lakeside77

My wife and I are going for a 3-day trip to Williamsburg for New Year's. We have a very limited budget and were not planning to buy one of the all-day admission tickets. We had planned on going to a beach area, but my father-in-law is having surgery in Richmond on Jan. 2, so we changed plans to Williamsburg for convenience in traveling.

We are staying in a condo and plan to just relax and hang out, but we have never been to Colonial Williamsburg. While a 1-day pass is probably out of the question due to cost for this trip, are we still able to walk around the outside of the buildings and still experience a little of the atmosphere? Any suggestions for that?

We are also considering the "First Night Williamsburg" event for New Year's Eve - clean, family fun from what we've seen online. Any comments from anyone who has done this before?

I guess primarily wanting to know "cheap" suggestions for a CW visit. We want to go back when we can plan accordingly to have money to spend for tickets, but that's just not how it worked out this time.

Any suggestions you have would be appreciated. We're planning to see Dean Shostak's glass instrument show - I'm a music teacher, so we've heard it's a good show to attend.

Thanks!

lakeside77

Oh yeah - we're going with another couple...forgot to put that in the original post.

Birdie

First night is a lot of fun and worth the price. The difficulty is deciding which performances to see. Have you checked the website firstnightwilliamsburg.org? I have not seen them myself but have heard good things about Coyote Run and the Jae Sinnett trio.
Yes, you can walk around the town and go into the colonial shops. You can also get a museum pass to get into the excellent museums. This will give you a little more of the Williamsburg experience. Make sure that you will be able to see Dean Shostak without a pass. I don't know.

lakeside77

Thanks for the info. We have friends that saw Dean Shostak at Thanksgiving without a "city" pass. They just bought the regular performance ticket for $5 each.

We've printed out all the info from the First Night website. Everything looks like a lot of fun, but we've never done anything like it. Just wanted some other opinions, so we really appreciate your post!

persimmondeb

We went to Williamsburg for an overnight earlier this month without regular tickets and had a great time. By the way, Thanks, Birdie for the great suggestions. We did get museum passes, and thought them well worth the money (9$ for adults), but did not feel sorry that we had not bought the regular passes. By the way, things that do not require admission seem to have signs that say "visitors welcome", those that require admission seem to be tagged with "guests welcome". Presumably to look official, but not keep those in the know out. Anyway, yes you can have a good time without tickets, but we did spend all our money on food.

lakeside77

Great tips! At lease we fell like we can enjoy the area a little without having the money to spend during this visit.

Thanks!

lakeside77

Any other suggestions from anyone?

persimmondeb

I did write a trip report about our trip if you would like to read it-just click on my name and scroll down-but it was mostly about what we ate. It is fun just to walk around though.

Birdie

I would also try to attend at least one performance in the Sir Christopher Wren building. It is the oldest college building still in use. I have heard that Cavalier Consort is good. It would be an experience to hear colonial era instruments played in the old setting.
For fun and some interesting background google Wren Chapel and read some of the controversy surrounding it this year. Just don't mention it in Williamsburg. You might cause a fight.

lakeside77

Thanks for the extra info! Somehow, I had missed your trip report, persimmondeb, so that was a helpful tip.