At Wyndham Kingsgate now

...sitting by the pool.

Our last timeshare trip was to Vermont, at the Crafts Inn, in June. Wow! What a difference!!

This is an exchange, and our first time here. I like it so far, but I'd never buy here. It's a place that's most likely busiest in the summer, I can't see there being as much to do in the winter. And the summers must be absolutely PACKED!!

We got here yesterday-Friday-and checking in was like an assembly line. First go here, then there, then finally there. Not crowded, luckily, but clearly there can be huge lines. They are prepared for them, though.

It's just me and my daughter on this trip. We have a one-bedroom, with a mini-kitchen. It's fine.

Last night, after getting groceries, we went to the pool. I HATE having to wear this stupid bracelet that lets you in, but what else can I do? Anyway, I like that they have an "adults only" pool. My soon-to-be-17-years-old followed me right in! I don't mind-the regular pool was a mad house! Ah, peace and serenity at the adult pool!

They have a pool bar, with adult beverages and food. I had planned ahead and brought a plastic glass with my own homemade wine!

We bought Bounce tickets, so I'm going to waken my daughter soon, and we're off to Busch Gardens!

May I suggest a place for dinning & great food, good prices; try Food for Thought Restaurant on Richmond Road.

Every major chain restaurant is on Richmond Road, you are about 2 miles from Food for Thought (it is on the right side of the highway from the resort).

Enjoy your week, Williamsburg can be very humid this time of the year.

Thanks, we might try it!

Yes, it's HOT!! We spent the morning at Busch Gardens, heading back to the condo pool and refreshing drinks.

Today-Sunday-we went to Colonial Williamsburg for a while this morning. Toured the Governor's Palace, and walked around the streets for a few hours. Then back to the unit and swimming, then Busch Gardens again!

The pool is best when it is just opened, at 8. I am a morning person, so I'm there at 8. Even the game rooms are empty then, so I play on a few of them too. It's very nice having practically the entire pool to myself! The water temperature is just right.

Wow, does it get hot in Williamsburg in August!! I made sure to bring plenty of drinks, and we are making ice cubes several times a day. There's a pool bar, but prices run $5-$7 each! We like having a blender, and I made myself whiskey sours, and my daughter virgin pina coladas. They are great to whip up before heading over to the pool. My daughter also likes making frozen coffee slushie drinks: freeze leftover coffee in the ice cube trays, put some in a blender with flavored creamer, blend. Yum!

We stayed at the pool from about 2 till 5-it's just too hot to be anywhere else then!

We went back to Busch Gardens and stayed for the summer nightly fireworks. Very nice. The park reminds me so much of Disney World.

We're heading to Water Country USA tomorrow. We haven't been there yet, and I'm hoping that because it's a work day, there may not be as many locals.

Have fun. !! Sounds like you've got it under control!! shaggy

It's Monday, and we just got back from Water Country USA. I really like this park! Despite the signs saying "no outside foods or beverages", we were able to bring in sandwiches, fruit and drinks. They have a bag check, and I steeled myself to have to trudge back to the car to store our lunch, but they didn't care. And I saw others with what was clearly brought-in food! Good to know. Save money and bring your own food.

The weather forecast was calling for 50% showers. It actually worked out perfectly: we rode just about every major attraction, it started storming, so we left. We were exhausted already! Water parks all have a feature I hate: many many stairs!

Now sitting by the condo pool with my companion: a whiskey sour.

The best time to go to Busch Garden is between 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM (Tues-Thurs). You can ride the most of the rides back to back with no long lines.

The children section will be almost empty.

Enjoy your week. This week is less humid than last week.

Luvstotravel said:

...sitting by the pool.

Our last timeshare trip was to Vermont, at the Crafts Inn, in June. Wow! What a difference!!
T

Click to expand...

So, which was a BETTER timeshare---how was Crafts Inn?

Pat

#1 Cowboys Fan said:

So, which was a BETTER timeshare---how was Crafts Inn?

Pat

Click to expand...

I just can't say-it depends on what you want to get out of your vacation.

Aside from skiing: do you want to relax? Sit on a porch swing with a glass of wine and read a book? Walk to a non-chain restaurant? Take things slow? Go to the Crafts Inn.

Do you like roller coasters and water parks? Lots of pre-arranged activities on-site? Want to see history re-enacted? Want to be on the go all the time? Go to Williamsburg.

Honestly, I think Williamsburg is better for families with kids. Even my daughter, who likes to think she's a sophisticated traveler, enjoys going on water slides and coasters more than strolling around a farmer's market. So much for kids to do here, and not as much for adults without kids.

For myself, I enjoyed the Crafts Inn for its slow, calm and very personal service. Here in Kingsgate, I feel like I'm just one of the hundreds of people on-site, here today and gone next week. At the Crafts Inn, I felt more like a welcome and appreciated guest.

And I'm not a fan of chain restaurants-I like unique places!! Is there a chain that's NOT represented here in Williamsburg?

Ok, my daughter and I have concluded: We have a poltergeist in our unit.

It started on our first night. At about 4 am, she heard a crashing noise. She got up and looked around to see what it could have been. She opened the cabinet above the microwave, and there was shattered glass everywhere. We're not sure what it was, but it smashed into smithereens! There's already glass baking dishes and glass serving bowls, so we don't know what it was.

We called maintenance, and they cleaned it up for us. But what caused whatever it was to spontaneously implode at 4 am, inside a cabinet?

Next, each day, when we leave, we shut off the lights. The light on the microwave is on each time we return! Now, up till today, we haven't really been aware, and we've allowed for us to forget that we shut it off. But this afternoon, we were careful to note that it was OFF. And when we got back this evening, IT WAS ON!!

Conclusion: a poltergeist is haunting the microwave.

Aside from that, our strategy has been working very well. Our strategy is, go to Colonial Williamsburg, or Water Country, or Busch Gardens. Leave around 1 pm, go back to the condo, shut off the microwave light AGAIN, swim in the condo pool, and at 4 or so, get ready to leave for CW, or WC, or BG for the evening. Leave, being sure to shut off the microwave light, and enjoy the evening out.

Come back and shut off the light again.

Luvstotravel said:

Ok, my daughter and I have concluded: We have a poltergeist in our unit. . . . She opened the cabinet above the microwave, and there was shattered glass everywhere. . . . The light on the microwave is on each time we return!

Click to expand...

I know very little about electric wires but since the glass shattered in a cabinet above the microwave and there is a problem with the light not shutting off in the microwave, I wonder if those two things are connected somehow. Could a short in the wiring cause the glass to break if it was right on the wire? Could a short in the wiring cause the situation with the light? Just a thought . . .

Karen G said:

I know very little about electric wires but since the glass shattered in a cabinet above the microwave and there is a problem with the light not shutting off in the microwave, I wonder if those two things are connected somehow. Could a short in the wiring cause the glass to break if it was right on the wire? Could a short in the wiring cause the situation with the light? Just a thought . . .

Click to expand...

Hey, we're on vacation, and that sounds a little bit too much like science to me.

Luvstotravel said:

Hey, we're on vacation, and that sounds a little bit too much like science to me.

Click to expand...

Not trying to spoil your vacation, but it might be worth mentioning to the maintenance people in case it could cause a fire.

The Atmosphere at Kingsgate is great for young kids, my daughter loved the pool, the build-a-bear, the game room & the minigolf, its VERY upbeat and active..And for me, a single father....Compared to drinks at Long Island and NYC Bars...the prices at the poolside bar were perfect...

Unfortunately, i don't get to stay there that often, the last 2 years i stayed at Governors Green and the 2 before then at Patriots place...Which are nowhere near as active...But Governors Green has Really nice rooms

Karen G said:

Not trying to spoil your vacation, but it might be worth mentioning to the maintenance people in case it could cause a fire.

Click to expand...

In all seriousness, after 4 days here, we only just tonight are POSITIVE we left the light OFF, so we will call in the morning.

Still, it's odd that the light only turns itself ON, not that it turns off, on its own. And, that it only does it when we have left-never while we are in the unit.

Ridewithme38 said:

The Atmosphere at Kingsgate is great for young kids, my daughter loved the pool, the build-a-bear, the game room & the minigolf, its VERY upbeat and active..And for me, a single father....Compared to drinks at Long Island and NYC Bars...the prices at the poolside bar were perfect...

Unfortunately, i don't get to stay there that often, the last 2 years i stayed at Governors Green and the 2 before then at Patriots place...Which are nowhere near as active...But Governors Green has Really nice rooms

Click to expand...

Yup! Great for families especially. Less attractive for couples, and I would think even less for singles. Every adult has at least one child with them!

We've been giving the blender a workout daily, I make myself whiskey sours, the daughter virgin piña coladas. We both like frozen coffees too.

Thank goodness the blender isn't haunted.

Luvstotravel said:

It's Monday, and we just got back from Water Country USA. I really like this park! ....Now sitting by the condo pool with my companion: a whiskey sour.

Click to expand...

In our very first exchange we stayed in Williamsburg at the Marriott Manor Club during July 4th and absolutely had a great time at Busch Gardens and especially Water Country USA. We've been to a number of the so called best water parks in the country and we thought Water Country was the best of them all. It had so many nice rides and slides to choose from.

As for the whiskey sour, I'm not a huge drinker in my home life, maybe 1-2 days a week I have 2-3 drinks socially but do like to have a few cold ones almost every day on vacation and I love to be my own bartender.

If its a driving trip where I can stock up I'll bring a 12 pack of beer, a bottle of champagne and various liquors for frozen drinks.

You can save so much money by doing this because as mentioned drinks at the pool bar and the like are so expensive so if you make most of them yourself you can save $100s per vacation by being your own bartender. And most of the time I make a better tasting drink than the staff bartenders as well.

Luvstotravel said:

Yup! Great for families especially. Less attractive for couples, and I would think even less for singles. Every adult has at least one child with them!

We've been giving the blender a workout daily, I make myself whiskey sours, the daughter virgin piña coladas. We both like frozen coffees too.

Thank goodness the blender isn't haunted.

Click to expand...

Hi, I'm going to stay there 2 nights with family by the end of the month. Any recommendations or suggestions?

KNM said:

Hi, I'm going to stay there 2 nights with family by the end of the month. Any recommendations or suggestions?

Click to expand...

Recommendations for drinks? I like my whiskey sours, and the iced coffees.

As our week is ending, we have hit on a great routine: leave around 10 am or so for Colonial Williamsburg. Watch some street scenes. Head back to the condo around noon. Hang out by the pool till 3 or so. Head back to CW, then go to Water Country or Busch Gardens.

Coincidentally, twice we have run into people at CW in the afternoon, that we'd seen in the morning and chatted with. Each couple said they'd spent the whole day at CW- and were totally exhausted by 5! We, on the other hand, had spent the hottest part of the day at the pool, so we're totally refreshed.

Is the "ghost" still visiting?

Just think, you guys have had your own private Williamsburg ghost tour.

Yup.

Made a point to look back and check that the light was OFF. It was on when we came in.

Not only that, but there's 2 light settings: push once for high, again for low, and a third time for off. It was on the low setting when we came home, so it turned itself on, then turned itself down to low.