Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus “Fully Charged”

I can’t remember ever being to a “real” circus. I’ve been to a zillion Cirque du Soleil shows, but not a circus with animal acts along with amazing feats of human balance, strength and agility. But my husband remembers the ol’ fashioned three rings under the tent with different acts going on in each one to keep you thoroughly entertained. So when I had the opportunity to go and take my husband and two boys to the new Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus Show – FULLY CHARGED – I went with absolutely no idea of what I’d really see.

First off, it was amazing. One of the most exciting things happened pre-show, when we were parking we saw one of the elephants walking down the street to get to the show. It was CRAZY to see an elephant walking down a street (protected from cars and bystanders by a fence).

The show was two hours separated by one 15 minute intermission. Those hours FLEW as there was so much going on below. All of the seats were awesome in the St. Pete Times Forum, which was one of the first stops for the Fully Charged show. There was honestly NO BAD SEAT, as I took a look around. Everyone could see all of the action with no problem.

The theme is FULL CHARGED, so there are clown antics with plugs, outlets, lightbulbs and more. There are fireworks and a huge electric entrance way where all of the cast comes out.

All of the animals looked glossy, healthy and plump. The horse show was amazing, as in three rings there were three animal-masters working with separate equines. In the middle were gorgeous white horses, to the right a more stocky, heavier horse breed and to the left ZEBRAS! Four little zebras performing as they all changed directions, made little circles, did circles within circles, paired up and more. It was amazing.

The elephants were GORGEOUS and HUGE. One of them, Asia, was painting before the show. But for the act they sat, balanced, waved and danced.

The tigers were fun to watch, as one continuously batted at the trainer in the middle. You could see that he works well with their temperments, not making them do something they didn’t want to do. It was funny when one came down and then decided it wasn’t going to do the trick and went back and sat down on its seat again. But the rest rolled, waved, jumped over the trainer and were very entertaining. Then there was one who gave him adorable kisses, one who was the “bad-cat” and would growl and roar at him when he would ask it to do tricks (part of the show), and then the sweetie who did jumps and danced with him. They were so HUGE and talented.

The clowns were wonderful and my 4.5 year old was CRACKING UP at their pratfalls, tumbles, and antics. They had a part where they mimicked the movie Matrix, which had me cracking up. The strongmen, Dmitry Nadolinkskiy and Ruslan Gilmulin, were HUGE. My husband said they were the ol’ fashioned strongmen, as wide as they are strong. They were lifting each other, really showing off their strong cores, as well as well over 1,000 pounds of wooden poles, clowns and showgirls.

The Fernandez brothers were acrobatic in nature, as they rode these huge steel cages that would go around in circles, doing tumbles “safely” on the inside, as well as jumping, leaping and tumbling along the outside of their cages. And then there is Miser, the Human Crossbow who sets himself on fire and flies through the darkened arena to land safely on a blown up mat … and then of course has to have the fire extinguished. It was dangerously spectacular.

It’s hard to say what my favorite part was, really, with all the different shows, acts and animals. But then I remember the look and awe in my boys’ eyes and realize the best part of the circus was seeing my children’s reactions to the Greatest Show on Earth.

You can learn more about the Show Schedule at Ringling.com!