Our 2024 Georgia Renaissance Festival Trip

The 2024 Georgia Renaissance Festival is a 16th century England Renaissance Festival and it’s BACK for the 2024 season!

The Festival will run every weekend April 13th thru June 2nd, 2024, Saturdays and Sundays 10:30am to 6pm and Memorial Day Monday.

The Georgia Renaissance Festival is a family-friendly event, and a different kind of theme park. Inside this 32-acre recreation of a 16th Century English Village you’ll find hundreds of costumed characters, the Queen and her Court, endless circus-style entertainment on 10 stages, shopping in over 130 artisan shoppes, food fit for Royalty, games and rides for kids of all ages, and the spectacular Jousting Knights on horseback. Patrons are invited to wear costumes and join in the fun too. It’s a whole lotta’ fun, and a little bit of History.

Huzzah! And long live the King! We were excited to be back at the Georgia Renaissance Festival this year! I’ll try to sum up our trip as concisely as possible but there are LOTS of important tips scattered through here, so pay attention!

Attendance at the Festival is GREATLY increased since we start going some 8 years or so ago. Saturdays are usually PACKED. We have found Sunday crowds to be ever-so-slightly smaller. Be prepared. Do not plan to pull up into the parking lot at 10:00 and be inside the festival at 10:30. We do the festival over two days so I can’t speak to Saturday morning numbers – we didn’t arrive until 1:00 on Saturday – but Sunday morning, there was already a HUGE crowd by 10:00. Gates open at 10:30 but it took us 10-15 minutes to get inside after that. 9:30 is my goal for the morning. Get there by 9:30. There is entertainment in front of the entrance starting at 10:00. But if you don’t get there until 10:00, you’re not going to be close enough to see or hear the entertainment.

Can you dress up for the festival? YES! We’ve done it in costume and not in costume. Just know that regardless, you need to dress for COMFORT. (This is addressed in my post on important tips before you go.) Dressing up is FUN but things to consider are: outside, walking, weather, and bathroom facilities. There are those portable bathroom trailers (with electricity, A/C, and running water) for most of the women’s restrooms – specifically the restrooms in front (before the entrance – so stop off before you go in!) and in the very back. But there are also a LOT of Port-a-Potties. The men’s restroom in the very back is a trailer but I think the rest of the men’s rooms are still Port-a-Potties.

G’s costume was on point this year. It got him A LOT of attention! The festival characters interacted with him in fun ways and even other festival goers wanted pictures with him! He was dressed as one of the assassins from the Assassin’s Creed video games.

There are so many shows and acts to see, it’s impossible to see them all! When you first enter the festival, there is a stand with paper maps and an entertainment schedule. This will be your best friend during the day!

You can also check the website before you go for descriptions of the shows. It will help you decide what you want to see and then you can look up those shows on the schedule. But cell service has never been great at the festival (it IS 1530 after all…) so don’t plan on depending on your phone for anything.

Beyond tickets and food, lots of things have an additional cost once you get inside. I cover this more in my important tips you need to know before you go post – just know that prices (especially for food) have increased significantly.

I have noticed an expansion of food choices since we first started going. Which is nice. Be sure to check the map for all the food stand options. There are five different food stands (six if you count the coffee/tea/lemonade shop that also has the Dole Whips) and they all have different food options so be sure to check the map and scope our your options before you decide!

We did try some different food items this year. I got The Queen’s Apple from the Sir-Munch-A-Lot stand. I really enjoyed it! It was a nice sweet treat that was also filling and balanced with the apple so I didn’t over do it one something sweet in the heat and regret it later.

I saw cupcakes on a stick, which seems an obvious food to put on a stick but I don’t recall ever seeing it before. I had already order The Queen’s Apple and G was chowing down on fried ice cream so cupcakes on a stick will have to wait until next time.

Other food favorites we’ve had: mac-and-cheese on a stick (one of G’s personal faves), meatballs on a stick (very filling without being insanely priced like the steak-on-a-stake), fried green tomato BLT (so good and I regret not getting one this year but that line was long and I was hungry so I settled for something else), and Dole Whip (and if you really like pineapple, order the “Oh My…”. It’s a hollowed out pineapple filled with pineapple chunks, juice and topped with Dole Whip.)

Be sure to stop by the Bow Shoppe where Bows of the Risen Son is set up. You get to try out shooting a hand carved wooden bow with a hand carved wooden arrow. This is one of the few FREE activities so check it out.

Also check the map for the Juggling School for free juggling demonstrations throughout the day.

The glass-blowing demonstrations are another fun thing to check out. It’s a great opportunity to get a snack and/or beverage and go have a seat and watch!

One of the things we did this year that we have NEVER done before, is purchase premium seating for the Joust. I will absolutely and 100% spend the $12 per person to do that again. We got to watch the Joust up close, in reserved seating, in the shade, on cushioned seats AND we got a little bonus entertainment while we waited. Premium Joust seats also come with souvenir pennants and paper crowns (if you want one. G did not).

You can see in some of the Joust pictures below where everyone else has to watch the Joust – limited seating that fills up fast and is in the sun. And if the seating fills up, your only option is to stand on the hillside.

So yes, we will absolutely do premium Joust seating again. When you first come up on the Joust arena, the place to purchase your premium seat tickets is on your left opposite the arena (next to the Tourney Bridge). Get your tickets early! There are three Joust times every day of the Festival.

If I can suggest “don’t miss shows”, it would be Barely Balanced, Gypsy Geoff (which I discovered after we went this year, that this is his last year doing ren faires! He’s always been a favorite!) and Cast in Bronze. Also, the Birds of Prey show is always great to watch. And we enjoy the edgy bagpipe music of Rota Temporis. (If you can’t catch them during the day, they perform at the exit at closing time!)