We will be there over New Year's as well. For those Williamsburg pros, what are the "not miss" things that we should try and do? We will be at the Manor Club.
We've stayed at Ford's Colony 2-3 times over the years and liked it, though this time we're at King's Creek b/c it was recommended as having a better pool.
Definitely go to Colonial Williamsburg - not just the buildings, but sign up for some of the special activities. We like the archeology lab tour, stables tour, ghosts, trial...lots of options, many at no extra cost beyond the pass. If it's open, you can go to one of the old classrooms in the College of William and Mary. All of these places are staffed by interpreters who are very well trained in representing the time period. The apothecary is cool - incredible original blue/white crockery for all the assorted herbs and drugs, and the pharmacist will tell you just what potions will help with what ails you (leeches, licorice, etc). Really all of the recreated shops are recommended - the printer, the bookbinder, the jail, shoe maker, blacksmith...we go every few years and still spend a good 3 days going back to the same places.
If it's still open - not sure if they closed it - but the insane asylum that is part of CW is particularly good. I know there was some construction in the area..... Same with the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum - as I recall it was being torn down and its contents moved to a new location, but I don't remember the details.
We get our passes at AAA at home at a discount. Start at the visitor center - there's a film and a lot of information.
Both Jamestown and Yorktowne have two sites - I think in each case one is maintained by the National Park Service, and the other is maintained by the state. Each of the four takes around a half day. I may have this wrong....but the state Jamestown one is particularly good, with a fort, indian village, and repicas of the Mayflower and other boats. You can get combo tickets, and they aren't very expensive.
If you like shopping, there are several outlet malls that are an easy 5 or so minute drive from Ford's colony. They have pretty much the same shops as all the other outlet malls I've been to. One unique place is "the pottery" - the Williamsburg Pottery Outlet - just another 5 minutes down the road from the outlet malls. Depending on how much of a shopper you are, this one place can easily take several hours or more. There are multiple buildings, lots of pottery, kitchen stuff, gourmet/ethnic food, outdoor statues/fountains......not at all like the outlet mall stores.
Last time we stayed at Ford's Colony over New Years there was a free New Year's Eve party either downstairs from the lobby building, or in the next building over. It was low key but fun and included some food, wine, and party hats/noise makers.
Ford's colony is in a wooded residential neighborhood with lovely walking paths. The indoor pool is ok, but the pool deck was grubby, and the hot tub got quite yucky by the end of the week, so I don't recommend them.
If you feel like a drive, there's a science museum in Virginia Beach I think - can't remember for sure if that's where it was, but it was good.
Our favorite restaurant in the area is the Chinese/Japanese/Mongolian Grill one in a shopping center near KMart - I think it's called Peking II, but I'm not sure. It is huge, and better than the Chinese buffets we've had at home - more variety and not as greasy.
