Help me plan 3 days in NY

[Gabriel&Nana]

Hi !

We'll be at WDW Jan 24 2010 but first we'll spend 4 nights in NY (in a Times Square area Hotel).

It's our first time there (me, DH, DS16, DD13), that's why we need some tips about :

- Restaurants - not very expensive ones, good for families, like Carmine's.

- Winter clothes - I live in a hot place, so where we find inexpensive boots, coats for the family withouth going to Outlets (we are not spending time with this).

- Attractions each day - we made a list of things that we want to see, but I'm not sure how to organize it (we arrive Jan 21st in the morning and leave to Orlando 24th around midday).

The attractions we want to visit : American Museum of National History, MOMA, EMpire State Building, Madame Tussauds, The Statue of Liberty, Brooklin Bridge, Rockfeller Center (maybe), Walking on Times Square ...
Maybe we'll see Phantom of the Opera.

We'll be very happy with any suggestions

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hmm, have you gotten a guidebook? Or a map? Maybe you should plan around things that are close to each other.

You can definitely do Madame Tussauds on your Times Square day since it's right on 42st street.

The Statue of Liberty is pretty out of the way. Will you have a car? Maybe you could do Liberty Science center on the day you do Statue of Liberty. (It's in NJ.) The museum itself isn't that great but they usually have good IMAX movies playing. We saw one on the Hubble Telescope there a few weeks ago.

I would definitely book a show, like Phantom, because you are not going to want to be walking around in that cold for 3 days!

And skip the Brooklyn Bridge. Nothing to see.

Hope that helps!

 

[bas71873]

I have to run out, but will post more details later today, but we just spent 2 full days in NYC.

We ate at Mickey Mantels which is next to the Plaza Hotel right out Central Park. The Apple store is right there, FAO Schwartz and of course Central Park. This is a good place to eat if you have sports fans in the fam and the food was good.

We also ate at Ellen's Stardust Diner on Broadway & 50th street in Times Square. LOTS of fun. The wait staff are struggling actors & actresses and sing & dance the whole time. Again, good food too!

We also did Madam Toussads. VERY expensive IMO, but fun. I found coupons on line, but they also offer AAA discounts. We happened to be there on a AAA member appreciation day and got 25% off the tickets. WOO HOO!

Again, I will post more later when I have more time, but what I did, was google a map of NYC and I had already gotten the addresses of all the places we wanted to see/visit and I plotted out my days that way. We spent day 1 in the Central Park area and day 2 in the Times Square area. We didn't want to have to take the subways and just wanted to walk everywhere, but we weren't going in the dead of winter like you guys are.

Oh, Marshall and TJ Maxx. I got great deals on snow gear there last year when we (Virginia) got hammered with all that snow!

 

[bas71873]

OH. Get on line NOW and purchase and reserver your statue of liberty visit. They sell out MONTHS in advance and we weren't able to get over there!

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

Hmm, have you gotten a guidebook? Or a map? Maybe you should plan around things that are close to each other.

You can definitely do Madame Tussauds on your Times Square day since it's right on 42st street.

The Statue of Liberty is pretty out of the way. Will you have a car? Maybe you could do Liberty Science center on the day you do Statue of Liberty. (It's in NJ.) The museum itself isn't that great but they usually have good IMAX movies playing. We saw one on the Hubble Telescope there a few weeks ago.

I would definitely book a show, like Phantom, because you are not going to want to be walking around in that cold for 3 days!

And skip the Brooklyn Bridge. Nothing to see.

Hope that helps!

Thank you ! Yes, I bought a guide. I'm trying to plan this way, I'm just not sure of how many attractions we'll manage to do, cause I don't know how long each one would take.

Ah, and I'll skip the Brooklin Bridge

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

I have to run out, but will post more details later today, but we just spent 2 full days in NYC.

We ate at Mickey Mantels which is next to the Plaza Hotel right out Central Park. The Apple store is right there, FAO Schwartz and of course Central Park. This is a good place to eat if you have sports fans in the fam and the food was good.

We also ate at Ellen's Stardust Diner on Broadway & 50th street in Times Square. LOTS of fun. The wait staff are struggling actors & actresses and sing & dance the whole time. Again, good food too!

We also did Madam Toussads. VERY expensive IMO, but fun. I found coupons on line, but they also offer AAA discounts. We happened to be there on a AAA member appreciation day and got 25% off the tickets. WOO HOO!

Again, I will post more later when I have more time, but what I did, was google a map of NYC and I had already gotten the addresses of all the places we wanted to see/visit and I plotted out my days that way. We spent day 1 in the Central Park area and day 2 in the Times Square area. We didn't want to have to take the subways and just wanted to walk everywhere, but we weren't going in the dead of winter like you guys are.

Oh, Marshall and TJ Maxx. I got great deals on snow gear there last year when we (Virginia) got hammered with all that snow!

Thanks for your time !

I really liked your idea of using Google Maps to plot the "planning". And we are planning to walk and use the subway ...

I think your restaurant tips very interesting.

My daughter really wants to go to Madame Tussauds, so ....

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Hi !

We'll be at WDW Jan 24 2010 but first we'll spend 4 nights in NY (in a Times Square area Hotel).

It's our first time there (me, DH, DS16, DD13), that's why we need some tips about :

- Restaurants - not very expensive ones, good for families, like Carmine's.

- Winter clothes - I live in a hot place, so where we find inexpensive boots, coats for the family withouth going to Outlets (we are not spending time with this).

- Attractions each day - we made a list of things that we want to see, but I'm not sure how to organize it (we arrive Jan 21st in the morning and leave to Orlando 24th around midday).

The attractions we want to visit : American Museum of National History, MOMA, EMpire State Building, Madame Tussauds, The Statue of Liberty, Brooklin Bridge, Rockfeller Center (maybe), Walking on Times Square ...
Maybe we'll see Phantom of the Opera.

We'll be very happy with any suggestions

The natural history museum is on the upper west side. The planetarium is also there and worth seeing. Here's a few places to eat that are closeby the museum. The City Grill is very good, Isabella's is also good but a little more expensive. The Shake Shack is very popular and the kids would probably be very happy there.

http://www.thecitygrillnyc.com/

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/isabellas/menu.php

http://shakeshack.com/mobile/menu/upperwestside.php


Here's a couple of places by Times Square to eat -

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/ruby_foos_times_square/

http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/juniors_cheesecake/Juniors_Cheesecake_Home/Our_Restaurants.php

You can get jackets and boots that aren't too expensive (imo) from L.L. Bean and Lands End.

I'd do things around Times Square one day, the Statue of Liberty another day, and the Museum of Natural History a separate day. The Empire State Building can be fit in after the Statue of Liberty probably.

Here's another place to eat that's not far from the MOMA and there's also a location in Chinatown if you head there -

http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/

Have fun!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

One more restaurant -

http://www.virgilsbbq.com/

 

[gina2000]

Top of the Rock is right at Rockefeller Center. St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Museum of Modern Art are close by- both are worth the time and effort.

These places are all well within walking distance of Times Square.

 

[pixiepower1971]

Personally, I find Ellen's Stardust overpriced with bad service. Only once and only to say you have been

My family loves Celeste.(Upper West Side) It's a little cash only Italian restaurant at 502 Amsterdam Ave ( btwn 84th and 85th streets). It would be perfect for dinner after the Museum of Natural History. You can catch the 1 train (downtown) at 86th and Broadway to get back to times square.

My family spent a good bit of the summer in NYC. One of our favorite finds was the NYC Fire Museum.

 

[chabs]

When you get to your hotel, ask if they have a subway map. We stayed at the Doubletree in Times Square and they were very helpful with subway directions. It's surprisingly easy to use the subways and I'm one who always gets lost.

Definitely get online now (I think it's statuecruises.com) to book your Statue of Liberty visit. We didn't end up going all the way to the top of the Statue but that was ok. We (me, dh, kids 11 & 13) thought the Statue was a little boring-something to see but probably wouldn't do it again. We thought Ellis Island was really interesting. I would recommend that you reserve an early morning Statue visit because you will be standing in security lines forever if you don't. Then stop at Ellis Island after. I think the best way to get here is to take the subway from Times Square and then if you want to see Ground Zero, stop there on the way back. I found a NY map online and tried to book our days by the location of what we wanted to see.

We ate at Tony's in Times Square (family favorite) and also at Ellen's Stardust. Ellen's was interesting and I thought the food was ok. We also went way out of our way to eat at Serendipities and I was disappointed (ice cream was good-food was not).

If you don't end up buying show tickets before you leave, be sure to ask at your hotel. Sometimes that have discount tickets for that day's shows.

 

[tw1nsmom]

Also, if you're going to hit the Museum of Natural History, before you head back to your hotel go a couple blocks west and pick up some bagels from H&H and some gourmet treats from Zabars. They have Lox, cream cheese and all kinds of other deli stuff (it's on two floors). You can even buy a cooler bag and freezer pack to get it back to your hotel room. We live 3 1/2 hours from the city and when we do occasionally get down there those two places are always our last stops so that we can bring all that wonderful stuff home for the next days breakfast.

Also, we really enjoyed MOMA and they have a really good cafeteria/cafe with higher end food than you normally find in a museum cafeteria. It wasn't super cheap, but nothing in that area really is and it was very convenient.

If money is an issue and nobody is really interested in going to the actual island that the Statue of Liberty is on (it might be kind of cold that time of year), then you can get a good view of it and a relaxing ride on the Staten Island Ferry. It's one of the few free things in NY! You can take the subway to within a few blocks of the ferry terminal. You take the ferry to Staten Island and basically just get in line to take the ferry back.

Lastly, I wouldn't wait until you get there to try to find winter gear. It can get really cold and you'll really feel it if you're from a warmer climate. Right now you can check out the Overstocks section of Landsend.com and get some really good deals. I just glanced at it briefly and noticed that they have a woman's down jacket for $39.99. Winter coats, gloves, hats and scarves are a must if you plan to walk around the city. Warm, comfortable boots would be good too. You may have a hard time finding inexpensive winter gear with minimal shopping time once you get there.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

When you get to your hotel, ask if they have a subway map. We stayed at the Doubletree in Times Square and they were very helpful with subway directions. It's surprisingly easy to use the subways and I'm one who always gets lost.

Definitely get online now (I think it's statuecruises.com) to book your Statue of Liberty visit. We didn't end up going all the way to the top of the Statue but that was ok. We (me, dh, kids 11 & 13) thought the Statue was a little boring-something to see but probably wouldn't do it again. We thought Ellis Island was really interesting. I would recommend that you reserve an early morning Statue visit because you will be standing in security lines forever if you don't. Then stop at Ellis Island after. I think the best way to get here is to take the subway from Times Square and then if you want to see Ground Zero, stop there on the way back. I found a NY map online and tried to book our days by the location of what we wanted to see.

We ate at Tony's in Times Square (family favorite) and also at Ellen's Stardust. Ellen's was interesting and I thought the food was ok. We also went way out of our way to eat at Serendipities and I was disappointed (ice cream was good-food was not).

If you don't end up buying show tickets before you leave, be sure to ask at your hotel. Sometimes that have discount tickets for that day's shows.

I agree, Serendipity's is good for dessert but the regular food is just okay and overall certainly not worth the usual long wait. It was also closed by the board of health not that long ago for rats (it has reopened but I'm still not going back).

 

[tw1nsmom]

One more thing. If you're flexible about what you'll see, you can go to the TKTS booth in times square for half price same day theater tickets. It's a great deal and you can cross off Times Square from your touring list at the same time. They usually have a variety of shows available. What you'll want to do is find a listing of all Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and their descriptions and both familiarize yourself with them and even bring it with you. It might even be a good idea to prioritize a few shows you'd like to see if they're available. Here's a link http://www.tdf.org/TDF_ServicePage.aspx?id=56 There are tips and maps further down the page. There's also a link to what was available at the booths the previous week. It won't guarantee that those same shows will be available for you, but it will give you some idea of the types of shows you might expect.

 

[Nancyg56]

Check out broadwaybox.com for discounts on theater tickets

 

[amyren]

Yay! I ♥ New York!

Restaurants: Junior's http://www.juniorscheesecake.com & Ellen's Stardust diner http://ellensstardustdiner.com are both great for breakfast … both just of Times Square.
For lunch John's Pizzaria is great http://johnspizzerianyc.com
For dinner I LOVE Perilla in Greenwich Villagehttp://perillanyc.comor Da Nico in Little Italy http://danicoristorante.com
For a snack you must check out Magnolia Bakery…. world's best cupcakes. http://magnoliabakery.com

My favorite two activities are Top of the Rock…. in my opinion much better than Empire State building & walking the Brooklyn bridge great views of the city!

Have a great trip!

 

[LJRJR]

With regard to the Brooklyn Bridge....I think it is an amazing bridge. At one point I worked right near it and I would walk over it everyday at lunch time. I think the Brooklyn Bridge is a beautiful structure. Think about how old the bridge is and how it works. The views from the bridge of the East River are amazing. However, unless it is a warm sunny January afternoon, it might get alittle cold and windy up there. Also, with today being Sept. 11, lets remember how the Brooklyn Bridge helped many people get out of lower Manhattan to a more safe area, and even their homes.

 

[amyren]

With regard to the Brooklyn Bridge....I think it is an amazing bridge. At one point I worked right near it and I would walk over it everyday at lunch time. I think the Brooklyn Bridge is a beautiful structure. Think about how old the bridge is and how it works. The views from the bridge of the East River are amazing. However, unless it is a warm sunny January afternoon, it might get alittle cold and windy up there. Also, with today being Sept. 11, lets remember how the Brooklyn Bridge helped many people get out of lower Manhattan to a more safe area, and even their homes.

Good point. I walked it in early April and it was pleasant, I can imagine it being freezing in January.

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

The natural history museum is on the upper west side. The planetarium is also there and worth seeing. Here's a few places to eat that are closeby the museum. The City Grill is very good, Isabella's is also good but a little more expensive. The Shake Shack is very popular and the kids would probably be very happy there.

http://www.thecitygrillnyc.com/

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/isabellas/menu.php

http://shakeshack.com/mobile/menu/upperwestside.php


Here's a couple of places by Times Square to eat -

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/ruby_foos_times_square/

http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/juniors_cheesecake/Juniors_Cheesecake_Home/Our_Restaurants.php

You can get jackets and boots that aren't too expensive (imo) from L.L. Bean and Lands End.

I'd do things around Times Square one day, the Statue of Liberty another day, and the Museum of Natural History a separate day. The Empire State Building can be fit in after the Statue of Liberty probably.

Here's another place to eat that's not far from the MOMA and there's also a location in Chinatown if you head there -

http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/

Have fun!

Thanks Chloe ! I'm taking notes.
I'm gonna check these places, but you gave us plenty of options ...
As we have little time and so much to see, it will be time saving knowing a good place eat instead of walking in the freezing streets