I haven't read the entire thread yet. If I don't comment now I'll forget what I was going to say!
I live in the DC metro area and used to be a tour guide in DC, so I'm going on my past experience working with school groups. Also keep in mind that this is the height of the school group tourist season, so many of the major attractions will be full.
This will be long, so bear with me!
Arrive Monday, March 24th ~ 7pm
Tuesday--Tourmobile?
Bureau of Engraving (we'll have to use Metro to get here early in a.m. I think)
Holocaust museum
Washington Monument (should have tix ahead of time)
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
Arlington Cemetary
You can get tickets ahead of time for the Holocaust Museum and the Washington Monument for a fee, even though the tickets are free. Otherwise you will have to get there EARLY (like up to 3 hours
before they start handing out the tickets) just to
hopefully get something. The Washington Monument tix go fast so I'd get them ordered now. Plan your time around it.
Right now you have too much scheduled for this day. The Holocaust Museum is a good 4-5 hour visit. You will feel emotionally drained after your visit, so I would recommend doing something very "light" afterward. It is very heavy in content, but one of the best designed and presented museums that I have ever been in. I was there for 4 hours and saw about half of what is there. We walked over to the National Gallery of Art East building (about a 20 minute walk) and just sat there looking at all of the works of art just to sit and think. I think we also rode the carousel on the Mall, too! Just remember if you leave the Holocaust Museum to go to the Monument, you cannot get back in without new tickets.
Arlington Cemetery is something good to do on one of your Tourmobile days. It's an extra admission price for the tourmobile at the cemetery, but it's well worth it. The cemetery is very hilly and the ride is a great way to get around if you're feet are getting tired. Besides, the bus operators are very knowledgeable about the cemetery and love to be asked questions. It is a great place to walk around, as well. Plan on spending at least 3 hours here.
Make sure to be there for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Stick around a for few minutes afterward since there may be a wreath laying ceremony.
I'd say to the BEP first thing, then followed by the Holocaust. Then get a late lunch and do the Washington Monument if you can get tickets for around that time. You can then go to the memorials. The Jefferson is closest to the BEP/Holocaust area. Walking is easy, but will take a bit of time. You could start with the Jefferson, continue around the Tidal Basin to the FDR, cut over to the WWII then finish at the Washington, or you can also do this on a Tourmobile day, along with Arlington Cemetery and do the BEP/Holocaust a different day.
(Now that I've read ahead, you can always do the memorials after going to the National Cathedral.)
[
B]Wednesday[/B]--Metro
Space Museum
Am. Indian Museum
Capitol?
Supreme court ?(eat here?)
*may ride on Metro to the Pentagon just to have a look*
Another busy day, but taking Metro is perfect. The Air & Space Museum is another place where you can easily spend 3-4 hours or more. There's lots to see here.
The Museum of the American Indian is wonderful, and I recommend that you eat your lunch here. Yes, you can eat at the Supreme Court building, but the food at the museum is some of the best you can find. It's a food court representing 5 different native regions. The chicken tamales and the cedar plank salmon are our favorites. Two people can easily share the salmon & buffalo platter with sides. It's huge! We go out of our way to eat here if we're anywhere near downtown. We even walked from the Lincoln Memorial to there once - about a 45 minute walk. That's how good it is.
Go on one of the scheduled tours of the museum. There is more to the design of the museum that you won't see if you are on your own. It only takes about an hour or hour and a half, but is well worth it. Then you can go on your own to tour. Make sure to see the movie presentation on the 3rd floor theater. It's my kid's favorite.
The Botanical Gardens is just next door, so stop in if you have time.
You can then walk to Capitol Hill from there to see the Capitol and Supreme Court. If you have time, I'd stop into the Madison Building of the Library of Congress to look around. It's absolutely stunning and has just recently undergone an extensive restoration.
I'd only go to the Pentagon if you were already on your way there for something else. It's out of the way for what you have scheduled here. They may still give tours there, but I'm not sure. You can look into it. The Pentagon is also a major Metro transfer station, so it's quite busy around rush hours.
Thursday--Metro
White House
Ford's Theatre
Old PO (lunch?)
National Archives
Nat. History Museum (after 4pm)
This looks good and not extremely full. A lot will depend upon your White House tour. Again, if you don't have tickets ahead of time, you'll have a nice long wait to get them, and then until your allotted time. I haven't gone to the Old Post Office building for a while, but in the past they did have a food court. If not, there's plenty of sandwich shops in the area. Make sure to go the top of the tower. It's run by the National Park Service and it's free, and there's a great view of DC from there.
You'll have to check to see how late the Natural History Museum is open - many times it closes at 5:00. It may stay open as late as 7:00 during the summer or other busy times.
There is also a huge food court in the Regan Building if you happen to be in that area.
There is a Hard Rock Café just down the street from Ford's Theater/Peterson House, as well as a Planet Hollywood (somewhere). We haven't been there yet.
Friday--Old Towne Trolley?
National Cathedral
Lincoln/Vietnam memorial
Korean/WW II Memorial
I love the National Cathedral! What a beautiful place. It's a half-day event, so visiting the memorials afterward is a good thing to do. You can also visit the FDR memorial this day, as well. They are all in the same general area. Doing the trolley this day is a good way to get to the cathedral, since it's a long walk there from the Metro. You can also plan the cathedral, then do all the monuments/memorials afterwards.
I haven't been to the zoo since the Asia Trail opened a couple of years ago, but we spent a lot of time here with the kids. Once again, it's a long walk to/from the Metro from here, and parking is VERY expensive to keep the residents of the nearby neighborhoods from parking there instead of looking for street parking near their homes. The thing to know about the zoo is that it is built on a hill, so what goes down must go up.
I haven't been to the Postal Museum in years but it is right next to Union Station, which has a food court. (And there is no hotel connected to it - just the Metro.) You can plan on 2 hours here. It's also very close to Capitol Hill if you weren't able to make it to the Supreme Court or Library of Congress. Also, the Folger Shakespeare Library is across the street from the Supreme Court.
We are early risers so I hope to get up and going by 8am or so. I picked the Tourmobile/Trolley because they seemed the best method of travel for these destinations. I need to get more info on the Circulator though..that has some potential, too.
The last I knew the Circulator was still $1.00 a ride. Here's the site:
http://www.dccirculator.com/routemap.html
Have I planned too much/little on any given day? Any recommendations for places to eat? We'll have breakfast in our room, and don't need anything fancy. Good sandwich shops, mexican and italian restaurants would be great. I've read that the old PO, Am. Indian Museum, and Supreme Court have great food for little $$$.
Many of the Smithsonian museums have cafeterias, but they can be very pricey. The only one I highly recommend is the American Indian. Still a bit pricey, but oh so good. As I mentioned before the Regan Building has a large food court on the basement level. And there are always the street vendors who have stuff like hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, drinks or snacks.
Has anyone gone on a White House tour recently?
Sorry - no.
I know that this is a lot -- and that many of your questions may have already been answered -- but feel free to ask anything else and I'll try my best to answer them.
Their schedule is a little confusing to me.
. Overall, I'm still quite happy with our hotel and location. 
; comment are welcome!
