Anonymous wrote:If you had a good time and would categorize your trip as "easy," please tell me about it. Other descriptors I'm looking for: "laid back," "fun," "enjoyable." I especially want to hear about elementary-kid-friendly trips. TIA!

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Williamsburg and stayed at one of the "resorts" around that area that offer a few amenities. Got the springtime pass for Colonial Williamsburg / Busch Gardens for ~$125 per person that allows unlimited visits to either place for a week. Bounced back and forth between attractions, swam in a pool, played mini golf. Very cheap and really low key. We could do as much or as little as we wanted and had a short trip home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Williamsburg and stayed at one of the "resorts" around that area that offer a few amenities. Got the springtime pass for Colonial Williamsburg / Busch Gardens for ~$125 per person that allows unlimited visits to either place for a week. Bounced back and forth between attractions, swam in a pool, played mini golf. Very cheap and really low key. We could do as much or as little as we wanted and had a short trip home.

We do almost the exact same thing at least once a year, sometimes for winter break and sometimes in the spring, and it’s just such an easy place to do as little or as much as you want. You can rent a timeshare condo through the hotel booking sites at a good rate and that gets you amenities like pools and miniature golf on site. As my kids get older, I keep expecting them to outgrow it, but if anything they find more to enjoy.

Can you and the other poster say more about what your family enjoys doing in Williamsburg? People keep suggesting it for an easy trip, but I don’t see the appeal yet. I don’t have fantastic memories of Colonial Williamsburg as a kid (as in, I didn’t love it), which is probably coloring my view.

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. 7-ish hour drive, zero traffic. We rented an air bnb for the week and split the days between mini golf, dinner shows, and hiking. It was very simple, nothing had to be planned more than a few hours in advance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

I see the loads of obese people those ships disgorge. It’s disgusting. Plan your own trips and make your own experiences. Cruising is the Applebee’s of travel, and a true race to the bottom (not to mention an environmental nightmare).

There are overweight people everywhere…including first class seats on planes and fancy hotels.

When I cruise, I see people running on the track and exercising in the gym. I see lots of fit families.

Go on a Virgin cruise and it’s all hardbodies and frou frou vegan health food.

Honestly, the one sweeping generalization that aptly describes cruisers is this: they are people who like to have fun and don’t judge others. There’s a real friendliness among cruisers.

You will not convince me that vacationing with thousands of other people, having the same experiences, and feeding from the same trough is anything other than the epitome of low class trash.

This is nuts. Cruises come at all sorts of price points and will all different levels of service, including some with truly fabulous restaurants. Is it really different to stay at the Ritz and eat at the hotel restaurant just because it's on land? There are cruises at the same price point and with the same level of service.

Vacationing most places is done with thousands of people who all end up doing the same things and eating at restaurants near their vacation destination. Welcome to the travel industry.

Not if you go to off the beaten path places. And have you ever been to a destination on both cruise ship and non cruise ship days? It is a world of difference. Peaceful bucolic places are literally hell on earth for the hours the ships are in port. If you are on one of the ships, that’s all you ever get to experience, at any price point. Cruisers are lame losers who deceive themselves that they are traveling and visiting places when in fact they only get the absolute worst version. It’s shameful.

This is the truth. Same as the people who keep going back to Disney pretending they’re travelers when really they just consume prepackaged American garbage on repeat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

I see the loads of obese people those ships disgorge. It’s disgusting. Plan your own trips and make your own experiences. Cruising is the Applebee’s of travel, and a true race to the bottom (not to mention an environmental nightmare).

There are overweight people everywhere…including first class seats on planes and fancy hotels.

When I cruise, I see people running on the track and exercising in the gym. I see lots of fit families.

Go on a Virgin cruise and it’s all hardbodies and frou frou vegan health food.

Honestly, the one sweeping generalization that aptly describes cruisers is this: they are people who like to have fun and don’t judge others. There’s a real friendliness among cruisers.

You will not convince me that vacationing with thousands of other people, having the same experiences, and feeding from the same trough is anything other than the epitome of low class trash.

This is nuts. Cruises come at all sorts of price points and will all different levels of service, including some with truly fabulous restaurants. Is it really different to stay at the Ritz and eat at the hotel restaurant just because it's on land? There are cruises at the same price point and with the same level of service.

Vacationing most places is done with thousands of people who all end up doing the same things and eating at restaurants near their vacation destination. Welcome to the travel industry.

Not if you go to off the beaten path places. And have you ever been to a destination on both cruise ship and non cruise ship days? It is a world of difference. Peaceful bucolic places are literally hell on earth for the hours the ships are in port. If you are on one of the ships, that’s all you ever get to experience, at any price point. Cruisers are lame losers who deceive themselves that they are traveling and visiting places when in fact they only get the absolute worst version. It’s shameful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Williamsburg and stayed at one of the "resorts" around that area that offer a few amenities. Got the springtime pass for Colonial Williamsburg / Busch Gardens for ~$125 per person that allows unlimited visits to either place for a week. Bounced back and forth between attractions, swam in a pool, played mini golf. Very cheap and really low key. We could do as much or as little as we wanted and had a short trip home.

We do almost the exact same thing at least once a year, sometimes for winter break and sometimes in the spring, and it’s just such an easy place to do as little or as much as you want. You can rent a timeshare condo through the hotel booking sites at a good rate and that gets you amenities like pools and miniature golf on site. As my kids get older, I keep expecting them to outgrow it, but if anything they find more to enjoy.

Can you and the other poster say more about what your family enjoys doing in Williamsburg? People keep suggesting it for an easy trip, but I don’t see the appeal yet. I don’t have fantastic memories of Colonial Williamsburg as a kid (as in, I didn’t love it), which is probably coloring my view.

Like the other PP, we stayed at one of those timeshare resort condos that we booked for cheap on Airbnb. The resort had a pool, arcade room, mini golf, and planned activities (e.g. the kids went off and did tie dye while we were in the bar). We did two partial days at Colonial Williamsburg. We just did a little each day and then spent the rest of the day visiting shops in Williamsburg or hanging at the resort. We did two days at Busch Gardens and stayed 5-6 hours each day. Went on a ghost tour one night.

Maybe my kids are easily impressed, but it’s what they want to do for every vacation (they’re 7 & 9). Makes me wonder why we spend so much to go to fancy places instead of an easy local spot.

I'm the other Williamsburg poster and we do these things as well. My kids especially love Busch Gardens, it's their favorite theme park because they are thrill ride kids and it delivers there big time for them (even as littler kids they were able to ride a lot, not just the "baby" rides). When we go later in spring or the summer we also do Water Country USA, which they love even more. We've reached the age where I can just float around the lazy river or find a lounge chair and they can stick together and do the whole place on their own (as long as they check in at designated intervals).

We usually spend one day going to places a little further away like the Virginia Living Museum or doing a sailing trip in Yorktown. When they were younger they liked Jamestown but now that feels boring to therm. They still love Colonial Williamsburg and we usually do one paid activity, like a carriage ride, even though we otherwise stick to the free experiences. And we graduated from the tame ghost tour to the more epic one, which I swear scared my husband more than the kids last time we went.

For us it's also about the things that have become tradition. We are on an endless quest to find the best pancake house and we've yet to run out of new contenders. We measure the kids by a specific fence in Colonial Williamsburg once a year and those goofy photos are some of my favorites. And we have been keeping track of who wins mini golf every time we play to see who the supreme champion is. That's the beauty of an easy and affordable trip, you can go often enough to create these kinds of things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Williamsburg and stayed at one of the "resorts" around that area that offer a few amenities. Got the springtime pass for Colonial Williamsburg / Busch Gardens for ~$125 per person that allows unlimited visits to either place for a week. Bounced back and forth between attractions, swam in a pool, played mini golf. Very cheap and really low key. We could do as much or as little as we wanted and had a short trip home.

We do almost the exact same thing at least once a year, sometimes for winter break and sometimes in the spring, and it’s just such an easy place to do as little or as much as you want. You can rent a timeshare condo through the hotel booking sites at a good rate and that gets you amenities like pools and miniature golf on site. As my kids get older, I keep expecting them to outgrow it, but if anything they find more to enjoy.

Can you and the other poster say more about what your family enjoys doing in Williamsburg? People keep suggesting it for an easy trip, but I don’t see the appeal yet. I don’t have fantastic memories of Colonial Williamsburg as a kid (as in, I didn’t love it), which is probably coloring my view.

Like the other PP, we stayed at one of those timeshare resort condos that we booked for cheap on Airbnb. The resort had a pool, arcade room, mini golf, and planned activities (e.g. the kids went off and did tie dye while we were in the bar). We did two partial days at Colonial Williamsburg. We just did a little each day and then spent the rest of the day visiting shops in Williamsburg or hanging at the resort. We did two days at Busch Gardens and stayed 5-6 hours each day. Went on a ghost tour one night.

Maybe my kids are easily impressed, but it’s what they want to do for every vacation (they’re 7 & 9). Makes me wonder why we spend so much to go to fancy places instead of an easy local spot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drove to Williamsburg and stayed at one of the "resorts" around that area that offer a few amenities. Got the springtime pass for Colonial Williamsburg / Busch Gardens for ~$125 per person that allows unlimited visits to either place for a week. Bounced back and forth between attractions, swam in a pool, played mini golf. Very cheap and really low key. We could do as much or as little as we wanted and had a short trip home.

We do almost the exact same thing at least once a year, sometimes for winter break and sometimes in the spring, and it’s just such an easy place to do as little or as much as you want. You can rent a timeshare condo through the hotel booking sites at a good rate and that gets you amenities like pools and miniature golf on site. As my kids get older, I keep expecting them to outgrow it, but if anything they find more to enjoy.

Can you and the other poster say more about what your family enjoys doing in Williamsburg? People keep suggesting it for an easy trip, but I don’t see the appeal yet. I don’t have fantastic memories of Colonial Williamsburg as a kid (as in, I didn’t love it), which is probably coloring my view.