fun in dc Help me plan!

[flying_babyb]

The crew:
Mom, 49 love history First Vacation and flight
Tia, 49, loves photography, frogs First Vacation and flight
Me, 25, loves photography, police, fire and this will be my 4th vacation
Dsis, 9, Loves animals, cameras, anything I do. First Vacation and flight
Dsis 11, Loves cameras, military , “boy” things, photography, and giving attitude. First Vacation and flight

The time: 8 days, 7 nights. June 9th- 16

We are planning the fallowing:
Monuments (minus Jefferson)
Smithsonian’s (kids excited due to night at the museum)
Hard rock café (my guilty pleasure)
The zoo (and I’m going to see the PANDAS this time)
Air and Space Measum
The outside of the White House (so the kids can brag they saw it)
Cleveland park fire station (For the kids again!)
Arlington Cemetery
National Measum of Crime and Punishment (My personal addiction, the kids are very excited about this)
USS Intrepid (In NYC, This was the ship my father (now deceased) was on in the early 70s. Its been a dream of mine to go there for years so were going to make a day trip there.


The questions:
Any ideas for fun plane activities that are DC based? Anyone gone to the National Children’s Museum? Any DC themed Scavenger hunts? Smithsonian Scavenger hunts? My sisters love scavenger hunts and so do I so we LOVE to do them together. The kids are getting new cameras for Christmas from Santa so they can be picture crazy on vacation (makes them happy and keeps them buzy). Any tips for us? Any good restraunts that are cheap and kid friendly? Every other dc trip I have done has been with all adults. No one wants to go to the spy measum (especally not me, I did it once and was bored). Can the kids appreacate the momuments and historical stuff if they havnet learned about it yet in school?

 

[JEmaryland]

As far as I know, the Children's Museum won't be open until 2013.
The Air and Space Museum is a part of the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian museums that are, in my opinion, good for kids are: Air and Space, portions of the National History, Natural History, and the Zoo. I would avoid the American Indian museum and the art galleries. I went into the Castle a few weeks ago and they had an exhibit on "Night at the Museum", not sure if it will be there when you go.
May I ask why you don't want to visit the Jefferson memorial? Besides Iwo Jima, it's my favorite memorial and doesn't require too much walking to get to, unlike some others.
It's can be pretty expensive to eat at the museums, but food is pretty hard to come by at the mall unless you do. There is a McDonalds right outside the zoo's metro station.
And I would suggest the Metro for any travel through the city.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

The Newseum is fabulous. A bit pricey but we all love it.

Do you have something against Jefferson?

 

[JEmaryland]

Oh and if your sister is into the military, she might enjoy the Sunset Parades put on by the Marines. It's a one hour performance at the Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington by the Marines Drum and Bugle Corps and the Silent Drill Platoon during the summer, every Tuesday at 7pm.
You just take the Metro to Arlington between 5:30 and 6:30pm and a bus will take you to the monument.
Here's their website: http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/parade_sunsetdefault.asp

 

[flying_babyb]

The Newseum is fabulous. A bit pricey but we all love it.

Do you have something against Jefferson?

No I saw it last time and it was a very long walk and well, I have a bad knee.

 

[wvjules]

How about the Spy Museum?

 

[minniebeth]

At most of the monuments and other places that are listed as part of the "National Parks" system (ie the White House Visitor Center) there are Junior Ranger programs that the kids can do. They can get a booklet at each location that guides them through some fun and educational activities and when they've completed a certain amount of activities, a Park Ranger goes over it with them (briefly) and gives them an official certificate, and badge or patch. There is also a little National Parks passport that you can buy (inexpensive) at a National Park location and then bring them around to the different parks (monunuments, etc.) and have the passports stamped with each indivi. park's stamp. Kind of like a scavenger hunt....it's fun and my kids love it and we saw a lot of other kids doing it as well. Fun for adults too!

Have fun! Sounds like a great trip!

 

[flying_babyb]

minnie- wonderful! thanks for the advice! Have to check it out
Anyone done the Crime and punishment CSI adventure?
http://www.eparks.com/store/product/22515/*Passport-To-Your-National-Parks*/ is this the parks passport? IS there lots to get stamped in dc?

 

[lovemygoofy]

Now I'm no where near the expert or travel advisor for all things D.C. but I have learned a thing or two in the past 6 months.

First, I understand that your original trip to WDW was canceled due to finances, which is understandable in this day and time. However, it is pretty expensive to come to D.C. generally with the hotel expense, travel expense, food and activity. I highly recommend the Dummies book about D.C. I purchased it before we moved and it's great resource.

The book breaks down activites for age groups and food by expense and location areas. It tells of decent hotels for an okay price and gives some decent touring plans. I am just a bit concerned that 7 nights might be a bit much honestly because of expense and again I mean this with no disrespect. Please start doing some research with travel books and looking for good deals near metro stops.

One tip I can give you is that it's cheaper to fly into Baltimore but then you have to make arrangements for a bus into the city which would probably equally out the cost of flying into National.

It's quite warm and humid in the summer here. Be prepared for BIG BIG crowds and taking few hours to get through one museum.

You can purchase tickets ahead of time to take the elevator to the top of Washington Monument. It's gorgeous view that's for sure. You can also arrange a tour of the capital with your congress person or go on the free generic tour that the capital itself offers. The Navy Yard has a great free self guided tour of a retired destroyer the USS Barry that is neat.

You could also purchase the cheap seats of a Nationals baseball game. I can't stress purchasing a tour book. I also have the Unofficial Guide to D.C. and it has a whole chapter dedicated to free things to do in the city.

I suggest you purchase a case of water and snacks when you get to the city and arrange for a hotel that serves a free breakfast if at all possible.

You are planning for your whole family to travel to NYC from here in D.C.? How do you plan to get there? It's not always that cheap. It's a good 4 hours at least from here and that is without traffic. Please keep that in mind when planning your NYC part because traffic here can cause you to stall for hours on end.

There are tons of things to do for kids. I'm sure the new Night at the Museum will be on video soon. You can go the webiste and create a scavenger hunt from the new movie. Have them find all the things from the movies in the scavenger hunt and get their picture taken in front of it or something like that.

Have a good vacation D.C. is a great trip but sometimes difficult to plan.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have to agree with Tina on cost here. Both of our DC trips (done as cheaply as we could--and including only one "paid" activity--Mnt vernon) cost more than one of our typical Disney World trips. Lodging and food will really get you in DC. It is absolutely a fantastic place to visit--but you need to go in fully aware of what it will cost you.
I also agree with Tina that getting in and out of NYC would be very difficult. I can see it if you are planning on splitting the trip into two haves and spending 3 nights in NYC or some such--but it would be terrifically difficult to pull off as a day trip.

 

[Magic Mom]

I have to agree with Tina, since finances were an issue with WDW, plan carefully, or else your DC trip could end up costing just as much.

Also, I wouldn't worry about planning too many plane activities for your sisters. At 9 and 11, they will probably be happy entertaining themsleves with books, magazines and music.

 

[flying_babyb]

Actually were doing 7 days simply cause we plan to take a trip to nyc too. Mom was conserned about the cost but also the boring factor (shes not a disney person) when we were going to disney. Alot of things are free in DC. Ive done DC twice before but never with kids. We were considering flying into Baltimore and taking the same van service I took in 05. I have looked online at some of the places you can go free. Were planning on finding a grocery store when we get there for some breakfast goodies. As far as New York I have loooked into a few bus services but were hoping our family freind will be avaible to come touring with us (and pick us up). I didnt think of making one from Night at the Museum. Are all the things in the movie things Im likey to find in the measums? Its been awile. I have a guide book from 04 but I will be checking out the libary for more. Airfair and hotel is around 883 a person for us to go to Dc.

 

[clutter]

Since you want to see the pandas, here's my tip. Go early. The grounds of the zoo open before the houses do. My dd12 and I will often go at around 8:00 or 8:30 on a weekend, and it is the best time. The guides and volunteers will be chatting with you and you will see the animals with less crowds. Get off at the red line station north of the zoo, then walk down Conn Ave to the entrance. Go down the Asia Trail, and make sure you see the Sloth Bears and the Red Pandas and hopefully the otters will be awake. You will still get to the pandas in plenty of time to beat the crowds. The zoo is all downhill. So make sure you catch everything you want to see on the way down, then you can catch a bus back near the pandas.

 

[flying_babyb]

thanks for the panda tips. My freind and I went twice and have never seen the pandas, so that was my goal for the trip. The red line stop near the zoo is wooly park right?

 

[Shelton123]

Save money and go somewhere fun.

^ Kidding

Queen Makeda near 9th and U St. is an AMAZING and cheap restaurant. Everyone will love the food, no matter what your taste. It's kid friendly, except maybe on Saturday/Sunday nights. But even then, no one is getting drunk or anything.

 

[mominwestlake]

This past summer Marriott had a special deal going on if you stayed over a weekend. We got a 1 bedroom suite (2 queen beds plus a sleeper soft) for $119 a night at the Residence Inn Capitol. The suite was great because it had a full kitchen. A breakfast buffet was also included in the price and Monday-Thursday night they have had a free dinner. The location was great since we could walk to so much. It was also close to a metro station for when we went to the zoo and Arlington. I know we booked months in advance. Be on the lookout for any Marriott specials. Maybe they have an email notification you can sign up for? Food didn't cost us very much between what we got for free at the hotel or made in our room. We packed snacks and even lunch for most days. Most places we visited were free. The hotel does charge $39 a night to park your car but if you are flying you won't have that charge.

 

[golfgal]

I would fly into Regan and take the metro to your hotel-heck of a lot cheaper than a shuttle service.

 

[sunnyday123]

$883 per person for D.C.???? Holy cow. So that's $4415 total-without food and souveniers?? You sure you can't talk your mom into Disney?

 

[Floridagal23]

You are going to want to skip the FDR, also. It's very close to the Jefferson and a sizeable walk from the rest of the monuments.

 

[flying_babyb]

$883 per person for D.C.???? Holy cow. So that's $4415 total-without food and souveniers?? You sure you can't talk your mom into Disney?

Mom dosent want to go to disney.