Summer DC trip

[holbie18]

Agree with others about NOT staying at National Harbor. Waiting for a hotel shuttle bus to take you to the metro could take forever. I think if you were only there for a day it would be fine but not a week. I recommend looking in Arlington for a hotel off the Orange metro line or looking for an apartment to rent off the Orange line.

You might want to buy a smart card. That saves you money versus buying a paper metro ticket. I am not familiar with unlimited tickets so that might be an option.

Do not even bother trying to drive in. You will regret it.

There is a neat museum in Chantilly, VA. It is the second Air and Space museum. It is free but they charge around $15.00 to park. Mount Vernon is a must see as well when you are here.

 

[soccerchick]

Why does he want to stay there? Which resort are you looking at, the Gaylord? If you want to see DC, I agree with others and suggest you stay in DC, Arlington, or Chevy Chase/Bethesda. I think you need to decide on must sees and go from there to determine what makes sense. Do you want "resort" days for relaxing in between planned/on-the-go days? What ages are your kids and how long will you be in town? (sorry if I missed it)

Sign up for Groupon and Living Social for DC as they sometimes have deals for the Spy Museum, the Newseum, Mount Vernon and other attractions that you might be interested in checking out.

 

[PlutoPony]

You might want to buy a smart card. That saves you money versus buying a paper metro ticket. .

You have to use a Smart Card, paper tickets are no longer sold at a the kiosks at Metro stations only plastic SmartTrip cards

There are many restaurants in the National Harbor complex but most of them are pretty pricy. Might want to check some of the menus if you go that route so you don't get sticker shock.

Edited to add: Closest metro stations are ~ 5 miles away in Alexandria. Not sure if the hotels offer complementary shuttles or not, that's something to check. Some hotels may run shuttles to the Mall area. Transportation into DC is definitely something to check into thoroughly if you decide to stay in the National Harbor area. Public transportation is not particularly good for the complex but is getting better (especially Metro busses) mainly because it's needed to attract workers who don't have cars. Be aware that different hotels offer different options and different prices for transportation

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

Great information!

 

[PlutoPony]

Are the buses equipped to handle scooters there?

I do not have personal experience with Metro Bus, just Metro Rail. But if you go to the accessibility page for Metro (http://www.wmata.com ) it would appear that Metro Busses do handle them. But please read it in detail, I just scanned the info.

With a scooter I would try hard to avoid morning and evening rush on MetroRail (subway). It can get very crowded and the scooter could be a challenge then. Also the bigger issue with scooters can be whether the elevators are working at each Metro Station to take you from ground level down to the Metro platform. Elevator outages happen, but should be noted on the Metro main page. Metro has been in something of a decline in terms of maintenance and service, but has FINALLY hired a new GM so we all have high hopes he will put the system back to rights. How long that takes is the question....

HTH

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

I do not have personal experience with Metro Bus, just Metro Rail. But if you go to the accessibility page for Metro (http://www.wmata.com ) it would appear that Metro Busses do handle them. But please read it in detail, I just scanned the info.

With a scooter I would try hard to avoid morning and evening rush on MetroRail (subway). It can get very crowded and the scooter could be a challenge then. Also the bigger issue with scooters can be whether the elevators are working at each Metro Station to take you from ground level down to the Metro platform. Elevator outages happen, but should be noted on the Metro main page. Metro has been in something of a decline in terms of maintenance and service, but has FINALLY hired a new GM so we all have high hopes he will put the system back to rights. How long that takes is the question....

HTH

Thanks! I will check that out.

 

[Eureka]

So my husband really wants to stay in National Harbor, the resort has a shuttle to the metro. What are your thoughts on that?

Some beautiful hotels there, but gonna be pricey and like they said, not a quick trip to the city. National Harbor is actually in Maryland and I don't know how they go, but if they take 295, that's the way I go to work and even in summer, will be at least 30 minutes from National Harbor to the Washington Monument.

Oops, sorry I just noticed you said shuttle to metro, not shuttle to DC. Still will take you awhile though. National Harbor has metro buses that go to Branch Ave which is the very end of the green line in Maryland. It will take you at least an hour to get into the city if you go to that station. But there may be a metro stop closer that I am not aware of.

 

[pkelly6]

We were there a week in July '15 and stayed at National Harbor. There were a total of 7 of us at a Wyndham resort in a 2bd condo. I liked having the option of cooking some of our meals. We navigated downtown easily each day and parked at Union Station and took the metro where we wanted to go. Our last day we took the NH shuttle to the nearest Metro station (45 min-hour travel each way to downtown), and would do again. One thing I'd do different regardless where we stayed is to take a bus tour of the monuments. So much walking! Sign up for the tours as soon as you can. Kids (5, 7, 13, 17) all enjoyed the Capitol, White House, and going to the top of the monument.

 

[clori]

When we went to DC we had a traditional manual wheelchair for my elderly parents. They normally walked but we knew it would be too much walking on this type of trip. We probably should have taken two but it worked with them taking turns, going slow etc. If it matters all 8 of us on the trip were very familiar with taking the subway in Boston and half of us with NYC as well. We were initially confused with having to use our cards on the way out of the station as well as on the way in. We did the unlimited pass so not to have to figure out prices or times. At the end we had 2 days left on our cards and gave them to the metro attendant to give to anyone who needed it.

We easily took the metro from Reagan airport a few stops and walked across the street to our hotel with our luggage and a manual wheelchair. We used the metro with a wheelchair the entire time and never once had an issue beyond needing to find the elevator the first time at a station though we could use an escalator if needed since both of my parents could walk when needed.

In terms of going to touristy places some places have stairs. We waited in line and usually as we got near the front someone would bring us to an alternative entrance with a ramp. Actually they went out of their way to help us. Our situation was a bit different in that we knew we could use the regular entrance and fold up the wheelchair but never needed to do that. We were also dealing with my father having a pacemaker thus not being able to go through metal detectors (had doctor's note) so I think we were pulled for that occasionally after one of us talked to the security people. Basically we found having a wheelchair with us to be easy on vacation in DC

 

[seb65]

We stayed at Embassy Suites in Alexandria and used an unlimited 7 day metro pass. The subway was right across the street. The hotel has a breakfast which included make your own waffles and made to order omelets. The room had a microwave and refrigerator plus the hotel had free drinks and snacks every night. There is also a free shuttle to Old Town Alexandria and free hotel transportation there as well. For cheap quick food we went to the food court at the Fashion Center Pentagon City Mall (or similar name) which is right at a subway stop on the blue and yellow lines. We also ate a cheap (for DC) meal at the Ronald Reagan building food court and the US Capital Visitor Center food court. We found these much cheaper than the Smithsonian Museum cafeterias.

My girls were 6 and 10 (very close to 7 and 11) plus we had a 12 year old traveling with us and elderly parents etc. We did the Ford Theater with audio tour of the museum and play, National Archives, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, some free tours such as Library of Congress and US Capital, some Smithsonian Museums including Old Postal Museum, American History, National History and Air and Space. We also did an evening trolley tour of the monuments which had a driver that went to the monuments with us and at the end of the tour drove us back to our hotel. The girls enjoyed everything except for the US Capital tour (my youngest fell asleep sitting on my father's lap since he was using a wheelchair). We swam and/or used the hotel indoor pool/hottub most nights.

If your kids are the right age the National Park Service has free junior ranger activity booklets. I think there was one that covered the Government buildings and another that covered the monuments.

We are looking at staying this same place, however, only for 3 nights as that is all my husband has time for. We are driving down- is there parking at the hotel? And do you need to get passes for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing? Last question, do you remember the evening trolley tour name? My husband is disabled, so walking for a long time is hard. This sounds like it would be easier for him. Thanks, op, for posting!

 

[Eureka]

We are looking at staying this same place, however, only for 3 nights as that is all my husband has time for. We are driving down- is there parking at the hotel? And do you need to get passes for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing? Last question, do you remember the evening trolley tour name? My husband is disabled, so walking for a long time is hard. This sounds like it would be easier for him. Thanks, op, for posting!

I work next door to the Washington Hilton and they have a ton of Big Bus tour buses there all day. It may be a hop on hop off but I'm not sure. I think the trolley tour is called Old Town Trolley Tours but I may be wrong.

 

[clori]

I glanced on the Embassy Suites Alexandria website and it looks like self parking is $30 - I guess per night. When I went the Bureau of Engraving and Printing did not do advance day tickets but tickets were available starting at 8am. Only my sister and I went. We were there probably around 7am for tickets starting at 8am and there was already a long line. It was the one place my mother wanted to see the most so we were hoping for the best but didn't expect a long line that early. They let us get tickets for a time maybe an hour later so that everyone else could join us.

I believe the trolley tour I did was Royal Trolley but it was a few years ago. They would have picked us up at the hotel but we were out and about so we met them at Old Post Office Pavilion. We did a monuments by moonlight tour. We did not have a hop on/off bus but rather a driver that dropped us off as close to the monuments as possible then either came with us or told us when to be back and we had the same trolley/driver the entire time we gave us a narrated tour, joked around etc. There were maybe two other trolleys and at the very end we were split up a tiny bit based on who was going to what hotel or metro station but they had no issue with going to Embassy Suites in Old Town Alexandria and hotel pick up/drop off was included in the cost of the tour. We only went to the metro then maybe 1 other hotel before going to ours. If they no longer offer it try viator tours and trusted trolleys. You can also call the hotel and see if they are familiar with it.

The other trolley tour we did at was at Arlington National Cemetery. There was a hop on/off tour just of the cemetery that we used there. It made things easier for my elderly parents.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We are looking at staying this same place, however, only for 3 nights as that is all my husband has time for. We are driving down- is there parking at the hotel? And do you need to get passes for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing? Last question, do you remember the evening trolley tour name? My husband is disabled, so walking for a long time is hard. This sounds like it would be easier for him. Thanks, op, for posting!

You can get passes from your senator or representative. I emailed several months ahead and the office was able to get us advance tickets. It worked out great.