Family vacation to Williamsburg?

[Emma]

We have taken our family to Disney World every year for 16 years, and now my kids are tired of it. I'm trying to put together a trip to anywhere... and I thought maybe Williamsburg would be something completely new and different, and maybe even educational. :) Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to go? What to do? Where to stay? Dine? We would probably stay a wk. and my kids ages are 16, 13, and 9. Looking at a fall trip... Any help would be great! I have no idea where to start, which is why we a l w a y s go to Disney!

[besroma]

There have been a few threads here. I am on my phone, so I will search in the morning.

 

We are planning to go to Williamsburg next year.

 

I read a couple of posts here about families who enjoyed their Williamsburg trip more than their Disney trips!

[Farrar]

Great Wolf Lodge does homeschool days in the early fall with really good room discounts. The rooms are decent and there's an indoor water park, which is nice to blow off steam - life can't be all educational. The food is terrible, but you could eat elsewhere. In fact, we didn't have any memorable food when we were at Williamsburg. You'd have to get some other advice there.

 

Williamsburg itself is fun. You can "do" the town in a day, but I think two is probably best. We found the art museum surprisingly interesting as well, though we're museum people. We also went to Jamestown and that was well worth the trip as well.

[KungFuPanda]

Judging from the Disney threads, it seems like anywhere else would be simpler to plan. In fact, with a whole week, I'm guessing you have time to just show up and meander.

[treestarfae]

Check Groupon for tours etc. Great Wolf Lodge is fun and they have a weekly printed schedule of Williamsburg events.

[WTMCassandra]

Yes, and don't forget Yorktown, to get all of the parts of "America's Historic Triangle."

 

We just love, love all of the stuff in that whole area. It's not as high-octane as Disney, but I think it is definitely more educational.

 

And if you think they will want to up the intensity, you can do a combo of Wolf Lodge and/or Busch Gardens.

 

We are historical and geeky enough that we like to spend 7-10 days doing the Triangle, but not everyone does. That whole area is the one place I miss the most about the East coast.

[momofkhm]

We've stayed at Great Wolf, but for the price even during homeschool days, I'd stay elsewhere. DH went to William and Mary so he and I are familiar with the area. When we did a trip there with the kids, we stayed at a suite hotel (also have 5 kids) that did a free breakfast. They had nightly snacks as well that could have worked out to dinner but we never planned it right.

 

We plan 1-2 days at Colonial Williamsburg, 1/2 day each at Jamestown and Yorktown. J and Y are not the parks, we go to the Victory Center in Yorktown and the one in Jamestown with the settlement. Busch Gardens can take as many days as you let it. We actually bought season passes and spent the whole week. I couldn't believe it. I was so ready not to go back on Friday but one of the kids said "If we go back, I'll ride Griffin." So back we went. There are outlet shops in Williamsburg, a space museum in Hampton, a nice art museum in Richmond, navy bases in Norfolk. They used to have ships open you could tour but I think that stopped around 9/11. LOTS to do in the area.

 

We stayed at GWL when we did the historical stuff and at the suite hotel when we did Busch.

[bettyandbob]

I've done Great Wolf Lodge and I've done Williamsburg and I've don'e Busch Gardens. If I were going to combine the three, I'd stay at a hotel or even a condo rental and visit Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown over a few days, go to Busch Gardens a couple days first (I don't think the order of these activities matters). Then, I'd spend a night at GWL. You can register at GWL and go right to the park before your room is ready and you can stay at the park after you check out so with one night stay you can get two days of water recreation. Two nights is the most I've ever stayed at GWL. Based on my experiences and the price of GWL, when my family goes there we just do GWL the days we are checked in at that facility. If you are going in the fall the outdoor pools will probably not be open (check). The water rec area is not so big that you need more than 2 days. If you are up for Magiquest, that game can easily be spread through two days of in and out of the pool.

 

My family enjoys Williamsburg. My oldest first went when he was 6. When he was 16 he refused to spend a day at Busch Gardens and a day at Water Country (combined tickets for those parks in the summer. He stayed in the historical area (patriots pass and wondered all day and went to the bookstore). We know his interests so we were comfortable with that.

 

If you like pit bbq I recommend Pierce's. It's next to GWL (you have to drive past GWL). You can get sandwiches or quart containers of items and bring it back to your room at GWL. The Governors Inn is an economy hotel run by Colonial Williamsburg (they also run high end luxury lodging). I believe ticketing for Colonial Williamsburg is included in your registration. The nice thing about Governors Inn is you can walk to the historic area. There are some nonColonial Williamsburg motels which may be considered walking distance, but you have to walk along a busy road (route 60?) with no sidewalks and ticketing would not be included in lodging costs. DD and I stayed at Governors Inn in Oct for William and Mary's Homecoming (Go Tribe!).

 

You can easily combine Jamestown Settlement, Jamestown National Park, and Yorktown Victory Center in one day, but perhaps it might be nice to spread them out over a few days. Go see one in the morning and then Williamsburg. Go to another the next morning and then Busch Gardens.

 

if you are going in the fall the weather will be lovely and crowds will be lower. Check on Busch Gardens schedule. They go to weekends only early in September I believe.

 

If you have time, wander the campus of William and Mary a bit. It's beautiful.

[Mama Geek]

Just to add a few options, ride the ferry across the James River. It leaves from Jamestown and takes you to po dunk Virginia, but you can find a bite to eat there. Take a drive or bike the colonial parkway. If you are there in the fall it will be beautiful. The Mariners Museum is in Newport News and has an impressive model train display among other things. Newport News also has the Living Museum. Virginia Beach has an aquarium and of course the beach. You could also charter a fishing boat and go fishing out of Lynnhaven (SP) Inlet. Norlfolk has a tall ship called the Rover that does tours. Nauticus in Norfolk has the battleship Wisconsin and is also a museum.

[happypamama]

If it fits in your budget, dinner at the King's Arms Tavern (or one of the others) is a lot of fun.

 

I'd plan on at least two days in Colonial Williamsburg, depending on your kids' interests. When we go, we have to allow half a dozen stops at the milliner's shop for my DD. We spent a couple of hours at the folk art museum and liked it as well. We've done both Jamestown sites (the smaller one with the remains of the original settlement and the larger one that is the recreated settlement), and the galleries at the larger one need a lot of time to explore. We've done the Yorktown site and enjoyed it too; our kids were too young to appreciate the battlefield, so we have not done that. Do take some time to visit the glassblowers near Jamestown too. If we'd had more time, we'd have tried touring some of the mansions along the James River too.

 

The one thing to note about Colonial Williamsburg is that which craftspeople's buildings are open when varies -- they weren't all open on the same day. That was during the off-season (during fall homeschool days -- which are HUGE discounts), though, so maybe during the summer, that's not an issue.

 

There's always the water park at Great Wolf Lodge, and of course, Busch Gardens. There are resort-style places that have condos (with full kitchen and laundry facilities), and those have been a great option for our family, as we were able to save lots of money on eating out by eating breakfast at the condo and packing our own lunches. There was also a pool and playground if the kids just needed a bit of playtime.

[Onceuponatime]

Williamsburg has a farmer's market in Market Square on weekends, from March to October. "Po dunk" Virginia, just across the ferry, has College Run Farms, with u-pick fruits and veggies, pumpkin patch, corn maze, and homemade icecream, depending on the season. There is also the small quaint town of Smithfield further down the road. It has a main street with Victorian houses and antique shops.

 

For good Italian: Sal's by Victor

For a good Chinese buffet/Mongolian bbq: Peking

The town boasts just about every popular chain restaurant you can name and a few high end restaurants like the Trellis.

 

I don't know if it will matter to you, but in the fall, Busch Gardens goes all out for Halloween.

 

In Colonial Williamsburg, you will want to attend a session of "order in the court", and be sure to see any of the character interpreters speaking, especially Jefferson or Patrick Henry. Some weekends there is a British encampment on the green.

[chicagoshannon]

We went last September. It was really fun! We went during homeschool days in September. I think you'd need 2 days for sure. Some of the buildings are closed some days or parts of days. We didn't go to Yorktown but we will the next time we go. Bush Gardens is also right there so you could go there for a day too.

 

We stayed in a timeshare for a week.

[TXMomof4]

I also recommend looking for a condo - we got ours through a military program and only paid $350 for 7 nights for a 2 bdrm, 2 bath, full kitchen and laundry. I'm sure there are comparable prices out there - we went off season and the place we stayed was completely empty.

Have fun planning. That was certainly favorite vacation ever.

[NotSoObvious]

We've done September homeschool days at Willaimsburg, Jamestown,a nd Yorktown for two years now. Fantastic!

 

We needed 2 days for Williamsburg, one day for Yorktown (and then we spent the afternoon at the beach), and one full day for Jamestown, the glass blowing place, and the real historical Jamestown. So, four days total.

 

Great Wolf Lodge is always too expensive for us, even with the discount. We got a two bedroom condo at Powhatan for $50 a night on hotels.com one year. We went to a time share presentation (which we will never do again) and it paid for our trip the next year at their nicer resort. So it worked perfectly.

 

Don't skip Yorktown! It was so cool.

 

We love Williamsburg. We live three hours away.

[besroma]

Here are a few Williamsburg threads:

 

http://forums.welltr...n-williamsburg/

 

http://forums.welltr...stown-planning/

 

http://forums.welltr...n-williamsburg/

 

 

 

This one is not specifically Williambsburg, but has some good Williamsburg tips in it:

 

http://forums.welltr...s-for-families/

 

 

I am taking notes also. :001_smile:

[NotSoObvious]

Oh, and I knew a few families who stayed in Virginia Beach at the camping cabins.

[Mama Geek]

Williamsburg has a farmer's market in Market Square on weekends, from March to October. "Po dunk" Virginia, just across the ferry, has College Run Farms, with u-pick fruits and veggies, pumpkin patch, corn maze, and homemade icecream, depending on the season. There is also the small quaint town of Smithfield further down the road. It has a main street with Victorian houses and antique shops.

 

For good Italian: Sal's by Victor

For a good Chinese buffet/Mongolian bbq: Peking

The town boasts just about every popular chain restaurant you can name and a few high end restaurants like the Trellis.

 

I don't know if it will matter to you, but in the fall, Busch Gardens goes all out for Halloween.

 

In Colonial Williamsburg, you will want to attend a session of "order in the court", and be sure to see any of the character interpreters speaking, especially Jefferson or Patrick Henry. Some weekends there is a British encampment on the green.

 

We always enjoyed ferrying to "Po Dunk" Virginia and driving south to come back out at the James River Bridge. We lived in Newport News for years and did the ferry ride many many times.

[Guest inoubliable]

Places to eat - Chowning's (pronounced "Chew-nings" - remember that! LOL) Tavern is a neat place on DOG (Duke of Gloucester street - and if you ask for directions, some of the people who work there like to refer to it as DOG street to obvious tourists just to see their reaction at not finding it on a map). Good prices, good food, right in the thick of it all. http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/do/restaurants/historic-dining-taverns/chownings for menus and prices. Outside of CW, there are the usual assortment of family dining and fast food on Richmond Road.

 

Places to stay - plenty of hotels on Richmond Road. Call them up in person and you can usually get a better deal than you find on the internet. Tourist $$ is down for the last couple of years there - I'd be surprised if you didn't find a good deal just by calling up and asking.

 

You can do CW all in one day, honestly. Jamestown doesn't take more than a couple of hours, same for Yorktown. There are lots of little places to go in Williamsburg, besides all the colonial stuff. There's a Ripley's Museum. There are outlets, but they're Prime Outlets. Those outlets are all over the country. If you've been to one, you've been to them all. There's The Pottery just outside of Williamsburg. Sort of an outlet but with garden stuff, towels, home decorations. There's a few nice antique malls. At CW, Tarpley's is going to be the best "gift shop" to go to and not unload all of your spending money. Lots of little trinkets for kids and adults. Water Country could be a fun day, as well as Busch Gardens.

 

Not sure if you know this, but there is a whole educational site for CW, run by CW. http://www.history.org/history/teaching/teachercommunity.cfm Lots of stuff there you could look at before you go.

 

Source : My hometown. Half my family works for the foundation. If you shop in one of the gift shops, my sister runs it. If you buy something at the gift shop, my mother put it there.

[Alice]

Not much to add, you got great advice. I’m not sure if anyone said it but GWL homeschool days usually coordinate with Williamsburg homeschool days. We did the homeschool days at Williamsburg itself which is nice as it offers discounts and they have some special programming.

 

I’d agree on staying at GWL for only one or at the max two nights. You can get two days of waterpark for one night, which is more than enough. It’s fun but two days is plenty. Also, it is expensive but during the homeschool weeks they offer all the big suites at the same discounted price as the smaller rooms. We were able to get a suite that slept 8 for $139, which made it more equal to most other hotels if you had to get more than one room. The suites also give you privacy sometimes if you have older kids. They only have very few of the big suites at that price so you have to book fairly early when they announce the homeschool days.

[bettyandbob]

You can do CW all in one day, honestly.

 

 

 

I'll disagree. This depends on your family and your family's interests. At 6 my ds spent 2 hours just at a construction site ( most people would have skipped). They were building a carpenter's workshop (I think), with very detailed historically accurate specifications, using the tools and techniques of the time. One docent went over every tool technique my ds asked about. ds asked questions of every docent in just about every building. If your family members are into it and not just walking through glancing at it all, it will take a while. Additionally, besides going in and out of recreated stores and workshops you want to review the day's schedule and build in time to see various historical figures give speeches or meet up in street plays. Your youngest might enjoy "joining the militia" -- an activity that occures usually once a day weekdays and a few times a day weekends. Take in a meal at one of the taverns and pay for the one of the extras like a ghost tour and you can easily round out 2 days. Like I said earlier, my oldest could just hang there for days. For the rest of our family, who have been many times, 1.5 days will do it.

 

Yes, I could see if you lived in Williamsburg, you might not see that it would take more than a day, but for some families it does. I also know family's who are completely uninterested in history and who would be able to run through CW in half a day.

 

How you plan your trip depends on whether you want to "pack it in" or take a leisurely pace. If the weather is good, day on the beach in VA Beach can be nice in October --the water is still warm. If you like military stuff, you can take tours of Norfolk Naval Base and Oceana Naval Air Station, as well as see Nauticus. But if you want a leisurely pace week, I'd stay in Williamsburg and focus on Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown and Busch Gardens with some days for nice bike rides thrown in.

[Guest inoubliable]

Whoa. Peace. I thought that went without saying. I was just pointing out that it IS possible to do it all in one day - leaving enough time to see Jamestown, Yorktown, shop, whatever within the week. Glad y'all had such a blast there.

[TravelingChris]

We stayed at a very cool state park in Suffolk county across the river in a cabin. it is the Chippokes Plantation State Park and we stayed in what had been the overseer's cabin. Everyone loved this vacation, even though it was HOTTER than where we lived in Florida. Not the state park itself but the whole area including Williamsburg and Jamestown were over 100 degrees that July in the shade. But anyway, we stayed at the state park and would go on the ferry across James River to go to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.