Visitor's Centre and other Williamsburg, VA General Tips

Favorite Thing: The very first thing all visitors to Colonial Williamsburg see is the visitor's centre. This is where you buy your tickets to tour the historic area. In October, 2004, the ticket prices ranged from $29-69. The plan that gives you the most bang for the buck is the $45 Key To The City plan. This gives you access to the whole historic area including the Capitol and Governor's Palace. The only hitch is, it's good for two days and I do this in a day. It may seem like a waste, but the Capitol and Governor's Palace are well worth the extra money. There is also a theatre where they show you a short movie Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. There are numerous gift shops on each level of the visitor's centre. After you buy your ticket and see the movie, you go down the stairs to meet your shuttle bus which takes you in a circuit around the historic area back to the visitor's centre when you've had enough history for one day.

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Fondest Memory: Urszula is new to this colony and she didn't know to mind the company she kept. Back during the Revolutionary War, these guys were Tories (British loyalists) and they tried to keep us from gaining independence from England. To my friends in England, I'm only kidding, folks.

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Fondest Memory: The tour guides dress like it was 1776. This one pictured here, outside the Capitol building, even remembered me from previous visits. I had been 8 times before this and we're bound to have met at some point. Another one, the guide at the Governor's Palace, knew my cousin Hazel when she was a guide here years ago. Matt says the folks at Colonial Williamsburg ought to let me in free or offer me some kind of discount when I bring folks from out of town with me because I've done it so much. Since 1988, I've brought Pierre-Olivier Pelletier (France), Phil Costello (New York), Fernando Pensado Miguel (Spain), Javier Espejo Pinto (Spain), J.D. Sitton (Georgia, now New Jersey), Eric Rauschenberger (New Jersey), Mark Jones (North Carolina, now Pennsylvania), and Matt & Urszula Niwinski (Poland). Bobby and Katey Clark, y'all are next!

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Fondest Memory: For those of y'all who have seen acemj's Boston, MA page, this snap may seem familiar. Mark and I went to Colonial Williamsburg on Sunday, 13 October 2002. Like always, we bought our tickets at the Visitor's Centre, hopped aboard a shuttle bus, and went to the historic area. Different from the usual programme, we stopped first at the Governor's Palace. After the tour of the inside we tried the maze (we're not still lost), and we took snaps around the grounds. Next, we had our photos taken in pillory. We went to the usual must see of the Capitol which is patterned after the British House of Commons. Mark was especially interested in the College of William & Mary, so we took a brief tour there. On our way back down Duke of Gloucester Street, we went shopping at the College Shop and found various whatnots. Last, we took a great lunch at Shields Tavern (see the restaurant tip).

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Fondest Memory: In 1975, Busch Gardens opened its theme park near its Williamsburg brewery, which used to give tours. The nickname for Busch Gardens Williamsburg was (and is) The Old Country. There are various sections of the park that copy the architecture and style of certain European countries like England, France, and Germany. Since its opening, they have added Italy in 1980 and were working on Ireland when I was there last in May, 2000.

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Fondest Memory: The Glissade doesn't look like much of a roller coaster, but it sure enough was impressive to this 10-year old boy on a 31 July 1979 visit to Busch Gardens. When I came back in May, 2000, I didn't see it. I guess they had to make way for the Alpengeist.

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