Dax
Emma and Christopher's Mommy - Best job ever
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2000
- Messages
- 4,171
This is the trip report for my weekend trip to Williamsburg.
Cast of characters:
Me- Trip report writer; lover of all things theme park
DH- My hubby of 2yrs; fellow lover of all things theme park
Supporting cast:
DMIL- My mother in law; just goes with the flow
DFIL- My father in law; loves coasters at any age
Tom- My brother in law
Liz-My sister in law
Taylor (13) - My 13yo niece, also a coaster lover
Erin (3) - Youngest niece, loved seeing her aunt and uncle
Sean (1) - My nephew and godson, just along for the ride
The best part of this trip is we didnt have to pay for any theme park admission due to my DH being a Family Fun Card holder (Employee Pass) and myself being a Platinum passholder. We also got discounts for food, merchandise and tickets, so it works out well.
Wednesday September 22
DH had to work and I had taken the day off to get final preparations done before we left. I slept late, and basically finished the rest of the packing, got the car loaded, and made sure everything was in order. I got some gas so we had a full tank, and picked up something to eat. Stephanie, who was watching the house and dogs while we were gone, stopped over around 4 and I gave her the run down of what to do, and the location of stuff she would need. I also told her stuff that would need to be tied down if any major storms popped up (When this conversation took place, Jeanne was still not planning a FL hit). DH came home about 5, and we were on the road about 6:30pm. We ran into a bit of rain in Orlando area, otherwise it was a nice smooth drive. We stopped at South of the Border around 3am and of course stopped to look around. I did the entire drive myself, DH napped on and off here and there. Thank goodness for Harry Potter on tape. We arrived in VA about half an hour before sun up, and were exiting the highway for Williamsburg around 7:30. We planned to stay at the Comfort Inn Central and we pulled into there around 8:30, after stopping for some McDs for breakfast. This is when things start to go bad...LOL. This hotel is supposed to have an indoor pool. Well they did sort of. The roof was missing due to damage sustained during Hurricane Isabel last year. They claimed it was still heated It was not. The pool was the ENTIRE reason we chose this hotel. So I quickly got on the phone with the rest of the family, and gave them the rundown. My FIL told me to try and get another hotel. Well I ended up at the Colonial Williamsburg visitor center where a wonderful person helped my road weary self find a hotel. We were going to the Days Inn Colonial Hotel. At this point its 10am, and I am BEAT. We get there, and after some minor check in issues, we collapse into bed at 10:45am.
Thursday September 23
Before we went to sleep, we went down to the pool to check it out. The pool was indoor, but was not warm enough, and the hot tub was broken for the entire stay. I was bummed about this. Anyway, we got up at about 3pm, not fully refreshed, but feeling better. We got showers, and changed into fresh clothes, and headed out. Being that is was Thursday, Busch Gardens was closed, and Colonial Williamsburg was to be closing shortly, so we decided to just walk around. We went to Wendys and to AAA to get some info, then parked at the Visitor Center, and walked to the historic district. It was lovely. Weather was beautiful. We watched a short fife and drum demo. We also walked around the town, taking in the sites, sounds and because of the horses, smells. We wandered over to the shops and browsed around. It was at the bookstore that I bought a Ginger Beer. OMG, it was HORRID!! I didnt realize it was HOT. My DH dared me to finish it. I did, but am now traumatized for life...LOL. It was getting to be 7pm, and looking at the map I discovered there was a ghost tour going to be starting. So we wandered over, and bought our tickets. I wont give away the stories, but there were 3 stories to be heard, including a funny one about a man named Seamus. The tour lasted an hour, and I would have liked to hang out longer, but the rest of the group was due to arrive. They called and said they were planning on arriving around 10:30 or so. We headed back to the hotel after a quick dinner stop, and went to the cool pool (literally) and when they closed it promptly 15 mins later, we changed and sat outside awaiting the crew. The arrived and we helped them unpack and get the little ones to bed, then myself, DH, MIL, FIL and Taylor all went to the Super Wal-Mart behind the hotel for some snacks and to Dunkin Donuts. We then sat around together for a while then headed off to bed around 2am...as DH and I were BEAT still.
Friday September 24
There was a knock at our door at about 8:45am. That is WAAAYYY to early by DH and I standards. It was Taylor informing us that we were planning on leaving around 9:30 for Busch Gardens. Well we got up and showered, and checked out the breakfast offerings. No cereal, no bagels...BLAH. I got some OJ and went back to the room to get my stuff for the day. We got moving right around when we wanted to and made it to Busch Gardens about 10:15am. Once we bought all the tickets and got through security, we all got together for the picture. It came out OK. Not great, but nice memory of all of us. We decided to head to Ireland. All of the Halloween stuff was out for Howl-O-Scream later that night. Was beautiful really. We did Corkscrew Hill. Was OK. Not great, but fun. We wandered around Ireland a bit then moved on. We missed the next showing of the animal show, so we kept walking to France. We road the cars in France. That was fun. Got some pics of everyone. Had a good time all around. At this point I called home and found out about Jeanne coming for FL. Gave Stephanie a run down of what needed to be handled, and we continued on. To .Alpengeist. Waited about 3min total. Good ride. Lots of speed. I think I may be spoiled though by the FL parks. From there we walked toward Germany, and stopped there for a while, and decided to go to Des Festhaus for lunch. This place had the A/C cranked. It was FREEZING. We got lunch (cheap thanks to the 30% discount) and then all went to ride the Big Bad Wolf. I love this ride. It is just so much fun. Wait time was about 10min. Worth it in my opinion. We also rode the Swing and the Scrambler. We then decided that we all wanted to ride the log flume. Well we had the great idea to split up into 2 logs. In log 1, it was DH, myself, Liz, and Tom. Let me tell you, we were hitting bottom. We giggled the whole time. Log 2 contained Taylor and FIL. Needless to say, the heavier the log, the wetter you get. We were SOAKED. But we had a great time, and we bought the picture to commemorate the ride. We then decided we wanted to ride Apollos Chariot. So off to Italy. We stopped for a short time to ride The Battering Ram. Always a fun time. I was disappointed that DaVincis Cradle was closed though. To bad, thats a great ride. We made it to Apollo and waited about 15 mins for a 3rd from the back seat. Just incredible. We had TONS of air time. We would have ridden again, but the place was getting more crowded due to HOS starting soon. So we decided for a quick train ride around the park. We took a trip around, and got off in Italy, where we started. At this point, the young kids were getting cranky, the park was getting busy due to HOS, and we still had Loch Ness Monster to slay. So we headed there. We checked out the Clydesdales and then moved on to Loch Ness. We got right on after about 10mins. At this point, the rest of the kiddies where wanting out. So myself, DH and FIL all said our goodbyes to everyone, as we were staying for Howl-O-Scream that night. We still had some time to kill, so we went over to Germany to eat again. Now at this point I was excited about Howl-O-Scream, but I was seriously running low on energy. I was not in the best of moods. We wanted to save most of the houses to nightfall, so we walked around a bit, and figured we would do Curse of Pompeii first. Wow it was lame LOL we continued on anyways, and tried to get our bearings. We managed to do all the rides for HOS, but didnt enjoy any of them. It was fun, but just not great. I think we are spoiled by Orlando Halloween offerings. We headed out with the masses, and went back to the hotel. We were to tired to do much of anything, so we watched some TV and went to bed.
Saturday September 25
Both DH and I decided that we were going to sleep in today as we both were really tired. The rest of the gang awoke early and headed to BG. We got up after 11, and then we went to KFC for lunch, and then went to BG around 12:30. DH and I walked around for a short time, and then met up with everyone. They wanted some lunch, so we went to Italy for a meal. The park was PACKED compared to the day before, and the wait times showed it. Over an hour for most stuff. Both DH and I wanted to leave and go to Colonial Williamsburg, but it just didnt happen. We were going to go on the boat ride, and found the wait was going to be too long. So DH, Taylor and myself all went to Loch Ness, the little kids and Tom and Liz went to the hotel, and MIL and FIL waited for the boat. We managed to get to two rides on Loch Ness, one of which I got front seat. We also managed a ride on the sky ride as well to get some pictures. At this point, it was after 4pm and I wanted out of the park. We drove over to Williamsburg, but to my disappointment, we only went to shops, and didnt get to the Colonial part. I was really bummed about this. We went to dinner at the Prime Rib House. This was a nice dinner, but we were there WAY to long. After dinner, Taylor, DH and myself all went to the local Cold Stone Creamery and got some ice cream, then went back to the hotel to play some N64. We were up till about 3am. I finished packing, and we put the stuff in the car for the trip home.
Sunday September 26
The day started early, as I needed to call home and find out about the storm situation. Polk County got hit kind of hard. I couldnt get through right away, so I figured I would try later in the day, as the area was still getting hit with the storm. We went to breakfast together for our last meal, and we were on the road by noon. I started the drive, and I got us through Virginia, and let my DH start in NC. About ¾ of the way into NC, the weather got cloudy and overcast. We stopped at South of the Border around 4:40pm. We went up in the sombrero tower, and I tried to call home again. Got a busy signal. For an hour straight. My DH began to worry so we pushed on. I finally got a call from Stephanies husband who gave us the hurricane rundown. Our phone was out, as was the power. The house was fine, no damage, except for a fence. The neighbors got it worse that us. Shingles and siding gone. Trees down all over the place. Otherwise all is OK. We pushed on. I drove through SC and part of GA. DH picked up in GA and drove the rest Glad he did, as we drove right in Tropical Storm Jeanne. WOW. Never again. In hindsight, we should have stayed one more day. We arrived home at 2:30am that night to a dark house with no power. We had lost all of our food. We couldnt even take hot showers. We went to bed, sweating, but thankful the house had been spared again.
Final Thoughts:
-The trip was a lot of fun. Wish we had been there a day or two longer. Didnt get to spend enough time in Colonial Williamsburg.
-Traveling to a theme park with small children is stressful
-Traveling in large groups is stressful
-Hurricanes are nothing but a problem.
-Williamsburg has become my new favorite destination.
Thanks for sticking around this long. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. Thanks all.
Cast of characters:
Me- Trip report writer; lover of all things theme park
DH- My hubby of 2yrs; fellow lover of all things theme park
Supporting cast:
DMIL- My mother in law; just goes with the flow
DFIL- My father in law; loves coasters at any age
Tom- My brother in law
Liz-My sister in law
Taylor (13) - My 13yo niece, also a coaster lover
Erin (3) - Youngest niece, loved seeing her aunt and uncle
Sean (1) - My nephew and godson, just along for the ride
The best part of this trip is we didnt have to pay for any theme park admission due to my DH being a Family Fun Card holder (Employee Pass) and myself being a Platinum passholder. We also got discounts for food, merchandise and tickets, so it works out well.
Wednesday September 22
DH had to work and I had taken the day off to get final preparations done before we left. I slept late, and basically finished the rest of the packing, got the car loaded, and made sure everything was in order. I got some gas so we had a full tank, and picked up something to eat. Stephanie, who was watching the house and dogs while we were gone, stopped over around 4 and I gave her the run down of what to do, and the location of stuff she would need. I also told her stuff that would need to be tied down if any major storms popped up (When this conversation took place, Jeanne was still not planning a FL hit). DH came home about 5, and we were on the road about 6:30pm. We ran into a bit of rain in Orlando area, otherwise it was a nice smooth drive. We stopped at South of the Border around 3am and of course stopped to look around. I did the entire drive myself, DH napped on and off here and there. Thank goodness for Harry Potter on tape. We arrived in VA about half an hour before sun up, and were exiting the highway for Williamsburg around 7:30. We planned to stay at the Comfort Inn Central and we pulled into there around 8:30, after stopping for some McDs for breakfast. This is when things start to go bad...LOL. This hotel is supposed to have an indoor pool. Well they did sort of. The roof was missing due to damage sustained during Hurricane Isabel last year. They claimed it was still heated It was not. The pool was the ENTIRE reason we chose this hotel. So I quickly got on the phone with the rest of the family, and gave them the rundown. My FIL told me to try and get another hotel. Well I ended up at the Colonial Williamsburg visitor center where a wonderful person helped my road weary self find a hotel. We were going to the Days Inn Colonial Hotel. At this point its 10am, and I am BEAT. We get there, and after some minor check in issues, we collapse into bed at 10:45am.
Thursday September 23
Before we went to sleep, we went down to the pool to check it out. The pool was indoor, but was not warm enough, and the hot tub was broken for the entire stay. I was bummed about this. Anyway, we got up at about 3pm, not fully refreshed, but feeling better. We got showers, and changed into fresh clothes, and headed out. Being that is was Thursday, Busch Gardens was closed, and Colonial Williamsburg was to be closing shortly, so we decided to just walk around. We went to Wendys and to AAA to get some info, then parked at the Visitor Center, and walked to the historic district. It was lovely. Weather was beautiful. We watched a short fife and drum demo. We also walked around the town, taking in the sites, sounds and because of the horses, smells. We wandered over to the shops and browsed around. It was at the bookstore that I bought a Ginger Beer. OMG, it was HORRID!! I didnt realize it was HOT. My DH dared me to finish it. I did, but am now traumatized for life...LOL. It was getting to be 7pm, and looking at the map I discovered there was a ghost tour going to be starting. So we wandered over, and bought our tickets. I wont give away the stories, but there were 3 stories to be heard, including a funny one about a man named Seamus. The tour lasted an hour, and I would have liked to hang out longer, but the rest of the group was due to arrive. They called and said they were planning on arriving around 10:30 or so. We headed back to the hotel after a quick dinner stop, and went to the cool pool (literally) and when they closed it promptly 15 mins later, we changed and sat outside awaiting the crew. The arrived and we helped them unpack and get the little ones to bed, then myself, DH, MIL, FIL and Taylor all went to the Super Wal-Mart behind the hotel for some snacks and to Dunkin Donuts. We then sat around together for a while then headed off to bed around 2am...as DH and I were BEAT still.
Friday September 24
There was a knock at our door at about 8:45am. That is WAAAYYY to early by DH and I standards. It was Taylor informing us that we were planning on leaving around 9:30 for Busch Gardens. Well we got up and showered, and checked out the breakfast offerings. No cereal, no bagels...BLAH. I got some OJ and went back to the room to get my stuff for the day. We got moving right around when we wanted to and made it to Busch Gardens about 10:15am. Once we bought all the tickets and got through security, we all got together for the picture. It came out OK. Not great, but nice memory of all of us. We decided to head to Ireland. All of the Halloween stuff was out for Howl-O-Scream later that night. Was beautiful really. We did Corkscrew Hill. Was OK. Not great, but fun. We wandered around Ireland a bit then moved on. We missed the next showing of the animal show, so we kept walking to France. We road the cars in France. That was fun. Got some pics of everyone. Had a good time all around. At this point I called home and found out about Jeanne coming for FL. Gave Stephanie a run down of what needed to be handled, and we continued on. To .Alpengeist. Waited about 3min total. Good ride. Lots of speed. I think I may be spoiled though by the FL parks. From there we walked toward Germany, and stopped there for a while, and decided to go to Des Festhaus for lunch. This place had the A/C cranked. It was FREEZING. We got lunch (cheap thanks to the 30% discount) and then all went to ride the Big Bad Wolf. I love this ride. It is just so much fun. Wait time was about 10min. Worth it in my opinion. We also rode the Swing and the Scrambler. We then decided that we all wanted to ride the log flume. Well we had the great idea to split up into 2 logs. In log 1, it was DH, myself, Liz, and Tom. Let me tell you, we were hitting bottom. We giggled the whole time. Log 2 contained Taylor and FIL. Needless to say, the heavier the log, the wetter you get. We were SOAKED. But we had a great time, and we bought the picture to commemorate the ride. We then decided we wanted to ride Apollos Chariot. So off to Italy. We stopped for a short time to ride The Battering Ram. Always a fun time. I was disappointed that DaVincis Cradle was closed though. To bad, thats a great ride. We made it to Apollo and waited about 15 mins for a 3rd from the back seat. Just incredible. We had TONS of air time. We would have ridden again, but the place was getting more crowded due to HOS starting soon. So we decided for a quick train ride around the park. We took a trip around, and got off in Italy, where we started. At this point, the young kids were getting cranky, the park was getting busy due to HOS, and we still had Loch Ness Monster to slay. So we headed there. We checked out the Clydesdales and then moved on to Loch Ness. We got right on after about 10mins. At this point, the rest of the kiddies where wanting out. So myself, DH and FIL all said our goodbyes to everyone, as we were staying for Howl-O-Scream that night. We still had some time to kill, so we went over to Germany to eat again. Now at this point I was excited about Howl-O-Scream, but I was seriously running low on energy. I was not in the best of moods. We wanted to save most of the houses to nightfall, so we walked around a bit, and figured we would do Curse of Pompeii first. Wow it was lame LOL we continued on anyways, and tried to get our bearings. We managed to do all the rides for HOS, but didnt enjoy any of them. It was fun, but just not great. I think we are spoiled by Orlando Halloween offerings. We headed out with the masses, and went back to the hotel. We were to tired to do much of anything, so we watched some TV and went to bed.
Saturday September 25
Both DH and I decided that we were going to sleep in today as we both were really tired. The rest of the gang awoke early and headed to BG. We got up after 11, and then we went to KFC for lunch, and then went to BG around 12:30. DH and I walked around for a short time, and then met up with everyone. They wanted some lunch, so we went to Italy for a meal. The park was PACKED compared to the day before, and the wait times showed it. Over an hour for most stuff. Both DH and I wanted to leave and go to Colonial Williamsburg, but it just didnt happen. We were going to go on the boat ride, and found the wait was going to be too long. So DH, Taylor and myself all went to Loch Ness, the little kids and Tom and Liz went to the hotel, and MIL and FIL waited for the boat. We managed to get to two rides on Loch Ness, one of which I got front seat. We also managed a ride on the sky ride as well to get some pictures. At this point, it was after 4pm and I wanted out of the park. We drove over to Williamsburg, but to my disappointment, we only went to shops, and didnt get to the Colonial part. I was really bummed about this. We went to dinner at the Prime Rib House. This was a nice dinner, but we were there WAY to long. After dinner, Taylor, DH and myself all went to the local Cold Stone Creamery and got some ice cream, then went back to the hotel to play some N64. We were up till about 3am. I finished packing, and we put the stuff in the car for the trip home.
Sunday September 26
The day started early, as I needed to call home and find out about the storm situation. Polk County got hit kind of hard. I couldnt get through right away, so I figured I would try later in the day, as the area was still getting hit with the storm. We went to breakfast together for our last meal, and we were on the road by noon. I started the drive, and I got us through Virginia, and let my DH start in NC. About ¾ of the way into NC, the weather got cloudy and overcast. We stopped at South of the Border around 4:40pm. We went up in the sombrero tower, and I tried to call home again. Got a busy signal. For an hour straight. My DH began to worry so we pushed on. I finally got a call from Stephanies husband who gave us the hurricane rundown. Our phone was out, as was the power. The house was fine, no damage, except for a fence. The neighbors got it worse that us. Shingles and siding gone. Trees down all over the place. Otherwise all is OK. We pushed on. I drove through SC and part of GA. DH picked up in GA and drove the rest Glad he did, as we drove right in Tropical Storm Jeanne. WOW. Never again. In hindsight, we should have stayed one more day. We arrived home at 2:30am that night to a dark house with no power. We had lost all of our food. We couldnt even take hot showers. We went to bed, sweating, but thankful the house had been spared again.
Final Thoughts:
-The trip was a lot of fun. Wish we had been there a day or two longer. Didnt get to spend enough time in Colonial Williamsburg.
-Traveling to a theme park with small children is stressful
-Traveling in large groups is stressful
-Hurricanes are nothing but a problem.
-Williamsburg has become my new favorite destination.
Thanks for sticking around this long. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. Thanks all.
