beachblanket
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 2,127
I just returned today from a week at the Marriott Manor Club at Ford's Colony in Williamsburg, Virginia. This was booked used DVC points as a trade through Interval. Here is a summary of my experience; hopefully, it will help other DVC members who are planning or thinking about making a trade.
Booking: I booked this stay early last December. When I called requesting it, MS was able to immediately meet my request (a week in a two bedroom at this resort during late August). The point cost was 240, much less than it would have run me to book a two bedroom at my home resort (Boardwalk) during the same period.
The resort: This Marriott is a very nice, truly upscale property. It is set in the middle of a golf club, and the landscaping is definitely up to Disney resort level quality. Villas are into two different areas: we stayed in the third floor of one of the original "phase one" buildings. Each of those has about 24 units, in beautiful "Federalist" style brick buildings that reflect the 18th century architecture of old Williamsburg.
There is a "phase two" area in a different part of the property that didn't strike me nearly as much and if we had been put there, I'd probably be giving the resort a much less positive review.
The villa itself we stayed in "beat" Disney in some areas and missed in others. Furniture was of higher quality that what I've experienced during stays at BWV, BCV, HH and Vero. The washing machine setup and jacuzzi were also better. The kitchen? Smaller than DVC, but with a better stove (glass top) and microwave .
DVC won when it came to balcony and baths (both larger and more nicely finished than what the Marriott had).
Staff: front desk were as nice as any I've ever dealt with at DVC. Most of the service employees I dealt with during the week were also as friendly and helpful. Bottom line: morale at the property is high, which says much about how it is managed and how Marriott runs its time share program.
But back for a moment to facilities: DVC also won when it came to the pools. The Manor Club has four (three outdoors, one indoors). All were in nice shape but had no theming or slides, which my kids missed.
I do feel this particular Marriott had a better set of family programs than any Disney resort I've ever stayed at. Family movie nights four nights a week, lots of day programs for kids and professional musicians doing "family" shows.
The area: I could go on forever here, but to summarize:
Williamsburg is a vacation area that is working hard to remain competitive in an era when many of its attractions are showing their age.
First, Colonial Williamsburg (CW): I visited here as a child almost thirty years ago, and things have changed little. Yes, I know, it's an educationally-oriented "living history" museum, but what impressed in the 1970s doesn't work as well in the post millenium era, particularly with kids who have seen other, more realistic presentations of 17th and 18th century life. My 13 year daughter (who visited Plymouth Plantation in MA earlier this year) noticed that unlike the latter (a) the costumed staff at CW didn't speak in period language and (b) were all too "clean and polished" (life back then was anything but). Suffice to say, we did everything worth doing at CW (Tours of the Capitol and Governor's Palace, dinner at the King's Arms Tavern, a fife and drums performance, time at the Great Hopes Plantation, etc.) in the course of about six hours on a single day.
Jamestown Settlement: we actually enjoyed this more than CW. The historic exhibits are more insightful and give you a much better sense of what life in the first English settlement in North America was really like.
Busch Gardens Europe: I was also here back in the 70s, and unlike most of the rest of the Williamsburg area it has changed, mostly for the better.
Disney could learn some things here, particulary from the sleeper attraction of the park, Corkscrew Hill, which is almost hidden in a corner of the Ireland section of the park. The basic premise? After walking through a dark, winding, almost claustrophobic queue, you are shrunken into being one of the tiny "wee people" and are strapped into a seat in a "box." Then the fun starts...
Two young Irish lads staring you down at
the beginning of Corkscrew Hill. Now
imagine them as eighty foot tall 3-d characters....
Corkscrew ends up impressing by virtue of being a simple combination that works: a very creatively designed 3d movie/motion simulator combined with a cute, small-child friendly storyline. The end result is a hugely entertaining attraction that demands repeat riding.
The other interesting themed attraction at Busch Europe is "The Curse of Darkcastle," a haunted castle attraction in the Germany section that uses the same technology as Spiderman at Universal (combing a moving ride vehicle with motion simulator capability with a 3-D movie). If you google this attraction, you'll see that it's been getting a lot of buzz among hard core theme park fans.
The entry queue area of Darkcastle
As for all the buzz, I can see why: from a purely technological perspective, the ride blows away Spiderman, with broader, sharper and deeper 3-D, much better motion simulation and the addition of "4-D" multi-sensory effects (fog, water, etc.).
However, overall this massive attraction fails, due primarily to a confusing and overly-involved backstory. The latter has something to with King Ludwig Of Bavaria, presumably how as a child he met a witch (or was it a gypsy?) who put a spell onto him that turned him into a wolf whenever the moon came out (or was it when it snowed?) which upsets (or was it frightened?) Ludwig's mother...or something to that effect... it's so noisy and crowded in the pre-show area you can't possibly make out most of the long audio narrative that's trying to explain the rather complicated setup.
The ride itself also fails in trying to do too much while offering no closure (ergo, throwing tons of neat effects at you, but in mish-mosh fashion that don't build to a "finale" like Spiderman does).
Given the investment Busch clearly put into this, both those failures are unfortunate - this could have been a truly great attraction.
Booking: I booked this stay early last December. When I called requesting it, MS was able to immediately meet my request (a week in a two bedroom at this resort during late August). The point cost was 240, much less than it would have run me to book a two bedroom at my home resort (Boardwalk) during the same period.
The resort: This Marriott is a very nice, truly upscale property. It is set in the middle of a golf club, and the landscaping is definitely up to Disney resort level quality. Villas are into two different areas: we stayed in the third floor of one of the original "phase one" buildings. Each of those has about 24 units, in beautiful "Federalist" style brick buildings that reflect the 18th century architecture of old Williamsburg.
There is a "phase two" area in a different part of the property that didn't strike me nearly as much and if we had been put there, I'd probably be giving the resort a much less positive review.
The villa itself we stayed in "beat" Disney in some areas and missed in others. Furniture was of higher quality that what I've experienced during stays at BWV, BCV, HH and Vero. The washing machine setup and jacuzzi were also better. The kitchen? Smaller than DVC, but with a better stove (glass top) and microwave .
DVC won when it came to balcony and baths (both larger and more nicely finished than what the Marriott had).
Staff: front desk were as nice as any I've ever dealt with at DVC. Most of the service employees I dealt with during the week were also as friendly and helpful. Bottom line: morale at the property is high, which says much about how it is managed and how Marriott runs its time share program.
But back for a moment to facilities: DVC also won when it came to the pools. The Manor Club has four (three outdoors, one indoors). All were in nice shape but had no theming or slides, which my kids missed.
I do feel this particular Marriott had a better set of family programs than any Disney resort I've ever stayed at. Family movie nights four nights a week, lots of day programs for kids and professional musicians doing "family" shows.
The area: I could go on forever here, but to summarize:
Williamsburg is a vacation area that is working hard to remain competitive in an era when many of its attractions are showing their age.
First, Colonial Williamsburg (CW): I visited here as a child almost thirty years ago, and things have changed little. Yes, I know, it's an educationally-oriented "living history" museum, but what impressed in the 1970s doesn't work as well in the post millenium era, particularly with kids who have seen other, more realistic presentations of 17th and 18th century life. My 13 year daughter (who visited Plymouth Plantation in MA earlier this year) noticed that unlike the latter (a) the costumed staff at CW didn't speak in period language and (b) were all too "clean and polished" (life back then was anything but). Suffice to say, we did everything worth doing at CW (Tours of the Capitol and Governor's Palace, dinner at the King's Arms Tavern, a fife and drums performance, time at the Great Hopes Plantation, etc.) in the course of about six hours on a single day.
Jamestown Settlement: we actually enjoyed this more than CW. The historic exhibits are more insightful and give you a much better sense of what life in the first English settlement in North America was really like.
Busch Gardens Europe: I was also here back in the 70s, and unlike most of the rest of the Williamsburg area it has changed, mostly for the better.
Disney could learn some things here, particulary from the sleeper attraction of the park, Corkscrew Hill, which is almost hidden in a corner of the Ireland section of the park. The basic premise? After walking through a dark, winding, almost claustrophobic queue, you are shrunken into being one of the tiny "wee people" and are strapped into a seat in a "box." Then the fun starts...
Two young Irish lads staring you down at
the beginning of Corkscrew Hill. Now
imagine them as eighty foot tall 3-d characters....
Corkscrew ends up impressing by virtue of being a simple combination that works: a very creatively designed 3d movie/motion simulator combined with a cute, small-child friendly storyline. The end result is a hugely entertaining attraction that demands repeat riding.
The other interesting themed attraction at Busch Europe is "The Curse of Darkcastle," a haunted castle attraction in the Germany section that uses the same technology as Spiderman at Universal (combing a moving ride vehicle with motion simulator capability with a 3-D movie). If you google this attraction, you'll see that it's been getting a lot of buzz among hard core theme park fans.
The entry queue area of Darkcastle
As for all the buzz, I can see why: from a purely technological perspective, the ride blows away Spiderman, with broader, sharper and deeper 3-D, much better motion simulation and the addition of "4-D" multi-sensory effects (fog, water, etc.).
However, overall this massive attraction fails, due primarily to a confusing and overly-involved backstory. The latter has something to with King Ludwig Of Bavaria, presumably how as a child he met a witch (or was it a gypsy?) who put a spell onto him that turned him into a wolf whenever the moon came out (or was it when it snowed?) which upsets (or was it frightened?) Ludwig's mother...or something to that effect... it's so noisy and crowded in the pre-show area you can't possibly make out most of the long audio narrative that's trying to explain the rather complicated setup.
The ride itself also fails in trying to do too much while offering no closure (ergo, throwing tons of neat effects at you, but in mish-mosh fashion that don't build to a "finale" like Spiderman does).
Given the investment Busch clearly put into this, both those failures are unfortunate - this could have been a truly great attraction.
