The Lost Carnival – beyond our wildest dreams

As we entered The Lost Carnival we were unsure of the delights that we would behold. The podcasts were a fantastic introduction to the story of the Ingenue family and the tale of the Lost Carnival but it didn’t really explain what to expect.

When we arrived the story started to unfold as we witnessed a brief recap of what had already happened for those who may not have listened to the podcasts.

The map was clear and the girls loved planning where to go first. We headed to the sideshows which intrigued the girls. The first person we visited was the fortune teller.

As a family, we went inside her tent to hear our fortunes. She read our palms and was actually correct in many of her conclusions. Elizabeth was embarassed to hear she will have lots of boyfriends in the future and it was predicted that Alison would have a huge variety of jobs as she will get bored with each career she chooses. Seeing how easily she gets bored now I can definitely see that happening.

After visiting the fortune teller we headed into the Fear Eaters caravan to have our fears consumed.

The Fear Eater was amazing and she had the girls write their fears on a piece of paper and then ate the paper. Both girls said they were scared of spiders and they now believe that the fear eater has taken away their fear. I don’t know if this will work when they next come face to face with an eight legged creature but I love their innocence and belief.

They were not fooled by the Bearded lady though. No dress could make that into a believable lady.

One of the most mesmerising things to watch was the amazing acrobats. We sat through both of the shows that they performed and loved every minute.

As well as the hourly audience participation to keep the carnival going and the various sideshows there was also a craft tent where the girls got to make their very own phoenix mask.

The whole carnival was a spectacle to behold and even the areas between the two fields had been transformed.

We entered the Lost Carnival at 5pm and we knew that the finale was at 9pm but I was worried that the girls might get bored. However there was so much to see and do that they were kept entertained. The hourly alarms took us by surprise each time as we were amazed that yet another hour had passed us by. From the fantastic live music, dancers, walking performers and the different games to play, there was plenty to keep us busy.

As the sunset and 9pm approached all of the characters came together for the climactic ending. I am not going to tell you what happened but it was a fantastic end to an amazing evening.

As you can see the whole evening was very visual but out of all the photos I took I think this one captures the pure joy the girls experienced.

So now I am just going to leave you with this special magical rhyme just in case you ever need to save a carnival.