OT - Williamsburg?

[threeboysmom]

I know this is a Disney board, but we are heading to Williamsburg next week for a family vacation, and I was wondering if there was a similar board like this one to help me in my planning a Williamsburg vacation? I've looked at guidebooks and read reviews and such on different sites, but I'd like a forum where I can ask questions and get answers, such as this one. I LOVE this website!

 

[N2DSNY]

I don't know of any Williamsburg forums. We are great fans of Williamsburg as well; and we go there quite often. We consider Busch Gardens the next best thing to Disney. Last year we got the Platinum Passports and were able to go to the Busch Gardens Tampa as well as Seaworld. The passports are good for 2 years, so we are headed back this summer to do Discovery Cove, Seaworld and Busch Gardens Tampa again. We've definitely gotten our money's worth. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help. Have fun in Williamsburg

 

[Crazy Momma]

I live in Fredericksburg VA our family goes to Williamsburg all the time. Send me a personal message.

Susan

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

When you are in Williamsburg DO NOT I repeat DO NOT eat at the Jefferson restaurant. It is by far the worst meal I have ever eaten and extremely overpriced. I once a Chinese food from a lunch wagon in the parking lot of the Peabody Museum at Harvard so I KNOW what bad food is. This place was worse than that.

 

[heidijot]

This is a strange coincedence. When we head home from Disney , we are spending the night in Williamsburg and would like to know how to spend a day!! Crazymoma, can I pm you also??

Thanks,

heidi

 

[HolidayRose]

I just returned from spending the day at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. It was really crowded today. I'd like to point out all the great food they have at the park---the smoked brisket at the Smokehouse is wonderful. The cheese cannelloni and egglant parmesan in Italy is fantastic. I also like the chicken fajita sandwich at the Squire's Galley. I was hoping the new Darkastle ride might be close to opening but it's still covered in scaffolding and swarming with hard-hatted workers. The park is gorgeous--so green and beautifully landscaped. You'll definitely enjoy your day. If you're here more than one day Water Country is lots of fun also.

 

[Kasmir]

Try Fodors.com! Their discussion board is not specifically Williamsburg-related, but you can query "Williamsburg" to see previous threads. There are a ton of people who will be glad to help you - you see Williamsburg brought up a lot.

One hint though: Don't ask about WDW on the Fodors boards. They'll flame you for giving your kids (or yourself) what they refer to as an unauthentic vacation. For the price of WDW, you should go to Paris, blah, blah, blah...

Good info on there most of the time, though.

 

[cbusby]

I know this is a Disney board, but we are heading to Williamsburg next week for a family vacation, and I was wondering if there was a similar board like this one to help me in my planning a Williamsburg vacation? I've looked at guidebooks and read reviews and such on different sites, but I'd like a forum where I can ask questions and get answers, such as this one. I LOVE this website!

You will love it in Williamsburg, I live about 45 min. away.....they are opening a new water park in Williamsburg (May 05) it is an INSIDE water park we rec'd the brochure the other day. I'll see if I can locate some more info.

I don't know if there are any forums like this out there for Williamsburg.

Have a great trip.................

 

[cbusby]

You will love it in Williamsburg, I live about 45 min. away.....they are opening a new water park in Williamsburg (May 05) it is an INSIDE water park we rec'd the brochure the other day. I'll see if I can locate some more info.

I don't know if there are any forums like this out there for Williamsburg.

Have a great trip.................

Here is the website

http://williamsburg.greatwolflodge.com/

 

[BostonRob]

All this talk about Williamsburg and nobody has mentioned Historic Williamsburg? My parents took us there several times. Sometimes as a stand-alone destination (along with Bush Gradens and Kings Dominion) and sometimes on the way to WDW.

Assuming the place is as it was, I'd suggest you spend at least a day at Historic Williamsburg, especially of you have kids.

 

[BostonRob]

All this talk about Williamsburg and nobody has mentioned Historic Williamsburg? My parents took us there several times. Sometimes as a stand-alone destination (along with Bush Gradens and Kings Dominion) and sometimes on the way to WDW.

Assuming the place is as it was, I'd suggest you spend at least a day at Historic Williamsburg, especially of you have kids.

I'm googling it right now. I guess I meant to say Colonial Williamsburg.

 

[cbusby]

All this talk about Williamsburg and nobody has mentioned Historic Williamsburg? My parents took us there several times. Sometimes as a stand-alone destination (along with Bush Gradens and Kings Dominion) and sometimes on the way to WDW.

Assuming the place is as it was, I'd suggest you spend at least a day at Historic Williamsburg, especially of you have kids.

OH!! most definitely and Jamestown also......But I love Williamsburg during
Christmas it is so wonderful......

 

[threeboysmom]

Thank you so much for your replies! I'm off to check out the threads you linked as soon as I'm done posting here. So far, we are planning to visit Busch Gardens (bought unlimited admission tickets), Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. We were planning on doing a day at Colonial Williamsburg, but I read somewhere that they don't have many kids activities doing the school year - only in the summer??? So we ditched that idea. I don't want to be spending $30 or so per person for my kids to walk around and just look at old homes. We'll probably just walk the streets to get a feel for it. From what I understand, Jamestown & Yorktown have kids activities and hands-on stuff year round so we will focus our time there instead. What do you think? Have any of you been to Colonial Williamsburg with kids, but during the off season?

I want to hit the outlets, and my DH and sons will want to golf. We're also looking for some good places to eat. Thanks by the way for the good food tips at Busch Gardens. I'm always appreciative of food suggestions!

Too bad that indoor water park won't be open yet when we go. It'll be too cold for Water Country (and I don't think it's open this early in the year anyways)....

 

[VAgal76]

Even though you may not do the attractions at Colonial Williamsburg I would suggest eating in one of the taverns at Colonial Williamsburg there if you can swing it time and price wise. It's kind of pricey, but very good food and the times we went in the evening we had musical entertainment and dined by candlelight. Kids are most definitely welcome as well. If you pick Sheilds Tavern Mr. Sheilds might mingle among the crowd....especially at lunch time. He has quite the personality. They take reservations for dinner (though they may not have availability this late, but you can try for a cancellation) but it's first come, first served at lunch. I suggest taking a later lunch and wait for crowds to die down a little. Expect a wait as well so take a snack with you. They have a drink stand outside with beverages for you while you wait typically near the tavern. We had excellent experiences for both lunch and dinner. Just had to throw that one in there in case you get tired of hamburgers and large chain restaurants and looking for something a little different. Remember, there is a Cracker Barrel down there as well you can hit for breakfast. I agree with the other posters - Busch Gardens and Water Country is going to be the kids favorites. Yorktown and Jamestown would follow behind although we thoroughly enjoyed our visit at the historic buildings in Colonial Williamsburg. They typically have workers in them to give tours and answer questions, but all of them may not be open. We really enjoyed staying on property at Colonial Williamsburg as well.

With all this talk about it I think I have to go renew my BG passport, which I haven't done yet.

Any other questions - let us know.

 

[weregoingtodw]

I'm about half hour or less away - anything in particular you'd like to know?

Colonial Williamsburg's website is http://www.history.org.

 

[katallo]

I've heard that Great Wolf Lodge is now open!

 

[John Dobbertin]

threeboysmom: Williamsburg is so significant to the history of the founding of the United States that it would be good to do some reading before you go. A suggestion: Google "Colonial Williamsburg." Websites there alone will keep you busy for a while. You don't mention the age of your children. Ours went with high school groups, so they were old enough to understand the significance of the sites. Just a few notes of some significant things that happened in the buildings (& restored/rebuilt buildings) in Williamsburg: Patrick Henry gave his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech in the capitol building. Thomas Jefferson was tutored in the George Wythe house (by Wythe, of course) when Jefferson was a student at the nearby William & Mary College, and later lived in the nearby Governor's Mansion when he was Governor of Virginia. When The Crown shut down the Virginia Parliament, they adjourned to the Raleigh Tavern and continued the debate. There is much more, of course, but Williamsburg is more than old houses! We are about to renew our membership in Friends of Colonial Williamsburg and have been going there for 30 years. Jamestown is another experience. Don't miss the "rebuild" of what Jamestown looked like in 1607 (or shortly thereafter). And the Yorktown Battlefield was the scene of the great Colonial victory that "turned the world upside down."

 

[BonnieA]

I lived in Williamsburg for 8 years, now I live about 2 hours away and still get a yearly annual pass for Busch Gardens.
Went there last year for a week in a timeshare. We took the ghost tour of Williamsburg. It takes place after hours in colonial Williamsburg. Good tour.

I've heard that the indoor water park at the Wolf Lodge is only available to guests of the lodge, not just anyone who wants admission. I really wish this was not true and hope someone can prove me wrong.

The Williamsburg Pottery is a good place to look around. It used to be a great place to get bargains but not so much anymore. You can still get them but you have to know prices. You can probably get the same things at home for the same cost.

Our favorite restaurant when we lived there was Guiseppes, on Richmond Rd near the outlet center. Great food at reasonable prices. Another good restaurant that locals like is the Back Fin on Strawberry Plains Rd.

Have to also recommend the Smoke House at Busch Gardens. Love the ribs.

 

[weregoingtodw]

I've heard that the indoor water park at the Wolf Lodge is only available to guests of the lodge, not just anyone who wants admission. I really wish this was not true and hope someone can prove me wrong

Sorry, can't prove you wrong... they're not only to the locals, only to people staying there. I was thinking about taking my daughter tomorrow, since I have some shopping I need to do at the Prime outlets, but oh well! Good thing I didn't tell her.

 

[VAgal76]

The Williamsburg Pottery is a good place to look around. It used to be a great place to get bargains but not so much anymore. You can still get them but you have to know prices. You can probably get the same things at home for the same cost.

Have to also recommend the Smoke House at Busch Gardens. Love the ribs.

So I'm not the only one that thinks the Pottery is just not the same! I haven't been down in a while to shop, but how are the outlet shops down there now? Anything good enough to travel about a little over a hour for?

The Smoke House is the most poplar place to eat in BG and those ribs are
de-li-cious. Bone-suckin' good, you might say. You can smell it cooking out on the outside grill and it draws you in.

For those that go to Great Wolf Lodge, I'd like your opinions of the place when you get back. My DM has asked a couple of times for me to plan a trip for both our families there, but I've too busy on the boards planning our May & July WDW trips to really check it out.

If the kids are young and you decide to go to Colonial Williamsburg. See if they want to play dress up. You can rent colonial attire for them for the day to tour in. Ask about it at the visitor center.