Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard there are only portapotties which is a dealbreaker for me, too. And DD (8) goes to the bathroom every 5 seconds, so it would be so not fun for us.

Maybe don’t believe everything you hear?

The Ren festival is located at a permanent structure with fully functioning restrooms and ATMs on site.

It was nice.

I think you're thinking of the PA Renaissance Faire, which is in a permanent setting at a winery and has real bathrooms with running water. I think that one's a little nicer and bigger than the MD one, and it's not too far a drive from here (2-3 hours - we've done it easily enough in a day before), but I still like this one. We went on Saturday with our toddler and all had a great time. We got there shortly after it opened and parking/traffic were fine. In my experience it does get worse as the fall goes on traffic-wise. A lot of the die-hard fans seem to prefer the later fall weather, probably because some of those costumes look pretty warm.

All that said, yeah, I think you can get a lot of the same feel out of county/state fairs, except for the costumes.

I'm kinda germ-a-phobic and a little uptight, but I enjoy the Renaissance Festival.

Again, I'm a bit tightly wound, and even I can handle port-a-potties a few times a year. Is it super pleasant? No. But if it takes you more than two minutes, a brief shudder at the grossness, and a spring to the hand sanitizer, you're doing it wrong. Really not a big deal.

Scotch eggs, fried pickles, kids love it. It's a fun day, something different.

It's amazing how important toilets are to people. Back in medieval times they didn't even have port-a-potties! Just truly get into it and go behind a tree.

Ewww. You're disgusting.

In medieval times, people would have chosen toilets if they could.

It's amazing how important toilets are to people. Back in medieval times they didn't even have port-a-potties! Just truly get into it and go behind a tree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard cider
Oyster shooters
Steak on a stake
Cleavage
Codpieces
Kilts
Bawdy humor
Armored jousting
Opening cannon sets off car alarms
Costumes
Shade trees
Giant wooden slide
Shopping

Whoo-hoo!

You forgot giant turkey legs!

And no toilets! Just wear diapers!!!

Anonymous wrote:Hard cider
Oyster shooters
Steak on a stake
Cleavage
Codpieces
Kilts
Bawdy humor
Armored jousting
Opening cannon sets off car alarms
Costumes
Shade trees
Giant wooden slide
Shopping

Whoo-hoo!

You forgot giant turkey legs!

Hard cider
Oyster shooters
Steak on a stake
Cleavage
Codpieces
Kilts
Bawdy humor
Armored jousting
Opening cannon sets off car alarms
Costumes
Shade trees
Giant wooden slide
Shopping

Whoo-hoo!

OP here, thanks for all the feedback. Might skip it this year and hit up a few county fairs instead.

Stay away from this festival. The traffic to get in is horrendous. Very poorly planned. The parking is bad too.

Very crowded, overpriced. Not worth it.

We went last year. It was ok. DD had a great time. My DH is a grump, though, so we only stayed for like 2 hours. You have to stay longer to catch more shows to make it worth it.

And yes, only port a potties.

Your DH will like the cleavage on display.

Anonymous wrote:the DCUM set has thoroughly ruined RenFest. Please, stay in Glover Park and north Arlington. RenFest isn’t for you.

Yeah too many people who just want to go there to drink in the open. And they assume anyone in costume works there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard there are only portapotties which is a dealbreaker for me, too. And DD (8) goes to the bathroom every 5 seconds, so it would be so not fun for us.

Maybe don’t believe everything you hear?

The Ren festival is located at a permanent structure with fully functioning restrooms and ATMs on site.

It was nice.

Where are these “fully functioning restrooms”? All I’ve seen are port o potties.

I go every year and I've never seen real bathrooms, just porta potties.

Anonymous wrote:I saw a video of it and it looks like people dressed in antiquated costumes and role playing mostly on a campground. Is there anything fun to do there besides watch a show? I think I'd prefer medieval times (never been) or busch gardens?

They don't have any rides except for a big wooden slide. There are lots of shows though

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard there are only portapotties which is a dealbreaker for me, too. And DD (8) goes to the bathroom every 5 seconds, so it would be so not fun for us.

Maybe don’t believe everything you hear?

The Ren festival is located at a permanent structure with fully functioning restrooms and ATMs on site.

It was nice.

NP. Haven't been in a couple of years. PP, do they now have toilet buildings? As of a few years ago the toilets were port-a-potties arranged in their own area off to one side (and they were fine--no need for them to be a deal-breaker). Maybe they added some of those temporary-but-not really temporary small toilet "buildings" with several real toilets like I've seen at a lot of historic sites and parks--?

If so, great, but if not, folks, why let port-a-potties stop you from going to an event you really want to attend? Yes, they can get gross, we all know. But the ones at RenFest were always as decent as they could be, and the way to avoid the inevitable buildup in them is to attend very early in the RenFest season. We usually have gone on the first weekend and the potties were OK.

BTW, if the group known as "Fight School" still performs there, see them. They were always the highlight for us.