High School Senior Trips with Winged Victory USA

WV USA- 2004-2005
Washington, D.C. Student Field Trip Itinerary

Click here for a printable PDF of the Washington, DC 3-day General Education Itinerary.
Day 1
12:00 PM	Arrive at the Smithsonian Mall, in Washington, DC, where you will meet your Winged Victory USA tour guide, and proceed to your choice of Smithsonian Museums (keeping in mind you will visit the Air & space Museum tomorrow). Here, you will have lunch at your own expense in your museum's cafeteria. Afterwards, you will spend the afternoon at your favorite exhibits.
3:30 PM	Meet the bus and transfer to the hotel for check-in.
4:00 PM	Arrive at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel to check-in, freshen up and dress for dinner. The hotel is nestled on a private 16 acre landmark estate in Northwest Washington, D.C.- the prestigious Woodley Park neighborhood. As guests arrive at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, they enter grounds that have been home to more historical figures than any other building in Washington, DC. Past residents include U.S. Presidents, Vice Presidents, Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, Presidential Cabinet Officers and members of Congress, as well as famous spies and national news broadcasters.
5:15 PM	Reassemble in the lobby, then board your bus and depart for dinner.
6:00 PM	Enjoy dinner at the Hard Rock Café. For 10 years now the Hard Rock Cafe in Washington D.C., has been rockin' the scene in the city on the Potomac. Enjoy the decor of the huge main bar shaped like a Fender guitar and the stained glass windows honoring such rock 'n' roll greats as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis. Hard Rock Cafe, D.C., is a favorite of lobbyists and bagmen alike. DINNER OPTION #2 (approx. $2 more/person than Hard Rock): Enjoy dinner at The Tombs Restaurant situated in Georgetown. The Tombs is legendary among Georgetown University students, faculty and alumni. It has the characteristic look of a great sporting saloon with high-backed booths, colorful sweeps and vintage leaded glass. Classic crew and sporting prints add perfect accents to the college atmosphere.
7:15 PM	After dinner, meet the bus and depart on a brief illuminated tour of the monuments and institutions of Washington, DC. The tour will begin with a visit to the new World War II Memorial, which is located between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Mall. Afterwards, transfer to the Jefferson Memorial. Upon arrival, you will find the view from the monument's steps truly spectacular, especially at night, when a halo of blue light crowns the dome. Inside the colonnaded monument, a National Parks Service Ranger will give a 15 minute talk about the John Russell Pope designed structure, and about the man to whom it is dedicated, the third United States president, statesman, scholar, architect, and principal author (at the age of 33) of the Declaration of Independence. Transfer to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, one of the most beautiful and expansive memorials in the nation. Its landscaped grounds are divided into four outdoor galleries, one for each of FDR's terms in office, and each conveying, in its own way, the spirit of this great man. ACTIVITY OPTION #2: (approx. $5 more/person than Memorials): You and your group will enjoy a one-hour walking tour through the brick-lined streets of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. You'll follow an 18th century costumed guide as they lead you by lantern light telling you stories, legends and folklore. You will hear about unsolved mysteries, tales of romance and angry ghosts looking for revenge. You'll be entertained by the stories and charmed by the city's streets brimming with 18th cnetury houses. And each tour ends in a colonial church graveyard. It's the perfect way to cap off a day of sight-seeing in DC!
8:45 PM	Meet bus and return to the hotel.
9:30 PM	Overnight Security Begins.
Day 2
8:00 AM	Breakfast in the hotel which includes: Assorted Chilled Juices, Seasonal Selection of Fresh Fruits & Berries, Assorted Individual Yogurts, Assorted Cold Cereals, Oatmeal, Scrambled Eggs, Hash Browns, Bacon, Grilled Breakfast Sausage, Omelets, Mini Waffles, Pastries, Muffins, Bagels, Coffee, Tea.
9:00 AM	Meet your guide in the lobby and depart for the White House.
10:00 AM	Meet the bus and depart for the remarkable United States Holocaust Museum.
10:30 AM	Begin your visit of the United States Holocaust Museum which memorializes the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust. This stunning museum, created by a unanimous act of Congress, contains oral histories, documentary films, photographs and artifacts of the Nazi genocide, donated by survivors and liberators of the Nazi death camps.Your visit will begin with an exploration of the roots of Nazism and Adolf Hitler's rise to power, and will endby focusing on the efforts by the liberators and the survivors to find new homes in the United States, Israel and elsewhere.
12:15 PM	Meet the bus on Raoul Wallenberg Place and depart for Union Station.
12:45 PM	Enjoy lunch at your own expense in the food court at Union station, one of the oldest working train stations in the United States. Then you'll have about a half hour to browse in more than 100 interesting retail and specialty stores.
2:00 PM	Reassemble in the main hall, then walk two blocks to the Grant Memorial.
2:15 PM	You will have group photograph taken in front of the United States Capitol.
2:30 PM	Arrive at the United States Capitol, the very symbol of American democracy. Upon arrival, you'll take a guided tour that will include the magnificent 180-foot high rotunda, the old Supreme Court Chambers, and if not in session, the House and Senate galleries. NOTE: THIS TOUR MUST BE ARRANGED DIRECTLY BY THE SCHOOL---WINGED VICTORY USA IS UNABLE TO MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR SCHOOL GROUPS!
4:00 PM	Walk to the Air and Space Museum, where, among many other things, you can touch the actual Mercury 7 capsule in which John Glenn first orbited the earth, see a mockup of the Apollo XI lunar module that landed on the moon, and the actual Apollo XI Command Module that returned to earth after making the first lunar landing. You can also see the Wright Brothers' "Wright Flyer" airplane that made the first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903, the Voyager that made the first nonstop flight around the world, and you can actually touch a moon rock that the Apollo 17 astronauts brought back from the lunar surface!
5:30 PM	Meet the bus and depart for dinner.
6:15 PM	Enjoy dinner at the ESPN-ZONE in DC! Step into ESPN Zone and you've entered a world where sport is king! ESPN Zone boasts an arena of interactive games and attractions and an unparalleled sports viewing experience.
7:30 PM	Meet the bus and transfer to the western end of the National Mall. Your visit will begin at the Korean War Veteran's Memorial, and then you will walk to the adjacent Lincoln Memorial, the site of such memorable events as Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" speech. Finally, walk to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a V-shaped black granite wall, designed by Maya Ying Lin, then a 21-yearold student at Yale University. The 500-foot wall, intended as a symbol of healing, is inscribed with the names of the 58,192 people killed or missing in the Vietnam War, and is now one of the most cherished monuments in the United States. EVENING OPTION #2: (approx $20 more/person than ESPN/Memorials) Reassemble in the lobby and depart for dinner at the KC Café at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, where you’ll begin your visit with a walk through the 600-foot Grand Foyer, one of the largest rooms in the world. Then, walk with your guide to the Theater Lab for a performance of Shear Madness, a very funny Murder Mystery set in Washington, DC. The outcome of the play changes from day to day, and will depend upon which of the characters you and your classmates believe (or which one you don't). EVENING OPTION #3: (approx $18 more/person than ESPN/Memorials) Depart from Pier 4 on the DC Waterfront where you will board the Spirit of Washington for a three-hour dinner cruise on the Potomac River. During your cruise, you'll have breathtaking views of the Washington Monument, Washington National Airport, Old Town Alexandria andthe historic homes on General's Row at Fort McNair (where John Wilkes Booth's coconspirators were hanged). After a buffet dinner, you'll have a pep rally and dance, with contests and prizes, and you'll return to the dock at about 10:30pm.
9:30 PM	Return to the hotel.
10:00 PM	Overnight Security Begins.
Day 3
7:15 AM	Breakfast in the hotel which includes: Assorted Chilled Juices, Seasonal Selection of Fresh Fruits & Berries, Assorted Individual Yogurts, Assorted Cold Cereals, Oatmeal, Scrambled Eggs, Hash Browns, Bacon, Grilled Breakfast Sausage, Omelets, Mini Waffles, Pastries, Muffins, Bagels, Coffee, Tea.
8:15 AM	Reassemble in the lobby, meet your guide and depart for Arlington National Cemetary.
8:45 AM	Arrive at the Arlington National Cemetery, the 600-acre national burial ground that shelters veterans from every war that has involved our nation. During your short visit, you will visit the Memorial Amphitheatre and you'll attend the timeless 21-step, 21-second Ritual of Honor at the Tomb of the Unknowns, where the U.S. 3rd Infantry maintains an around the clock vigil. Before you leave, you may want to visit the memorial to the seven Challenger astronauts, and you will certainly want to pause at the eternal flame at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy to read and reflect on some immortal passages (etched in Cape Cod stone) from his inspiring inaugural address.
10:15 AM	Meet the bus and transfer to the International Spy Museum.
11:00 AM	Arrive at the Spy Museum and begin your visit. The mission of the International Spy Museum is to educate the public about espionage in an engaging manner and to provide a dynamic context that fosters understanding of its important role in and impact on current and historic events. The Museum focuses on human intelligence and reveals the role spies have played in world events throughout history. AFTERNOON ACTIVITY OPTION #2 (approx. $9 less/person than Spy Museum): Begin your visit to The National Zoo! This is a 163-acre zoological park set amid Rock Creek National Park in the heart of Washington DC., which is home to more than 2,700 individual animals of 435 different species. The best known residents are the giant pandas, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang. Here at The Zoo people can gaze at the wonderful animals, learn about wildlife and its conservation, the gardens.
12:45 PM	Transfer to the Old Post Office Pavilion's atrium Food Court. Here you will eat lunch at your own expense.
2:00 PM	After lunch, time permitting, you can walk to Ford's Theatre. There, upon arrival you'll get a very good look at the box in which the President and Mrs. Lincoln sat, and the flag-draped railing over which John Wilkes Booth leaped while making his escape before a bewildered audience on April 4, 1865.
2:30 PM	Meet the bus and begin your journey home, exhausted yet forever enriched.
Your trip also includes:
A customized, keepsake DVD for each student and group leader, made from photographs taken with a camera that we will loan you for your trip. The images are downloaded, set to music, and then mailed back to you on a DVD to enjoy for years to come! A comprehensive Travel Protection Plan, underwritten by Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company and administered by Trip Mate, Inc. is included in the price of the trip. This Plan provides benefits such as Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation, Medical Expense Emergency Assistance, Travel Delay, Baggage and Baggage Delay. A Travel Insurance Certificate will be provided to your child’s teacher for each child on the trip. Liability Insurance - WINGED VICTORY USA carries $2,000,000 in Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insurance.