in time. The nibbling food was very good, but they were not overly generous in the amount served. One of the upgrades had an appetizer buffet. But then one tends to overeat at these things leaving not as much room for the main meal.
4 Course Pirate Dinner Feast.
I am never sure how these places “count” the number of courses. The food was extremely tasty, well prepared, more than enough in volume and hot. First came salad OR soup. I had salad…a typical fresh green salad, good-sized portion. Choice of Italian or Ranch dressing. Steve chose soup. Portion size was quite minuscule. Maybe it just appeared that way as the bowl was enormous (this is the same sized bowl in which they served the substantial serving of salad). The soup was called creamy vegetable. Did not see much for veggies, but it definitely was creamy. He said it was good.
Next came the entrée: Treasure’s Chicken--Roast Chicken Leg quarter in savory seasonings. Pillager’s Pork--Swashbuckling pork tenderloin roasted to perfection served with mushroom sauce. Caribbean Rice. Roasted Red Potatoes. Oversized servings on all. All plated together. Nice presentation. The wait staff person asks if you want the pork and if you want “gravy.” I had forgotten what the menu said and told him “no” on the gravy portion. I am not much for “gravy.” But, I do love my other kinds of sauces. Missed the boat on that one.—yuk, yuk to may pun! (The food selections and descriptions have been “pirated” from their web-site!!!). Everything was cooked perfectly; both the chicken and pork were, oh, so, tender. There are several “upgrades” for food choices, if one is inclined. But, we were well satisfied.
My only complaint I have is that the only beverage available at our table was Coke in pitchers. Some of the tables had water which I would have preferred. I don’t like “sweet” drinks with my meal. Usually water, possibly unsweetened ice tea or hot tea, and rarely milk. But since that what was available, I drink a couple of glasses.
Dessert was yummy. Some sort of apple concoction (they called it apple cobbler) served with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup decorating the ice cream. Portion size seemed to vary by person. Steve’s serving was tiny; mine, big. He does not like anything fruity. So, I traded him most of my ice cream for his apple stuff.
Gratuity is NOT included in the price of the meal and a suggested amount is stated.
Dancing at the Buccaneer Bash Disco Party. Somehow we missed this, but neither of us are very fond of dancing. So, not participating in this is not something we really “missed.” (I reread the brochure and it takes place after the show for which we did not stay).
Audience Participation. This is excellent, wonderful and a whole lot of other positive adjectives. It is especially great for the kids. They are brought to the boat on several occasions. And had several “chores” to do from time to time. When one buys ones tickets, colors—red, purple, orange, green, yellow and blue—are printed on the ticket. One is seated by his/her own special pirate clothed with much of that color. When the “color” is announced, your pirate waves a flag which you follow to your seating area. When our red flag appeared, our pirate lead us like the pied piper through the doors to our special seats. During the show, one is encouraged to cheer for his/her pirate in various competitions and in a general sense. Steve says that I am the loudest person at a given venue when presented with this kind of opportunity. We were in the front row, so my screaming and yelling worked perfectly. There are also times when those who bought upgrades are asked to do certain things.
One woman who was on our red team should have stayed home. Red Capt’n Jack won the first round as it was on his own merits. The second included this woman, who, as I have already mentioned should have stayed home. Red pirate had no chance as she could not throw for squat. Red and blue definitely had the loudest cheering sections. I thought green was asleep. They were next to us on the right. We could barely hear them.
Seating capacity is stated at 800. There were less than 200, but the cheering was still noisy. All the seats appear to give one an excellent view. The couple immediately next to me on my right were from Overland Park, Kansas. I stayed in that town a couple of nights several years ago. They were in town for a conference and were flying out the next morning. They came to this “on a whim.” They said that they were happy that they did come, as they were enjoying it. I sat next to them for the first act and then Steve switched places and talked to them during the intermission and occasionally in the second act.
The Show
Swashbuckling at its best! | |
“Now in celebration of our 15 year anniversary in Orlando we bring to you a new show - The Curse of Poseidon's Treasure! This Broadway-quality show is presented on an enormous, fully-rigged pirate’s galleon. The elaborate dinner theater set provides the backdrop for action, acrobatics, romance, comedy and a hearty feast! Join our two young explorers - Katherine and Freddy, as they search for the answers to a mythical curse. This is the ultimate adventure of song, stunts, comedy and romance, a combination of past and present never seen before!” (imagine trying to tell pirates of yesteryear about an iPod!) “Can they break the curse before its too late?...” (Again, a little piracy from their web-site) | |
Between acts, the cast visited with the audience (the pirates visited those in their particular color section).
It is quite noisy. Kind of dark. Cannon booming. Lots of yelling. (Could be a bit intiminating to young children.) Extremely high energy through out. Cute story. Amazing special effects (when the cannon shoots at times, it looks as though the cannonball has hit the water as bursts of water project upward). Fog rising from water. Great cast (three women…the rest very muscled men). The “gypsy girl” performed high above the deck several times with various aerial routines. Pirates swinging back and forth. Some great acrobatics.
Fun night. Got home a bit after 11:00 pm (late for Steve but he enjoyed himself).
**Like most Orlando attractions, I think the “regular” admission is too high priced. But with a coupon, Florida residency, on-line buying, Florida travel guides and other promotions available—there are some good bargains to be had…making this a possible good value. (It certainly was for us)!
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| Love conquers all! |
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