Who Knew We Were Virginians..A Photo Trip report

Hello! Welcome to my newest trip report ….one that is NOT about Disney World or Disney Cruise Line, or anything Disney related for the most part! I took a step on the wild side this Spring and went to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Some of you have read my previous reports over the years. You have traveled with Me, Claire and Skip, you have traveled with Me, Claire and my Parents, you have traveled with me and several of my friends and co-workers, and most recently you have traveled with me, Claire, my parents and my sister Gail and her family, My Aunt Mary and Geoff and extended cousins. This time you will be introduced to my other sister Amanda (though she has been mentioned in other reports). This is our first trip together as adults. Claire, of course is along for the fun, as are my parents again.

Let me introduce myself. I am Jen. I am a HUGE Disney fan. I have traveled there over 10 times now. 10 used to be that magic number I was trying to achieve. Something about that number just made it sound like a seasoned Disney vet, and I am past that number now! Woohoo! I have also sailed on Disney Cruise Line 3 times and I am hoping to take many more in the future.

I am the wife of Skip, who is what many people call a resistor. He enjoys Disney, but he doesn’t see the need to go there or anywhere for that matter that often. I love him very much, but I need to get him turned around on that idea.

I am the mother to 3 children …..Michael, who is 24, Paige, who just turned 21, and Claire, who is 8. Claire is my travel partner and she enjoys it just as much as I do.

This trip came about last fall. My Mom has a timeshare through Marriott. She decided that this year she would like to go to Williamsburg. My youngest sister Amanda usually travels with my parents as well. They both agreed this was the place they would like to go. My Dad on the other hand said there was no way he would be going. He also said it would be the start of his busy season with his work, which is a lawn service business. Mom mentioned to me that if Dad didn’t go that perhaps Claire and I could come along. I thought that would be wonderful. Colonial Williamsburg is a place I had wanted to visit for years. Actually I have wanted to go for over 20 years. We came close to going a few times, but in the end, we always headed to Florida instead.

Months passed and it was talked about here and there, but nothing really came of it. Sometime late January my Mom called and said it was official, Dad was not coming along. I told Skip about the plans and he of course made a face about it, but I went in with the fact that if I went with my Mom he would be off the hook. I knew this wasn’t a top spot he wanted to go to and he knew I wanted to get there someday. Basically he didn’t say yes or no, but he just said for me to keep it quiet, as his family and friends tend to be anti-travel and they seem to get upset and think I go too often. I am not sure why they care, or why he cares what they think, but I agreed and didn’t mention it to too many people.

Now for the planning. The dates were April 13-20. I am a planner, but it soon became clear that my sister did NOT want to do much planning at all. It got a little heated at times, as Mom would tell me one thing and she would tell me another and I felt stuck in the middle. I decided that I would just go with the flow. That is very hard for me, but I actually did a pretty good job. I did have a list of a few things I wanted to do, and I also said that I was not sleeping in and wasting days, nor leaving early to come back to the resort. I mentioned renting 2 separate cars, but I was assured it would all be fine. We did work things out, but in the future, I WILL be renting my OWN car.

I booked our flights out of Columbus, OH, where my sister lives, reserved the car, and got us tickets to Bush Gardens and the rest was going to wait till we got there.

I did a little research, but not like I would normally do. Luckily I have looked into Colonial Williamsburg over the years more than once, so I was slightly familiar with it.

The plan was to go to Bush Gardens on Sunday the 14th, only because the park was only open limited days while we were there. The rest of the plans were to do at least 3 days at Colonial Williamsburg, and spend one day going to nearby Plantations. The rest was going to be on the fly. That is so not like me at all, but I managed.

Once the plans were made we just had to wait for our dates to arrive.

I would like to say I took fantastic notes, but I didn’t, so most of this is going to be from memory. I also didn’t take as many pictures as I normally do. Now don’t get me wrong, I took a lot of pictures, but there are periods of time where I took absolutely none.

Yes!!!! A new TR! Looking forward to this!

Woohoo finally!!! I have been waiting for this TR for oh, close to a year now LOL. I remember chatting with you when you were in the beginning planning stages. A whole week in Williamsburg seems like a long time but I visit there quite often so I'm interested to see what all you did. Surprised you didn't rent 2 cars... that definitely can be a source of friction between family/friends on vacation but I'm glad to hear it worked out ok

Yes!!!! A new TR! Looking forward to this!

Thanks for joining in!!!

Woohoo finally!!! I have been waiting for this TR for oh, close to a year now LOL. I remember chatting with you when you were in the beginning planning stages. A whole week in Williamsburg seems like a long time but I visit there quite often so I'm interested to see what all you did. Surprised you didn't rent 2 cars... that definitely can be a source of friction between family/friends on vacation but I'm glad to hear it worked out ok

There were many things we didn't do, but being newbies to the area, we did take in quite a bit.

It was slower paced than my Disney trips, thats for sure. There was friction at times, but we did OK.

I haven't been to Williamsburg since 8th grade so it'll be great to see all the changes! Can't wait.

I haven't been to Williamsburg since 8th grade so it'll be great to see all the changes! Can't wait.

Welcome. It was a very interesting place. It sparked a lot of memories from American History classes......oh so many years ago

April 12, 2013, Friday ~ pre trip

I had issues packing for this trip. With Disney, it’s easy to over pack. Claire wears many princess dresses or Disney themed clothing. But this wasn’t Disney. I also went through many of her summer clothes to find that many no longer fit. In the end I did throw in a few Disney themed clothes for both of us. I did most of the packing a few days before the trip and by the 12th I had everything but the last minute things in the suitcases.

Claire had school this day and both Amanda and Mom had to work. Mom, Claire and I would be driving down to Columbus, OH, about a 2 ½ hour drive…. and stay with Amanda for the night. At first it was going to be after Mom got off work, then she decided to take a half day off and go earlier. Then she talked about taking the whole day off, but I reminded her that Claire still had to go to school, so she did end up going into work for a few hours to take care of last minute things.

At 2:30 I picked Claire up from school and we came home and got changed. Soon Mom arrived and we loaded her car. She told me that Dad was now having 2nd thoughts. As she was pulling out of the garage he told her he would ride down to Columbus with us and then drive to Williamsburg from there. She told him no. First off, we had been asking him over the past week if he wanted to come and he said no over and over. He said it was not a place he would ever want to visit. So we gave up.

Second, he didn’t have a suitcase packed and she was leaving right then. She said she wasn’t about to go and pack him for a trip in 5 minutes.

And third, there wasn’t room in the car. We had the 3 of us with 3 big suitcases, 3 small ones and a few other bags. It was going to be hard for him to find a spot to sit, let alone bring along luggage.

Good grief Dad, you had your chance!

As Dad was begging Mom as she was ready to back out, she also didn’t pay attention and backed right into the garage door. She was not happy about that at all, but the damage on both the car and door was next to nothing, thank goodness.

Skip came in and we said our good byes and Claire gave him all the kisses she would need to hold her over for a week and off we went. We didn’t get too far though. Claire needed something to eat, so we stopped off at McDonalds and got a snack and drinks. Claire ordered the orange drink for the first time and she was in love. I thought she has had it before, but she swears she hasn’t and she guzzled it down fast.

It wasn’t too long and the call of nature came to her. Her eyes were floating and we were in the middle of nowhere. Finally we found another McDonalds and stopped off to use the restroom.

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful till we got closer to Amanda’s house and we got into a bit of traffic, but we finally made it.

We unloaded the car and freshened up and then headed off again. The original plan had been to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It’s a favorite of mine and Claire’s and Mom likes it too. But a few days before we left, Amanda said that our Aunt Laura (mom’s sister) and her husband Jan wanted to take us to eat at the Fish Market. (They also live in Columbus) So plans were changed and we promised Claire that we would go to the Cheesecake Factory when we came back.

We had a lovely dinner. I got the Lobster Bisque, which was delicious and I got the surf and turf that had a wonderful steak and lobster. Mom got the same and Amanda got the Lobster pasta. Claire had her old faithful chicken strips.

I didn’t take pictures this day at all except for this one phone picture.

We also got this wonderful dessert. Oh my word it was huge and we all shared it. I think it was called shark pie and it was chocolate and ice-cream and just pure heaven.

Aunt Laura and Jan were driving us to the airport in the morning, so we decided on a time and then called it a night.

We literally rolled out. I was so full that I felt sick. Amanda said the same thing. It was such an awful feeling. I vowed not to eat like that on the rest of the trip…..you know how that goes…..

We got back and then the process of weighing bags commenced. Mom’s bag was way overweight so we started juggling things around. In the end, Amanda had been reading it wrong and it wasn’t quite as overweight as we had thought.

We started unpacking mom’s case and putting stuff in mine, which were underweight and then Amanda pulled out a pile of washcloths and we just started laughing. Why on earth was she bringing wash clothes? She said she needed her own. Amanda said too bad and took those out. Then she pulled Mom’s brush out and at that very moment I took a sip of pop. Amanda then says that if Mom cleaned the hair out of her brush it would probably weigh 5 lbs lighter. OMG!! I snorted the pop up my nose and couldn’t stop laughing. Claire was on the floor laughing so hard. And then they laughed because I started choking on my pop and couldn’t catch my breath because I couldn’t stop laughing. Mom was not amused by the way …..

We got it all squared away and we headed for bed. I have issues sleeping when not at home, but I tried my hardest. But about an hour or so after bed I started getting cramps and I felt sick and sweaty and my head hurt. The only thing I could think of was food poisoning. Mom had the same food as I though, and I didn’t hear her moving around, so I wasn’t sure. But it was a rough night. It did finally go away, but not completely. I never got sick, but I just felt queasy. Also the comforter kept sliding off the bed and it was driving me insane on top of not feeling well. I think I gave up on sleep around 5 or so and pulled out my kindle and caught up on emails and facebook.

April 13, 2013 ~ Day 1

I woke up early, after just giving up on sleep. I decided I would get in the bath and maybe that would make me feel better. I got ready and heard movement soon after. Mom was up and she told me she had such a horrid night as well. She had all the same symptoms as I did and she said that Aunt Laura told her that often the Lobster there at the Fish Market is too rich for her system. I have had lobster many times and never had an issue in the past, but I guess that is what it was. It was confirmed when Amanda told us she too had felt ill all night and she had lobster pasta. At least we all were feeling a bit better this morning. We all now know if we ever go back to the Fish Market we will stick with steak!

We got ourselves ready and then we juggled the suitcases around with weight issues once more. Mom and Claire ran to Dunkin Donuts and picked up some donuts and coffee for Mom. I plunged into my donut and had about once bite left when I said “Didn’t Claire get a donut?” Mom replied that Claire said she would share with her mom. UM? What? I looked at my last bite and handed it over to Claire. I then told Claire when it came to the matter of donuts, ALWAYS get your own because Momma don’t share!

We were now all ready and just had to wait now to be picked up and we turned on the TV and sat around and chatted. Mom’s phone rang. It was Dad. “Good news! I’ve decided to come”. We just about died laughing. Listening to Moms conversation with Dad was hysterical. Dad was going to drive his truck. Now this is a BIG deal because he hates to put any extra miles on it. He won’t let anyone borrow it and if you are moving he makes a big stink about helping and using his truck.

Mom told him to pack and what he would need and where the suitcases were. He said he had talked to Aunt Mary already and she was printing directions off for him. This was still scary. Dad is AWFUL with directions, and he has issues reading them when he is the passenger, so this was even scarier that he was going to be driving and reading at the same time. He even went to the bank and got money out. Another big wow as he is a little on the cheap side.

We were so shocked. I guess he really did want to come after all. I think the big factor was that Mom and Dad’s anniversary was on the 19th and she was going to be gone. Mom thinks he really thought she would cancel out in the end. I have no clue why, because she never has in the past, but she thinks he thought she would.

Mom then wanted me to call Aunt Mary and see if we could find him a flight out of Detroit. That was scary too, because Dad doesn’t know how to fly by himself, but we figured it would be better than him driving 10 hours by himself. At least he could ask for help there. I never could get ahold of Aunt Mary and I tried Geoff too and he never answered. We found out later they were gone for the day at something where they didn’t have phone access.

We ran out of time and soon Aunt Laura and Jan arrived and we loaded up their 2 cars and headed off to the airport.

We were riding in style. Amanda and I rode with Jan I his Mercedes and Claire and my Mom rode with Aunt Laura in the BMW.

They dropped us off and we said our goodbyes and the plan was to do curbside check in but a porter came about and grabbed our bags up quickly. I tried to say no, but mom said yes. She said it was too cold out to be messing with our bags and curbside check in. It was chilly, unseasonably cold that morning, but it wouldn’t have been much of a hassle at all.

Luckily the line inside was not long and we were checked in quickly, and headed to security. We made it through there quickly and went off to find our gate. Once settled in I headed off to find food. I knew I needed to eat before our flight, which was leaving around 12:10. I needed to eat lunch or I would feel sick and start getting headaches. Amanda and I headed off and I went to Johnny Rockets and got a burger and fries. It was pretty expensive there. I tried to decide what to get Claire. They didn’t have a kid’s chicken nuggets meal and the adult version looked much too big for her and I didn’t want to throw it away at that price. I just decided to wait and see what she wanted, but while standing there I saw you could have an order of bacon and asked for that too. Claire is a bacon freak and I knew she would be happy with that and it didn’t cost too much either. Then I picked up some soft drinks for Claire and I.

We went back and sat down and ate and Mom went off to find some food for herself. Before you knew it was time to make those last bathroom trips and then to board the plane.

We got settled in and Claire sat by the window, I in the middle and Amanda on the end and Mom was across the aisle.

The flight was only about an hour or so. Not bad at all. Claire did a bit of homework and we also played on our kindles. They served snacks, which was a big hit with Claire.

A few quick pictures.

We landed in Atlanta on time and then Amanda went in search of our next gate number. We had about an hour between flights and I was a little worried about getting to the next gate. I had heard Atlanta is HUGE and that it can take a while to get to the next gate. I couldn’t believe it when Amanda said the next flight was at the gate right next to the one we got off at. How convenient for us!

We called home and talked to Skip. I had told him before we left that morning that Dad was now driving and he was laughing and he said to be sure he DIDN’T stop to pick him up. LOL. We just updated him on all the current info.

Mom called Dad who had only been on the road for a short time. We couldn’t figure out what took him so long to get going. We had talked to him around 10:30 and it was now around 2 PM. We then knew it would be about midnight before we would have any hope of seeing him.

We all then had a good time joking around about what he probably packed. He has no clue how to pack for himself. We were hoping he would remember things that Mom has packed him in the past, but then again, he would have no clue where to find them.

Amanda took this picture of Claire and I as we waited.

We then boarded our next flight and I thought this one was going to be longer, but it wasn’t. Actually I think our air time was less.

Once we landed it felt so nice to be there. I am not a fan of flights that require a layover, but actually this wasn’t too bad. It gave us time to stretch a little bit. Of course it did take a good chunk of the day to get there. Finally we did land in Richmond, Virginia!

The Richmond airport was gorgeous. It’s either fairly new or remodeled. At least the area we went through. It looked very modern and clean.

We made our ways to get our bags. Usually it takes a little while for bags to come out, but I think ours were in the first 10 to come out. I was shocked. That was really fast. We then walked over to the car rentals and I checked in for our car. I had a great rate with Hertz because my SIL works for them. I did double check that I was receiving that rate and was handed the keys and off we went.

It was gorgeous outside. It was so nice to be in some warmer weather.

I rented a mid-sized SUV. I think it was an equinox or something along those lines. We jammed our luggage in the back. I am pretty good at getting luggage to fit, it’s a talent of mine …and off we went.

I had printed up directions, but we decided to use Siri on my iPhone. I had just learned how to use the gps recently and I figured it would be easier to use her and my directions could be a backup. Amanda typed in the info and off we went.

I think it was supposed to be about an hour drive, but it really seemed less than that.

Before we knew it we were pulling into Fords Colony where the Marriott Manor Club was located. All I can say is WOW! They had some BIG houses back here. The road was a mile long with lots of huge houses and a few smaller ones, but they were extremely sharp looking too, and a golf course along the way. One thing we notice was that the golf course had dead grass though. I found that odd since we were in such a ritzy neighborhood. At the end of the mile we came to a roundabout and the 3rd stop was ours. There was a country Club back there as well and something else, but I don’t remember what. We turned onto the road and then made a left into the Manor Club. To the right appeared to be more hotels and after doing some exploring one morning I found out that this was an extended part of the Manor Club and it did not look nearly as nice as our side did. Going straight would lead you into what looked to be a gated community.

We pulled up to the main building and all of us hopped out. Mom, Amanda and Claire went in to check us in and I stayed out and took some pictures.

This was the main lobby for check in.

That’s our vehicle on the right.

Soon they came out and we hopped back in the car and headed back to the Patrick Henry building. It was one of the further ones back, but it wasn’t too far and very nice.

We grabbed our luggage and headed in. They had carts in the little foyer area and we loaded it up with the luggage and headed up to the 2nd floor.

I quickly went around and tried to take pictures before it got messed up.

We had a 2 bedroom suite and this was Claire and I’s bedroom.

In the hall outside our room was a big closet that held the washer and dryer. And there was a bathroom to the right of this picture.

A very nice living room and kitchen area.

The Master bedroom was for Mom and Amanda. Since Dad was a late comer we decide he was just going to have to have the pullout couch. He was shocked when we told him, but seriously, we had made sleeping arrangements long ago and it wasn’t fair to any of us to have to take the couch now.

The master bathroom.

No one ever used the hot tub. Mom wouldn’t allow anyone to bathe in it because she said it was too big, which meant whenever someone wanted a bath verses a shower they were in my bathroom. Let’s just say at times it got hectic on our end and Amanda pretty much had the other bathroom to herself on many days.

Our bathroom.

Continuing the tour of our room….

The entryway.

The kitchen

Our balcony.

The view.

I then headed outside while they got situated and took a few pictures.

Looking at our room.

I don’t know what kind of tree this is, but they were all over.

Amanda was starving at this point. She has a nervous stomach so she refused to eat all day for fear of feeling sick on the plane. She did eat the snack they passed out, but that was long gone.

So we jumped in the car and headed out in search of food. We turned right out of Fords Colony and just down the road we saw a plaza. It had a few food options, but we continued on to see if we found anything else. This whole area was very heavily wooded, but we soon saw signs of life. An outlet Mall! They had a few options in there but nothing that was calling to us so made a right turn at the light and this is where the main drag was. We had several options and we sounded dumb shouting out names as we drove along. I swear they had like 5 pancake houses on this road. They had some neat shops too but we never did make time to actually come and look through any of them. We decided on Olive Garden. It was something we all could agree on and Dad hates it so since he wasn’t with us yet we could eat here without complaints.

We really didn’t think about it, but it was Sat. night and all the places looked packed. Olive Garden was no exception, so we put our names in and sat on a bench outside. I gave Skip a call and told him we had made it.

We were next to what looked to be a Yankee Candle headquarters and I walked over and took a couple of quick shots.

It was cooling down fast, so we decided to wait inside where it was slightly warmer.

I think we had about a 30 minute wait and then we were called to our seat.

We made our orders and ordered way too much food once again. But it was darn good.

We settled up the bill and headed out. Amanda was now feeling sick again. We had planned to stop at the grocery store we saw to pick up a few items, but then we decided maybe we should skip it. As we got closer to the store, Amanda was feeling a bit better so we went in. Well the few items turned into quite a few. We got soft drinks and juice boxes, cereal, bread, peanut butter, jelly, English muffins, juice, milk, etc. It was nice to have some breakfast foods around the place though.

We headed back to the hotel. Claire had one thing on her mind. SWIMMING! It’s a highlight for her on any vacation. We had talked to Dad a few times and at first he was making excellent time, but then he thought he took a wrong turn and went back to a gas station and found out he didn’t. He had backtracked about 25 miles. He was now sounding tired and he still had quite a ways to go. We told him to check in periodically.

I took Claire for a swim. They have an indoor and outdoor pool and she choose the indoor pool since there were some adults outside having a little party and were kind of loud. Plus it was pretty chilly out. The inside pool however was too warm. I swear it was hard to breath sitting at the table watching her. She had a good time though.

I gave her the 5 minute warning, which usually means she swims for about 10 minutes more and then we walked back to our room and got her ready for bed. I talked to Dad again and from what he said, I figured he was about 1 ½ hours away. We knew it would be VERY dark when he got near and we told him to call so I could go out and find him and lead him into Fords Colony. It was about 11 now and I laid down with Claire so she would go to bed. She was not sleepy, but I sure was. Mom said she came into our room at midnight and I was sound asleep but Claire was watching TV. My Mom told her to get to sleep and she said she couldn’t because I was keeping her awake. That’s awfully funny. I don’t know how my sleeping was keeping her from doing the same. She did go out shortly after though.

At 12:30 my Mom came in and woke me and told me Dad was close and on the phone. I got on, but I warned him right away that I was slightly out of it because I had been sleeping. He said he was close but not sure where so I grabbed my keys and told him I was getting in the car to find him. Next thing I know, Amanda appears out of nowhere and says she is coming along with me. That was actually a big help. Dad was driving his truck and he also uses it for snowplowing so he said he was turning his yellow flashing light on so we could see him.

We set off and drove all the way out of Fords Colony and no sign of Dad. I had Amanda call him and I told her to have him see if he could find an address near where he was parked. That way we could put it in the gps. Dad wasn’t listening and he just kept telling Amanda he was sitting at the gate and needed to be let in. She kept telling him it was wrong as we had no gate. We turned around and headed back towards the hotel again. Amanda was practically screaming that we didn’t have a gate and he needed to find an address, but he wasn’t listening ….and then I saw it. The yellow glow. I yelled out “I found him”! He had come in some different way and was inside the gated community. We pulled up next to the gate and he tells me to flash my room key. I told him this was not part of the hotel and how the heck did he get in there. He came in a back way and he said he just followed a car in. I jumped up and down in front of the gate sensor, but it just wasn’t opening. I was about to tell him to just park alongside the road for now and he could jump in our car when he pulled forward a bit to ask me something and the gate popped open. Go! Quick! Before it shuts!

That gave us all a big laugh. Only my dad could find his way into the gated community.

We then headed into the parking lot and parked. Dad took out his suitcase and checked his mileage (amazingly he got really good gas mileage with that hog of a truck) and headed to our room.

Dad was tired and hungry. He didn’t eat much all day for fear he would need to stop and use the restroom and then he would lose more time. He had packed a few snacks and that was it. Mom made him a PBJ and he sat and ate and talked to us about his adventure. We laughed because he packed his clothes in the biggest suitcase they have and he didn’t pack that many things. He did bring his crocs, which was impressive. He had plenty of underwear and socks. He bragged how he packed a short sleeve sweater. Mom said he doesn’t own a short sleeve sweater. We had a good laugh the next morning when we found out it was a sweater vest that he had packed. He actually did pretty well, but Mom planned to hit a store in the next day or 2 and buy him a few more short sleeved shorts (He only brought long sleeved) and an extra pair of pants.

It was late now and we had a full day coming up so I went to sleep. The beds were super comfy, but the pillows were awful. Very squishy and my head would fall straight through and I would have a huge puff of pillow on each side of my cheeks. Everyone complained about the pillows too, so it wasn’t that I got the short end of the straw. All the pillows were cruddy. It felt good to get some rest after a long day.

April 14, 2013, Sunday

I slept great. I guess the long day before really knocked me out. But in true vacation fashion I was up early. I threw on some shorts and a tee and went outside to explore the grounds.

The Golf Course was behind our buildings.

It was so nice to be seeing flowers!

There was a chill in the air and you can see it was a big foggy in spots, but it was still great to be away from Ohio.

I found another grilling area.

The outdoor pool, the indoor one is in that building with the big windows behind it.

I saw Cardinals all over the place and I was constantly trying to get a “good” picture of one, but they were always just out of focus range. Ironically, Cardinals are Ohio’s state bird ….and I rarely ever see them there.

A view from the pool deck that wraps around towards the back side of the indoor pool and main building ….. This was a look at the back side of the resort buildings towards our buildings direction.

You can kind of see the golf course to the left.

Another Cardinal spotted!

I walked around the back side of the main building and this was on the other side. I am not sure why they had this fence up. It only went for a short distance and didn’t keep anything in or out. You could easily walk around it. My only guess was they were doing some sort of work here and this would keep people from walking right through here.

Another grilling spot.

They had bikes to rent too.

Back around to the front. On the left where it has a gatehouse looking thing was where the pool was.

I went inside to take a bathroom break and these were in there. Amanda loves butterflies.

I don’t think I ever took pictures of the lobby or the little store that also had fast food service as well. It was always just too quiet and I felt like I was being watched. Usually that doesn’t bother me, but I guess this place just seemed different than where I normally stay.

Back outside.

And here is Dad’s gated community. This was the side we were on. He was on the other side of the building trying to get out.

Look. Another Disney Lover is here too!

I worked my way over across the road and found the other part of the Marriott.

These buildings didn’t look as nice. But they did have more activities over on that side. A very easy walk from anywhere at the resort though.

Smoking and Tennis go hand in hand, right?

I found another pool, but this one was not filled yet. It did have a neat pool house attached to it and it looked like in summer months they may host events here for the resort guests.

I then put the camera down and wandered a little more and then headed back to the room to get ready for the day.

Once I got back to our room I showered and got ready for the day. The family was NOT moving and I had to get persistent. This was our only chance to go to the park, as they were only open on weekends during our trip. I told them I wanted to arrive early and stay late. That had a lot of grumbles. It got to the point that I was going to leave without them.

As they got ready, Claire and I headed back to the main building and got a local map of the area just in case we needed it. I then gave it to my parents. I should’ve grabbed 2. I guess I wasn’t thinking.

We took both the rental car and Dads truck. My parents are famous for not staying in a park long and my sister is the same way. I never get that and even as a kid we always arrived to parks late and left early. That’s probably why I am one who wants to get there early and stay late now. I always felt we missed so much back in those days, but being a kid I had no control over it.

We finally headed towards Busch Gardens and my parents followed in the truck. We parked and had to ride a tram over to the park.

I believe we arrived around 11 or so and by 11:20 we saw this.

Now we had to buy Dad a ticket since he was a last minute add on. I had a voucher for 2 free tickets as well. My voucher said to pick them up at any ticket window.

It was pretty busy and we got in line. I asked if this is where I picked up the tickets and was told yes. I was then directed towards a side area that had more windows open with a lessor wait. Ok, that sounds good. UM…. not true! The wait was really long. Somewhere along the line we lost the rest of the family as well. We waited and waited and the sun was beaming down on us. Finally they had a few people come out with portable computers to sell tickets. I got one of those people. I told her I had a voucher and I wasn’t sure if I would need to go to a window or not. Nope, I needed to go to Guest Service. UGH! But she was sympathetic and said since I waited so long already she would walk me over and just go in herself and get my tickets.

We walked over and I waited outside. I am glad she was doing this because the line there was long also.

After a bit, she came out with a guy. They said they found 3 tickets connected to my name. She read the names and one was for Amanda and one was for Claire and the 3rd was no one we knew, but had the same last name as me. I told her the first 2 were ours, but I bought and paid for those tickets. I just needed the other 2 that went with the voucher, which never required a name.

OK then. They went back in and again were in there for quite a while.

Mom called and wondered where we were and what was taking so long. I told her and they told me where they were sitting so we could find them.

I continued to take pictures as we waited.

The Team Member finally came out again. She said that my voucher just wouldn’t scan so they were just going to give me 2 courtesy tickets for the day and also 2 snack vouchers since I had to wait so long. That was so nice of her.

She also noticed us admiring the flowers. She said they had all bloomed over the past week because last weekend they weren’t there. I was happy to see we chose the right weekend to come. All the colors were so cheerful.

We then headed off and found Mom and Dad and Amanda. We set forth into the park then.

Of course a little Miss someone had to use the restroom so we looked for one immediately.

We were also getting hungry already. I am one who needs to eat more in the morning or I start getting headaches …and some might say not very pleasant as well. My Mom swears I am hypoglycemic, and she might be right.

We saw many snack places, but we thought we would find a real meal instead.

After our bathroom break we headed further into the park to see what we may find.

I immediately spotted the Clydesdales.

I have always loved the Clydesdales. Back when we used to have a Sea World in Ohio, that was a highlight to see there and though they really don’t do anything special, it’s neat to see them.

Claire was only interested in the stuffed Clydesdales, and I told her she could get one with her money, but not till we were ready to leave.

We headed further into the park.

Busch is known for its rollercoasters.

Sadly about 10-15 years ago, my brain and body had a secret meeting. They discussed it and decided it was in my best interest to no longer ride big rollercoasters. They now work together to remind me of that fact. Or perhaps it’s old age? Or common sense? Anyways, I now seem to have major issues with heights, something that didn’t bother me for years. And after riding a coaster, but my body lets me know about it for days, sometimes weeks after. Sometimes a Dr. visit is even involved.

So you will see lots of pictures of coasters, but you will not get any reviews of them from this family. I was the bravest of them all, so if I’m not riding, no one else is riding.

From where we were standing, there were like 2 or 3 maybe even 4 rollercoasters intertwining and I really couldn’t tell you what was what. We just watched for a while in awe…but none of us had the single urge to ride one.

We decided to head over to the boat dock and take the little boat ride. Yes, that’s how we start our wild time at Busch Gardens.

We just missed a boat, so we had to wait for it to come back. This was not my idea of fun, but I was out-voted. Amanda went off to sit in the shade till the boat came back.

The boat names made me think of Disney.

As you can see, this park is not flat at all. Be prepared for a day of hiking here.

We finally got on and I took pictures from the boat.

After we passed the bridge you could get up and walk around. Claire did, but I just sat. She kept trying to get me to walk around, but the boat wasn’t THAT big and I was find just where I was. LOL

We floated out to where this rollercoaster was and then turned around.

That’s it? Not much of a boat ride. Now yes it’s relaxing and a little get away from the park, but there is really nothing interesting to see except the woods and the few coasters we passed.

Someone spotted a family of turtles near the shore. That was the highlight of the ride.

Soon our ride came to an end and we headed off to find lunch once again. I was now getting on the edge.

I find it kind of funny no one wanted to ride the coasters!

Are you more into the shows? Did you ride DarKastle?

Looks like you had a fun time!

I find it kind of funny no one wanted to ride the coasters!

Well we go to Cedar Point and don't ride much any more these days either. It's just not our thing anymore. In my younger days I loved them. But I just can't do them now.

Looks like you had a fun time!

We did have a nice time. It's not like disney though, thats for sure.

Are you more into the shows? Did you ride DarKastle?

I do like shows, but I prefer family type rides. Which they really didn't have. We basically rode next to nothing. It was a pretty park, but not one I will hurry back to because it didn't have enough for us to do.

We moved on and you would not believe how steep the hill was that we had to climb. Golly Gee! It was hard work and we were all huffing and puffing after that climb.

Of course Claire was in the best shape and young with energy, so she made it to the top first.

We had heard from some Team Members that many scooters cannot make it up that hill, they run out of power, or just don’t have enough to get up it. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture.

We came to the Land of Dragons.

And I don’t think we even ever walked further back to see what was there? I did coax Claire into getting a picture, but she would only do it with my Mom. I took about 3 and all were over exposed, so this is the best one I could get darkened.

We kept moving as we were hungry and in search of food. Amanda said to head towards the Germany area as there were places there.

No food in sight, but my family can’t resist going into a shop.

Claire found a necklace she liked and purchased that with some of her money.

Again we went in search of food.

I finally grabbed the map and found Amanda was leading us in the wrong direction, so we turned around.

We kept moving in what appeared to be the right direction for food.

Don’t you just love all the flowers?

Here we go…..this is where we should’ve headed to from the start.

I started towards the Festhaus and Amanda told me that wasn’t it. It was a show…oh really? So we kept walking and I looked at the map and said, no it has food and I am going there. There was a bit of a debate and we argued about it even till the moment we walked in, but the map said food and it had a menu outside, so that is where I was going.

It became clear when we walked in that it was in fact a show….with tables around so you could eat and watch at the same time if you chose to.

The show was not on right now and we headed in to get some lunch. There were lots of different stations with different choices. Claire wanted pizza. I did not, but they didn’t have a kiddie pizza nor did they have kiddie prices. The food was VERY expensive.

We chose pizza, mozzarella sticks and a strawberry shortcake to share and we each got a drink. I would’ve gotten something different, but I knew Claire would not eat all of this and I didn’t want to waste money.

I think this meal was around $25 - $30 if my memory serves me right …and not worth it at all.

Claire and I found a table and sat down. We texted Amanda, but cell coverage was very spotty all over Williamsburg, so sometimes it took a while for the texts to go through.

I sent Claire to get them then and let them know where we were sitting.

Our seats looked like they would be a prime spot to see the show, but the downer to it was there was a mega fan blowing air from the ceiling. The napkins would blow away and it was darn right chilly. Of course by then it started filling up and it wouldn’t be easy to move all 5 of us.

On top of chilly seats, the pizza was cold, the mozzarella sticks were cold and the food just wasn’t very good. Mom got a delicious looking sandwich and she gave me some of it. It was wonderful! So much better than the crap I was trying to eat. I think I also ate some of Amanda’s sandwich, which was different than Moms and much better than the pizza as well. We did share the pizza and I think Dad had a bit of that.

On the plus side, the strawberry shortcake was fabulous. We all shared it and at times we had some fight forks going on.

We checked the show times and one was going to start in about 30 minutes, so Claire and I went off to the bathroom and then on a hunt for sunglasses for her. Ironically the ones we found kind of look like Minnie Mouse themed.

We walked around a bit and got warmed up and then headed back inside for the show.

We found the family and sat down and only had a few minutes to wait.

I took a ton of pictures of the show. It was sort of a snow white theme, but the names and story was a little different …….and extremely cheesy! The singing was also not anywhere near Disney talent. That kind of surprised me. This was a major theme park chain, and I would think they could get better talent.

They come out at first and sang about their town and then tell us it is famous for one story and then go into telling/acting the story.

This is the character that was “like” Snow White. Now this will sound awful, but she annoyed the heck out of me. First off I noticed her jeans/pants ….whatever they were. They were so tight they were riding up her rear. Couldn’t they afford to get her a bigger size? I am not one to talk, as I am large on the lower half, but so was this girl. I am not saying because you have a larger rear and thighs you can’t be the main character….but what I am saying is dress her appropriately! She looked awful. And sadly her singing was not that great. Sure she is 100 times better than me, but still not a fabulous singer to be the main character.

This was Goldie Locks and Rapunzel. (I think Red Riding Hood is in there somewhere too.) They were singing some modern songs. I think one was Material Girl. They were encouraging her to find the Prince so she would be basically rich. Yeah the message wasn’t on the lines of Disney either.

Pinocchio.

This segment did have some neat gymnastics.

And now I believe the villains came out…..I can’t remember exactly what they were doing.

Claire was loving this show. Amanda and I exchanged a few eye rolls at times but we also laughed at how mesmerized Claire was.

Finally the girl (I wish I could remember the character’s name) found the Prince and we were set up for a flashy fun celebration.

The Prince ended up being the narrator of the whole story.

They then played Dancing Queen and we were treated to several different acts.

The stage was set up in the middle of the room. There were tables on both halves and they really did a good job at going back and forth so those sitting on both sides could see and enjoy everything.

And it was over. Again, this was extremely cheesy!!!! But Claire loved it. And we shared in her excitement as she talked about her favorite scenes.

One more stop to the bathrooms before we headed back outside. Which of course a lot of people were doing, but they were pretty big and we got in and out of there fairly fast.

I think we lost Dad and had to go on a hunt for him for a few minutes though.

I'm not a "theme-park show" fan, but the best one at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is Celtic Fyre.

I'm not a "theme-park show" fan, but the best one at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is Celtic Fyre.

Hmmm I never saw that listed....or don't remember it anyways.

After lunch and the show we were now ready to tackle some more of the park.

As we walked out the German Maypole dancers were coming out, so we stopped to watch them.

I used to play the trombone when I was in school.

Aha……looking at this picture of the Festhaus, I think our show was called “Entwined”.

Going in close for the trombone shot.

Mom had mentioned going on the skyway things earlier and Claire was not going to let her forget it. They go in a triangle and take you to 3 different countries. They decided to separate now and go on it. Amanda and I wanted no part of that and we told them we would meet them in France where they would get off. They went to get on at the German station and would have to go to the England station first, and then go to the France one, so Amanda and I would have a little time to explore.

Bye Claire!

Amanda and I left the family and went for a leisurely walk looking at things.

We saw a spot with Eagles and we watched them for a bit.

We browsed some gift shops and I found a t-shirt that I just loved, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $35 for it and never got it. I regret not getting it now …even though I no longer even remember what it looked like. LOL

We came upon another shop that had these cute birdhouses out front. Amanda went inside and I stayed out to take pictures.

Amanda came back out to say they had a paint your own pottery inside and wondered if Claire would like that. She said they had something like that near her home and our niece Alexis loves it, but she wasn’t sure how this worked here. At the one near home, they have to fire it and then you pick it up at a later date. How could you do that here?

Well we went in to find that out. The price listed on the pieces included shipping to your home. I was amazed, as they were not badly priced at all. They said it can take a few weeks before it would arrive, especially now, since the park was not open every day, and they only did firing while the park was open. I knew this would be a hit for Claire, so we decided to ask her about it and see if this was something she would like to do.

We headed back out and roamed some more.

This made me think of Disney.

Amanda and I were thirsty so we bought the refillable mug type thing with lemonade slushies’. I knew Claire would enjoy this as well. We then took a seat in France near where the family would be getting off and waited.

It wasn’t too long and they showed up.

Amanda and I had read about an animal show while we were waiting and scoped the area out. We figured if we walked fast we could make it to the next show. So we all hurried that way. This is SOOOO unlike Busch in Tampa. It’s been awhile since I’ve been there, but I thought the shows were good. This was pretty lame actually in comparison and it was a small area and only standing. It was hard to see and we had people in front of us who were really good at moving as I took a picture. I would’ve had one of the best pictures EVER during this show ….except when I looked at it, I had the hat of the guy in front of me. UGH.

So anyways, one of the first animals to come out was a rat. And this is the only picture I could get without the head of the guy in front of us.

The fox was pretty cool.

I think this was an eagle.

We were on the end near the entrance/exit and they would have team members carry some of the animals around, but they never made it even close to where we were. It was frustrating.

I believe this guy was a vulture of some sort.

The best thing was the owl. He was beautiful.

And he flew RIGHT at us.

And this is where I missed the best shot EVER. He went right by us and he turned and looked right at us. I would’ve had his face in full frame while in flight, except the guy in front of me was “scared” and whipped back as I snapped and I got his stupid hat instead. I was NOT happy and voiced it to Claire. I think the guy was clueless about the whole thing though.

The wolves were brought out next.

Now there must be a lot of repeat visitors/ annual passholders that come to Busch because the lady kept saying “remember last year” constantly. Well I guess these wolves were pups last year.

He was supposed to be jumping over, but chose to go under.

And that was it for the show, so we headed out and found a bench to decide what to do next. I told Claire about the pottery painting and she wanted to do that. The rest were ready to call it a day. Yes, that right, we had hardly done ANYTHING at all and they were ready to leave. And that is one thing I hated about traveling with my parents as a kid. We always arrived late and left early. It drove me CRAZY and as soon as I was old enough to travel on my own, I have been burning the candle at both ends.

We had to exchange keys and they were taking the rental car and I was going to take Dad’s truck back, which did not delight me too much.

Claire and I headed on our way then.

A quick stop to watch the coasters.

And then we headed to the pottery shop and browsed around and Claire picked a jewelry box out. I debated getting something too, but in reality, I knew it would be a waste of money on something I probably wouldn’t use. In the end, it was a good thing as we had to do 3 coats of paint and Claire had me do the 2nd coat on everything as she worked on coats 1 then coat 3. And I then went over coat 3 and did any touch ups that were needed.

After we picked out our object, we talked to someone who explained it all to us and we picked out some paints. Now the paint color is not how it will look after it is fired and they did have the fired example for us to see when choosing.

We spent over an hour in here, but Claire had a fabulous time and it was wonderful mommy and daughter time as well.

We took a picture of our final product and left it to be fired.

I took this picture while we were paying.

Within a week of being home, I would say less than 2 weeks from the day we painted it, it arrived at our house and was packaged nicely and nothing was broken.

They've actually expanded that Wolf Haven show. It used to be a few wolves, and that was it.

The show on the previous page looks like a big production, especially for a theme park!

Can't tell you how many times I've been to BGW and I didn't know they had a cool pottery place! I like the purple glaze Claire chose for the bottom. You've been very spoiled by all things Disney so anything else will pale in comparison. BGW really is a pretty park but doesn't put in anywhere near the amount of details in things like Disney does. The frozen lemonade slushies are my favorite thing ever. Did you end up riding anything at all?