Historical real - Governors building and mayors congress buildings seeing stores Kitchens making colonial food. Muskets demo.

Worth the cost - I was a bit skeptical when I first booked the ticket because we've done living history museums before and normally they aren't even half the cost (we literally have 3 that are free with state park admissions within my state) but I was very wrong. We had the great misfortune of being there on a day with a heat wave so I'd say try to find a cooler month than July but literally two days after our trip it was 10 degrees cooler but despite the heat the actors and artisans were amazing (and I was surprised that several buildings had been retrofitted with A/C). What is offered varies day to day so check your map when you first get there to see what's open. We started our day at the governor's place which requires a guided tour so I would go either early or late to avoid having to wait. Our favorite stops of the day were the Weaver (literally he was the best, super funny, very engaging with our kids), the merchant (again very engaging with the kids)/games house and the blacksmiths. I personally also liked the courthouse (probably because you could sit and it had A/C) but I'll admit he was a little dry on an already dry topic for kids to keep their attention. We did find a casual lunch option at the back of Chowing's Tavern. They have a limited menu of burgers and such with shaded seating in the garden. A few tips. The store in the historic area had various goods made by the artisans for sell. I assumed that the same products would be for sale at the visitor's center and I didn't want to haul stuff around. Some of it was and some of it wasn't and it was too freaking hot to walk back later that afternoon. So if you see something maybe ask if it's available at the gift shop or make a plan to stop here last. We did a ghost tour (I'll review that separately) but if you are doing that I'd suggest getting dinner beforehand. We had a 7:00 tour and thought we'd just grab a late dinner but by 8:00 nearly everything in Merchant's Square was closed. I wasn't expecting that since the college is so close but maybe it's because class isn't in session in July.

Living history at it's best - So much to see! This was an amazing experience. You literally feel like you are traveling back in time as you are walking to the village. The reenactments were so good! Everyone was so knowledgeable and fun. The kids loved being able to get hands on in some of the shops. It was HOT when we went. It was a pleasant surprise that a lot of the buildings were air conditioned.

Something for all Ages - We spent 1.5 days and it wasn’t enough to even scratch the surface of activities! This park has something for all ages. As history buffs, we enjoyed interacting with the interpreters who were extremely knowledgeable and friendly. For those with children and teens, the many trades people provide insight into colonial living. We loved the wig maker who was not only engaging about the wig business but tied it into greater historical context. We plan to on revisiting this area, in a cooler season. The heat was brutal and only about half the buildings had AC.

Wonderful Experience! - This was such a wonderful place to visit! The grounds are beautiful - with both impeccably well-maintained original buildings and flawless replicas. The staff and performers were incredibly knowledgeable and all had interesting information to share! The performances were such high quality. You really felt like you stepped back in time and were experiencing what life would be like. We really appreciated the perspectives of loyalists, revolutionaries, and enslaved people. We felt like we really learned a lot and the employees were wonderful, really eager to tell you information and how things worked. We enjoyed the variety of tours, street and stage performances and just talking with shopkeepers and residents of Williamsburg. I can't recommend this highly enough! We felt so thankful to be able to visit this wonderful living history museum!

Wonderful Williamsburg - We were visiting from the UK and doing a US road trip and Williamsburg was one of our favourite places on the whole trip. Williamsburg is a wonderful place to visit for an authentic colonial experience. It is a living open museum and the admission gets you into various buildings around the town so you could just visit and wander round without buying an admission ticket. Having said that it was well worth buying the ticket to enable you to go in and experience all the artisans doing their various different trades and going into the historic buildings, for example The Governor's Palace.

A noticeable improvement to the visitor experience. - I last visited here two years ago and this recreation of 18th century colonial life is as good as ever. On this trip I had the opportunity to visit many more of the historic sites and found the interpretation in all of them to be truly enlightening. The costumed interpreters and 'residents' set this place apart from other visitor attractions. In particular I enjoyed meeting Kathelene (Kat) at the Raleigh Tavern - so entertaining and welcoming as well as bringing this building's past to life. My only negative comment concerns the introductory film in the visitor centre which falls well short of other heritage attractions and fails to use the beautiful theatres in the visitor centre to their best advantage - more immersive storytelling using the technology now available would serve to create a memorable introduction to this beautiful place.

Short visit to Colonial Williamsburg Enjoyable - We enjoyed 2 nights at Williamsburg while driving North for the summer. The first night we took a Haunted tour at 8:30 pm (you don't have to buy an admission ticket ....just the tour ticket) and the next day we enjoyed the Visitor Center's short movie about the history of Williamsburg. We walked along the main street and stopped in a few shops and into a few of the places we had seen at night. Our favorite part was the Art Museum at the end of our day seeing all the antique china sets and tools and things of everyday life at Williamsburg. We couldn't get reservations at any of the quaint taverns but did enjoy a meal at the Williamsburg Lodge's restaurant "Sweet Tea and Barley". We were surprised to see the Beach Boys putting on a concert on the Williamsburg premises and this caused a lot of people late in the day settling in for the concert. Too bad we couldn't stay to hear them as some people did by just setting up a chair on the sidewalks outside the venue.

hotest day in June but still great - My son took pictures the entire time we were there. We expected to only be there a couple of hours but ended up spending the entire day. My only negative was there weren't a lot of lunch options.

CW 2024 Experience - Sharing the experience with family who had never been to Williamsburg. Unfortunately, due to the heat advisory, many of the activities I’d hoped to partake were cancelled, thus the experience was below expectation of my precious experiences. And, maybe it was be use of the heat, but I didn’t feel the staff were “in character.”