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Fort Williams Children's Garden and other Portland questions


Jennilee17
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We are going on a Canada/New England cruise in July with our daughters (4 and 6). I was reading that Fort Williams is beautiful and a great place to run around. I saw that they recently (in the past few years) opened a children's garden. Has anyone been? What was it like? I am having a hard time finding much info on the new garden.

 

I am hoping to go to Fort Williams park, head over to Old port to do a little shopping and go to a store called treehouse toys, have lunch at Silly's and then head out to Old Orchard Beach for an hour or two. My kids are early risers so I expect us to get off the ship around 8-9 and we need to be back by 4 or 5.

 

Does this sound doable? My kids are great travelers and love to be out and about so I am not worried about them. Just didn't know if this is over kill on our plan.

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How are you planning on getting around?

 

Fort Williams is a good 25 minute drive, and if you're doing the bridge in the morning, traffic will be tough. Then 25 minutes back to Old Port. Old Orchard is another 30+ minute drive on the (toll) interstate, longer on (free) route 1, but in summer route 1 is a beast, and the same back. So, you will lose about 2 hours of your 8 in port just driving.

 

I've never been to Silly's, but there are a lot of great restaurants a lot closer to the ship than that.

 

I would recommend going to Fort Williams (nice park, but that's about it), then go down to Old Orchard, and come back to the Old Port for a late lunch at places like Duckfat (fries cooked in duckfat, best shakes in town), Blue Rooster (specialty is a tater tot version of poutine), Becky's Diner (best lobster roll in town), Sonny's (just reopened), as just a few that would be similar to Silly's (lively with young kids), but if you want to go upscale, there are a few that do lunch in the Old Port that are spectacular.

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Hmmm maybe I’ll drop Fort Williams unless I can get some more info on the kids garden....

 

We are planning on silly’s because my daughter has celiac and it’s celiac safe.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Understand about your restaurant choice.

 

Have you looked here regarding the Fort Williams Children's Garden:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiRkciUlODYAhUQH6wKHTD5AeMQFggnMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffortwilliams.org%2Ffort-williams-park-arboretum-projects%2Fchildrens-garden-fort-williams-park%2F&usg=AOvVaw0KjTctgzJU90YglEnjBsO7

 

If you are wanting to see Portland Head Light, I recommend getting up 30-45 minutes before docking in Portland to see the Light from a unique perspective: from the sea.

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How are you planning on getting around?

 

Fort Williams is a good 25 minute drive, and if you're doing the bridge in the morning, traffic will be tough. Then 25 minutes back to Old Port. Old Orchard is another 30+ minute drive on the (toll) interstate, longer on (free) route 1, but in summer route 1 is a beast, and the same back. So, you will lose about 2 hours of your 8 in port just driving.

 

I've never been to Silly's, but there are a lot of great restaurants a lot closer to the ship than that.

 

I would recommend going to Fort Williams (nice park, but that's about it), then go down to Old Orchard, and come back to the Old Port for a late lunch at places like Duckfat (fries cooked in duckfat, best shakes in town), Blue Rooster (specialty is a tater tot version of poutine), Becky's Diner (best lobster roll in town), Sonny's (just reopened), as just a few that would be similar to Silly's (lively with young kids), but if you want to go upscale, there are a few that do lunch in the Old Port that are spectacular.

Can I just add "Holy Donut" :')

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