"Are there any public transportation options that are workable to get to Gettysburg/Hershey? and then up to Philadelphia?"

I think renting a car in DC and driving it to Gettysburg/Hershey and then to Philadelphia is the best option for this leg.

I think your original plan is pretty good. You will need a car for the Gettysburg/Hershey area.

~Liz

I've been to Gettysburg twice-years apart. 5-6 hours of good weather should be enough IMO. You could book 2 or 3 nights in a town in between Gettysburg and Hershey to avoid moving from hotel to hotel.
As far as public transportation you would want to go from Washington to Philadelphia on Amtrak and then take a Keystone Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Middletown. You would have to take a taxi from the Middletown station to the Harrisburg International Airport to rent a car. The airport is in Middletown (MDT) not far from Three Mile Island.
Consider making a stop in Baltimore to see the National Aquarium and Fort McHenry.
Another option would be to get off the Northeast Regional train at BWI station to rent your car there. You can get from BWI to Gettysburg in less than 2 hours.

Park Hyatt is a good choice for a hotel. Neighborhood, West End, is more residential than commercial but still has restaurants and local business (Trader Joe's, 24 hour pharmacy, etc). 10 minute walk to the Foggy Bottom Metro on the blue line which is good for transportation to the National Mall. Also close to an abbreviated bus system, the Circulator, which runs to Georgetown as well as other popular tourist sites.

Late August can and probably will be a very hot & humid time of year to visit. Not to be underestimated for your family if they have not been east before.

I agree with those who say rent a car for the Gettysburg/Hershey portion of the trip.

>>Finally, our neighbor says we should to DC and Williamsburg instead. Any thoughts. <<

There is something to be said for that. Williamsburg (along with Jamestown, Yorktown, Richmond, local plantation homes) provide a broader and more engaging view of American history than Gettysburg alone, especially for ages 9 and 12. Wmburg is also home to Busch Garden and two water parks (Great Wolf Lodge and Water Country).

I would not choose Williamsburg over Philadephia, though, which is what the OP's neighbor was suggesting, I think.

I am certain the lure of that chocolate factory is a strong one and Gettysburg is a great experience BUT IMO Hershey Park is not the greatest and yes that is subjective. I'd much rather do Busch or even Kennywood but I agree with the rental car idea.

I would agree with that. I'd split 10 days = 3 in Philadelpia, 4 in DC, and 3 in Williamsburg & environs.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! If we did Philadelphia/DC/Williamsburg would we need a car or could we take train?

You don't need a car IN Philadelphia or DC and you don't need a car to get around Colonial Williamsburg (I guess that is obvious) but in that area in general a car would be useful.

You could do Philadelphia and DC without a car, no problem. I think you would want a car in Williamsburg as not every place is co-located. It's easy to get around by car.You can take a train to Wmburg -- there are two leaving DC most days, morning and afternoon. Alternately you could drive to Wmburg from DC, some traffic issues but not too bad if you time it properly. 3 ish hours.

Where are you flying in and out of?

Philadelphia vs. Williamsburg? Philadelphia has some pretty neat stuff to see (and long lines to see it). Plus you can get a cheese steak. Not far from Philadelphia is Valley Forge, which makes a nice stop if you're driving toward Gettysburg.

The neat thing about Williamsburg is the employees all know history intimately. Ask anyone in costume about their life (How many dresses do you own? What toys do you play with? How much gunpowder to you need for each shot with your musket? How much do you earn in your job? How much does xxx cost?) and they will give you an answer appropriate to the time. It's a great way to make history come alive.

Mt Vernon, VA is another good visit for history - and not far from downtown DC (much closer than Williamsburg).

Thanks for the suggestions. Flight arrangements not yet made. Considering flying into DC and out of Philadelphia or vice versa. My son is a big base ball fan so it also depends if we can schedule Phillies/National games during the trip.

You can't fly into DC. Your area choices are BWI in MD and IAD or DCA in VA. DCA is closest to DC.

I think we were going to fly in or out of Dulles? Is that IAD?

Yes

IMO BWI is your best choice for flying into. Second best would be DCA (Reagan National). Each has access to rail or Metro without renting a car until you need it.
Camden Yards is within walking distance of the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

I will look into BWI and DCA. I have only flown into Dulles in the past. Also, forgot about the Orioles. I will check their schedule as well. Always heard great things about Camden Yards.

Thanks to all who responded.

The Rittenhouse is lovely with nice big rooms. You'll have to call directly if you want a room with two beds. It's across from Rittenhouse Square, a nice patch of green where everyone walks their dogs. It's also very close to restaurants and shopping. That being said, The Four Seasons has a great kids' program. I was there a couple of weeks ago and there were kids everywhere. It's also next door to the Academy of Natural Science and the Franklin Institute.

rdpesq, I would look further into the Hershey option. The last time I was there you couldn't do a factory tour. Instead, they had a cheesie ride with pictures telling the story of chocolate manufacturing. I agree with Dukey1 that the park is nothing special. They have some nice classic roller coasters but it is not a pretty park. It's all asphalt. You could ditch your time there and use it to spend the time in Williamsburg to go to Busch Gardens, a much nicer park IMHO. It would be hotter here but I think it would be better than a hot day without any shade.

Thanks Birdie . . . I will look into the Four Seasons. We are also leaning toward doing Williamsburg instead of Gettysburg. We are checking on the Kingsmill Resort. Does anyone have experience? Thanks.

I can tell you everything you need to know about Kingsmill, rdpesq. I think it would be a great place for your family.

Birdie, we are looking for 2-bedrooms at Kingsmill. Any suggestion relating to room location, etc. Also, it has been suggested that we spend 4-days in DC, 3 days in Philadelphia and 3-days in Williamsburg. Does that sound right? Thanks

There are 2 Northeast Regional trains that go to Williamsburg daily. The #67 leaves Washington at 7:30AM. The #95 leaves at 2:30PM. They each take about 3:45 to 4 hours to get to Williamsburg. You can drive it faster if you rent a car in Washington or BWI but this requires that you return the car where you rented it. Have you decided which airport you are flying to?
It would be easier to rent the car at BWI and fly out of there to go home.
I do agree that Williamsburg is a better choice when taking kids than Gettysburg and Hershey park.

It looks like we are going to fly into Philadelphia and out of BWI. I think we are going to try to catch a train from Philadelphia to DC and rent a car to head to Williamsburg. Does anyone know the cost of the train fare? Is it Amtrak? Sorry, very little train activity in Southern California.

You can depend on public transportation in Williamsburg if you stay at Kingsmill because there are shuttles to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and Water Country. However, you'll be limited to dining on property if you don't eat in CW or BG. (I can't remember if the last shuttle time allows you to stay to eat dinner in CW) and it would be difficult to see other attractions like Jamestown, Yorktown, or the Colonial Parkway.

I don't see why it would be difficult to pick up a rental car at one airport and leave it at another. I'm doing it in Arizona. If it were me I'd come into DC, drive down I-95 to Williamsburg and then up the Eastern Shore to Philadelphia or the other way around. You'd break up the cities for the kids, giving them something different in the middle, and you'd be able to see some countryside away from I-95.

If you can, I would request a room on the top floor in Kingsmill (the buildings are 3 stories and the only negatives I hear about are noise in rooms above.) The river view rooms are wonderful and worth the extra money IMO BUT I am fairly certain there will be construction this summer behind the resort building and that can affect the river view rooms. If you want a river view room, ask them about the construction and request a building away from it. The deluxe room buildings are in a nice location and some may have a river view even though they aren't right on the river. The buildings are spread out and you'll have to walk, drive or call for a cart to get to restaurants etc but none of the walks are bad. Location of rooms doesn't matter because if you're near a restaurant you're distant to another or the shuttle stop or the pool etc.

Yes, it's Amtrak.

Sorry, rdpesq, I missed your post. Your itinerary is fine if you don't mind doing the two cities back to back. It means you have shorter travel distances.

Yes, it is Amtrak. Your stations will be 30th St Station in Philadelphia and Union Station in DC. It's fairly easy to plan a trip on their web site. The closer you get to your date the more the price will go up. I think you can sign up for emails to alert you on specials. It seems to me that sometimes they run family specials. I don't know, though, how quickly summer trains fill up.

The fare to WBG on either Amtrak train is $33/adult from BWI or $29 from WAS. If you are a member of AAA you can get a 10% discount. Seniors over 62 get a 15% discount on advance purchase tickets. Once you have a reservation code you can pick up your tickets at a Quik-trak machine in a major station. amtrak.com
There are at least 6 Amtrak trains that arrive and depart from Los Angeles Union Station every day. The Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle only runs 3 times a week from LAX. There are several Amtrak buses that run from LAX to Bakersfield to connect with the San Joaquin trains.

Thanks for the great advice. We now have a tentative plan. Is there anything to be gained in terms of site seeing or stops if we rented a car and drove between Philadelphia and DC vs taking the train?

> Is there anything to be gained in terms of site seeing or stops if we rented a car and drove between Philadelphia and DC vs taking the train?

I almost always find the train far more enjoyable. You don't have to be alert, you don't need to worry about parking, you don't need to worry about the crazy one-way and other odd streets getting into or out of either city.... And the train stations in both cities are well-located.

Too, your time is limited enough that I'm not sure it would make much sense to try to stop anywhere en route.

Hope that helps!

We did a two-week trip to Pennsylvania, New York and DC last summer. Despite the storm and the heat wave, we would do it all over again. However, we had only one day at Hershey, most of which was spent in the water park and we didn't get there until too late. I would suggest two days at either beach or water park/amusement park, or at minimum, staying in a hotel right next to the water park the night before so that you have a really long day there.

I have not been to Williamsburg so cannot compare. I did hear Busch Garden is great. I heard not so good things about the Six Flags near DC so we skipped that.

Regarding the rest of your trip, remember that history is fun and your kids are at a great age for all of this. (No teenage angst yet.) But, it can be tiring. Hopefully at least one of your hotels will have a pool or kid-friendly things right there to decompress.

We did the monument tour at dusk and actually did it backward, heading to Jefferson first, and ending at Lincoln, up the mall, somehow it was really relaxing.

Consider renting bikes in one of your destinations.

Battlefields are fascinating if you get a great guide and we did at Manassas (Bull Run).

We didn't particularly enjoy driving in central DC. Still, I wouldn't think twice about driving between any of your destinations and I don't like to drive as much as my husband does.

Click my name and Epic East Coast Adventure under trip reports if you want details.

I'll bet your kids would love the train! I would recommend the train over driving between Phila. and DC even without kids, though.

~Liz

I agree with elberko, especially for your kids who don't take trains in your part of the world. Something different to mark the vacation.

There's so much to see at the different destinations you've mentioned. There is always more worth seeing off the beaten path, but the beaten path from Philadelphia to DC is Interstate 95 which is heavily trafficked both with travelers and commuters in the 3 cities you'll be dealing with.

Take the train.