For those of us who live in the DC area, we often avoid the crowds around the National Mall when we seek adventure close to home, and instead visit one of the many northern Virginia or Maryland sites.
Recently, our family did just that when we visited National Harbor, which sits in Maryland, directly across the water from Alexandria, VA.
National Harbor – which has more than 40 restaurants, tons of onsite shops, as well nearby retail outlets, and at least eight hotels – is worth a visit any time of year. But throughout the holiday season – from Thanksgiving week through the end of December – the halls, hotels, and everything else around the Harbor are decked out.
From 60-foot tree light shows and fireworks displays nightly to daily holiday extravaganza shows and the literally-named life-sized ice sculpture display ICE, plus a giant ice slide, bumper tubes, ice skating, and gingerbread house decorating, it’s a lot to take in.
A catalyst of holiday activity at the Harbor is the Gaylord National hotel, which is one of six Gaylord properties around the country, all owned by Marriott.
Over a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in December, we put Holiday at the Harbor activities to the test to see how they worked for our neurodiverse family. Here are twelve (yes, in honor of partridges, turtle doves, and all of that) take-aways…
- Like I said, there is a lot to do – Harbor sites say there are at least 14 attractions to see while visiting, and that’s if you don’t include the Harbor’s notable Ferris wheel and activities in various retail stores. We did the ice bumper cars, Snowball Build & Blast, Snow Flow Mountain snow tubing, and Gingerbread decorating, and were preparing to ice skate when the weather felled our plans, plus had lunch on two different days and we were out of time. For our neurodiverse family members, the ice bumper cars came out on top.
- Most activities need to be scheduled – Holiday activities at the Harbor, by and large, must be paid for and booked ahead of time on your phone. That gives you the chance to plan your day – which is great for a neurodiverse family, and the app isn’t too difficult to use, but you still often need to wait in lines and getting a refund, e.g., if outdoor activities are canceled, is a bit of a hassle.
- You can make a day (or two) out of it – with so many activities in about a mile radius, you can definitely spend a whole day or several at the Harbor. We live three miles away, so went back and forth, but in total were adventuring for about 8 hours and didn’t get to half of what was available to us. I’m not complaining – we did quite a bit and had fun, but trying to cover all bases would make for probably two very long days.
- Start saving now – Despite the online ‘bundles’ that are supposed to bring costs down 30%, I just could not get activities to line or costs to really come down. Finally, I just gave up and bought activities a la carte. Each activity ranges from about $13 (ice bumper cars) to $40+ (ICE) per person, and parking is another $23. So a neurodiverse family of five who does a number of activities several days in a row, plus eats at a couple of lower-end restaurants, runs up a tab that easily rivals a day at Disney. I didn’t find a way around the fact that it’s a pricey proposition.
- Most activities are really for 12 and under – This was not our first trip to National Harbor and the activities, while enjoyable, get a little less exciting as our kids get older. When our kids were younger, they loved photos with Santa and sing-alongs with Mrs. Claus, but now, not so much.
- Expect crowds – Especially on Saturday and Sunday, there were crowed everywhere – attractions, restaurants – everywhere. And, as a result, several of us got Covid. Friday was a little better. Saturday and Sunday were a zoo. Our neurodiverse kids sort of got used to it, but we spent a lot of time trying to navigate the crowds and keep everyone happy.
- If you can, go on the weekdays – Prices are lower and crowds are lighter. It’s just a better experience for a neurodiverse family.
- ICE is amazing – We’ve been before, and we’ll go again. Marketing literature calls it, “a winter wonderland carved from two million pounds of colorful ice…larger-than-life ice sculptures,” and that’s not an exaggeration. The sculptures are created by artisans from Harbin, China who engage in a meticulous sculpting process for weeks, and their labors pay off with realistic, expertly done works of ice art. Tickets are not cheap, but, with a trip down an ice slide included, it’s probably worth the money.
- Check the weather – Outdoor activities will get canceled or postponed if it starts to rain. Our kids waited in long-ish lines, with tickets in hand, then were told the attractions were shutting down because of drizzle. Two weeks later we’re still waiting for our money back.
- Build in time for food – From pizza to Chinese to Korean-infused southern fare, there are many food options around the Harbor, and, when the day started to feel long, we broke for food. Succotash was a highlight for us.
- Service is not a strong suit – I’m not bashing the hard-working people at National Harbor, but the seams were showing at attractions and restaurants because of the U.S. labor shortage, and service was not great. There was a lack of coordination at the attractions – if you had issues with your tickets, the staff at the attractions would tell you the tickets were sold by a third-party company so they couldn’t solve your problem. Same thing with parking. It was hard to find anyone who could actually solve any problem you had.
- The issues we experienced didn’t mar the day – As you might expect in any crowded day-long situation, issues arose – nothing was really easy, and some things just couldn’t be worked out. But honestly, as the organizer of our adventure, those issues were most evident to me. Sort of like at your own wedding – no one else is really aware of the little glitches; everyone just knows it all worked out and they had a good time. Both our neurodiverse and neurotypical kids come away from the experience with positive feelings.
