By Brooklynn Wong
Pirate’s Dinner Adventure in Buena Park makes for a surprisingly good evening.
The dinner theater that resides on Beach Boulevard in the city’s entertainment corridor, near Medieval Times and Porto’s, offers shows every day of the week, weeknights at 7 p.m. and twice on Saturdays and Sundays.
It is an experiential outing that includes, with purchase, a surprisingly decent meal and approximately two hours of entertainment.
The theater opens 90 minutes before showtime, and in that time, appetizers and drinks are served, there are photo ops, the gift shop is open with pirate merchandise, and there’s a short pre-show that helps set the scene for the main event.
The stage is an ornate open ship-scape, and the seats go almost 360 degrees around.
Each section of seating—organized by color—has its own pirate that interacts with them and that they are to champion throughout the show.
Waiters wander throughout the theater while the show is going on, taking orders and asking preferences. The meal is a fairly basic one, starting with a salad or soup, followed by, this time, chicken and shrimp with vegetables, and topped off with a chocolate cake with raspberries. It changes from time to time.
Alcoholic beverages in souvenir cups are available for purchase.
The plot is not the show’s strength, but it involves a kidnapped princess and her gypsy friend, a threatening captain, competitions between the pirates, the Loch Ness Monster, and ultimately a battle.
The theater offers seasonal shows at other times during the year, like “Vampirates” around Halloween and a Christmas show that combines the pirates with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The pirates sing and stunt, there’s just a tinge of romance, there are some jokes that will go right over the little ones’ heads and entertain the adults, and there are impressive acrobatics and special effects, which, along with the set, are the best part.
The lights and sound effects are rather impressive, and the ship is expansive and sprawling and stretches out over the audience via ropes and ladders, so the pirates fly around and it really becomes captivating to watch. There’s a moat-like ring of water surrounding the ship, that the pirates row boats around.
The show could conceivably appeal to all ages. It is somewhat targeted toward children, with its simplistic and flashy entertainment features. And at multiple times in the show, children are asked from the audience to participate in various aspects of the show. There is nothing that would go beyond the purview of a PG rating, no crude language, no real violence, and the only frightening aspects are a few loud noises—cracking whips that sound like firecrackers, a loud thunder track and some noisy guns that are deployed a couple of times.
And it makes for an enjoyable night out with adult friends as well. It’s not sophisticated, high-brow entertainment, but very entertaining and fun nonetheless, if you’re looking for a laid-back outing where you can just sit back, relax, be served, and let the show unfold before your eyes. And you can put a wilder spin on it by enjoying the themed adult beverages they offer, and perhaps dressing up in your swashbuckling best.
Even the most cynical of adults that would normally avoid a place like this can’t help but be pulled into the spectacle.
There’s somewhat of a “soft ending” to the show when the script ends, as the cast stays in the theater and wanders around to interact with lingerers and make themselves available for group photos.
As for prices, they’re a little steep, but look for coupon codes and special deals, as they have been known to offer buy-one-get-one-free’s and often offer Groupons.
There are group rates that are a decent deal if you’re going with a party.
This Buena Park entertainment fixture, that sometimes plays underdog to its neighbors Knott’s Berry Farm and Medieval Times, is surprisingly good fun.
