Anyone for Longwood Gardens?

There has been some interest in going to Longwood for the Christmas Display. So I thought I would start an interest thread. The Christmas Display will run till Jan 10th. Tickets run around $16.00. There is a senior discount and if we had a group of 15 we could get a group discount. Here is a link to the Longwood website so you can check it out. http://www.longwoodgardens.org/
Ok this is the list as far as I can tell. Let me know to add of delete. I may bring my parents and you are all welcome to bring along other friends.
Holly & Ric
Stormy
Critter
Aspenhill
Flowerjen & Family
Roses_R_Red & Hubby
Tammy
Sallyg
Catbird423



This message was edited Dec 17, 2009 8:01 AM

This message was edited Dec 28, 2009 2:28 PM

Next weekend is good for us, I think, but we're busy the weekend of the 19th. The next weekend that might work for us would be Jan 2-3.

Weekdays... next week Wednesday (the 16th) or the week of Christmas (Dec. 21, 22, 23) are open for us.

Whether or not we get enough people for a discount, it would be fun to get together there!

Critter, I'd like to try to make it. Next weekend is not good for me. With enough notice, I can arrange for a free weekday. Jan 3rd would work for me. I'm not sure about the weekend before Christmas.

We have more free time during the weekdays than most of you will. The weekend of 19th would work as would Dec 21 or 22. I was thinking that maybe the week after Christmas would work better for some.

After Christmas is better for me.

I think after Christmas is prob the best...it's going to be nuts around here till then.

It looks like we've got company between Christmas & New Year's (and it's probably more of a drive than they'd all want to make, although if that's the date that's picked I'll try to talk 'em into it!).

Jan 3 sounds good to me..

More Company?????

You didn't think Little Bit's friends & family were going to stay away during Her First Christmas, surely?

I'd like to have some friends over on Christmas Eve, also, but that won't be a late evening. Even with Joyanna coming along, we'd probably have opted for the 11 pm service (she generally naps then and has a midnight bottle)... but we've been tapped to play Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus at the 8 pm service.

The reason I don't have a more definite date in mind yet (or a thread started, although I suppose I can start a thread before we have a date) for the Mid-Winter Seed Swap is that we're hoping we'll hear something in January about our court date... and you know we have to have a party the weekend after finalizing Joyanna's adoption! So, I'm not quite sure what our schedule will be in Feb... although if we don't hear something the first week or two in January, the adoption hearing probably won't be until March.

More pins & needles.. Uggh. It's a good thing you're not trying to recover from a pregnancy too. Although I'm not sure which would be more stressful.

Critter, I'm not really pushing you for a date. But I'd like to get some discussion going about the seed swap as some of the Pa & NJ people might feel that Frederick is too far to travel, so I'd like to explore some options for seed exchanging here in conjunction with or in lieu of the Frederick one. This probably should take place before the end of February.

I assure you, pregnancy & its aftermath (assuming everything went even halfway well) would be far easier than all the hoops I've jumped through all these years. Somebody I didn't really know heard we'd adopted and said, Oh, you're so lucky! You got to skip over all that pregnancy stuff. (grrrrr... smile & walk away, LOL)

I think we're past the pins & needles point, just looking forward to the celebration when it all becomes official. I think it will all go quite smoothly, it just takes time.

I see your point about doing other seed swapping earlier, either in person or via mail. As with plant swaps, I think it's great to have multiple seasonal get-togethers so more people can get to one. Actually, I'd be willing to do the Frederick swap in January, except that even February dates have made people anxious about possible weather issues (and they seemed to think Jan. would be worse). I'll start a thread, and we can put a link on that thread to any other seed swapping that gets started.

Sorry, back to the topic at hand...

Is anybody else interested in the Jan 3 date?

:-)

I'd love to go to Longwood. I'm flexible - either weekends or weekdays, so any date that you guys come up with will work for me. If it is a weekday, I just need to know what day to put in leave at work. Sounds like fun. Terri

Terri, I think DH was hoping you'd want to go so he wouldn't "have to." Even if he decides he's coming, you're welcome to road trip with us from here. We've got room for 1 additional adult for sure, or two if DH doesn't come -- or if we manage to get a minivan by then, LOL).

We are also interested in a trip to Longwood. Our weekends are already booked for December, but any week day would be fine.

January's weekends are tentatively booked and so are the days around the 13th and the days around the 21st.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Teri

Let me see if I have this right
We are looking at weekdays 16th, 21st and 22nd. The weekend of Jan 2/3.
Does that sound right?

I could also do a weekday after Jan. 3... I'm pretty flexible after the holiday.

I think it sounded like Christmas week (Dec. 21 & 22) might be busy for some folks...
?

The closer we get to Christmas the more rushed we get. Oh just realized that we are getting a delivery on the 16th.
Critter can you do the weekend of Jan 2/3 or is your company still there?
How about anyone else a weekday Jan 4th thru the 8th?

We can do that weekend... 3rd is probably better than 2nd.

I can do a day that week.

The days that would work for me that week would be the 3rd, 5th, 7th & 8th.

Once again a show of this magnitude has blocked out electric chairs and scooters. This is likely because they are over stressed with hords of people. If that's the case I could not enjoy it anyway. We have done their outside gardens with rented scooters and had a nice trip doing Longwood Gardens. I went down for their pumpkin weigh off this fall.

I find it very difficult to talk and get trustworthy answers at the larger shows. One would think they would be better prepaired for the handicapp questions. They are not. None that I have called yet had really good provisions.

Doc, that's a shame! If you could borrow or rent a regular chair from somewhere for the day, I'm sure we could manage to get you around. Joyanna would let you use her stroller... :-) I know it's more awkward than using an electric scooter because instead of just steering you're telling somebody which direction to go, but it would be do-able. BTDT

Has anyone thought about the dates for this?

You're right, we should pick a date so everybody can get it on their calendars.

I was trying to re-read above to see if anybody said Jan 3 wouldn't work for them... ?

Holly, is Jan 3 still good for you two?

We're getting our new minivan tomorrow! So I have plenty of room for Terri (maybe your neighbor Mrs. P would like to come?) and Miata and Nutmeg and anybody else who would like to come. In theory, it seats 7 or 8. In practice, it seats 4 very comfortably and more if room is not needed for plants. LOL

Jan 3 is still the best, even hubby may come...wow!! Of course I have to count this as one of my presents.

The 3rd would be good for us.

Works for me.

I'll put it on the MAG "Events" thread for Jan 3, then, unless we decide otherwise.

Anybody in this area who wants to ride together, just LMK!

Jan 3 works for me too. Critter, I'll take you up on riding together. Terri

Would love to come. What time?

I'm in favor of a time frame that includes having lunch or dinner together... I figure there's a place nearby, or maybe the Terrace Restaurant at the Gardens is open?

OK, I just checked the Longwood site (duh)... the gardens will be open from 9 am to 9 pm that day, Terrace Restaurant from 10 am to 8 pm.

I think ideally it would be great to see it both in daylight (especially inside the conservatory areas I've heard so much about) and at night.

What about grabbing a bite together halfway through our visit, sort of an early dinner? That way, anybody arriving late or anybody who headed off in another direction during our wanderings would have a chance to meet up again.

From Sally's article http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1255/, it looks like we probably want to plan on at least 6 hours altogether, maybe more. I haven't been there before, but my inclination would be to start out maybe around 1 pm (earlier?), grab a snack around 4 pm, then tour the house & grounds with the lights showing off after dark. Of course, if that evening turns wet or freezing cold, the tour of the grounds may be shorter than we think, LOL.

Holly, you've been before... what say you?

We could spend most of the day in the Conservatories and hit the outside light show after we eat. There are some interesting things to see outside during the day. But the fountains are all turned off and outside is a big area to cover for what you will see. IMHO I'd let most of the outside go for a summer trip. You will get an eye full just going to the conservatories and the house. There will be wonderful outdoor lights between the entrance and the Conservatories. The decorations in the house are just beautiful but the hours on that might be limited. The place is huge and I'm sure it will be crowded. It has been a long time since we were there. I've seen the Christmas display, Fall display and been there in the Summer. I have never gotten around to going in the Spring.

Sounds good to me... when do you think we should start? as early as noon, more like 2 pm, or... ?

As early as noon for sure.

Critter, I think it will take more than 1 hour to get there from your house.

I know that, Stormy. I was asking when Holly wanted to start the tour at Longwood... we will leave here a good 2 1/2 hours before that (following googlemap's route & time estimate).

It takes about 4 hours to go through the solariums during the christmas crowds. Figure on about half hour to 40 mintes in the gift shop. The carillion & light & water shows start on the hour, after dark, and are about 40 to 45 minutes each. With rest room breaks add another half hour. If you start at noon, that takes you up to 6.

This message was edited Dec 16, 2009 1:09 AM

Thanks Stormy, What about the house, do you remember about that?

The house... and also a dinner break perhaps, although I can tuck a few Power Bars in my purse, LOL.

I'd be really pushing here to leave in time to get there earlier than 11 (as you can see, Joyanna is having some late nights this week)... on the other hand, I also don't want to be getting back at midnight, so a plan that has us staying until 7 or so sounds good to me.

The cafe serves lunch up until 4:00. The Dining room has no tables available that day from 4:30 to 8:30. Nothing on the website said that the house was not open to tour. That would add another 35 to 40 minutes.

There are 3 ice skating show that day, They start at 3:30 and cost an extra $5. During the Christmas Season, General admission tickets are sold at half hour time slots. 11:30, 12:00, 12:30 etc.

If we want a meal, off of the premises, we could look for a restaurant. There are a few very close to Longwood at different price ranges. On the website, they only accept reservations for the Dining Room, not the Cafe.