Princess Adventures in Evermore

For my birthday this year, I wanted to go on a fairy tale princess adventure. There's no better place to do that right now than Evermore Park in Utah. While most of the Disney Parks are either closed or under heavy restrictions, Evermore remains open with visually no restrictions. Because of that, I wouldn't recommend visiting at this time if you are immunocompromised. For anyone else looking to escape from the world's problems for a while, it is a wonderful getaway in a secluded area. I learned about Evermore last year from a YouTube review. It was described as a DnD theme park where you become part of the story. I was drawn to it instantly. This weekend, I finally had the opportunity to experience it for myself. It was everything I imagined it would be and more.

As soon as we reached the front gate, we were greeted by several "residents" of Evermore who were ready and willing to answer any questions we had about what we were about to experience. I knew that the first thing I wanted to do was quest to join a guild, but I didn't know which guild to join or what the requirements were to get in. Right after our tickets were scanned, a lady knight came to our aid with no time to waste. She asked me what I was hoping to accomplish during my visit to the Evermore realm, so I told her I wanted to go on a magical adventure. She directed me to a witch named Belladonna and said to tell her I was interested in joining the coven. I did so and was given three tasks. First, I needed to discover three different types of magic in Evermore. Next, I needed to learn the three virtues of another guild and decide how I would apply them to my magic. Third, I needed to perform a good deed for someone in the park. These tasks gave me plenty of excuses to explore other guilds and interact with the rest of the Evermore residents so I could learn about their stories and magic. Thus, I was off on my magical adventure!

Cosplay is in encouraged in Evermore, which sometimes makes it difficult to tell the visiting "world walkers" apart from the park residents. Therefore, most of the residents wear special amulets to help identify themselves to world walkers. The park itself is quite small with one side still under construction. It's only about two years old, but they seem to have a great vibe going for such a novel concept. The vast majority of the park is outdoors, and even the indoor areas have wide open doors on both sides to let the fresh air in. On my quest to become a seeker for the coven, I encountered fairies, mermaids, and skilled songstresses from the bard guild. I wore my tiara and introduced myself to everyone as a princess, which made the experience a lot more fun. The fairies I spoke to said that they knew two princesses from their homeland of Mythos, which is a seasonal event that Evermore usually holds in the spring or summer. I was hoping to attend for Mythos this year, but it was cancelled due to the coronavirus. When I attended, they were doing a new seasonal event called Pyrra, which represents the portals to all the worlds opening up for a blend of all fantasy cultures. The other two seasonal events in Evermore are Aurora, which takes place during Christmastime, and Lore, which is when they bring out their horror mythology for Halloween.

I particularly enjoyed meeting the mermaids of Evermore. I didn't recognize them as mermaids at first because they looked liked like pirate girls wearing seashell tops, but the bard I spoke to informed me about the magical singing powers of the mermaids, so I sought them out. They were very excited about my jewels and tiara and seem to love everything that sparkles. They even started dancing around me and fanning me to keep me cool when I told them I was a princess! I asked how they got their legs, and they told me about their transmutation magic that they used to walk on land and become good pirates. They rescue and recruit damsels in distress to fight off evil pirates to help keep Evermore safe. They asked me if I was interested in joining their crew. I said I didn't want to be a pirate, but I would love to be an honorary mermaid. So they sent me on a quest to find all five of them throughout the park and learn how to sing their names and which generation of mermaid they are. My final task was to either fight in a tournament or learn a story about a good deed someone in the park performed for a world walker. I chose the latter and spoke to a man selling light-up pendants who told me about a free shell necklace that he gave to a little girl who sang a song from The Little Mermaid. Before I went back to the mermaids, I found the coven again in the ruins, told them I had completed my tasks, and got inducted as a seeker. Then I found the mermaid Anya, recounted the tale about the little girl, and was given a mermaid name! It was a magical evening.

   

There are a few things at Evermore that require an additional ticket, but everything is extremely affordable. We paid a small fee to ride the train around the park, which was fun and relaxing. Several people waved to us as we went around, including one of the mermaids who remembered me by name. We also got tickets for an Epic Story Quest, which they do a few times throughout the night.  The ticket grants access to watch the next chapter in an ongoing story that concludes at the end of each seasonal event at Evermore. That was the one thing that was a little disappointing. The event more interactivity with the story and characters of the park. They let in a large crowd of people who gathered in front of each other, which made it difficult to see what was going on. The people who interacted the most with the story appeared to be paid actors from the park who were pretending to be world walkers like the rest of us. The chapter that we saw was about a hostage situation in which a few of the evil pirates were holding a innocent person for ransom inside a cathedral. The pirates demanded a dragon egg and safe passage out of Evermore in exchange for their captive's life, and it was sto be our job to negotiate with them. Things got a little violent, which is why the event is rated PG-13, but most of it took place outside of our vantage point and left the details to the imagination.

Evermore Park is a wonderful escape for anyone who wants to get away from reality for a while. It's a mix between a Renaissance Faire and a theme park with heavy focus on character interactions. Meeting characters is my favorite thing to do at the Disney Parks, so this experience was perfect for me. I especially loved being part of the story by joining the coven and becoming an honorary mermaid. There were plenty of options for people who are more interested in being an action hero as well. Such warriors could join the knights guild or the rangers guild, which one of my companions joined. Their initiation requires you to sneak around and "assassinate" people by removing clothespins from their backs without getting caught. They also have archery and other interactive competitions. I'd love to go back again for another season when more of the park is completed.