I would like to buy my family's tickets for Mount Vernon online, to try and save time before we leave for the trip. Alas, you have to buy tickets listing the exact time you will enter the line for the tour of the mansion. The times are listed in five minute intervals. Five minutes!!

We'll be traveling up from Williamsburg, which google tells me is just over a three hour drive. Now, I expect to have traffic, although we will be leaving in the middle of the week, so hopefully not *too* much traffic. But I've got two kids, ages 7 and 9, and there's just no way to predict our arrival at Mount Vernon within a five minute window.

Does anyone know how stringent these times are? If I bought tickets for 1pm, for instance, and we arrived at 12, would we have to wait an hour? Or if we missed the 1pm, slot, are we out of luck, or will they let us in?

If I play it by ear and buy the tickets upon arrival and not in advance for the whole entrance, I can't buy my specific National Treasure tour tickets - and that's a must-see event for our family, as the boys LOVE those films. (not to mention the risk of added wait times, something else I'm trying to minimize with the kids).

Any help is appreciated!

The tickets are to enter the mansion, not the property as a whole. There are other things to do on the property besides the house. Give yourself plenty of time to get there, enter the grounds, see other things, then the house.

Agree with vjpblovesitaly. Buy your tickets when you arrive and walk the grounds visiting the many other things to see until your time. I liked and still remember the slave quarters, Martha Washington talking about life at Mt Vernon, the tomb, ect.

Just get your timed tickets for a time you are sure you will be there-if you arrive way to early, there is plenty to see and you will want to allow 2-3 hours to see everything outside the house itself. It is a great place to just do nothing for a while-the views are so lovely.

The route is approximately 141 miles. If there are traffic problems they will probably occur on I-95 south of your turn-off for Mt. Vernon as there is also construction going on.

North of Fredericksburg is the worst section; if you avoid the morning rush hour which can last past 9:00 AM you should be OK altho express lanes will be open

In the afternoon anytime between 2 and 6 can be a problem when heading south but again express lanes will be open.

>>We'll be traveling up from Williamsburg, which google tells me is just over a three hour drive.