Texas Renaissance Festival - 8 THUMBS UP!!
This past weekend, Team Phipps decided a trip to the Texas Renaissance Festival was in order. It would have to be longer than a day trip, but not really a weekend trip. Mina’s dance card is very full in October and she also wanted to go to her school’s Fall Festival on Saturday. We decided we’d go to the Fall Festival and head towards Houston after that. Eat dinner in Houston and spend the night at the Woodlands (near Plantersville where RenFest is at). We’d spend Sunday at the Festival and head home.
We arrived there around 11am. We changed Mina and Benjamin into their Renaissance clothes. For Mina, it was a dress that she picked out earlier this summer (not my first choice, but hey, it’s her costume) and the Ren Shirt we got for Benji. It was already getting hot at 11am. I brought an extra dress for Mina as I foresaw her getting hot in this dress.
We walked in after buying a map and started to wander. Ogre was immediately approached by a busty lady and given a kiss on the cheek. He got pissed at me when Mina told him that he had lipstick on his cheek because I hadn’t told him and he’d be walking around with that on his cheek. Hee. hee.
The first thing I wanted to do was to get Mina’s hair braided so it would be up. As we started to wander in that direction, the royal parade started, so we took a gander at that. Mina loved seeing all the characters and dressed up people go by and as an added bonus, they were handing out candy! After the parade, we noted that we were right by the booth for braiding hair and signed her up. We’d have to come back after 45 minutes or so. As we were leaving, Mina started to complain that she wanted to unzip her dress because her back was sweaty. Can I call ‘em or what?? I changed her out of that dress into one that I brought and she was much happier. So much for a Ren costume!
We walked around the area close to the Hair Braiding and found a little spot that was selling children’s renaissance costumes. Well, we ended up buying Mina a whole new outfit rationalizing she could probably wear it for two years. Diety of your choice, please give me the strength to not buy her another outfit in the next year!
We were in there for so long that Ogre gave in to his knowledge that Benji would really like one of those Orange Snowballs even though it would be very very messy. It was also time to go back over to the Hair Braiding place.
Mina got her hair braided and was very pleased with the heart shaped bun they made for her.
After that, she would need her face painted. She only wanted the pink princess design. We tried to tell her that she could choose any design and they could make it pink. But the 5 year old knows best.
Next, we decided we’d have lunch. We ate at the Greek Food area (gyros and a skewer for the kids). This is where I realized that most of the shows here are NOT KID FRIENDLY. Thank goodness the kids weren’t paying attention and we were kind of behind the stage so they couldn’t hear what was going on but it was very R rated -Ogre’s eyes grew three times wide when he heard some stuff. I told him that they warned the crowd before and during the show that it was not a show for kids.
We continued to walk around the massive Festival. Normally, Ogre and I like to see what’s being sold at the little shops, but we did not have time today. We knew that Mina would be expecting some rides, so we headed to that area. She and Benji rode the carousel. It is motor-powered here (at Scarborough Faire, it’s still man-powered!).
Then she did the trampoline with harness that sends her sky high. This girl is brave!!
Then Team Phipps rode this crazy swing where your whole family can sit on a bench like swing and they hoist you up and let it go. I almost got sick and felt pretty gosh darn nauseated after that. The kids, of course, loved it. UGHHH!!
Then they wanted to ride some contraption where they get wound around a big pole and then it’s let go to unwind super fast. We let Benji on this ride, don’t ask me why. Towards the end, he was crying and being squooshed by his big sister. The guys winding the ride felt sorry for him and took him off. Shame on Benji’s parents!!
You're making ride what?
Our guilt resulted in prizes for Benji. We bought him a AMTGARD “dagger” (it’s really a throwing knife). He loved yelling “Hi-ya” and throwing it.
We continued trekking through the Festival, we walked through parts of the Gardens and Mina interacted with some of the characters, but time flies when you’re having fun and we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us. Mina asked us about the Petting Zoo, but there was no way we’d have time to do that this time around. We probably only saw about 75% of the Festival over a course of 7, yes 7 hours and that was rushing through sections!
I think everyone had a really good time, even Benji! We are coming back next year with a better plan. I think we’re going to make a weekend out of it so that we can stay into the evening and not feel rushed. They have fireworks at night and Mina was sad to miss that also. Mina’s only other complaint was that she did not get to ride enough rides!!
I shudder to think about the time when Benji can do as much stuff as Mina, these trips are going to get very pricey!!
Details:
- For 2008: Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) October 11 - November 30
- 9am to dusk
- Pricing is complicated: http://www.texrenfest.com/buytickets.html
- It’s a huge area! http://www.texrenfest.com/map.html
- How to get there?
Looks like you guys had a ton of fun! Aaron is itching to take Mac to something like this. I keep trying to tell him she’s too young…haha! Maybe next year I’ll give in
you should definitely go! scarborough faire is just as much fun and it’s just south of hillsboro near/in maypearl! Mac would love it!!
I made the mistake of bringing my children to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Be forewarned: although most shows do warn parents “this performance contains material that is PG-13 (or R)” the area where the “Tomato Torment” and “Drench the Wench” is located gives NO warning. This is complicated by the fact that these two “attractions” are in the thick of the children/family friendly area - as in, the area that includes the petting zoo, little kids rides, little kids arcade games, toddler fishing, a maze, etc. There is absolutely nothing that says “Tomato Torment” and “Drench the Wench” are inappropriate for children. My son (age 13, looks 10) and his friend went to the Tomato Torment and to our horror, the man taunted them by saying things like “it must be awful to know you’re gay before you hit puberty” and “oh, did you bring your boyfriend to help you?” and “you have such a light arm because you’re a f—-t.” A complaint to management was met with a shrug and a comment that parents should know that, even though the two attractions are in the thick of the family friendly area, those two attractions are not family friendly. I do not know what kind of sick, hostile mind it takes to use such hateful vile words to two little kids, in front of toddlers and pre-teens. Ironically, I witness something similar four years ago, the last time I went to the Texas Renaissance Festival, and was assured that steps had been taken to prevent such a thing from happening again.
UGH!! That sounds awful!! I agree that those shows are not family friendly at all! We just avoid those areas, we wouldn’t have had time to watch anyone and I wouldn’t care for them anyway. Luckily at lunch, the kids had no idea. We didn’t have time to go the toddler friendly area, but now I’m glad we didn’t! Thanks for the warning and I’m sorry you had such a bad experience!