Colonial Williamsburg Explorer

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The map feature of this app was useful, and our family used it several times during our stay during the week of Independence Day. Although this seems like the perfect place to note schedule changes and up-to-date holiday happenings, be advised that CW does not do so. We missed going to a desired restaurant because the app said it would be closed until another day, but when we walked by later that same day, we found it was open to the public. The app would have been the perfect place to note this. They don’t necessarily update other things either. For example, the app noted this about the Post Office: “Thinking of sending home a postcard? Scribe your thoughts in ink with a quill pen for an authentic 18th-century look and feel.” I told my kids all about this, and they were set to write with a quill. When we arrived, the person there said that they no longer do that (and stopped quite a while ago). The app wasn’t updated. We were disappointed and felt frustrated that CW advertises the app but doesn’t really keep it updated. Over a month later, the incorrect information about the postcards still comes up in the app. Bottom line...use the map and maybe look at other things for reference, but don’t count on the app to be accurate.

This was very helpful during our 4th grade field trip. I wish there was a little more information about each site just to prep the children before walking in. The app was accurate and the walking directions were excellent! I loved that it showed where we were on the map as well. I would suggest they change closed locations to red icons instead of blue so it’s easier to plan your trip at a glance.

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Recently I visited Colonial Williamsburg due to having family in the area and decided to check out the area. Prior to heading in I downloaded the app and the map and made an account. If you do plan on using it the map is probably one of only two useful functions and it has issues. Most of the times for when shops and events open and close are not accurate in the app. So if you do use this have the daily list available and always look at the posted times outside each shop. When we told multiple employees of CW about the issues they said they don’t care, their hours are posted outside the shop. If you’re going to try and get tickets to any event the app is useless. Use local ticket vendors in CW. The app only crashes or freezes if you try and use it for that. The only other useful feature is what events are available but the daily list issued at the visitors center has all that. To be perfectly honest this is only a burden to your experience until they fix all the issues.

This app was so convenient to a family of first timers. Sometimes finding the actual location was a little difficult and the actual names of shops weren’t the same as the app. It was nice to know which sites were open, the times they were open, and what we were learning at each site.

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Linking annual pass tickets bought in person is broken, link does nothing. Cannot make reservations to tours in the app Events view breaks and repeats itself when scrolled too fast Map icons are all the same color for different types of icons, making it not useful for finding anything Overall hard to use due to no UI thought. Overall useless due to bugs. Very annoying that volunteers recommend to use the app to get information, when the app is broken. Some ticket links take you to actual event tickets and cost (ax throwing), but other links take you to the admission ticket page and don’t list the actual price of the ticket (horse-drawn coach ride), so why bother? The app offers a true colonial experience of being miserable