Budget New York trip..?

[LilMamiBella]

I'd love to go to New York this summer. I would most likely only go for around 3-4 days with my two kids ages 4 and 7 and my dh. Is 3-4 days doable? How much should I be looking to pay? We'd be driving from SC and I'd like to find a hotel at a decent price that offers continental breakfast. We want to see the museums, fao shwartz, statue of liberty, central park, broadway show,etc.

 

[Fall1]

I would suggest looking into the Super 8 Hotel in Times Square, I believe it's on 46th St. The location is great, it's clean and includes continental breakfast. It's nothing fancy, but I was pleasantly surprised and for the location and price would definitely stay again. It's aboutl $115-150/night. They also offer AAA discounts if you are a member.

 

[clori]

depending on what you plan on seeing the New York City pass may save you some money. http://www.newyorkpass.com/ The Sony Wonder Technology Lab is free and fun for the kids. Have fun. My dh is from Manhatten and my 5 year old loves visiting gramppa and seeing the city. We stay with relatives so I can't help with hotels.

 

[DVC Sadie]

I don't know how much you are planning on spending but it is a very high cost area, not only to live but to visit. For hotel information check out tripadvisor.com so you can see all the different prices and get reviews. HTHs

 

[cseca]

I don't know how much you are planning on spending but it is a very high cost area, not only to live but to visit. For hotel information check out tripadvisor.com so you can see all the different prices and get reviews. HTHs

Great question!
We're doing the same thing for my b'day in summer time.
Right now we're doing the planning also...

As for Hotel, we're looking at Hampton Inn in the city. The pics look decent and I've stayed in other Hampton Inns for business trips before and have always liked them. The price is around $170/night.

Oh and thanks clori for the tip on citipass...

 

[LilMamiBella]

Any other websites to visit? Any other places to suggest for us to check out?

 

[sskeen]

I would suggest eating at Ellen's Stardust Cafe. It's on
Broadway right beside the Winter Garden Theater - where
Mama Mia is playing. The wait staff sings and since most
of them want to be Broadway stars they are very good.
It's one of the few places in the city that doesn't charge
you for refills on your soft drinks and all the meals come
with a piece of Bazooka Joe bubble gum.

 

[lUVTOGO]

And if you are driving in, the parking is very expensive also.

 

[ncbyrne]

Everything in Manhattan is expensive, especially restaurant food in midtown. Even McD's charges much more than normal. How much time you will need depends on exactly what you want to see/do. I'm not sure there are many museums that would interest a 4 and 7 year old. Be sure to visit the Disney Store on 5th Ave - it's huge and awesome!! You can take the ferry to Liberty Island, but you can no longer get inside the statue - not worth the trip anymore imho.
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/
Here's a site with live video cams of NYC...click around the site to access the various cameras.

 

[jorodopo]

We took our DS9 and DS6 to the cloisters last month. It is part of the metropolitan museum of art (and the voluntary/suggested admission at one gets you into the other) but is in the Bronx, just north of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Tyron park. The parking there is free (which is unheard of in NYC). You can bus/subway down to mid/downtown and we felt safe with the kids during the day going through many different neighborhoods. Unlike some museums where I feel like I have to be right on top of my relatively well behaved children, we all felt really comfortable at the Cloisters. I had looked up when they were running kids programs and as soon as we got inside we were greeted and asked if the kids would like to take part in the free program. They learned all about how to paint frescos, looked at samples and did sketches. They loved the unicorn tapestries and the whole medieval knight feel of the place.
Website for the cloisters: http://www.metmuseum.org/events/ev_cloisters.asp?HomePageLink=collections_cloisters_l

th kids programs are on Saturdays.

Definitely not the biggest museum in NY but we find that it is just the right amount of time for us right now.
Have fun planning your trip.

 

[NoelGypsy]

A few things you can check out is:

www.nycvisit.com They have a tourist book you can sign up for and they will mail it to you.

Of course you will want to go here :
http://destinations.disney.go.com/wod/store/index

In the summer Central Park has "events" going on. Here is a website you can keep checking for the 2006 year: http://www.summerstage.org/

Best BBQ in NYC and CHEAP!!! My brother lives in NYC and they practically live at this place http://www.bbqnyc.com/#play movie
They are supposed to be reopening one in Time Square again soon.

Everyone NEEDS and HAS TO (in my opinion.. LOL ) try this when they come to NYC... Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie http://www.littlepiecompany.com/public5/index.cfm
This place is right on 43rd St between 9th and 10th. This pie is AMAZING!!!

Try not get trapped into the touristy restaurants becasue they charge you a fortune and you can find better food at the local places. For example, it seems most people who come to NYC "have to go to Carmines", I personally think they are just ok. If you go off the main area you can find better and ALOT cheaper. For Italian we go to Don Giovanis on 44th St by 9th Ave. The food is AWESOME and they give you alot and it is cheap. It is also in the building where the old comedy place used to be here Richard Pryor and many others started. There is a plaque on the wall about who performed there. Anything in Times Square is pretty PRICEY!

If you go to Restaurant.com, they usually have Mars 2112 listed. Right now they are having a 60% off sale with a code (If you cant find the code PM me and I will get it to you ) The food is not gourmet, it is very basic, but the kids will LOVE the atmosphere. Here is Mars 2112 website:
http://www.mars2112.com/about.htm

Do a little research before hand because some times there are nights you can get into different museums for free or for a small donation.

The kids will love this:
http://www.dylanscandybar.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=278&path=1,3,277,278

This is a great place to go and see all of NYC: http://www.nymarriottmarquis.com/hotel/view.asp
It is pricey, but worth the money just to go have a drink or soda.

Someone mentioned parking can be expensive... if your hotel does not give you free parking... go here and book a parking spot: www.iconparking.com We do it all the time and save a fortune.

Here are just a few more websites you can check out:
http://www.stjohndivine.org/ <--This place is AMAZING!!!!!
http://www.southstreetseaport.com/
http://www.hellskitchennyc.com/

If you need anymore info please let me know.. I have a ton more sites I can send you

 

[disneyluvr913]

I know it'll be hard to believe, but my family (5) did a trip to New York City for a little under five hundred dollars. (Okay fine. We stayed in my sister's condo so that was a big money-saver, but still!)

We drove from Chicago, ate mostly sandwiches on the way out and back, and stayed for three days. Our first night, we went to Chinatown. Good shopping, good food, and very very cheap prices. Then we saw an off-broadway show. It was pretty good, and much less expensive than broadway.

I'm trying to recall everything we did. I know we went to SoHo and window-shopped, went to Greenwich Villiage, walked down Fifth Avenue, saw Times Square and Rockefeller Center (Spl?). We went to the large Nintendo Store (for my son) and the wonderful New York Disney Store (for us all! We spent a LONG time in there.)
So all those places took an entire day, and they were all free. Just a little light shopping cost. We walked all around, and finally took a taxi for about six dollars back to the train station.

We went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty another day. I believe it was less than a hundred for all of us to go. That was terrific. We had a great time, AND you could stay at each place as long as you wanted.

The museums were wonderful too. Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of the American Indian, and the Museum of Natural History. (We cut through Central Park and picnicked there.) The museums, I believe, were all "free", but a suggested donation was encouraged. Give whatever you feel comfortable.

By scrimping on meals while traveling, we could splurge a bit more while actually in New York City. Window-shopping let us experience a lot of New York City without paying a dime. And the museums definitely don't drain your budget.

Good luck!

 

[c&m]

We've been to NYC 3 times in the past 2 years to visit my brother. Since he lives in a 1-bedroom/1-bath apt in the Upper East Side, my family of 4 (DH, me, DD10 and DD7) always go to a hotel and let my parents occupy the apt with my brother.

We always use Priceline to get us a 4* hotel. We have gotten the Hilton Hotel and Towers in mid-town Manhatten for $105/night and the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel on Lexington for $140/night. It depends on what time of year you visit, as some months seem to be more expensive than others.

Read Tripadvisor to see what hotels are getting good reviews. I've heard that some NYC hotels (be it luxury or budget) are having problems with bedbugs...so be aware and not surprised

Here's a list of things our DDs loved:

1. Ellen's Stardust Diner (mentioned here by another poster). They were begging us to take them more times than I can count. It's free entertainment as we eat, and there's darn good talent there too!

2. Museum of Natural History. Lots to see there. 4 floors of interesting exhibits. Should take you a whole day. It's across the street from Central Park.

3. NY Met. Our DDs had never seen anything like it, at least, nothing of that magnitude.

4. Taking the free Staten Island ferry there and back to get a view of and to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty.

5. Lining up at TKTS booth in Times Square to get 1/2 price tickets of a same-day Broadway show. We saw Beauty and the Beast for $50/ticket and sat in the 2nd row. (This was one of our more expensive treats.)

6. Taking in all the big shops: American Girl, World of Disney, Toys 'R Us, FAO Schwartz.

We loved our visit and hope to visit again!!!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

What an awesome thread! We are also planning a 4 day trip to NYC this summer. We have Yankees tickets for June 15 and will stay through the 18th. We are also driving, but will be coming from MD. It has been suggested to us to drive to the NJ Metropark and take the train in to the city. Anyone have any ideas on this? I have a pretty good idea what we want to do as far as shopping and sightseeing, but had no idea where to eat, so I'm very happy to see this thread!

How long do you have to wait in line to get the 1/2 price tickets? That sounds like a great deal. I checked into Lion King (regular prices) and it would be $800 for our family of four.

 

[c&m]

Mickeyluver: We lined up about 1/2 an hour before TKTS was open in the afternoon. You may want to double-check their opening hours with your hotel concierge or simply walk past the TKTS booth in Times Square the day before to plan your wait time. Once TKTS opened, the line moved very quickly and the whole wait/transaction time took about 1 to 2 hours. I believe they didn't take credit card. We paid with cash...so make sure you have adequate funds beforehand.

If the wait is too much for the kids, there's Toys'RUs very close by. I took my kids there while DH waited in line.

Hope this helps you!

 

[Fall1]

Mickeyluver and others about the TKTS ticket booth....they only accept cash and most shows are 50% off, however some are 25%. It's a fantastic place to get tickets for a show if you aren't too picky about which show you'd like to see. I do want to say they almost always have Beauty and the Beast tickets but NEVER have Lion King tix.
The line looks very long when you get there, but it moves very quickly and usually takes about 1/2-1 hour. Good Luck!

 

[ladysoleil]

Some advice- definitely take advantage of delis for basic sandwiches, etc. Places like Duane Reade (big drug store chain, there's one on every block practically) are also good and cheap places to pick up packaged snacks, sodas and sundries.

Don't be afraid of the subway system. The MTA is definitely the best deal in town, considering how far you can get for $2! Yes, some of the stations are not the cleanest but the Manhattan stations are safe, even at night, of course use your good judgement. NYC is also a very good city for walking, so bring good comfy shoes.

I second the recommendations for Little Pie Company (best pie ever!) and Ellen's Stardust. I wouldn't say the food is awesome at Ellen's, but it is a lot of fun.

Regarding hotels, I have heard good things about the Super 8 previously mentioned. I would also like to share that the Hotel Pennsylvania is a frightening, dirty, horrible dive, do not be tempted no matter what the price is- it is often very inexpensive on Expedia. I hear they are renovating it but the reviews at Trip Advisor seem to indicate that the renovated rooms are okay and the rest are plain scary- seems too much of a gamble to me! We made the mistake of getting a room there for after a show at Madison Square Garden. Oooh. *shudders* never again!

 

[HollyJoy]

Anyone know anything about the Holiday in on 57th street? We are thinking of taking a trip up to the AG place, and have points for Holiday Inn. Do you think it's close enough to the AG place? Is it a decent hotel?

 

[sk!mom]

Try tripadvisor.com for reviews

I am currently booked at the Holiday Inn on 57th for June. I am trying Priceline but that is my back up if I never get a good deal bidding.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Great timely thread for me. We plan to go to NY this summer too! Great tips on here.

Can anyone recommend which airport to fly into? Prices flying into each (lga, jfk) are not much different and if no other factors we will go with the cheaper one.