Charlotte Renaissance Festival: my experience!
The leaves are starting to change color and Fall is here (kind of)! The change in the weather has inspired me to write about my experience at the Charlotte Renaissance Festival and hopefully share some info that you find helpful or amusing!
I went to the Charlotte Ren Festival last November with a big group of friends and we had a great time. First of all, we stayed in an Airbnb about 30 minutes away from the festival. We spent one night at the rental, just the night before the festival. The drive from home to the festival is definitely a mini trek & we wanted to make sure we got there early the morning of.
Line
This was part of line, waiting to get to the actual festival gate.
I highly recommend getting there early! We didn’t show up at the crack of dawn or anything, but early enough to beat most of the morning rush. It’s not too hard to find, since you’ll see all the cars once you get close enough. Once you’re within the parking grounds, workers will direct you. Be prepared for a bit of a walk on uneven ground from your car to the actual festival gate.
Even though there were a lot of people, the line moves really quickly. There was no bag check, only workers scanning your tickets. Once we got in, we were super hungry.
First food purchase of the day!
We got this cinnamon bun from a shop that is very close to the entrance. It was to the right side as we were walking in. There wasn’t too much of a line. This was sooo delicious.
From the start there are so many beautiful, intriguing, and whimsical shops. You will not be at a loss for things to explore and check out.
It was pretty crowded there, as expected, but it wasn’t excessive. If you have kids though I would keep a close eye on them and not let them wander off. Also, I wore leather knee high boots that weren’t broken in and my feet were hurting really bad starting about halfway through! So definitely choose really comfy shoes that you’ve broken in already.
A photo from inside the festival. It’s a really huge place! When you think you’re at the end, it keeps going. Endless fun stuff to see
While we were there, we did some fun activities too. One of our friends signed up for a blacksmithing experience, where he got to make a coin with the help of a real blacksmith. Heads up though, it takes awhile of waiting for the entire process start to finish (signing up to getting your item back). A bunch of my friends also tried archery! They had a lot of fun, and they went later in the day when there was less of a line. We all went through the medieval torture museum, which was surprisingly big and also cool!
This is a photo of the crowd at the jousting arena! In the way back you can see the brown building where it’s hosted from. In front of that is where the jousters ride on their horses. There are stadium bleachers on either side
These are photos of vendor areas with whimsical and exciting things to browse and shop for! This also kind of shows the mermaid tank that we saw!
I can’t forget to include one of my best recommendations: chili bread bowls!
If you keep walking past the jousting area, you’ll see a castle looking frontage up to your left. They were selling different soups and chili in bread bowls. This was soooo good.
This last photo shows a gathering of performers who were singing, playing music, and dancing. The kind of thing you’ll stumble upon at the Ren Festival!
That’s basically it! I hope you learned a little more about the Charlotte (NC) Renaissance Festival :) Thank you for reading!! <3