Williamsburg VA budget trip!

[irishsharon]

 

[Aurora D]

We're headed to Williamsburg the week of August 20th. Staying at the Woodlands. Planning to eat at Kyoto and the Library Tavern with Rest.com certificates. Also looking into Go Ape treetop adventure. Does anyone have experience with any of these places and can give a review or advice?

 

[princesspwrhr]

We're headed to Williamsburg the week of August 20th. Staying at the Woodlands. Planning to eat at Kyoto and the Library Tavern with Rest.com certificates. Also looking into Go Ape treetop adventure. Does anyone have experience with any of these places and can give a review or advice?

We LOVE Kyoto. The building and interior are a bit worn, but the food is excellent and the service is good. We've never seen it very crowded (probably because it's tucked away and a bit worn) Prices are typical of this type of restaurant, my family of 5 pays around $120 including tip and there's always some combination of seafood and steak, chicken & vegetarian, so we've got a fairly "average" mix when we go. There's usually a 20% off coupon in the tourist magazines. The "show" as usual varies by the chef and your table mates. We've been there and had a very quiet meal and we've had a crazy funny meal.

We haven't eaten at the Library Tavern. We stopped one night to grab a menu, but it wasn't what we wanted that particular day. My daughter ran in, so I can't comment on the state of the restaurant inside. The outside is an older building, but well cared for. It's on 60, but not near the main strip where all the hotels and other food places are. It's closer to the college so I don't think it gets a lot of tourist traffic.

GoApe is fairly new, it's at Freedom Park. We've biked at Freedom Park a few times. I considered taking my daughter and her friends to GoApe for her 14th birthday last week but reconsidered because a) it's obnoxiously expensive (imo) and b) an adult has to be up in the ropes with the kids and I was not going up! lol The ratio is 1 adult to 2 10-15year olds or 1 adult to 5 16-18yos. So even if I did decide to go up and take some of her friends I would have needed another adult, which I wasn't even able to get for what we did do for her bday! lol

 

[irishsharon]

18 days until our trip,so excited

 

[bas71873]

GoApe is fairly new, it's at Freedom Park. We've biked at Freedom Park a few times. I considered taking my daughter and her friends to GoApe for her 14th birthday last week but reconsidered because a) it's obnoxiously expensive (imo) and b) an adult has to be up in the ropes with the kids and I was not going up! lol The ratio is 1 adult to 2 10-15year olds or 1 adult to 5 16-18yos. So even if I did decide to go up and take some of her friends I would have needed another adult, which I wasn't even able to get for what we did do for her bday! lol

WOW. I'm local and have never heard of this place. DD turns 10 next summer and I can't WAIT to take her here. She will love this!

 

[Drew9780]

18 days until our trip,so excited

Definitely go to the Yankee candle store, it looks like a little town in there. There is a snotogo, snow cone place across the street which is excellent and reasonably priced. There is also a great outlet mall in Williamsburg.

 

[Jennifer823]

We are going to Williamsburg in October, I'm excited! We are staying at Woodlands, I am anxious to hear how the hotel is. I haven't been to Williamsburg since the 80s!

 

[leahjade]

We just got back and LOVED the historic Jamestown - the archeologists were there digging and we had a guided tour. The museum with all the artifacts was fascinating! Our favorite restaurants were 2nd Street Bistro, Sal's by Victor and Food for Thought. And of course the kids loved Busch Gardens!

 

[tink20]

Any help would be appreciated. Planning a trip for first week in June 2013. (are local schools out at this time?)

2 adults, 1 child (11yr)

Where to stay?

Would like to go to BG and waterpark, Jamestown and Col. WB (am I missing anything fun?)
Where and how to buy tickets?

What airport would we fly into and do you need to have a car? We have never flown, so I don't have a clue how any of this works. I priced out tickets and for the 3 of us, it will be around $1,700 (will it be cheaper, closer to the date?)

I was wondering if we should drive (but that is a 14-1/2hr drive) coming from Mobile, AL (WWYD?)

How far in advance do I need to book anything?

thanks

 

[bas71873]

Any help would be appreciated. Planning a trip for first week in June 2013. (are local schools out at this time?)

2 adults, 1 child (11yr)

Where to stay?

Would like to go to BG and waterpark, Jamestown and Col. WB (am I missing anything fun?)
Where and how to buy tickets?

What airport would we fly into and do you need to have a car? We have never flown, so I don't have a clue how any of this works. I priced out tickets and for the 3 of us, it will be around $1,700 (will it be cheaper, closer to the date?)

I was wondering if we should drive (but that is a 14-1/2hr drive) coming from Mobile, AL (WWYD?)

How far in advance do I need to book anything?

thanks

Nope, locals are still in school, unfortunately, the first week of June. Surrounding districts don't get out until around the 13th or 14th!

Tons of hotels to stay that are close along Richmond Road which is also called Route 60. There are also a few timeshares that are really nice. Check out VRBO. I've rented in W'burg before we moved back to the area.

There is a new place in W'burg called Go Ape. I was on the website earlier and it looks really fun if you are the adventurous type. I can't wait until DD turns 10 next summer to be able to go.

You can buy tickets on line. Check out the bounce pass. I know there is one you can buy that includes everything....BG, Water Country, W'Burg, Jamestown and even Yorktown

I used to live in Mobile (well, Daphne) and I have never figured out why Mobile is so darn expensive to fly in and out of. It's riduculous. I've driven it before too and while it's doable, no way I'd do it again. You can fly into either Newport News/Williamsburg (which is about 30 minutes or so south of the heart of W'burg) or fly into Richmond which is about 30 minutes or so north of W'burg. Sometimes I would fly out of Pensacola, FL and/or Biloxi, MS depending on prices & time. YOu might want to check those airports too.

And yes, you'll need a car.

No need to book anything too early....at least I wouldn't think so. We do have a Great Wolf Lodge in W'burg too if that interests you at all.

 

[tink20]

^^^Thank you, very helpful, especially about driving. The furthest we have ever driven is to WDW, so I don't know if we could do any longer.

I will look into the other airports too. I was thinking about GWL, maybe 2 nights and somewhere else the rest of the week. Thanks again.

 

[debbiemomto4]

Got back this week from OC and Williamsburg! Had a great time. Stayed at governors Greene at Williamsburg. I found it on eBay. 4nights , 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with use of grounds and no timeshare talk $575! Very nice deal. Last minute we decided to take our dn with us and we no longer really fit in a room for 6 . So when I looked to book another there were none but found this on eBay. Bg was great, ended up with the summer deal so we walked around CW one morning without buying tickets and later went back to Bg for fireworks.

 

[kirstenb1]

Tink 20, we've lived in Norfolk and Richmond. You may want to look at flights into Norfolk. It's about an hour from Williamsburg, less if you get lucky with traffic. Anyway, Norfolk was always much cheaper to fly in/out of.

 

[tink20]

Tink 20, we've lived in Norfolk and Richmond. You may want to look at flights into Norfolk. It's about an hour from Williamsburg, less if you get lucky with traffic. Anyway, Norfolk was always much cheaper to fly in/out of.

Thank you

 

[Jennifer823]

^^^Thank you, very helpful, especially about driving. The furthest we have ever driven is to WDW, so I don't know if we could do any longer.

I will look into the other airports too. I was thinking about GWL, maybe 2 nights and somewhere else the rest of the week. Thanks again.

We drive long distances like that all the time and are driving to Williamsburg in October. It's over 16 hrs for us, but the trick is to break it up! We don't drive more than 7 or 8 hrs per day. Find a place halfway that sounds interesting and spend the night. We're using Savannah as our halfway this time. In 2010 we drove up to New York (23 hrs) and stopped in Savannah then Washington, where we spent two nights and toured the Smithsonian museums. All in all it was cheaper than plane tickets for 6 people!

 

[rnorwo1]

I know this is an old thread, but I've just read through it all in preparation for our upcoming trip, and I want to check and make sure all of it is still up to date. We are going to Wmsbg as part of our first big road trip. We live in louisiana, and plan to go to KY, OH, PA, DE, MD, and finish with VA (I'm not mentioning all of the other states that we will just be passing through). We are anticipating CW to be the highlight of our trip and we've allocated the most days there, so we were thinking about ending the trip with that... Which will put us there on June 2... We were planning on 4 full days there, but we can add another night if we want to stay another day, since it'll be the last stop.

Will local schools still be in then? If anyone thinks it'll be crowded already, particularly BG, we can make this the first stop of the trip, which will put us there the last week in May, but then we will lose some flexibility to add a day if needed.

I've crunched numbers on the tickets ad nauseam, and it looks like buying tickets separately is the best deal. If I buy the BG tickets in the next couple of days, I can get the unlimited use ones (fun pass?) for the same price as a regular ticket. But the bounce pass (plus individual tickets to Yorktown and jamestown) is not a lot more. So, my question is: am I going to regret not having the flexibility to go to CW more than once? We want to see as much as we can, but we can do a full day there... Should that be enough? Our kids are 12, 8, and 5. I would think we definitely will want to go to BG more than once, and we will try to go to WC for at least half a day. If you think 1 day in CW is enough, we may buy one bounce pass for the free parking at BG benefit, and then we will buy the separate tickets for the others. I've already signed the youngest up for the preschool pass, and he should be free everywhere else, I believe.

I think we are staying at Kingsgate, I've got a few offers for very reasonable rates there, just haven't committed yet... Although I better get on it soon!

Any other advice, particularly about saving money? Does BG still do the meal vouchers? I'm not sure I completely understand those... Do you just get a nicer meal using them? We plan on eating most meals in the condos, but we won't leave the park to eat. We will also prob eat one or two meals out if there are any recommendations for kid friendly, unique places. I have houses/condos booked at all of our stops, not sure how we are going to pack food to cook being on such a long trip, without lugging a huge ice chest or spending a ton of time in the kitchen, neither of which I plan to do on vacation!
Oh, we also plan on going to the Yankee store after reading about it here... Something I would have never known about or considered!
Any and all info appreciated!

 

[jcmaro]

I only skimmed your post because I only have a minute, but schools do not get out here until the 12th or 13th of June!

 

[rnorwo1]

I only skimmed your post because I only have a minute, but schools do not get out here until the 12th or 13th of June!

Thanks! So it shouldn't be too crowded, I hope!

 

[havaneselover]

My kids love Yankee candle outlet. We usually browse while waiting for a table at carrabbas.

Bg does have meal vouchers and I think all day dining. I usually just pay for meals. I do have refillable cups and a refillable popcorn container. The food is okay but the quality is not what it was.

Even at it's busiest bg is manageable. My kids are so spoiled by the lack of lines they would melt down at WDW. We tend to go early and do the coasters.

I just bought fun passes for my kids and I have an annual pass. We enjoy water country too.

As the pp said, most of va is in school until mid June because the state doesn't allow us to start until after Labor Day. Weekends are still busy though starting in April.

 

[rnorwo1]

My kids love Yankee candle outlet. We usually browse while waiting for a table at carrabbas.

Bg does have meal vouchers and I think all day dining. I usually just pay for meals. I do have refillable cups and a refillable popcorn container. The food is okay but the quality is not what it was.

Even at it's busiest bg is manageable. My kids are so spoiled by the lack of lines they would melt down at WDW. We tend to go early and do the coasters.

I just bought fun passes for my kids and I have an annual pass. We enjoy water country too.

As the pp said, most of va is in school until mid June because the state doesn't allow us to start until after Labor Day. Weekends are still busy though starting in April.

Thanks... We can make sure we go during the week then!