Any budget tips for vacation in Washington DC/Williamsburg, VA

[Nik's Mom]

Hi!
We are considering a non-Disney vacation next year ! Has anyone traveled to DC and Williamsburg, Virginia...on a budget, of course. We're thinking of doing Bush Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, James Town, Arlington Cemetary, Smithsonian.
Any tips would be appreciated. I know this isn't a Disney topic. If this thread is in the wrong location, please feel free to move it. Thanks

 

[jjsmom]

We just went to Williamsburg for a few days last week. Here are some thoughts:

1. I think I made a huge mistake by booking a package with the hotel association. I know from my experiences with WDW that you are better off booking every component separately. I did it strictly for convience and really paid the price.

2. Busch Gardens could take some lessons from Disney in crowd/line management. They shut everything down for rain (except stores of course).

3. I wish with all my heart I had just booked the FTP at WDW for a week. In the long run it would have been cheaper.

If you have any other specific questions I'll be happy to answer them. I haven't been to Smithsonian in years, but I have been to DC to 'skins games, National Zoo, treasury, Arlington Cemetary, Capital. Traffic in and around DC can be a nightmare and lines for security checks are quite long. I give this info not to discourage, but to prepare. IMO, it's important to visit our historic landmarks.

 

[madge]

Originally posted by Nik's Mom
Hi!
We are considering a non-Disney vacation next year ! Has anyone traveled to DC and Williamsburg, Virginia...on a budget, of course. We're thinking of doing Bush Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg, James Town, Arlington Cemetary, Smithsonian.
Any tips would be appreciated. I know this isn't a Disney topic. If this thread is in the wrong location, please feel free to move it. Thanks

of course, almost everything in DC is free...which makes it budget-friendly, in that sense. We checked the internet weekly prior to our trip--the hotel where we stayed kept dropping rates. I don't know why-it got great reviews, and it was a nice place to stay (Holiday Inn Smithsonian). I can't give you any real budget tips, but here are some things to budget for when visiting DC:

• If Staying in the VA suburbs, then you'll need Metro fare. That runs $6 per day, per person
• if staying in the District, hotel parking runs $18-25/day
• The SImithsonian museums may be free...but the food isn't cheap. We pais $6.49 for a McDonald's Extra Vule Meal at the Air & Space Musuem
• There are ice cream vendors all over the Mall. Kids always want to stop

 

[dutton]

Nik's mom--we have been thinking of the same trip!! I was born in D.C. and my dad was raised there (VA) We scrapped the idea as my youngest 2 children are only 3 &5 -- my dad said that they would get nothing out of it. So we are going to Disney again. The friends that they have still there say that they stay outside of D.C. and take the train(subway?) into the city. Sorry I don't have any tips, I was just amazed to find someone else with the same idea! We live in Ga and my mom said we should combine a trip with the mountains through NC and VA into the same trip. Until then , we will continue at Disney!!

 

[Nik's Mom]

My kids will be 2 and 5 at the time we go. Maybe we should just scrap the idea and go back to WDW until the kids are old enough for Washington DC. I wanted to try something different, but I'm at a loss. We just love Disney! What can I say? Where else can you go that is so child-friendly!

 

[NancyIL]

1. For hotels, try Priceline! Go to www.biddingfortravel.com for very helpful tips before using Priceline.

2. If you are a AAA member, you can get an annual pass for Colonial Williamsburg for only a few more dollars than a one-day pass.

3. I highly recommend taking the Tourmobile in Washington, D.C. When we took it, we finally got off at sites we otherwise wouldn't have walked to, like Union Station, Ford's Theater, and the Library of Congress (what a GORGEOUS building!). http://www.tourmobile.com/

At ages 2 and 5, your kids are pretty young to get much out of D.C. and Williamsburg. However, the 5-year-old will remember some things.

 

[aero99]

I would like to give another perspective on Busch Gardens. I live about 25 minutes from there and usually have an annual pass. The park has won the world's "Most Beautiful Theme Park" for twelve consecutive years by the National Amusement Park Historical Association . It is a beautiful park with great landscaping and themed areas. The animal conservation area is really nice and make sure to see the two shows there. I enjoyed eating in Ireland the most (incredible stuffed potatoes). Disney definitely has a one up on lines though. In most rides at BG you can see how long the wait trully is. As for rain, they have to shut down the rollercoasters if there is thunder (our storms seem to come out of nowhere lately). I usually go to the big house in Germany or do some paint your own pottery if it is raining for a while.

I don't know about hotel prices but I highly recommend the Embassy Suites in Wiliamsburg. My fiancee and I took a romantic weekend break there and it was wonderful. We got a jacuzzi room for 139/night and that included made to order breakfast and two-hour open bar at night. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. I am getting married on Saturday so I might not get back to you if you pm later in the week.

Have fun!
Melissa

 

[tommymommy]

My DH, DS and I have made weekend trips to D.C. for years. We always stay at the Holiday Inn at Key Bridge, right off the beltway and can generally get a good deal there. We park our car and do not get back in it until we leave (parking is free at the hotel). There is a metro stop about a block from the hotel and we ride it everywhere we want to go. If you go don't miss the zoo. It is a lot of fun, there is a metro stop a couple of blocks away, and we always plan on spending the whole day there. We also try to get to a couple of the Smithsonian museums. The museum of Natural History has the Hope diamond, the dinosaur bones and lots of other interesting stuff. The Air and Space museum is not to be missed. That is a fun long weekend and about as much as you can do in a weekend. There are tons of other museums and of course, the monuments. There is also Mount Vernon, and right over Key Bridge in Georgetown is the National Cathedral and it is a beautiful and awe inspiring place. If you go to the Cathedral be sure to walk in the gardens, they are lovely. For food, there are food courts at Crystal City, a large mall complex with a metro stop underneath it. There are vendors all over the place at the Smithsonian, although a bit pricey, and a Hard Rock Cafe is on the same street or around the corner from the Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot. We have never run out of things to find to do and still have not made it to the aquarium and now there is the Spy Museum too. Don't forget about the Mint, they used to have tours there, I don't if they still do, so did the FBI building at one time. I think D.C. is great for all ages, there is so much to see and do. The metro is very convenient and laid out very well so it is easy to find your way around on it. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Nik's Mom]

Congrats on your wedding, aero99! We just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I hope you have a fabulous wedding day!

 

[mylilnikita]

Here are my tips: As for D.C. , like a previous poster stated about driving to a Virginia suburb, such as Vienna, you could stay there probably cheaper than going straight into D.C., and take the metro into D.C. there are different lines that take you to Smithsonian, one takes you to the zoo, which is free.it is just easier than driving around the city and finding a place to park.
As for Williamsburg, especially if you come from Easter to the end of August-the major tourist season, save yourself some money and stay at a hotel perhaps in Newport News, also getting gas in Williamsburg, is almost 10 cents more than where I live in Newport News. Even the resturants in Williamsburg, inflate their prices and add a nice little food tax. I work in Williamsburg, I don't even really eat the fast food because prices are higher. But Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, are good places to visit, just don't stay near there let alone get gas. You can have a nice picnic at Waller Mill park in Williamsburg, or cook out there. You can go to Yorktown and walk around, even though they are presently revitalizing the beach-again.

And Busch Gardens has picnic tables so if you have a cooler in your car, you can go out eat a sandwich lunch and save money on eating. Hope this helps.

aero99-what is up with all the storms lately anyway? I think all this week is supposed to rain. Congradulations on the upcoming wedding.

 

[Jynohn]

I noticed you're from California, so this may be out of the question, but have you considered driving to WDW and visiting D.C. and Williamsburg on the way down? We used to do that on family trips growing up, and that's what we're doing this year for our December trip.

We're taking four days to drive down, and we're visiting D.C., Colonial Williamsburg, the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, and the World of Coke Museum in Atlanta on the way. We plan to stay outside of the city for each of our stops to save money, but we're definately looking forward to the road trip. My DS is 11, and it will be nice for him to see some of the monuments that he is starting to learn about. Also, it almost makes it seem as if we have two vacations in one!

 

[Amaris]

If your kids are two and five I would scrap the idea. Unless they are highly unusual, they will be bored to tears at all locations except the kiddie part of Busch Gardens and probably a few shows. ( this is only my opinion, having been there and done that with kids close to the same age, others may disagree with me )

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

Williamburg is a great vacation place. You can get some really good hotel rates in the Entertainment book.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Unfortunately, a drive would be out of the question. It would take too long to get there. I really appreciate the money saving tips! You all provided some very good information for us. Now we just have to decide what to do. Go to Williamsburg next spring, or just hold out and go to WDW in 2005!

 

[NYDisneyMom]

If you're doing Williamsburg, try www.skyauction.com for great prices on condos/villas. Last year we got a 2 bdrm unit that had a hot tub/sauna room that was fabulous..it was on a beautiful plantation, too. We paid less than $300 for the week!

That said....I also think 2 and 5 are a little young to get anything "out" of DC and/or Williamsburg. Busch Gardens was nice, clean, beautifully landscaped.

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Last summer (2002) we decided to do a vacation other than WDW and we drove to Williamsburg and Washington DC. My DD was 8 at the time and had just learned in school about some of the things we saw so she was very interested in going there. We had a very nice trip and we hope to go back some day.

In Williamsburg we stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn for $79.00/nt which I thought was a good rate. I booked it through 1 of the Williamsburg tourism sites. The hotel was in a convenient location with lots of restaurants and shops near by. We bought a pass that got us admission to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and Busch Gardens. We really enjoyed everything we saw and we thought Busch Gardens was very nice (much nicer than the Six Flags that is not to far from where we live). We went to Busch Gardens in the middle of our Williamsburg stay to break up the "history stuff" a little and I think that was a good thing to do to give DD a little different kind of fun. We did drive to Va. Beach 1 day and the traffic was crazy getting there and back.

For Washington D.C. I checked out many, many different web sites for booking our hotel stay there and ended up booking the Embassy Suites in Alexandria through the Alexandria tourism web site. We were extrremely happy with the Embassy Suites Alexandria and would definitely stay there again. Parking was much cheaper than the hotels right in D.C. and we were right across the street from the Metro station which made it very convenient to get into the city. Also Embassy Suites has a wonderful hot breakfast and a hospitality hour in the evening which are complimentary and we took advantage of so that helped save us money on meals. As others have posted many things in D.C. are free to see, the Smithsonian, all the monuments, it is a very interesting place, but I will admit DD and I did start to get a little bored of museums (DH likes to read every placque). We too took the Old Town Trolley tour of D.C. with the multiple stops and would highly recommend this. We also went to Mount Vernon (which I had been to before and love, it is so beautiful and peaceful there) and DD was really impressed to walk through G. Washington's house!

If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to answer them! If you go have fun.

Cheryl

 

[TimeWarp]

Just my opinion, but D.C. would be best when your kids are older, have studied some American history and can actually relate what they are seeing. I took my boys 9&11 in March. We stayed in Old Alexandria and rode the metro, did a lot of walking, ate from hotdog vendors, the food court in train station, and our hotel had continental breakfast. It was one of the least expensive but the most memorable vacations ever! When you do go, I would suggest having them write to their senator for visitor information and of course you will be invited into the senate office building, get a tour of the capitol building, and a great guide to the monuments, etc.

 

[Eeyore's myhero]

We haven't been been to Williamsburg in a few years, but when we last went we stayed in the "1776" hotel - can't remember the chain (Holiday inn, I think?). Very nice and peaceful, away from the crowds, and a very short drive into Williamsburg itself. Has a full-service restaurant on site. Jamestown isn't that far away, for a nice side-trip.

We live in the Washington, DC area (Northern VA), and I second the metro hotel(s)! Take the metro, take the metro, take the metro! Both my husband and I grew up here, and we avoid driving into town like the plague! You can actually do metro cheaper than $6; I think that's the day pass, which probably is easier if you'll be travelling around on the system. I can second the Embassy Suites across from metro in Alex (King Street Metro). Old Town Alex is absolutely wonderful, but my husband is a p.o. in Alex so I'm naturally biased!

We frequent the Smithsonian and other museums because our daughter is an Art History major here. The food is indeed very expensive, at times the quality and selections may be a bit off, and it can be extraordinarily crowded in the museum food areas. The security check lines can appear long on the outside of the museum as the guards are thorough, but they're usually well-staffed and move surprisingly quickly. That is, as long as people don't pack what they shouldn't - last time we went an elderly couple had what they described as a very small pocket knife in the wife's purse. They told the security guards about it before they went through the detectors, purse check, and sweeps, but it turned out to be about 6" in length, folded, and the ensuing argument (what do you mean we can't bring it into the building?) really slowed things down. It's amazing what people will bring with them, even with the added security being no secret.

The area is beautiful in the spring and fall, and it's less crowded. Summers here can be like Disneyworld - hot and crowded! Hope you have a great trip!

 

[dsanner106]

Hi,
That is our families OTHER annual vacation, staying in the Williamsburg area primarily with at least a day or two in DC. We go the timeshare route and have a suite with a kitchen and can fix our own meals to save cash. We usually sit through the hour sales pitch for the free colonial williamsburg tickets. Then we pay about 10 dollars at the park to upgrade them to annual passes and have a week of fun. If you want suggestions on this, just write me. Our children love colonial williamsburg and all the characters and things to see. The kids do like DC, but the walking is excessive and they don't like that, so the tour bus is a great way to get around. It is reasonable as well.

Drew
dsanner106@aol.com

 

[Julia M]

I just returned from 2 1/2 weeks in the DC area, with 3 kids (11, 8 and 5). Dh had to stay home and work. The trip was awesome for the 11 and 8 year old. Ds (5) was really too young, although he enjoyed portions of it (Air and Space, Zoo, Postal Museum, Claude Moore farm)

If you are coming from CA, especially, I would strongly recommend you wait a bit.

If you want to experience a new city, I can recommend New Orleans (I took an 18 month old and almost 4 year old) and Saint Louis. Great cities for vacations