Going to NYC this weekend!!! *UPDATED WITH MINI TR*

[fraggle551]

There are pizza places all over the place. You will be able to find one just by walking in the area you are visiting. Just stay away from the chain places!!

 

[akhenaten]

Not to hijack (sorry OP) but my DD is giving a day trip to her BF for Christmas. The top things she wants to do are ice skate at Rockefeller Center, visit Times Square, and go up the Empire State Bldg. If I remember correctly, I think the Empire State Bldg will require a cab ride, right?

The other thing she really would like to see is Gimbels (thanks Elf! ) I guess I kind of thought that didn't exist anymore....anyone know?

Gimbels is gone... was already long gone when they made ELF...
it was a nod to the Classic movie "Miracle at 39th street" contained in ELF...


Yes the empire state building is a bit of a hike from rock center...especially in the cold!!

 

[aristocatz]

We just got back &, minus the rain today, we had an AMAZING weekend!!

The hotel (70 Park Avenue Hotel) was nice & I did not agree with the negative reviews I read. The room was small, but certainly big enough for two. The room was very clean & the bed was really comfortable with large fluffy pillows. Our window view was of a brick wall but we thought it was funny & really didn't care Hotel staff was really friendly & left us a nice big bottle of water and some chocolate in the evening. Even the housekeeper was exceptionally friendly! The hotel also offered complimentary wine from 4-6. We did not participate, due to timing, but we thought that was very nice. We had zero interest in the hotel restaurant because it was ridiculously expensive ($20 for a BLT??). The other great perk about the hotel is it is VERY conveniently located to Grand Central Station! We would definitely consider staying here again uf we travel to this neighborhood on our next trip to NYC.

I wish we had done more research with restaurants & will definitely for our next trip because there was so much to choose from! We were very happy with our meals though. On Saturday, we had pizza at a place called Cafe Metro which was very good. We ate dinner at Bloom's Deli which was really yummy, though service was mixed (service was fast but our waiter wasnot the most friendly guy). I had a yummy corned beef sandwich & the pickle bar was a nice touch. We actually ate here for brunch as well on Sunday because it was raining and yucky out in the morning & we knew Bloom's was good, reasonably priced, & close by. I had the corned beef again because, hey, when am I going to get the chance again to have such good corned beef??


We went to the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular which was MAGICAL!!!! I think this was the best show I've ever been to!!! Radio City Music Hall was so beautiful (our first time here), we had great seats (front row center on the mezzanine), the Rockettes and all of the performers were amazing! They even had it partially 3-d which was so fun! We would love to see this show again next year! We also went to Rockafeller Center & saw the tree & the ice skating (no time for the Top of the Rock this time), went to the World of Disney (what a shame that it's closing ), FAO Shwartz, Macy's, saw the Sax 5th Avenue windows, Time Square, & that's pretty much it. I have to say that even though the lines were long for everywhere (even long lines just to look at the Sax windows), they moved really fast & I was really impressed with the crowd control!

All in all, we had a wonderful time! I have to say I could NEVER handle living in NYC (I'm a slow country girl at heart), but visiting was wonderful and we will be back again.

Our next trip will be to visit Ellis Island and the Natural History Museum. We will likely stay at a different hotel for that trip because I want to stay local to the sites in our itinerary.

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and advice!!
Our next trip

 

[Caradana]

Glad you loved it! Blooms is nice ... I always associate that deli with corned beef. YUMMMMMMMM.

 

[akhenaten]

thanks for the TR!!
SO glad you had a good trip!!!

mMMMM a pickle bar... yum!!!! I need to find Blooms....

 

[aristocatz]

thanks for the TR!!
SO glad you had a good trip!!!

mMMMM a pickle bar... yum!!!! I need to find Blooms....

http://www.bloomsnewyorkdeli.com/

Pickle & coleslaw bar were offered for dinner only.

 

[akhenaten]

http://www.bloomsnewyorkdeli.com/

Pickle & coleslaw bar were offered for dinner only.

Thanks...

 

[cybrkitn]

We just got back &, minus the rain today, we had an AMAZING weekend!!

The hotel (70 Park Avenue Hotel) was nice & I did not agree with the negative reviews I read. The room was small, but certainly big enough for two. The room was very clean & the bed was really comfortable with large fluffy pillows. Our window view was of a brick wall but we thought it was funny & really didn't care Hotel staff was really friendly & left us a nice big bottle of water and some chocolate in the evening. Even the housekeeper was exceptionally friendly! The hotel also offered complimentary wine from 4-6. We did not participate, due to timing, but we thought that was very nice. We had zero interest in the hotel restaurant because it was ridiculously expensive ($20 for a BLT??). The other great perk about the hotel is it is VERY conveniently located to Grand Central Station! We would definitely consider staying here again uf we travel to this neighborhood on our next trip to NYC.

I wish we had done more research with restaurants & will definitely for our next trip because there was so much to choose from! We were very happy with our meals though. On Saturday, we had pizza at a place called Cafe Metro which was very good. We ate dinner at Bloom's Deli which was really yummy, though service was mixed (service was fast but our waiter wasnot the most friendly guy). I had a yummy corned beef sandwich & the pickle bar was a nice touch. We actually ate here for brunch as well on Sunday because it was raining and yucky out in the morning & we knew Bloom's was good, reasonably priced, & close by. I had the corned beef again because, hey, when am I going to get the chance again to have such good corned beef??


We went to the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular which was MAGICAL!!!! I think this was the best show I've ever been to!!! Radio City Music Hall was so beautiful (our first time here), we had great seats (front row center on the mezzanine), the Rockettes and all of the performers were amazing! They even had it partially 3-d which was so fun! We would love to see this show again next year! We also went to Rockafeller Center & saw the tree & the ice skating (no time for the Top of the Rock this time), went to the World of Disney (what a shame that it's closing ), FAO Shwartz, Macy's, saw the Sax 5th Avenue windows, Time Square, & that's pretty much it. I have to say that even though the lines were long for everywhere (even long lines just to look at the Sax windows), they moved really fast & I was really impressed with the crowd control!

All in all, we had a wonderful time! I have to say I could NEVER handle living in NYC (I'm a slow country girl at heart), but visiting was wonderful and we will be back again.

Our next trip will be to visit Ellis Island and the Natural History Museum. We will likely stay at a different hotel for that trip because I want to stay local to the sites in our itinerary.

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and advice!!
Our next trip

Glad you had a great time! It's been a long time since I had seen the Christmas Spectacular. ETA - When you plan your next trip, make sure to go to www.menupages.com. The web site has a list of restaurants in the city with customer reviews and sometimes links to the restaurant web sites. It was a huge help to DH and I back in September when we were planning our 10 year anniversary weekend in the City.

My family and I were in there on Saturday as well and had to for go a few places that we always do each year. We skipped Santa at Macy's b/c of the 1.5 hour wait (we took DS7 in to see Santa at Macy's the last 2 years anyway), however, we did catch the "Miracle at 34th Street" puppet show again and enjoyed that.

We then headed to Times Square to go Juniors for lunch (1/2 hour wait, but we are used to that anyway) and had a great lunch. Afterwards we headed to the Hershey store to find out that there was a line out the door for the first time (I can understand that since it's only one floor and very small inside). Ok, forget that this year, let's go across the street to the M&M store (where there are 3 floors). Another line just to get in? Ok, let's forget this one this year as well. So we grabbed a taxi and headed to....

The World of Disney store. There was another line just to get in there as well, but at least it was constantly moving and we wound up spending over $100 there (ok, I don't think we were expecting to spend that much, but the store is closing). Afterwards we walked to FAO Schwarz where there was another line, but one that also kept moving and didn't stop (I wasn't too impressed with it). Then we headed to see the tree (which was much smaller than in previous years) and afterwards, caught the 9:16 pm train back home.

I was surprised that it wasn't as cold as in previous years. I'm used to it being in the 20's when we go in. But overall we had a great time and we are looking forward to going back in to catch a Broadway show next time.

 

[aristocatz]

Glad you had a great time! It's been a long time since I had seen the Christmas Spectacular. ETA - When you plan your next trip, make sure to go to www.menupages.com. The web site has a list of restaurants in the city with customer reviews and sometimes links to the restaurant web sites. It was a huge help to DH and I back in September when we were planning our 10 year anniversary weekend in the City.

My family and I were in there on Saturday as well and had to for go a few places that we always do each year. We skipped Santa at Macy's b/c of the 1.5 hour wait (we took DS7 in to see Santa at Macy's the last 2 years anyway), however, we did catch the "Miracle at 34th Street" puppet show again and enjoyed that.

We then headed to Times Square to go Juniors for lunch (1/2 hour wait, but we are used to that anyway) and had a great lunch. Afterwards we headed to the Hershey store to find out that there was a line out the door for the first time (I can understand that since it's only one floor and very small inside). Ok, forget that this year, let's go across the street to the M&M store (where there are 3 floors). Another line just to get in? Ok, let's forget this one this year as well. So we grabbed a taxi and headed to....

The World of Disney store. There was another line just to get in there as well, but at least it was constantly moving and we wound up spending over $100 there (ok, I don't think we were expecting to spend that much, but the store is closing). Afterwards we walked to FAO Schwarz where there was another line, but one that also kept moving and didn't stop (I wasn't too impressed with it). Then we headed to see the tree (which was much smaller than in previous years) and afterwards, caught the 9:16 pm train back home.

I was surprised that it wasn't as cold as in previous years. I'm used to it being in the 20's when we go in. But overall we had a great time and we are looking forward to going back in to catch a Broadway show next time.

Thank you for the tip about the menus website!! We will be sure to check that out for our next trip! We noticed that restaurant, Junior's, but we had already grabbed pizza at that point.

I was actually really impressed with FAO Shwartz. Last time I was there was I think in the early 90's, so lots of changes!! I LOVED the create your own Muppet station & the Style your own Barbie! I wish they had one of those when I was a kid! I'm not sure how much it cost, but we were watching a little girl watch her Barbie "walk the runway" & I'll tell you, I"m sure it was worth the money just to see this little girl's face when her Barbie came out-it was priceless!!! I wasn't a big fan of the adopt a baby doll thing with the saleswomen dressed like nurses. I'm sure the kids love it, I just found it a little bit weird for my taste.

The Disney store was HUGE! Why is it going out of business? They seemed so crowded when we were in there!

 

[cybrkitn]

I was actually really impressed with FAO Shwartz. Last time I was there was I think in the early 90's, so lots of changes!! I LOVED the create your own Muppet station & the Style your own Barbie! I wish they had one of those when I was a kid! I'm not sure how much it cost, but we were watching a little girl watch her Barbie "walk the runway" & I'll tell you, I"m sure it was worth the money just to see this little girl's face when her Barbie came out-it was priceless!!! I wasn't a big fan of the adopt a baby doll thing with the saleswomen dressed like nurses. I'm sure the kids love it, I just found it a little bit weird for my taste.

The Disney store was HUGE! Why is it going out of business? They seemed so crowded when we were in there!

Ah yes, the make your own muppet . We were thinking of letting DS7 do it until we found out the price and got a sticker . The cost was $117 b/c they use the same material that the actual muppets are made out of.

The World of Disney Store is closing b/c the lease is too high for them. We are going to miss the store. I was able to get Christmas ornaments and a few other items without having to make a trip down to WDW.