Washington DC Budget?

[Swimalie]

I meant to mention the food. Yes! The restaurants at the Smithsonian and the zoo are horribly expensive for not great food. Even the McD's in the air and space museum is overpriced. The only exception, I think, is the restaurant in the Museum of the American Indian. Expensive, but fantastic food. They have native foods from South to North America.

I agree. The restaurant at the Museum of the American indian is really good. Pricey but well worth the choices and food you get.

 

[clori]

We never ate at the Smithsonian since I knew my parents would have sticker shock. For fast food we did food courts at the Fashion Mall or something like that connected to the Pentagon City metro stop on the blue line, Ronald Reagan building (id is needed to get in), and Capitol Visitor's Center. The first two are like your typical mall food courts. The prices seemed similiar to home. At the Capitol Visitor's Center I remember getting a kids meal of roast turkey, mashed potatoes and drink for $6 and was stuffed. We also did things like bring some food from WholeFoods (across the street from Embassy Suites back door) to the room and eating along with drinks from Manager's reception. Ok I'll admit one time we went to Old Town Alexandria and had homemade ice cream.

 

[perthgirl]

My DH is grumpy because we only have 3 full days in DC. He is a philatelist so I was going to do one day at the Smithsonian (air and space probably) one day at the Spy Museum plus Post Office museum and one day visiting the monuments on the Mall. We will be there between Christmas and New Year and will be staying at the Palomar. Does that sound reasonable? DD isn't excited at all - but would have just had WDW so it is our turn. I am US born but never been to DC

 

[momtwoboys]

interested in this thread as we are looking into doing a long weekend this summer. 3 nights 4 days. Which airport would be the most convenient to fly into if we opted to NOT drive?? We would be flying out of Hartford (BDL)

 

[bdcp]

For lunch you can also take metro to Union Station. There's a small shopping mall, restaurants and a food court in there. We have lived in the DC area for most of our lives and haven't done the sightseeing in years since we've seen everything.

As for the pp who hopped off at Anacostia. That is not a stop I would ever get off at. Not a good area at all

The Smithsonian museums and the zoo (all free) can take up multiple days. we live near the Udvar-Hazy museum (new air and space near Dulles airport) which you can also get a shuttle from downtown too. Free admission, but parking is like $12/car. There's so much to do around here, but in a lot of cases you need a car as metro doesn't go everywhere.

 

[Tree]

interested in this thread as we are looking into doing a long weekend this summer. 3 nights 4 days. Which airport would be the most convenient to fly into if we opted to NOT drive?? We would be flying out of Hartford (BDL)

Taking the train is another option-we are doing this summer. Take the train from Boston to the Union Station in Washington DC.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

There are so many good areas on the metro or stay near the white house. Also check out National Harbor. The museums are free. Get your tickets online for the wash monument now. There is a small service charge but so worth it to have tickets in hand. Try for the9am slot my favorite. Pack a daily lunch as food adds up. Have a great time I love DC.

 

[mominva]

Coming in by train is a great option if you live on the east coast. if you prefer or need to fly, I'd try to fly into National. It's the closest airport to the city and it's extremely easy to get on the metro there. You don't even have to leave the airport property. It can sometimes be a little more expensive to fly into national, but I'd consider the cost of getting into the city from BWI or Dulles, plus the time lost traveling from the airport to DC. I think National is often the best bet.`

 

[mominva]

My DH is grumpy because we only have 3 full days in DC. He is a philatelist so I was going to do one day at the Smithsonian (air and space probably) one day at the Spy Museum plus Post Office museum and one day visiting the monuments on the Mall. We will be there between Christmas and New Year and will be staying at the Palomar. Does that sound reasonable? DD isn't excited at all - but would have just had WDW so it is our turn. I am US born but never been to DC

I like the spy museum, but after visiting the free museums at the Smithsonian, it seems expensive. Most kids love the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History. These two are right next to each other, so if you have limited time in DC, you could do both in a day. You won't be able to do full justice to either, but you can certainly catch the highlights in both.

If you're there between Christmas and New Year, a visit the the US botanic garden would be wonderful. They have an amazing display only up during the holidays. Miniature replicas of many of the monuments are built out of natural materials, and there's an fantastic train display. It's mostly the scenery around the trains that's so amazing, but it's really worth seeing. The children love this display - we go every year. The botanic gardens are also on the mall, down near the capitol building.

 

[Deesknee]

I am thrilled this poster asked these questions. I have done research, but am a bit overwhelmed. Also, I have a disability that often limits the time I can spend in front of a monitor such as a tv or computer. So any help others give is often a God send to me. And if they do so with a smile all the better. So from this DC bound woman thank you all.

Now, my 2cents worth. I would suggest anyone with children watch 2 movies. 1st (probably the obvious) Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian and 2nd National Treasure (well actually National Treasure one and two... so I guess 3 movies). I would suggest the adults watch them first just to make sure they find them appropriate for their children. My 7 year old LOVES the National Treasure movies. Also, fires up their ambition to want to sight see in our home town of Boston as well as Philly.

Thanks to everyone for their help. We head down this weekend. Yet I haven't made any lists. WDW would have been planned in writing months ago. Like I say I am a bit overwhelmed with this trip. But have previously gathered very useful information off these boards. So... again and again, thank you all.

 

[Poohforyou]

My DH is grumpy because we only have 3 full days in DC. He is a philatelist so I was going to do one day at the Smithsonian (air and space probably) one day at the Spy Museum plus Post Office museum and one day visiting the monuments on the Mall. We will be there between Christmas and New Year and will be staying at the Palomar. Does that sound reasonable? DD isn't excited at all - but would have just had WDW so it is our turn. I am US born but never been to DC

How old is your DD? Mine is 11 and she loves the Spy Museum and the Natural History Museum. The Spy Museum is $18. I'd recommend buying your tickets online to avoid standing in line. Allow several hours to go through it. We also did one of the Spy in the City GPS tours and that was a lot of fun. Afterwards we had lunch at the Ruby Tuesday about 2 blocks away.

 

[Swimalie]

Thanks to everyone for their help. We head down this weekend. Yet I haven't made any lists. WDW would have been planned in writing months ago. Like I say I am a bit overwhelmed with this trip. But have previously gathered very useful information off these boards. So... again and again, thank you all.

I'm sorry to say this but it's supposed to rain this weekend - at least in my area west of DC. Plan for rain when you come.

 

[debknight]

I understand that you can pay to park for the day at the Metro stations. Has anyone found that the parking spaces are all taken when you get there and you can't find a place to park?

 

[TwinPrincessMama]

I'm sorry to say this but it's supposed to rain this weekend - at least in my area west of DC. Plan for rain when you come.

You just made me very sad. I was going to go hiking this weekend. (I don't ever check the weather until I wake up in the morning).

I understand that you can pay to park for the day at the Metro stations. Has anyone found that the parking spaces are all taken when you get there and you can't find a place to park?

You do have to pay to park and in order to pay to park you need a smartrip card and it has to have at least the cost of parking on it. Finding parking spots or it being full really depends on where and when you are going. Some lots fill up early but others are huge and almost never get full.

 

[Judique]

I understand that you can pay to park for the day at the Metro stations. Has anyone found that the parking spaces are all taken when you get there and you can't find a place to park?

I've never had a problem on the weekend and it is free then, as well as on Federal holidays.

Weekdays, they fill up. My son who uses Metro always tries to get there early to more easily get a space. Early for him was by 7am.

I think it would also depend on which station you are going to. Some parking areas are quite small, and some have 3000-5000 spaces.

The price is right - usually under $5 for the day.

 

[Swimalie]

You just made me very sad. I was going to go hiking this weekend. (I don't ever check the weather until I wake up in the morning).

I'm sorry. I'm lucky this weekend as I'll be inside at a swim meet.

 

[brymolmom]

I just went with 2 adults, 2 kids (7 and 8) a few weeks ago for 3 nights. 3 nights is NOT enough time, but neither would be a week - to see everything. So we went for 3 nights this time and have a list of things to see next time already!

My budget ended up a bit higher than I had planned. It SEEMS like it should be so inexpensive because admission is free to most/all places, but the costs add up. This is my approximates:

Hotel for 3 nights (parking was included): $375 (Marriott Wardman Park - HIGHLY recommend it, great area (not scary), right next to Metro and walking distance to zoo
Dinner at hotel on arrival day (kids eat free) = $70 (but we had leftovers for part of another meal)
Metro passes 1 day: 4 x $5 = $20
IMAX theater show at Air & Space = 4 x 8 (not sure of price, but think this is it) = $32
Food on Mall day - lunch = about $30
ice cream on mall day (much needed rest) = about $15
dinner (there are a bunch of restaurants right next to our hotel - got 'to go' on way back to room 2 nights) night 1 = about $30
Zoo - free and we brought our lunch in a cooler (worked out great) - but we bought some souveniers plus pretzel and popcorn here so likely spent about $50.
Dinner on 3rd night - used leftovers but bought some too = about $20
Monuments by Moonlight tour - highly recommend it as everyone's legs were very tired and honestly we wouldn't have seen nearly as much if we hadn't spent this $$ - ours came right to our hotel to pick up/drop off total = $120
Gas from upstate NY = about $70

Total = $832

More than I thought I would spend, but still reasonable.

Good luck!

Oh and BTW it rained the entire day we walked around the mall. Bring ponchos and good shoes (maybe crocs?) - my son's socks were wet all afternoon and he kept wanting to go change his socks.

 

[brymolmom]

One more comment on the 'where to find great food' suggestions. While I love them and did write them down as options for us during our trip, I found that on a 3 day trip with kids it is NOT practical to go to any of these 'better' places, at least not for my family. Convenience was key for us and truly ended up being the only factor considered. We had been walking around since 7:30 am and likely had walked several miles by lunchtime. And it just wouldn't have been the best plan for my family at least to leave the Air and Space Museum and walk another 1/2 mile to mile (I'm guessing it would have at least been this far when you factor in going somewhere and then eventually heading back to air and space as we weren't quite done) just to go somewhere with better food. The Boston Market sandwiches at Air and Space, while not a deal or wonderful food - did their jobs of filling our bellies nicely and was well worth the money we spent on them to avoid having to walk farther just for food. By the end of the day my kids were about to drop as it was, adding in more miles just for food didn't make sense.

Just a comment for anyone else who might be in my situation. While other good food does exist - it will take additional effort to get there and nothing is really very 'close' in the Mall area. You might find convenience will rule for you too.

 

[debknight]

I've never had a problem on the weekend and it is free then, as well as on Federal holidays.

Weekdays, they fill up. My son who uses Metro always tries to get there early to more easily get a space. Early for him was by 7am.

I think it would also depend on which station you are going to. Some parking areas are quite small, and some have 3000-5000 spaces.

The price is right - usually under $5 for the day.

The Huntington Park Metro parking lot -- is that a larger one? I read that some of the lots now accept credit cards for payment.

Thanks again everyone for all the advice.

 

[Mrs.Malone]

Huntington usually fills up on weekdays by the end of rush hour (9 or so). If you are lucky there will be a spot way up high in the garage. Weekends are no problem. If I need to park on a weekday, I go to Eisenhower Metro instead (first stop on the yellow line after Huntington). There is no Metro operated parking at Eisenhower but there is a big privately owned lot right there by the station entrance. It costs $5/day and I've never seen it full. It's very easy to access.