Knights will be knights, and Erin Zapcic was not willing to play along anymore. At Medieval Times Buena Park, she and Jake Bowman led a labor revolt over wages and working conditions, turning a polished dinner show into a fight over pay.
Zapcic, 43, said the work had become personal after 13 years with Medieval Times. “When you work at Medieval Times, it becomes part of your identity,” she said, and later added, “And I’m struggling now because there’s a stupid little voice in my head going, ‘You’re not queen anymore.’”
Buena Park and the pay gap
Pay for stable hands started around $16.75 an hour in a public filing before the National Labor Relations Board, while Zapcic and Bowman said they were making $21.50 and $18.50 respectively. That gap sits inside a venue that charges $77.95 a ticket and draws an estimated 2.5 million guests annually across 10 castles in North America.
Bowman and Zapcic led a ragtag group of performers to take a stand against working conditions and wages at the Buena Park castle. Zapcic said, “I loved my job. But I couldn’t stand by while they mistreated us and the animals.”
Medieval Times and TikTok
Medieval Times was enjoying a viral renaissance at the same time, with its knights reborn as TikTok heartthrobs. That clash between packed castles and workplace frustration made the Buena Park dispute harder to ignore, especially in California, where the median household income tops $100,000 and low hourly pay stands out fast.
The contradiction is the story: a business selling a choreographed royal fantasy was also facing a very real labor challenge from the people inside the show. What began as a fight over wages would spiral into a year of upheaval, and the line between performance and protest has already been crossed.
