Ok! So in my last post, I answered some of the big questions frequently asked when prepping for a family trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Now, you are finally here! What do you do?
Get Your Tickets!
You can do this at any of the official CW hotels, the Visitor Center, the ticket offices in the Historic Area, or even online. And kids under six are free! The Multiday Ticket is a great deal. We have been using the Historic Triangle Ticket option a lot lately for our out-of-town guests because Jamestown and Yorktown are included and they are worth the visit. If you are planning more than one trip in the year, do yourself a favor and get the Annual Pass. If you want evening programs or carriage rides, make sure you get those first thing too because they do sell out frequently. (Although we hear carriages will soon be available to book online ahead of your trip!)
Check the Calendar
There is always so much happening! There are new programs with different seasons, special events, and of course there are always interesting projects going on in the Historic Trades sites. Check the calendar online or the printed daily program (available at ticket locations), and see what is happening. The Historic Area is huge, so you may be at the Governor’s Palace and won’t know that Thomas Jefferson is having a public audience on the other side of town. There are so many great programs that take place at the Art Museums, but they are a good distance from your Charlton Coffeehouse tour. Check the schedule and see what is happening each day to map out a plan and make the most of your tickets!
Make a Plan
If you are like me, and have young kids, at least half of your crew is going to need a nap midday. And, if you are really like me, at some point the 13-year-old is going to complain she is bored, but the 2-year-old is not ready to leave the sheep and eventually…. everyone is crying. So now that you have checked the calendar and know your options, make a plan! Then you can factor in naptime, lunchtime, etc. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Maybe you will run into Martha Washington out on her horse and see the Fife & Drum Corp and decide to hang out with them for a bit. That’s great! But having a plan will make it so much easier to keep the kids going. Again, it’s best to do your homework ahead of time, and check out the calendar on the website.
Let the Kids Help!
If the kids don’t see the sparkle they are looking for, it is because they are blinded by the shine. The Historic Area has a million adventures waiting to happen. Did they see the Military Encampment on the over there? They can get militia training and in the summer, maybe even fire a cannon! Want to do some archeological digging? We have that too. Carriage rides, ghost tours… Ask them what they want to do! Go to one of the shops and get some 18th-century games to take home as souvenirs. The William Pitt Store is an awesome place to get new games. So is the Market House. And the people who work there are fabulous and will teach you how to play them. Let them be the masters of their own destinies for a while. It will be keeping with our revolutionary theme we have going on around here…
Someone is hungry, another one is thirsty, and two of them have to go to the bathroom…
Make use of the mobile app or map to find places to eat and to track down bathrooms and water fountains. You can read about my recommendations for kid-friendly options in the previous post here. CW puts out a refillable mug each year and has a number of places you can refill them as much as you would like with soft drinks ($1 each refill) or water (free). You can get these refills at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery, Dubois Grocer, McKenzie Apothecary, Chowning’s Cider Stand, and Visitor Center Cafe. The bathrooms are spread out (although improvements to that are in the works for 2017, so huzzah!), so I take the “everyone is going while we are here” approach.
It’s not a perfect process, but it does work and you can make it work for your family. The kids won’t love everything, so just embrace it. Consider it a learning experience in diplomacy. No matter what, if you put a little planning into it and get the family here and ready to roll, this place will do the rest. It won’t just be fun. It won’t just be educational. It won’t just be a wonderful family vacation. It will be all of those things.
Guest Blogger: Katherine Morris Ainslie
Katherine is the Externship Program Coordinator for the William & Mary Law School. She has four children – Alexandra (12), Senet (6), Thaine (5), and Flynn (2). Katherine and her significant other, Alex Morse, are avid board gamers and boast an impressive and ever-growing collection of games. Beyond having their weekly board game parties, Katherine loves hosting visitors and throwing big parties including their famous annual Kentucky Derby party. She also enjoys British costume dramas, obnoxiously bright colors and patterns, cooking, & consuming large quantities of Aromas coffee.
This is a ps to my earlier comment. I am now home and wanted to pass along a hint on the beverage business. If you are a 100.00 contributor to CW, you are allowed access to the Tucker House for extra programs, etc. Also, tea, lemonade, coffee and cookies and a little rest and relaxation.
This year I was sure to refill my mug before I left after each visit. I sometimes visited twice a day to put my feet up for a minute, have an excellent cookie and refill my mug. That’s one way to get around paying for refills. But next year I WILL bring my own mug. Even though they reduced the price to 10.95, that didn’t make up for the 1.00 refill charge.
Marsha Heien
Stuttgart, Arkansas
Judy Marquart says
I can understand the different feelings between “love the free refills” and “hate the $1 charge for refills” … but I might end up being one of the few on the side of not minding the $1 charge for refills. Yes, I’m a single person that is usually visiting by myself … every once in a while I have a friend with me but not often … so I’m not having to fork over $20+ a day to keep the family from complaining about being thirsty. In my “single-ness” while visiting, I still figure I’m getting a good deal with only paying $1 for any refills I get rather than $2.50 — or whatever it is now — each time I walk in to get a beverage. So, anyway, that’s where I stand on the matter. I’ve been a “backer” of CWF since 1980 — my first visit was in 1969; and I’m so looking forward to my visit later on this year. The last time I was there was October 2014. Anyway, I can’t really complain too much about the changes … everyone is not going to like all the changes all the time … but I still love the place and getting to visit!!
Hey, guys! I sent an email about the concerns about the new mug policy. This was the response from the Director of Historic Area Hospitality:
Thank you for your correspondence and, more importantly, your support of Colonial Williamsburg throughout the years! We deeply value each and every guest and interaction. We understand your disappointment in the new mug program and charges for refills.
As a Foundation, we are doing everything we can to make Colonial Williamsburg a sustainable place that can be enjoyed by future generations. The change in the mug program is one small step towards obtaining that goal and financial stability. Most folks do not realize that the refillable mug program, at its inception, was intended to be a guest-centric concept. At that time, much deliberation was dedicated to developing the type of program that would most benefit our guest with regard to their purchasing patterns, length of stay and expectations. Over the years, we have strayed from that original intention. As we now look for ways to improve our programming and guest satisfaction, we are remodeling the program – keeping the modern guest in mind – and adopting the best practice overall.
We have received encouraging feedback regarding the changes from many of our supporters, and trust that the other new initiatives throughout the City will entice you to return. We do hope you will continue to consider the Revolutionary City a compelling place to walk. Meanwhile, I thank you for your understanding and thank you for your continued support of Colonial Williamsburg, as we move forward toward a sustainable future.
I won’t stop coming to CW unless there was some genuinely terrible changes. I don’t expect that to ever happen.
But if my wife and I were to each buy a refillable mug and over the course of a long hot day get 5 drinks each we would be dropping $40 for beverages. Yes we would still have the mug which we do like. But devoting $40 dollars in a day to quench my thirst is just not going to happen.
I do like the mugs though and will miss buying them. I often drink my coffee in one of mine because we live on a farm and I am in and out in the morning, or riding my tractor and I don’t want to use a ceramic mug. Plus its a nice reminder of our favorite vacation spot. We have the mugs going back a number of years on the coffee mug shelf in our kitchen.
But I just can’t see $20 in a day to wet my whistle.
Karen McKenzie says
I will be in Williamsburg in June. We have come every year for over 35 years and I buy a refillable cup. each year., but if you are charging for refills why would I buy the cup. I will bring a refillable water bottle. $15 for a plastic cup is to much and not get to refill it.
I, too, was disappointed about the 1.00 charge for refills BUT I DIDN’T FIND OUT ABOUT IT UNTIL AFTER I BOUGHT MY MUG. The clerk at the Governor’s Inn today didn’t tell me they were now charging for refills. I just arrived today and walked over to the historic area. I walked up to the Chownings Cider stand and got some lemonade. The clerk said that’s 1.00. I said “What do you mean 1.00?. So she showed me the card. At least, water is free. But I didn’t even get my FIRST fill free. Since I bought my mug at the hotel, I didn’t get it filled when I bought it. So I got gypped all the way around. Paid for the mug AND to fill it the first time.
Oh, and don’t get me started in the ice cream at Dubois grocery. In 2014, we got free ice cream in our mugs, YUM.
I won’t be buying a mug either in the future, just will bring a re-usable bottle and hit the water fountains. At least they aren’t charging for that, YET.
Yes the soft serve ice cream was a real treat! The times we were there in hot weather it made a world of difference. My wife did root beer floats. I was fine with just eating the ice cream.
We have a large family and have purchased a multitude of refillable mugs in the past few years. I didn’t mind buying the mugs each year so much if they got refilled for free. We will be bringing our water bottles next trip.
What a fantastic article, Katherine! I know of several families who are planning a visit this summer and you’d better believe that I will be forwarding this (and your last) article to them. Thank you for taking the time to link everything in the article, too. Such an easy one-stop-shopping experience.
I love Colonial Wiliamsburg because of the people who make it great.
Thanks, Ben! I will be putting out some upcoming posts with age-specific recommendations, so tell your friends and family to stay tuned!
I am SO sorry about the large picture of me.
I thought it was for a little avatar thing next to my name!
If anyone in IT wants to remove it, PLEASE do!
We have visited CW twice a year for about 6 years. All of your suggestions are good ones. Planning ahead is most important. We feel its best to give yourself more time than less to vacation there. We find four nights is the minimum for us, and prefer seven day vacations.. Then we can plan to do 3-5 events over the course of a day, and leave gaps for just wandering into whatever site or going on that we happen upon.
I am a bit sad about the addition of the $1 charge for each refill on the refillable mugs. I felt like when they charged 13-14 dollars for them and we got maybe 5 refills it was an okay deal, and nice to have the mug to keep. If they charge that much and I also have to cough up another $5 or so for my refills its a great deal for CW and not for me. I will just bring some bottles of water in with me from now on.
Jeff, I’m so glad you enjoyed it. And I ‘m glad to hear your opinion on the cups. I know that they are “testing the waters” to ensure they aren’t losing revenue with them, so it is important for you to voice your thoughts so they will know!
I agree! Please don’t charge for refills. We have not bought a mug this year, so they lost that revenue by trying to squeeze another dollar from me.