Maryland Rennisance Festival Review

Great family fun and lots to do! Plus the food is always good!

Always a fun time. Great performers, vendors, and food.

Huge fair with games, park, entertainment, and elephant rides. No metal weapons allowed, not even ziptied

This is always my favorite way to kick off Fall. Go once it cools off and you'll see what I mean. I love feeling like I've been transported through time to my favorite period in history (art and clothing at least) The food is a must so don't fill up at one spot. Scotch eggs, falafel, mead, grog. So fun!

Very crowded and the shows don't compliment each other very well.

Basically an outside medieval period themed mall. The jousting show was brief. The turkey legs were not edible. There were many other food vendors with cheaper tasty treats. Atmosphere is fun.

This is always a fun filled time. Too bad it was sold out the last time we tried to go, spent 3.5 hours in traffic, to be turned away 1 mile from the venue. Next time we will get tickets on line and leave super early.

Love going each year. Always buy tickets online to avoid the lines at the front and not have to worry about not getting in. People are friendly, food and drink are good, and the entertainment is great.

I love the shows, the costumes, the overall atmosphere! And the food/drink prices are reasonable :)

Great place to see costumes, buy handmade items, medieval shows, grab a beer and try your hand at some games

What's not to like. Something for everyone. Great food great shows

Good time, just be sure to carefully pick your day to avoid crazy lines for the amazing good and merriment

I've been coming to the Maryland Renaissance Festival for over 10 years. I'm a regular and usually get either a 6 day pass or a Fairever pass. Several years ago, they made a new ruling that bands performing there can't use electronics such as a keyboard which kept many bands away. Then they put bands like Albannach (Scottish pipe and drum) on an open stage and they have to play rain or shine. Their drums get damaged in the rain so they will take gigs elsewhere instead of coming here anymore. And now this year, they have taken away pub sing at the white hart. This is a tradition where all the bands that played during the day come together and one by one they play one song with everyone singing along. We would finish the night with Wild Mountain Thyme and then there would be a cannon blast signaling it's time to go. It's like management wants to make it more about families that may or may not come once a year, and less about families that come every weekend. All they're doing is driving away patrons that made Maryland the second largest faire in the country and sending us to Pennsylvania Faire.

Great place for kids and people watching. Plan ahead as it gets busy

Best $400 I ever spent on a family outting like this. Be prepared for a mob.... of fun characters. Only place I could touch an elephant outside of Thialand.

Lots of new high quality vendors. If you haven't been for awhile you'll be pleasantly surprised by the updates.

Such a fun, annual tradition. Great live stage shows, enchanting atmosphere, and guilty pleasure food.

Great atmosphere, lots to do for adults and children.

Used to be Great, now days it is way overpopulated. Ridiculous crowds, people packed shoulder to shouldet and the even continues to let more and more people enter.

I've been going for years. Always a fun time. Price is not bad if you take advantage of the free shows.

So many shops and good food. Crazy things to buy like axes and such.

The Renn Faire gets pretty crowded, but the shows are entertaining as well as the side activities. Parking sucks - you can expect to sit in traffic for about 30 minutes before you get in. But on the plus side, you can bring your own food and get some amazing wine cocktails.

I spend all year looking forward to "Renn Fest" and I go as often as I can once it does. My first stop is for a meat pie, hot and fresh, and then the fried pickles. My day isn't right unless I have both of my favorite goodies. I miss Hack and Slash, but I still always make a point to stop by a Renaissance Man show, most especially the Witch Trial. It's also a good time following the King's storyline, since I'm a total history and British Monarchy ( Tudor era is my passion, Henry VIII is one of my favorites, with Anne Boleyn being my favorite of his Queens) nerd. It's not hard to imagine what it must have been like back then at all.

I've been going for years. Always a fun time. Price is not bad if you take advantage of the free shows.

Always fun. Ask for prices first, if it's not obvious.

Opening day - lots of fun! Meat on sticks and beer, what more could you ask for?

My wife and I went in 2015 first time to Maryland and first day not so bad. Second day we went too many drunken idiots and fights between people. Other ren festivals didnt have security running around trying to keep people calm. Maybe if MD didnt have so many beer stands all over the place. Should be drink limits yet i see guys walking away trying to balance 4 cups of beer. At one vendor stand who stamped coin necklaces the way you want them had to tell this drunk guy 3 times to back off because he kept trying to go over the rope. Nearby 3 guys were rolling around on the ground fighting. This is dusgusting. Not many vendors selling crafts or costumes. Been to Ohio ren festival many times and i will say it was 500 times better than MD. I will not be going back to MD. i tried complaining to MD ren festival about the alcohol issues and they will not reply or return my calls. So much for family friendly place.

Great place to score some weed....performers, some vendors, even word of mouth guests for the day selling bud. All good stuff............

Took my wife and daughter. My other Renaissance Festival experience was 25 years ago and they have changed for the better. Tons of the attendees in full regalia but not sure the Han Solo character was time period appropriate. Tons of food choices, lots of micro brew beers, and deserts fit for a king.

Had a wonderful time. Would highly recommend, but go on a cool day. Lots of drinks and food to choose from.

The overall experience is fun. Although the elephant rides raise some concerns about animal cruelty.

Lots of food, drink, and fun shows. Also, lots of arts and crafts.

Great family fun, dress for the weather and bring lots of cash lol

Massive in size with so much to see and do! Would go again!

If the place is sold out you just gotta make your way to the ticket booth. They can still sell you a ticket.

Really great Renn faire. They do a Henry VIII story. Everything is a little over priced, but that's pretty standard for these.

One of my favorite places to visit! There's something for everyone - music, shows, kid activities, jousting, shopping, food!

We generally love the festival. But after watching the new "jousting" group we were thoughly disappointed.

Lots of fun but a massive need for parking and space overhaul. Getting in and getting out can take literally hours. I suspect nothing will change as long as they keep selling out but I think they could net some big profits from expanding the space of the park and parking adding more bars (LONG lines for drinks) and adding another access point.

Good job on atmosphere, interesting people, lots of cheap games, talented live events

always enjoy the fair, minus the fat slobs with pushed up fat to look like boobs of course, disgusting, go early leave early before the land whales get in line for food

We go most years for a day trip with a couple friends, and this is a fun Renaissance Festival. There's lots of cool shops, great food, fun entertainment. Checking out people's costumes is awesome. Even the wait for tickets wasn't as bad as I expected from the giant crowd waiting there, because there were probably 2 dozen different lines. Just bring cash, many of the shops accept credit cards, but most of the food and drink stands don't.

Great vendors, great food awesome experience. Plan to come early and pay close attention to where you parked.

Very different fair, odd people that get very into this type of thing. It was interesting to people watch because they dress in costumes. The food and events are different so it's a very interesting thing to explore but once was good enough for me

Fun time just remember to bring cash. Atm lines are long and not all merchants take cards.

Take your family here. Lot of fun, great show, big place to walk all day long. Don't miss it!!

While you need to get there early, and it can get crowded, it's always a great time, with splendid atmosphere and talented performances. Been going for years, and will go back every year!

Always love fair! Even more fun when you go dressed up! Great food and shows, unique goods for sale, fun for kids of all ages! Hit the ATM before you go, it sucks to have your fun held up by ATM lines. Also if you have a small child, bring an off-road stroller. Makes it much easier to get around and see all the merriment!

It was a beautiful and fun place. It was very crowded though.

We will never go again. Extremely crowded to the point of waiting 30 minutes to buy some terrible food item. Separate wait lines for sandwich and beverage. All lines were long, slow and the resulting purchase was very unsatisfactory. The shops were so full that there were even lines to shop for (again) ridiculously overpriced souvenirs. The shortest lines were for the overflowing portapotties... too many people to see the performers or the joust match. Never again...

Day drinking, people watching and throwing sharp objects. What's not to like? P.s. the people watching is some of the best I've ever partaken in...

Merriment abounds! Between the reasonably priced food and drink, entertainment, and woodland atmosphere it's a wonderful day every time you go. It's easy to spend the day meandering with the family through the grounds, that feature plenty of onsite parking. Everyone gets the turkey legs, but I go for a cheap crab cake and hush puppies. You won't go hunger and you'll never be bored at the Renn Fest!

It's huge. I don't think it's much for kids but there are things for kids to do.

Great smaller (by size)faire. It is very busy and the lines for drinks are usually long, especially on Saturdays. Food and beverage prices a great compared to other faires we have attended. We had fun despite the crowds. I would have liked to have worn my boot knives but they have a no weapons policy. Would also have been nice to see more people dress up but I can understand that.

Had an amazing time here with mead friends and mead!

Love the cast,shop and venders, and all the people that come out to get away from the "real world" for a few hours ... I have never had a bad day there in the last 20 years

Best faire I've been to. Excellent quality food, entertainment and merchandise. Beautiful grounds. Well maintained.

One of my favorite places in the entire world! Great food, nice people, inventive shops, and expertly performed events.

Great fun every year. You can dress up if you want, but you won't be alone if you dress in regular modern-day wear. See a joust or two (it's the state sport of Maryland), eat food on sticks, quaff your thirst with a cold beverage (cider, mead, beer, and non-alcoholic choices everywhere), watch a show, sing a song, and shop like there's no tomorrow.

I have gone every year since 2014, multiple times a year. I love it! Great atmosphere, shows, music, cast, food, drink, etc.

I had never been to a renaissance festival before and was a bit hesitant at first. It turned out to be a fantastic time with a carnival type atmosphere, lots of good food and drink, along with great shops with quality goods. Not to mention the amazing performances by a number of entertainers.. All that being capped off by several rounds of jousting that we got to see. Truly memorable and I will certainly be back next season!

Always a good time. More crowded later in the season.

A bit more crowded and limited than the PA faire, but still a great time.