Side Trip to Williamsburg

This restaurant is located near Busch Gardens and our hotel (Best Western). The prices were very reasonable and the food was really good. We ate at Mr. Liu's for a quick lunch. Our lunch consisted of rice, chicken, and mixed vegetables. The food was very tasty and the service was excellent.

This park is so beautiful and well-maintained. Some areas of the park look like a postcard, especially where the river runs through the park. There are so many rides at this park that you can never get bored. This park has won several awards for being one of the most beautiful amusement parks in the U.S. Not only is it well maintained but it should have won a park design award too. The rides are built around trees and streams which adds to the ride's ambiance. This park is not so noisy because the rides are built far away from each other and the trees and bushes seem to muffle the noise. I think you get your money's worth at this park. I would recommend purchasing a bounce pass that lets you bounce between two parks (Busch Gardens and Water Country USA) in 2 days.

This is a heavily wooded, well maintained water park. It is not as large as some of the water parks in Orlando and Tampa but it has many good rides and the weather is very mild. The wave pool was quite small compared to Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World but it was pleasant. The lines were not very long which made it even better because you could ride so many rides in a short amount of time. Since the weather is very mild you don't have to run from ride to ride because the cement is too hot. I would recommend this water park to anyone that wants to take their family on a side trip after Washington D.C.

We first went to the visitor center to pick up our tickets which cost $45 (adults) and $23 (youth). The next day we began our tour of the park starting off on North England Street and walking toward the main street called Duke of Gloucester Street which is lined with the main shops and buildings of Colonial Williamsburg. I really enjoyed looking at the colonial house and tobacco fields which were at the beginning of the tour. Some of the more memorable tours were of the Guardhouse and Magazine, the Printing Shop, the Wigmaker Shop, The Blacksmith Shop, the Shoemaker Shop, and especially the stockade. The most memorable tour was at the Governor's Palace which was very interesting, especially the tour of the kitchen. I really liked the park and most of the employees were very talkative, however; the park seems to be a bit tired since some of the employees at the different shops hardly said anything. There were no live performances which was kind of disappointing also.

This hotel was exactly what we expected, and we got what we paid for. Our room was nothing fancy, two double beds with a small TV and a small bathroom (the beds are very soft and uncomfortable). The front desk girls were very helpful and friendly. The first room that we got had a broken hinge on the front door lock so we switched to another room on the second floor. There is a nice pool at the back of the hotel but we didn't use it at all since we were out most of the time. We ate a continental breakfast which was set up in a room near the front desk (included in our room rate) which was alright. The price was very affordable and the hotel is centrally located near Colonial Williamsburg and downtown restaurants. I would recommend this hotel to budget-minded travelers but I wouldn't recommend this hotel to families that like to stay at higher-end chain hotels like the Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott, and Holiday Inn Suites.