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Colonial Williamsburg,, Tickets or no tickets??

carl2591

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Well after getting a reservation for florida, starting today, canceled and already had found and put a "last min" deal on hold and being able to use the exchange fee for the last min deal, we are heading to Colonial Williamsburg in mid oct for a week.

I see there is a ticket you can get and in reading some post on travelocity some say you do not need tickets for the most part..

We have not been to CW in some 10 yrs so not sure the correct answer of "tickets or no tickets"

have you been and did you get tickets for one day or the three day pass and was it worth it. ??
 

wackymother

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We get annual tickets. They're pretty reasonable and they allow you access to all the buildings, the museums, the buses, and most of the behind-the-scenes tours. We really like the behind-the-scenes tours.

If you don't get any tickets, you can walk around the colonial area, and I think you can watch the movies at the visitors center, but you have to pay to get into the museums, and you can't go into the buildings or attend the shows and presentations that are staged around the colonial area.

I don't know how carefully they check tags in October. In July and August, pretty much everybody gets on the buses and no one ever seems to check. I seem to remember that yes, they do check tags for buildings, shows, and presentations, and they definitely do for the tours and the museums.

There's a reasonable amount of stuff to do if you don't pay, but honestly I feel a little anxious if I haven't knocked in a little something to help support the place. Plus I feel like you don't get to really see Colonial Williamsburg and experience everything it has to offer if you don't get a ticket.
 

pedro47

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The best deal is The Annual Ticket $74.99 / one year / 365 days for adults
A Single Day Ticket is $54.99 for adults
Military Discount Ticket for three (3) consecutive days are $54.99 for adults
 
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Ricci

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Definitely get at least a 3 day pass. There are tons of things to do in Colonial Williamsburg and you will need a pass to participate.
 

Big Matt

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I would lay out your plan of attack and look at ticket combos. You should go to Jamestown for sure, and I'd suggest Busch Gardens also. You may be interested in a Ghost tour. As for CW, it's up to you. You can see a lot of things for free and can eat in any of the food establishments without a ticket.
 

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You need a ticket to really do Colonial Williamsburg, just walking up and down Duke Of Gloucester Street is cool but teaches you next to nothing about the Colonial City. I know a TUGger who is glad to go get a discounted ticket for you if they're around.
 

Ricci

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I'd like to reiterate....without a ticket you can't get into any of the colonial trades buildings, which is the most interesting part. You also can't visit the Capitol, Palace, Courthouse, or museums. I am a history buff and we go to CW twice a year for at least a few weeks. Don't miss the presentations by any of the Nation Builders.... they are fantastic.
We are also donors to the Foundation which gives us access to the George Tucker House where the Nation Builders give special programs and then come out of character.... it's fascinating. We will also be there for two weeks in mid October.... a great time to go. I don't quite understand people who don't buy tickets and just walk Duke of Gloucester Street.....that would be called sightseeing, but you learn next to nothing.
 

Big Matt

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Ricci, how many days do you dedicate to CW each time you come? I agree with you that getting a ticket is great if you want to do all of it and get immersed in the experience. To further what you said, everything isn't always happening when you want it to happen so you need to go back on multiple days/evenings. Thus the need to plan out your attack. To see everything at CW can take days or even a couple weeks.
 

pedro47

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We enjoy traveling to CW from Oct to Dec. Less tourists and less humidity.
 
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Ricci

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Big Matt......If we are there for two weeks, we usually spend about 10 days at CW. The rest of the days are for relaxing at the resort, going to Jamestown, Yorktown, taking the ferry to Smithfield, etc.
In order to plan your visit, get on history.org and click on the events calendar. From there you can download "Week at a Glance" which gives you a very easy format to see all the activities for your week. It is available online a few days prior.
 

Big Matt

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Ricci, that's what I figured you would say. You are really getting a lot out of it. You are probably an outlier though. As reference, I grew up in Williamsburg (I'm 55 now) and am in Williamsburg for about 20 days a year (usually one full week). My mom and sister are still living there. Sister manages the Danforth Pewter shop. Here are some of the things that I think are really cool about what it was like growing up and being able to go to CW any time I wanted to go.

My elementary school was Matthew Whaley which is just on the outside of the Palace Gardens. We would regularly have field trips and walk to CW. During recess we would climb the brick walls and look at folks at the palace. Back in the 60s and 70s the Colonial Houses weren't part of the CW hotel system. They allowed employees to live in them. One of my friends lived in a house right off of the Palace Green We knew the folks who did the ox cart rides and could just hop on. They named two of the oxen after my two friends (Pete and Jack). Pete's dad was in charge of all of the landscape architecture for CW. Another friend was the daughter of the Silversmith. Same with the head doorman at the Inn. His sons went to school with me. At least a dozen friends were in the Fife and Drum Corps. IMO the best trades to see (if they are still showing them all) are the paper maker and printer, the carpentry, the brick yard (if they are either firing the kiln or pulling the bricks out, and the kitchen at the Governor's Palace. Another cool thing used to be the ice house in the palace garden, but I think they closed that off.

........and it was totally free. I worry that they are burning through the endowment. I hope it survives.

With all of that said, the season pass is the way to go if you are going to be there more than a day, and if you want to experience it properly you need a week or so.
 

Ricci

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Big Matt, I am totally jealous of your childhood..... what great memories!!
They still have some employees living in the colonial houses. I always thought of staying in one of them but Marriott's Manor Club always got in the way. ;)
I really enjoy the silversmith, tinsmith, and wig maker. The apothecary is quite interesting if you catch the right interpreter manning the store. :) They don't have a paper maker anymore, but there is a bookbinder and printer.
And you are right about the Palace kitchen, especially on the days they make chocolate.
You can still climb the stairs to the ice house in the Palace Garden and look down into it, but not go in.
Last year they completely regrew the maze in the Palace Garden and hopefully visitors won't try to go through the hedges rather than go around them.

And I love the Danforth Pewter Shop.....I have many pieces from that store!

They are using funds from the endowment faster than they would like, hence the cutbacks in the employees and privatizing the stores, hotels, restaurants, and golf course.
They are doing better financially than a couple years ago but still have a way to go.

Prioritizing history classes in academia would go a long way to bringing back Colonial Williamsburg.....but I am not hopeful that will happen. It's heartbreaking that so few young people truly know how our nation was founded.
 

pedro47

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Thanks you Big Matt, your post explains your expert Knowledge of CW.
 

Big Matt

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I would like to see them do three things.
1) Return the Inn Restaurant to it's former Michelin status
2) Focus on archaeology and tell a story of life in Williamsburg before the restoration
3) Have a theater production
 

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I would like to see them do three things.
1) Return the Inn Restaurant to it's former Michelin status
2) Focus on archaeology and tell a story of life in Williamsburg before the restoration
3) Have a theater production

We used to go see the "evening of merry amusements" at the Kimball Theater every time we went. And we also saw Dean Shoshak on the glass armonica. AND we saw an AMAZING production of 1776 that they should do every year! But now it looks like they don't work with the Kimball Theatre. Did they break that relationship?
 

tonyg

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Before staying at Timeshares and owning them, we spent many 2-5 day trips to Williamsburg after buying the annual passes in the 90's. The best experience is with the pass as others have said. I think we went to CW about 10 times on that annual pass and have seen just about everything there once or more. On out last trip there in 2007 we stayed at King's Creek and had my side of the family join us. Got tickets for all 7 of us at a discount that included visits to CW, Busch Gardens, the water park near King's Creek. Do a search for deals like this if you are staying a week.
 

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Look at the offer I just got....

thanks for the link Big Matt. We have just finalised plans for Williamsburg in the spring and now I’ve signed up for the newsletter. Hopefully they will have other offers as we get into the new year.
 

carl2591

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a little up date on CW. they have several ticket packages for sale.. if you are over 50 you can get two tickets that are good for like 3 days from first usage. If you are/were? military you can two annual pass for less than all the other deals. I was ask if I was military and i said yes but did not have my DD214.. no problem what unit were you in.. I said 650 transportation company. that was all they needed, no check of anything.. you get a nice lanyard with case and 10% discounts around the area as well.

it allows you to enter a lot more of the building, like the Palace, and take the tour which was interesting. (it full of muskets, sabers, pistols and other weapon on the walls.) past the entrance up the stairway was 10 time more muskets on the walls from top to bottom. :)

did the witch and pirate trails which were very interesting. (for the witch trial we were seated in front of the "bar" in the jury area).. talk about up close and personal.. get there early to line up to get best seats.
 

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ml855

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Not sure if they'll offer it this year or not, but for several years in a row they had a "Cyber weekend sale/Colonial Williamsburg", We were able to purchase annual passes for BOGO free which begins once you check in at the visitor center to pick up your tickets. Purchasing tickets over Cyber weekend for our trip in August was the way to go for us, I believe it was about 6 years ago, so not sure if they still do this offer or not.
 
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