Williamsburg va

[disneychard]

The family and I are going for 5 days, what besides Busch gardens and Water county can you do? Can you spend 5 days there or do you run out of things to do? How about budget?

 

[eduk8r26]

Colonial Williamsburg is great fun. I went with boys 12 and 13 and a girl 6. There was something to do for all of them. You could easily spend 5 days doing all those things.

 

[kcromley]

we spent eight days there and didn't cover everything. If you get the bounce pass, you can have access to Colonial Williamsburg, BG and WC for the whole week, with free parking. In CW, be sure to enter the tradesmen's shops and volunteer-you will get much more out of the experience if you are willing to participate. So go ahead and stomp clay for the brickmaker, quiz the shoemaker, enlist in the militia, volunteer for a role in the re-created trials-in short, fully involve yourself in 18th century life. BG and WC are well worth a day each. If you have children with you, I highly recommend the short sidetrips to Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. The ships at Jamestown were great, and my children loved trying on the colonial uniforms and assisting in the farm chores at Yorktown. Have a great time.

 

[derocas]

I'll also be traveling to Williamsburg, VA at the end of this summer. My kids aren't really into "Colonial" Williamsburg. I'd go and try it but the tickets are expensive. I just don't want to eat the money if they don't like it.

I also saw read about a haunted walk, any info on that? Anyone have budget suggestions?

 

[kcromley]

CW has lots of things set up for grade-school age children-kids' games, toys, programs,plus they hire local kids as costumed interpreters for the summer. the bounce ticket is an absolute bargain-for just a few dollars more than a ticket to BG and WC, you get a whole week at CW added. Water Country is particularly nice and clean and family oriented. BG is a well-landscaped albeit regional theme park. Both are worth a day. However, by far the absolute best thing we did were the CW night time programs, which are a separately ticketed event but well worth it. We economized on our accomodations, choosing to stay off-site, so that we could instead maximize our experience with the shows, carriage rides, dances, etc. My kids don't enjoy ghost stories, so we didn't do that event. It gets good reviews however.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I'll be honest, as a big history buff, CW didn't really float my boat. Many of the interpretters were not very talkative (even with asking alot of questions) and I really did not care for the Revolutionary City "show" (the vignettes themselves were good, but moving for every scene was a pain. Wellthe movnig was fine, but then at each new station, people were pushing to be in front/ have a seat in the shade/etc. Watch 10 minutes, then do it again. It was really frustrating.)

That said- we loved Jamestown and Yorktown (the "attractions", not the national parks.) We'd been there 10 years ago (with kids ages 2-8) and this year (kids were 8 and 13). Lots of hands on stuff- go on the settlers' ships, play a Native American game, try on armor, go in the soldiers' tents.... Alot more kid-friendly than looking at old houses. (I know CW is more than that, but that was my son's interpretation.)

Prices for JT and YT are much more reasonable too. You can get a combo pass- do them both in one day or each 1/2 day with other stuff.

 

[rlduvall]

We did the Ghost Story tour a couple of years ago. It was really fun and not overly frightening for children, either. Colonial Williamsburg takes on a whole new feel at night, with no electricity available. Creepy . . . but in an exhilarating way.

We also took a day trip to Norfolk and Virginia Beach which was alot of fun.

 

[Grandmax3]

You don't have to pay to visit Colonial village. you can not enter the Governor's Palace and gardens and some houses;but you can walk around and visit many things for free.

 

[Praise God]

I am going there for a week. I am purchasing the bounce pass online which right now is reduced for 20% and includes unlimited visits to Busch gardens and water country as well as CW for 7 days. Even if you only go to CW once, it is worth it. It also includes free parking at water country and Busch gardens which would be an addl $10 or 12 each visit. There is also a Williamsburg forum on tripadvisor. There is a discovery ticket for BG and WC that is good for 7 days as well, but parking is not included.
What some people have said they do if they really aren't going to CW is buy one bounce pass for the free parking and then the remainder as discovery tickets.
The Jamestown settlement and Yorktown Victory settlements have gotten good reviews from most. Especially those with kids.
A couple "real serious" history people didn't like some stuff which was not to scale, etc. but for most people it sounds good.

Also the 4 site multi day ticket (includes the actual Jamestown place where they excavate and the Yorktown battlefield) is the same price for kids 6-12 as the ticket that only gives you one visit at each place. The adult one is more, though so see if you want to go there and how many kids/adult tickets you'll need. 6 and under are free.
Hope that helps.
I'm going in August - how about you?

 

[thepwa]

Colonial Williamsburg got "the treatment" on "30 Rock" a couple of seasons ago:

Liz on the out-of-control rumors about the p arty: "People are going to show up expecting all these great things, and they'll be really disappointed and angry."

Tracy: "Just like Colonial Williamsburg."

 

[Belle5]

We just got back. The bounce pass is the way to go because of the free parking. Here is a combination of my four trip reports that I made for tripadvisor. There are lots of typos We also bought separate tickets for both Jamestowns and both Yorktowns.

Colonial Williamsburg We are just back (two days ago) from our long trip which began with five days in Williamsburg. First, let me thank all those who advised me along the way. Our vacation would not have been nearly as successful without your valuable input! Last minute we changed our plans from an all historical vacation (including lots of evening programs) to a trip that cut out quite a bit of the history and was balanced with the water park and theme park. This ended up being a very wise thing for our family to have done (even though I will always regret not having some evening programming in CW). The family includes DH, sons ages 22, 21, 19, 16, 11 and 5 and myself.




CW--We visited here two full days and part of our last day. I only was able to tour one house (Wythe). We (DH, myself and two youngest sons)saw all the major tradespeople including the cooper, brickmaker, furniture maker, etc. I really liked the wigmaker! My very favorite tour was the Capitol tour and I would say it was not to be missed! Our guide was so informative!!! My 21 year old son would disagree and say the Court House was the most important (even though he loved it) but unfortunately none of the rest of us were able to tour it! I really regret missing that more than anything. I thought the palace was beautiful but a bit boring for the younger kids. Still, it is not to be missed. My favorite part of the palace was the kitchen that is outside in a separate building. I have a "thing" for kitchens! The five year old liked running through the maze in the gardens. Other favorites were the Magazine and the Blacksmith's shop.




Speaking of my five (and eleven) year old--dressing them up in Colonial Costume was the best decision we made. I think they enjoyed things a lot more because of the attention they received. They really thought they were important! My five year old said, "Mom, everyone thinks I work here and they keep taking my picture!" My five year old really loved the tomahawk throwing lessons in front of the magazine. He said that was his favorite park of CW. He also liked the wheel/stick colonial game. These are great photo-ops especially if the child is in costume. **I must be very honest here and say that I would not take a five year old on this vacation if he were the only child or the oldest child. We made the best of dragging the poor child along to a place that is much better suited to older visitors.




For the older teen who does not enjoy history or museums--we cut my 19 loose and he chose to spend most of his time exploring William and Mary and Merchant Square. He spent hours in Barnes and Noble looking through medical books. He liked the Publik Hospital. I would say it was the only thing besides food that really caught his interest in the historical area. We were fine with this as we know how much he detests this sort of thing. We were just glad he found something of interest to him!




Performances--Gowan Pamphlet in the Hennage Auditorium was FANTASTIC! This is the only performance we saw even though our original plans were to see "Conversations With a Founding Father"--just didn't make it which is another BIG regret for me.




Food--our favorite thing was stopping at Shields tavern on our last day (unplanned) and having dessert (berry crumble with cinnamon ice cream-yum!) and root beers. This set us back around $93 or so, but was in place of our lunch so not bad for our big family. We had lunch at King's Tavern on our first day. It was good. The pot pie was a hit and those of us who ordered fried chicken were happy. We enjoyed the root beer! (Note * small glasses and no refills but it's ice cold and home made) Raleigh Tavern Bakery-we liked the Queen's Cake and bottled (cold) rootbeer. Cheese Shop-A couple of my sons thought this was the best sandwich they ever had--unfortunately, the whole thing was lost on the rest of us. LONG wait because of littlest son's grilled cheese. I was just ready to get out of there! Aromas-loved it! All the sandwiches and food we had there were wonderful. The coffee drinks are not the best we have ever had but are "good". The European Drinking Chocolate Was superb. (We are PICKY about coffee with two Starbuck's employees in the family) Wythe Candy--loved the dipped pretzels! Huzzah!-Great pizza and salads. I would make it a point to eat here again. The crust was amazing on the pizza.

Jamestown/Jamestowne If I was all alone in Williamsburg I think I would have chosen CW as my favorite part and I would have been much more in depth in my exploration than I was able to be with DH and my sons in tow. However, if we were to vote as a family unit, I would have to say that Historic Jamestowne (operated by the NPS) was the favorite place (perfectly packaged with a visit to Jamestown Settlement).




The dig site was just addictive. We felt as if we were observing a treasure hunt--and we were! The day before we were the archeologists found a pistol. While we were there they found a gold cross. They have found 2,000,000 artifacts in the past few years and many of them are on display in the Archaearium. The dig site guide was so fabulous with our sons! He must have talked with them for an hour. One son was so interested that the guide took my son's video camera over to the dig site for him and filmed a bit of what they were doing. All four of my older sons said that their experience there almost made them want to consider changing majors. My fourth son has always been interested in that profession so he was in heaven! We enjoyed the Archaearium. It was so fascinating to see the artifacts displayed!




Jamestown Settlement--crowded but really nice! We explored the Native American houses and the settlers' village. We all enjoyed the ships! The gift shops were great! Because the day was so gorgeous, we had little interest in exploring the inside museum portion.




Late Lunch--We took the ferry across the James River and went to the Surrey House Restaurant. It was good! We felt like we were experiencing a Virginia meal without the historic area price-tag. We had rolls, chicken, ham, peanut soup, stewed tomatoes, peanut pie (like a pecan pie with peanuts-yum!). One of my sons considers himself a "wings" connoisseur and he felt the wings at the Surrey House were among the very best he had ever had. This is an out-of-the-way country cookin' place that is a bit dated. I am going to try to make my own peanut pie if I can find a good recipe. I felt it was well-worth a visit but will probably be a one-time experience for us. That is in no way a negative statement about the place--there are just many other places we would want to try and it is a bit out of the way. We loved the ferry ride!

Yorktown was a nice, short diversion. We had no desire to walk the battlefield. We watched the movie and took a quick look around the museum. We went over the the Victory Center and enjoyed that quite a bit. The encampment (was that at the Battlefield?) was our favorite and we asked a lot of questions. I liked the medic area and the area where the cook made food for the troops. There was a very nice indoor museum there, as well. We were done with Yorktown in a very short period of time. We were able to go back to CW and finish our day.




We tried to eat at the Carrot Tree. They were way too crowded to accommodate our family of eight in a timely manner so we left. It was a small, but nice looking place. That whole river front shopping and dining area looks very inviting! We saw lots of sunbathers on the small beach.




Yankee Candle--I don't want to over-hype this place. I think the reason we were so impressed is that we were not expecting much. The surprise factor definitely contributed toward our glowing impression of this place. We loved the Christmasy section and the bridge with the falling snow. We had some wonderful fudge there. I liked the section of framed prints of the buildings in CW. I think we might have spent two hours at Yankee Candle.




Afterward, we drove over to Handel's ice cream and delighted in their famous chocolate pecan ice cream. Other favorites are the (dark) chocolate raspberry truffle and peanut butter parfait. Is there anything better in this whole world than Handel's Ice Cream? We were so delighted to find it in Williamsburg!

Playing at Water Country was probably the most "fun" that I have had in years. It is just a clean, beautiful world-class water park. We visited on an evening when very few people were there. DH kept the younger boys in the kids section and lazy river while I ran and played with my older boys in a way that I had not played since before having children. What fun!




We have frequented the Disney water parks (even in the past year) and while Disney might have the upper hand as far as theming-if you look past all that--a great slide is a great slide! One reason we were able to have so much fun was the lack of crowds. If Water Country is having a busy day I am certain the experience would be much different.




We went back another day and after only a short time of play the park was closed for rain.




Water Country would be at the top of our list for any future visits to Williamsburg if the weather was warm.

What a beautiful theme park! Certainly a family can have a full day of fun here--there's plenty to do!




Busch Gardens Most of us are not big coaster fans. We did the 3D and 4D rides (Dark Castle and Corkscrew). We rode the bumper cars together and then split up and went our separate ways--each with his own interest. A couple of the boys went and rode the wild coasters and I even joined them for Big, Bad Wolf (fun!). We enjoyed the sky ride and animals (wolves). France was really pretty--I like the area with the cabin/lodge look.




We purchased the meal deal online and thought it was a good value. We liked the food in Germany. The German Chocolate cake was great. The Black Forest Cake was a big disappointment. The chicken was very good!




Later in the day we had dinner in Italy. It was pretty good. We watched a dancing show while we ate. We found a manager who approved our getting slushies for our drink/snack. It took some effort but the boys really wanted a slush!




We let the five year old go on a few of the kiddie rides and he liked that--especially the Davinci's Cradle where he laid on his tummy to steer the glider.




The down side--our first ride broke down and locked us in for a long time. That was not a great way to start our visit. We felt that many of the staff members at Busch Gardens seemed (for lack of a better term) incompetent. We had several episodes through the day where we felt the employees just didn't know how to handle a situation. At the end of the day, we had a good time but would be in no hurry to go back. We are glad we went but one day was enough. Our impression was that Busch Gardens is very much like a clean, beautiful Six Flags. It cannot be compared with a Disney theme park. (Our opinion)

 

[Ashlander]

You could make a trip to the beach. From Williamsburg you are probably only about an hour from Virginia Beach. There are also some nice outlets in Williamsburg. You'll have a lot of fun at Busch Gardens

 

[MichelleinMaine]

CW--We visited here two full days and part of our last day. I only was able to tour one house (Wythe). We (DH, myself and two youngest sons)saw all the major tradespeople including the cooper, brickmaker, furniture maker, etc. I really liked the wigmaker! My very favorite tour was the Capitol tour and I would say it was not to be missed! Our guide was so informative!!! My 21 year old son would disagree and say the Court House was the most important (even though he loved it) but unfortunately none of the rest of us were able to tour it! I really regret missing that more than anything. I thought the palace was beautiful but a bit boring for the younger kids. Still, it is not to be missed. My favorite part of the palace was the kitchen that is outside in a separate building. I have a "thing" for kitchens! The five year old liked running through the maze in the gardens. Other favorites were the Magazine and the Blacksmith's shop.

My five year old really loved the tomahawk throwing lessons in front of the magazine. He said that was his favorite park of CW. He also liked the wheel/stick colonial game.

You know, I'm really jealous of the stuff that was going on when you went. We've been twice (both in April) and NONE of this going on. The only tradesmen out were at blacksmiths (who talked a bare minimum to answer any questions. It was like dragging stuff out of them!), a silversmith, who was "ok" and a very good gentlman at the tobacco barn at the farm. Wig shop closed, certainly no coopers, brickmakers or furniture makers. Most definately no kids' games anywhere. (DD was wearing a Felicity {American Girl} dress I'd made her- we were looking for photo ops for sure!)

I found many of the workers plain rude (a guide at the Everard House complained loudly about my mother being rude for "jumping the line". {There were three older people on a bench a ways from the door. The guide NOT in costume and her name tag was inside her jacket. How would we know this was a line, or that she worked there?})

I wonder if it's a difference summer vs off season. We just weren't impressed with either visit there. (I should add I've got a degree in colonial American history... I really wanted to like it!!)

 

[Belle5]

You know, I'm really jealous of the stuff that was going on when you went. We've been twice (both in April) and NONE of this going on. The only tradesmen out were at blacksmiths (who talked a bare minimum to answer any questions. It was like dragging stuff out of them!), a silversmith, who was "ok" and a very good gentlman at the tobacco barn at the farm. Wig shop closed, certainly no coopers, brickmakers or furniture makers. Most definately no kids' games anywhere. (DD was wearing a Felicity {American Girl} dress I'd made her- we were looking for photo ops for sure!)

I found many of the workers plain rude (a guide at the Everard House complained loudly about my mother being rude for "jumping the line". {There were three older people on a bench a ways from the door. The guide NOT in costume and her name tag was inside her jacket. How would we know this was a line, or that she worked there?})

I wonder if it's a difference summer vs off season. We just weren't impressed with either visit there. (I should add I've got a degree in colonial American history... I really wanted to like it!!)

Your complaint is in some ways quite common. I have a girlfriend who spends 2 weeks each year mostly just in Colonial Williamsburg and she NEVER runs out of things to do--and she goes off season. She sat down with me and explained how to "do" CW. Also I spent six months every day on Tripadvisor trying to figure out how to "do" CW. It is not NEARLY as easy as planning a WDW trip! I finally learned how to understand the CW schedule. You have to watch the online schedule carefully (things are added weekly until your trip) and know when the wigmaker is open, etc. There are so many people who have experiences like yours and tell others they don't need to purchase tickets into the historic area. I told all my kids and DH that at the end of our vacation and they were SHOCKED that anyone would ever advise that. All the incredible things that happen at CW happen when you are inside the ticketed area. The problem is--it's so darn hard to figure it all out. Now that I "get" how to do CW--I will never have to spend as much time planning again. I printed off black and white maps for each person and highlighted for each day what would be open and when and a different color highlight for must-sees. I wrote down what time different performances were. I wrote down where they could find a good snack or light lunch and highlighted that. Then I set the older kids loose and we all had a plan. I wish there was an "Unofficial Guide to Colonial Williamsburg" that would tell you what to visit first, then second and so on...but with the way it is set up it would be impossible to write such a book. My girlfriend warned me that we would really need to be very proactive in asking questions to the interpreters or we would not have nearly as good an experience. We certainly found that to be the case. Personally, I could have just skipped Yorktown and stayed at CW. I really wish that we would have seen some of the evening programming because, that, I'm told, is when CW truly comes alive. (I am talking about "Cry Witch" , the official CW ghost walks, etc.)

I am sorry to hear that your little girl did not a have any fuss made over her wearing a costume. That is just sad.

 

[HM]

Our favorite thing was Jamestown Settlement. Make sure you go there!

 

[disneychard]

Thank you everyone, I was a little nerous about going, since we been going to wdw the past 4 years. I know when you go to wdw there so much to do. but, our son is 10 and my husband said he should experience something else besides wdw. But, I was told there wasn't to much to do at Williamsburg, after reading your reports, I am glad there are things to do there.

 

[buckler]

We're planning a trip to Williamsburg later this month. We probably would do a day in Colonial Williamsburg and a day in Jamestown. Can anyone recommend a hotel in the area that is nice but budget friendly? We'd be staying for 3 nights.

 

[disneychard]

You should try Williamsburg Go, or there are alot different sites now offering hotel packages.

 

[ski_mom]

You have to watch the online schedule carefully (things are added weekly until your trip) and know when the wigmaker is open, etc

Where do you find the online schedule? I have a brochure from eariler this year with the weekly schedule for that week, but can't find anything online and I'd love to be able to see what's going on when we are going to be there before we get there.

Thanks!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Here's a link to events happening from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg (essentially called "Hampton Roads"). It seems like from April to November we're always having festivals :

http://hamptonroads.com/events

I hope you have a great time here and don't get stuck in a lot of traffic