Recommendation on TS Trade in the DC/Virginia Area

My family is considering a visit to the DC/Virginia area to do the whole Whitehouse thing and to visit the local sites.

Any recommendations on which TS to try to get a trade from that is convienent to visiting the area?

Also, best time of year?

I tried that for christmas a couple years ago and had little luck getting anything close to DC. I know there is a timeshare property in Alexandria VA which would be very convenient for the "whitehouse" thing but I hear it's difficult to trade into. There is one in chancellorsville which is really the Fredericksburg area. It takes a little over an hour to drive in but there's also a train station in Fredericksburg if you wanted to avoid that. We ended up renting a hotel room and staying with family while we were visiting DC then spending a week at a timeshare in Williamsburg.
Maybe someone with more experience "timesharing the area" will be able to help.

I was all set to suggest trading for a place in Ocean City and just commute into DC. Then I looked at mapquest which changed my mind. I thought OC was closer to Baltimore. (On my paper map they look side-by-side!) So maybe I should look at going to OC!

As for time of year, summers can be hot and humid. Pre-air conditioning all the politicians took a summer recess somewhere else to escape the DC weather. DC is a good place to visit during the summer shoulders like May and September. Unless your kids are limited to summer then summer is the best time to visit.

As far as I'm concerned there are no conveniently located timeshares in II to use in the DC area. I've been hoping for years to see a closer resort join II. :annoyed:

There are plans underway to build a couple of timeshare across the Potomac River from Alexandria. Huge area being developed called Port America. Fairfield and Marriott I think are the two coming in with timeshares. Gaylord Entertainment (same company runs Opryland Hotel) is building a similar hotel there also. Couple of years out though.

In Alexandria there is the Fairfield. Out on I-81 there are a couple of ts. Shennadoah Crossing I think is the name of one. And down I-81 near Harrisonburg, Va is Massanutten.

If you want to tour the White House, I think you may need to wait a long time (unless you are friends with the current occupants). After 9/11, tours of the White House ceased and they probably won't start up again as long as the USA thinks that the White House could be a terrorist target.

The resorts at Massanutten aren't close to DC, but they do offer bus tours of Washington, D.C. The Fairfield's in Williamsburg (including one that is in II) also offer Washington, DC, bus tours on their activities schedule.

The bus trips may be a good option for a first trip because you don't have to worry about where to park, how to get from here to there without getting lost, etc. You can see many more sites via a bus trip than you can on your own, but you lose the flexibility of deciding which site to see for how long. One of the trips offered at Massanutten, though, is a bus ride to the Mall via Arlington cemetery. From there you can go to anything within walking distance or you can take a trolley to popular sites; the bus picks you up at the Smithsonian at the end of the day.

Another possibility would be a direct trade with a Fairfield owner for the resort at Alexandria, VA.

Cherry blossom season (early April?) is a popular time for visiting Washington, DC. The weather tends to be hot and humid in the summer. If your children are in school, spring break might be a good choice.

We traded into the Fairfield - Old Town Alexandria for February, 2006. It is in a great location, only about 1 1/2 off the Metro Station. It is an RCI trade and is hard to get. We got a one bedroom and took our two oldest grandchildren along. The weather wasn't to bad. If you want to go to the White House, contact our Senator or Representative, months ahead of time. Our Representative got us on the White House tour and our Senator got us on the Capitol tour. It was a great week.

As far as I know now the only way to visit the White House is through a request made to your Congressman. We did the visit 2 maybe 3 years ago and were not allowed to enter with anything...purses, backpacks, phones etc. had to be left in an area before entering....so don't take valuables. That may have changed as I know they are continually modifying security. We haven't toured the Capital since I was in high school and at that time you just walked in the front door. I am quite sure things are different now.

Massanutten would be much easier to trade into than the Alexandria Resort...there is also a resort in Basye, Va that is right off I81. If you stay there you can be to the Vienna Metro Station in 90 minutes. The Metro will take you anywhere you want to go inside the city and you won't have to fight traffic. Keep in mind that most all of the museums close by 6pm so you could easily make the drive several times in a week if you wanted to see everything.


Enjoy your visit!

Cindy

and if you're willing to ride with us boring old commuters, so can take a train from as west as Manassas and south as Fredericksburg. see http://www.vre.org for schedules.