National Harbor

[ricky_t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ricky_t]

Hi Everyone, I was just looking through some old threads and thought I would join and post for the first time. My wife 3 daughters and myself just got back from National Harbor. We checked in 1/15 and out on the 18th. We had a great time and really enjoyed the layout of the town and the Wyndham property itself. We had a 2 bedroom and it was great. They had a "Pardon our dust" theme going on which was cute. On Friday when we checked in all of the staff had white Wyndham hard hats on and at checkin we got little plastic yellow ones for the girls and an orange vest and ear plugs. The staff seemed excited to get to deal with real guests as I'm guessing they were practicing on each other for the past few weeks.

We got to go into the famous owner update on Saturday and we finally took the plunge into upgrading to VIP. We had 126k at grand desert that we bought in 2001 on our 1 year anniversary out to Las Vegas.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Welcome to Timeshare Forums.

[regatta333 Member Find all posts View Profile Close regatta333]

How did they handle parking?

[ricky_t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ricky_t]

They have a semi circle where you go unload and check in. Then at check in they give you a garage ticket that has a balance on there for $11 for each day of your stay and acts as a debit card. When you park in the garage you get a ticket on the way in. When you leave the garage (which you can do as much as you want) you would put in the ticket you get when you drive into the garage and follow it with the ticket they gave you at checkin. At checkout Wyndham would charge you 11 per day. I paid 33 for Friday to monday.

I parked Friday at 3pm and left Saturday around 7pm to take a drive and it said I owed 18, so I put the tickets in and it worked fine. The next day I went to the store and the debit ticket didn't work anymore. It was no big deal, I just hit the call button and said I was with Wyndham and my card said it had an error and they opened the gate and I was on my way. Of course the nice person behind me beeping their horn didn't think it wasn't a big deal.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Welcome! Thanks for sharing info on this great new destination. Sounds like it was a wonderful trip.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

What is your impression on ease of use for DC tourists??
In my opinion, this is not a convenient place to visit DC from.
So, I'm asking what they have set up to get guests to mass transit/METRO.

[ricky_t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ricky_t]

There isn't anything set up to get you to mass transit, so you are definately closer if you book at Old Town. But if you have a car you can get to the metro at Braddock or the ones in Alexandria in about 10-15 minutes.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

We got to go into the famous owner update on Saturday and we finally took the plunge into upgrading to VIP. We had 126k at grand desert that we bought in 2001 on our 1 year anniversary out to Las Vegas.

Thanks for the info about National Harbor, BUT are you sure you want to do this upgrade??

You will get VIP but VIP isn't worth much compared to the huge price your paying.

Right now there are people giving away Wyndham resorts so if you want to add another wyn TS to your list of TS that's great but is VIP worth paying, (what??,) $12,000 or more when you can add a wyn TS for closing costs?

If you can still rescind, IMHO you should rescind.

[regatta333 Member Find all posts View Profile Close regatta333]

There isn't anything set up to get you to mass transit, so you are definately closer if you book at Old Town. But if you have a car you can get to the metro at Braddock or the ones in Alexandria in about 10-15 minutes.

If you have a car, you can BE in downtown DC in 15 minutes. My daughter lives in a condo at National Harbor and it's very easy access to DC from there.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

If you have a car, you can BE in downtown DC in 15 minutes. My daughter lives in a condo at National Harbor and it's very easy access to DC from there.

Sure, but parking can be heartburn and $ and once you get in a garage and pay those bucks you then may want to use taxi or Metro to get from site to site thus paying double. Not my idea of vacation.

There was supposed to be some sort of Water Taxi going, would like to hear the details on that.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I was also under the impression that there was a shuttle to a nearby metro station. Perhaps that was just from the Gaylord.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

There is a water taxi from National Harbor to Old Town Alexandria. Also one to Mount Vernon. I don't remember the cost.

Nancy

[regatta333 Member Find all posts View Profile Close regatta333]

Sure, but parking can be heartburn and $ and once you get in a garage and pay those bucks you then may want to use taxi or Metro to get from site to site thus paying double. Not my idea of vacation.

Parking in a garage will run $15-20 and I think meter parking is up to $2 an hour, but if you plan your sightseeing wisely, you can avoid having to park multiple times. Also, with metro costs being what they are, if multiple people are involved, this probably turns out to be more economical.

Bottom line is that this is a great location for proximity to DC and National airport. It's also a great place to be at night. Comedy club, restaurants, shops nearby and many events going on in summer. During the winter season, the nearby Gaylord hotel built an Ice Exhibit that was a huge draw for guests and locals.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Article about National Harbor opening in a local paper..

Another hotel at the Harbor

[trinaqueen Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close trinaqueen]

Parking

FYI: Parking in the garage is only $11 for the day