BGW Trip Report About This Page:

[USMCWife]

Well ladies and gents, here goes my trip report. I know that it will not be as interesting and exciting as most of the others that are posted on this site, but I will try to relay the events of our vacation.

We take a trip every year for our anniversary and it is usually to Walt Disney World. My husband proposed there, we honeymooned there, and have been back every year since. This year we just did not have the time or the funds to make our annual Mouse House pilgrimage. We had also just visited in Dec and Jan so we did not feel too cheated. We chose to visit BGW because it was in driving distance and Williamsburg had a lot to offer 2 history buffs with no children (and roller coasters!)

Now that you have a little background, we can begin our journey back to 1774. We left Jacksonville, NC around 6:30 on Wednesday evening. It was raining pretty heavily so we were just going to take our time and enjoy spending some time together. Well as you may realize by my screen name, my husband is a Marine. He is in charge of about 60 other Marines and their well being. This is a neverending job for us. His cell phone rings about two hours into our trip, I answer it and it is one of Mike's Marines. Mike talks to the kid and all I hear is "uh-huh, are you ok? Where are you? Mile 142...we are at mile 122 we will be there shortly. Don't forget to call Sgt So and So. It's okay, don't worry about it." So I immediately realize that something has happened to one of his Marines. We finally get to mile marker 142 and there is Sgt G. and a state trooper. A tractor trailer had run G off the road and the wet grass caused his vehicle to roll down an embankment. The good Sgt walked away without a scratch. This is a shameless plug for the Nissan Pathfinder. It was totally demolished, the roof smashed in and it was on it's side and the guy walked away. Seems like a very safe vehicle to me.
We waited with G for the wrecker to come and pull his truck out of the ravine. This took two hours in the pouring down rain. Keep in mind we are driving a Jeep Wrangler that I know don't feel safe in at all. We pack Sgt. G and his stuff in our little jeep (the guy was taking his valuables home before his deployment) and head to the Richmond airport. We felt good knowing that Sgt. G was safe and that we could be of some service, but we were also exhausted at this point. As we are driving in to Williamsburg, we are curious as to the fascination with Pancakes and Waffles this town obviously has. We finally reach our hotel, Spring HIll Suites, at 2:00 am. We check in (thanks Dad for the free room with the Marriot Reward Points) and hit the hay planning to sleep a bit later than planned.

Will the couple make it to BGW before the big crowds hit? Do they solve the mystery of Pancakes and Waffles? Stay tuned!

Annissa ºoº

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Thanks for posting! Glad to hear Sgt G was okay. Will stay tuned for the Pancake/Waffle mystery. Plus we've been to Williamsburg before so this is a great way to relive our trip!

[rescuesk]

As a Pathfinder owner, I appreciate the shameless plug! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

I am looking forward to your TR...haven't been to Williamsburg in years, maybe it's time!

Sue

[AKLRULZ]

I'll have to catch the rest of this Sunday night - I can't wait! BGW is my home park!

[sammycat699]

We visited there 10 years ago. You're right they do have a lot of pancake and waffle houses. I didn't even think about it. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Can't wait for the rest of the report.

[RobbiD]

I think Williamsburg is our vacation next summer, so I can't wait for details! And I'm having flashbacks to our drive to WDW in June. When was your trip?

[ 07-19-2002, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: RobbiD ]

[Suzy Q'Disney]

We are going to BGW the 29th. I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Susan

[Jsbalcio1]

Glad to here everything was ok with Sgt. G. Can't wait to here the rest.

[USMCWife]

So it is now Thursday, 7/11/02. Mike and I do sleep in later than we had planned, but we still get up around 8:30. We get dressed and head to BGW. We missed breakfast at out hotel so we decided to get something at the park. We arrive just prior to opening and head to the gates. At BGW, they have regular parking for $7 and then "preferred parking" for $10. We chose the regular parking (we are cheap!) With the preferred parking you don't have to walk through the ticket booths selling tickets and you also miss a nice shady walk down the hill to the gates. We stand in line to get into the park and have our bag searched. The line was not too long but they have the attendants at the turnstiles checking bags. I think that Disney's idea of having security before the turnstiles works better.

So we walk in and are immediately accosted by those annoying park photographers!! When you first walk into BGW, you are in a small circular courtyard. There is not really much room for these people to be stopping everyone to take a photo. Again this could have been done outside the park gates and I think you would have gotten a better picture. We got a map, got some breakfast at the restaurant at the front of the park, and set down to plan out our attack. Now for some reason the food at BGW seemed more expensive to me than at WDW. I don't know if that is because we usually charge to the room or what? We spent $15 on a breakfast of fresh strawberries, water, milk, and a danish. So we then head back to the Loch Ness Monster. It was a good rollercoaster but it felt like they were slowing it down too much. We initially thought it was great until we rode the other coasters there! We stopped and petted the Clydesdales. We then trekked over to Alpingeist!! What a rollercoaster!!! It was an awesome ride. At this point we are basically walking right on to all of the coasters! We rode the train around the park to kind of see the layout since we had not been here before.

After Alpengeist, we headed over to the New France area. It has taken us about 1 1/2 hours to walk around, ride three rides and browse through several gift shops. We decide to eat at the Three Forks BBQ (I think that was the name) It was really good. We shared a sampler platter with ribs, bbq chicken, beef brisket and fries. We each got a drink and I got an ear of corn. We spent $18 on lunch and were both satisfied with out meal.

Well, we then head over to ride Apollo's Chariot. I was not feeling well at this point so we rode the river rapid ride first. We had to wait about 45 min for this ride and it was the longest line yet. It was a good ride and we got soaked, but I like Kali River Rapids better. We then get on the Chariot!! WOW!! This ride is so awesome. I was really nervous on the climb up the hill but once we started, I was having the time of my life!! This is the smoothest coaster I have ever been on!! Do not miss this coaster at BGW. We walked right on the ride with maybe a 10 min wait.

Well, I have to run some errands, I will finish this installment a bit later.

Annissa ºoº

[Love 2 Laugh]

As we are driving in to Williamsburg, we are curious as to the fascination with Pancakes and Waffles this town obviously has.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">ROTF [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
This is too true!
Love the trip report so far, Annissa. Keep up the good work!

[TINKN]

Can't wait for more! In your observation, was this a good park to take toddlers? I know you were 2 adults, but did you see anything that might be a clue to this?

[infinity&beyond]

Cool report so far! I'm headed to Williamsburg in November, do you know if the park is open then?

[USMCWife]

I am in a bit of a rush, but I wanted to answer your questions.

BGW closes in October just before Halloween. Colonial Williamsburg is open year round.

BGW is a great place to take toddlers! They have a great kids area and there are plenty of kids activities to do in each themed "land." There is one area that is specifically for kids with kiddy size rides and a great play area.

I will post more tomorrow. I just got in from class and we are headed to a movie. Have a good Friday.

Annissa ºoº

[USMCWife]

After we rode Apollo's Chariot, we headed through the rest of the 2 Italy sections browsing through the gift shops and check out the restaurants. I really love that BGW has many original artists from several different countries working on their art right there at the park. In San Marco, they had a Capodiamonte (sp?) artist painting the ceramic roses. In Germany, they had a Hummell artist painting Hummels. These artists were from the area they were representing so it was very authentic and a great chance to see how things are done.

It was beginning to get close to dinner time and the park was seeming more crowded than earlier in the day. We decided to head over to Colonial Williamsburg to find some dinner.

We got to the visitor's center and traded our vouchers for our passes. We were trying to make reservations for one of the Taverns for dinner but they were all booked for the evening. We decided to head out into town to see what we could find for dinner. We decided to try a local restaurant. In Williamsburg, there are a lot of Pancake Houses and a lot of steakhouses. We chose a nice little Italian restaurant, Milano's. The atmosphere was fantastic and the food was really good too. Our service was fantastic. The prices were very reasonable for the large portions you received. I would recommend you try Milano's Italian Restaurant.

Once we finished dinner, we were getting tired. We headed back to our room to get some rest for the next day.

The weather has been fantastic so far on this trip! We have been very lucky. The high was in the upper 70's and there was no rain except on our traveling days.

Tomorrow, we head to Colonial Williamsburg.

Annissa ºoº

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Thanks for the latest installment!

We chose a nice little Italian restaurant, Milano's. The atmosphere was fantastic and the food was really good too. Our service was fantastic. The prices were very reasonable for the large portions you received

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">We ate there too when we went to Williamsburg! We really liked it! Thanks for re-awakening our trip memories!