Brandon Gittelman

Review of Glen Eyrie Conference Center

Was an overnight guest in the Castle and attended ...

Was an overnight guest in the Castle and attended the Madrigal Banquet.

Pros:
- Castle and surrounding groups are beautiful.
- Food at the Madrigal Banquet was both abundant and very tasty - much higher quality than I would have expected.
- Entertaining singers and actors.
- Brunch in the morning was also very tasty.

Cons:
- 30 minute wait at check-in for the room with long lines. They really need to either figure a way to speed up the process or have more people helping out.
- During the Madrigal Banquet, they seemed to be over-pushing the Jesus/God/Church messages. While I understand that most traditional Christmas music references the Christ figure, it was a bit weird to have a formal prayer and a number of reminders of the "true" meaning of Christmas during the production.
- No Alcohol policy. Felt strange not having a glass or two of wine with the meal, and the sparkling cider toast was a bit cheesy. Would have paid extra $$ for actual wine with the meal.
- Castle Rooms have paper-thin walls. We could easily hear everything going on in the hallway. In addition, the curtains don't block much light, leading to an early wakeup-call. Beds were also a bit squeaky.

Overall, the Madrigal Banquet was entertaining and a lot of fun, though recognize it's definitely pushing the Christ message through the evening. Overnight lodging wasn't really worth it outside of the "interesting" factor of saying you stayed in a castle. Neither one of us exactly slept soundly due to the squeaky bed, hallway noises and early lights through the windows.