High school band trip to NY City....help

[momxx5]

The opportunity for myself, and my freshman, has fallen into our laps for us to join the high school band trip.

As far as I can tell our only expense will be food. The trip is paid for, as well as breakfast daily and tickets to 2 shows.

We will not be shopping or paying for any tours. Our tours will be of the free awesome experiences of being in NYC. I have been a few times as a teenager(oh, 100 yrs ago) so although I am familiar with the big city I am by no means an expert.

So, I am looking for some budget friendly advice as to some things to see, do and plan meals.

We will be there this Thurs thru Saturday...so almost 3 whole days. Day One includes a late afternoon show and spending the day around Times Square(if I correct) and Day Tw0 includes an early evening show...Phantom!!! and most of the day near Central Park. Day Three will be spent down near the waterfront in Manhattan.....walking Wall Street, checking out United Nations, Empire State Building, etc and then departing for home.

One thing my boys (all boys in group I'll be chaperoning) want to do is head over to the Bronx to "hang out with some kids and maybe a pickup game of basketball". Not so sure that will happen as just the time alone to get to Bronx and back may be an issue.

What would you suggest as a fair budget per person for food. My oldest(junior) is also going....he has been scheduled to go since the start of the school year. So basically it would be food for 3 adults, as my boys are big boys. There is no time or great interest in any fancy sit down meals.

A HUGE thank you in advance of any advice, ideas or suggestions.

 

[momxx5]

Please??

Any NewYorkers that could tell me how much a hot dog is from a vender?? How about a slice of NY pizza? Is it $3-4/slice or more like $6-7??

 

[rvchat]

I'm a ny-er. There are pizza place opening up all over now with $1 a slice and they're good! Look for those. pm me anytime.

Any regular average pizza place $2 or more. Hot dogs from vendor are $2 last time i checked.

Please??

Any NewYorkers that could tell me how much a hot dog is from a vender?? How about a slice of NY pizza? Is it $3-4/slice or more like $6-7??

 

[Jessica527]

If you are in times square, there is a 2 story mcdonalds that is great to visit. It has great views of times square and it is more affordable then most restaurants.

 

[momxx5]

Now that's what I'm talking about


Thank you Diser's. I know y'all have such great knowledge.

I def think we can swing a pretty decent food budget for the 3 of us.

THANK YOU

 

[scrapquitler]

The opportunity for myself, and my freshman, has fallen into our laps for us to join the high school band trip.

As far as I can tell our only expense will be food. The trip is paid for, as well as breakfast daily and tickets to 2 shows.

We will not be shopping or paying for any tours. Our tours will be of the free awesome experiences of being in NYC. I have been a few times as a teenager(oh, 100 yrs ago) so although I am familiar with the big city I am by no means an expert.

So, I am looking for some budget friendly advice as to some things to see, do and plan meals.

We will be there this Thurs thru Saturday...so almost 3 whole days. Day One includes a late afternoon show and spending the day around Times Square(if I correct) and Day Tw0 includes an early evening show...Phantom!!! and most of the day near Central Park. Day Three will be spent down near the waterfront in Manhattan.....walking Wall Street, checking out United Nations, Empire State Building, etc and then departing for home.

One thing my boys (all boys in group I'll be chaperoning) want to do is head over to the Bronx to "hang out with some kids and maybe a pickup game of basketball". Not so sure that will happen as just the time alone to get to Bronx and back may be an issue.

What would you suggest as a fair budget per person for food. My oldest(junior) is also going....he has been scheduled to go since the start of the school year. So basically it would be food for 3 adults, as my boys are big boys. There is no time or great interest in any fancy sit down meals.

A HUGE thank you in advance of any advice, ideas or suggestions.

On Day 2, you might want to get up early and wander over to Rockefeller Center to check out the Today Show. You can stand in the plaza and if you position yourself right, you can be on TV in the crowd shots. My Mom and I did this yesterday...I texted DH to tell him we were there, he hit record on the DVR and he was able to see us on TV. It was fun.

We also went to Eataly, Mario Batali's Italian Market/Food Court/Restaurants at 200 5th Ave. It's right at the intersection where the Flatiron Building is (23rd st, 5th ave, and Broadway). There are several sit down restaurants, but there are also a coffee bar, a gelato stand, bread bakery, a pizzeria, etc. www.eataly.com

I would spend a little bit of money on a Metro Card and ride the subway to get from place to place and just for the experience. If you go into the subway station at Penn Station there are often musicians performing and that can be a fun thing to check out (and free, unless you throw a buck or two tip at them).

Do walk over to Grand Central Terminal and look at the main area, it is a beautiful building and the people watching can be a lot of fun (yesterday we saw a guy standing outside with two rats on leashes sitting on his shoulder -- and the rats were dyed green!) When we were waiting for our train I heard an announcement that there is a audio tour of grand central station that you can use to learn about the history and some trivia about Grand Central. I wish that we had the time to listen to that, I'll have to save it for next time. I thought that I heard it was free, but when I just looked it up I see that I was wrong, it is $5 per adult. I know you want free, but I figured I'd mention it anyway. http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/info/AudioTour.cfm

Here's a list of some other free things. I haven't been to any of these places (at least not yet) http://gonyc.about.com/cs/freestuff/a/aa012902.htm

And one more website where you can find listings of free events: http://nymag.com/srch?t=event&N=261...ng Type:Events&Ns=nyml_event_next_date_time|0

One more thing I wanted to mention: I'd be very wary of going to the Bronx and trying to find a pickup basketball game. I'd worry that I'd run into the wrong neighborhood and get into a scary situation that I didn't want to be in.

 

[woodkins]

I would figure an average price of $10 per meal for fast food/take out. This would most likely leave you with a little left over, but never short of cash. McDonalds, BK etc are alot more money in NYC then in suburbs etc. A hot pretzel/hot dog etc from a cart can be between $3-5 depending on the location of where it is.

You can ride on the Staten Island Ferry for free & it gives you a great view of the Statue of Liberty. It is a pretty fun experience for tourists.

I would highly discourage the boys venturing into the Bronx for a pickup basketball game unless you knew exactly where you were going and who you were meeting up with. It is an "interesting" area in that you can go from being in a safe neighborhood to a relatively "rough" neighborhood simply by walking a few blocks in any direction. I don't know where you are from or how familiar the boys are with an urban environment, but it can get pretty rough pretty fast LOL