NYC Trip Combined With Disney Cruise

[Melcatfish]

Hi All,

It has been a couple of years since I have been a regular on this board as we have only done Disney Cruise Line since our trip to Florida in 2009.

We booked a 5 night Disney Cruise leaving from New York City for August 2012 and it seems crazy to fly across the Atlantic and not stay for a while so I have a couple of questions that I hope someone might be able to help with...

1) Flights - I know I book these around 11 months out - is it 11 months from the return or departure date?

2) Top tips for booking flights from London to New York - there are four of us, not a hope of business or first class - we are looking for the most competitive price. So tactics for getting this and specific carrier recommendations gratefully received!

3) As per above, we have two young daughters - they will be 7 and 4 when we go. Any recommendations for good hotels in New York which are conveniently located, can fit four in a room. While I don't want to "splurge" on extravagance on the hotel equally I am not so set on cheapest possible like I am for the flight. To me the flight is a means to an end, the hotel room can eat a bit more budget then!

4) Any general tips on NYC with small children?.....

Thanks in advance,
Mel
x

 

[wayneg]

Hi Mel
Flights can be booked 11 months from your return date but I find NYC prices expensive at this point, wait for a sale/offer, its still one place thats usually reasonable to fly to.

Can't help much with Hotel we stayed at the Crown Plaza Times sq, amazing view of Times Sq and Empire state building from our window but its was £150/night back in 2002.

Top tip is seeing the original Winnie the Pooh toys, one of highlights of our trip.
http://www.just-pooh.com/toys.html
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/treasures/items/show/28

 

[disneyholic family]

check tripadvisor.com for hotel recommendations and expedia.com for pricing...
just to get an idea for now...to figure out how much you want to spend....
it will be easier to recommend hotel options once you indicate how much you're willing to spend..

as for what to see with little ones...
The Central Park Zoo - even my big ones love it there...certainly your little ones will enjoy it....it's conveniently located - right in central park....if you're there for feeding, it's even more interesting...

normally i suggest the hop on/off double decker bus - as it provides the best overall view of the city, but your kids are a bit young to care about the city..
on the other hand, they might enjoy the bus ride for what it is....riding on an open topped double decker bus....or maybe not...

if you don't mind taking them into a store, FAO Schwarz is as fun a toy store as can be...
the flagship store (the one shown in the movie Big, with Tom Hanks) is on 5th avenue and 58th street (near the plaza hotel and the southeastern entrance to central park)....it's an amazing store, but i don't know if you want to take little ones who will want to buy everything in it...

i lived in manhattan many years ago, but not with little kids...and the first time we brought our kids there was when they were young teens....
my kids love the american museum of natural history, but again, your kids are too young for it i think...

 

[disneyholic family]

also in central park, is the Central Park Carousel....definitely good for little kids (and big ones)

 

[disneyholic family]

Since i've now directed you to two things in central park - and because i think it's one of the nicest things about NYC - when we lived in manhattan, we lived a half block from the park...it's really an amazing place...

ok...so...the thing about central park is it's ENORMOUS...
you could spend all week walking around it and never see all of it..
so you don't want to just stroll in and think you'll find what you're looking for....
you need to know what you want to see and how to get there...

here's the central park website:
http://www.centralparknyc.org/

here's the carousel page:
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/south-end/carousel.html

the central park zoo page:
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/south-end/central-park-zoo.html

the alice in wonderland sculpture (a park icon)
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/great-lawn/alice-in-wonderland.html

the playgrounds page (central park has many different playgrounds)
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-do/playgrounds.html

and the map page
http://www.centralparknyc.org/maps/

and that's only a small portion of what there is to do there..

again, central park is HUGE....GIGANTIC.....ENORMOUS...
so study up on it first...

 

[disneyholic family]

regarding places to stay - i'm not very familiar with what's there - we always stay the same place and it's definitely not cheap (a 1 BR concierge suite at the waldorf astoria) - although the concierge actually works out to be not as expensive as one might imagine, since we eat breakfast and snacks in the concierge lounge..
but anyway, i was looking around the internet and found a website that might be helpful to you:
http://gonyc.about.com/od/hotels/a/apartment_rent.htm

 

[Melcatfish]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses. I think we are wanting to stay around 4 nights in New York and I guess my tentative budget is £1k I have no idea really how feasible this is and there is (at this point) some flexibility in this bit of budget.

Love the links to all the Central Park stuff - had to LOL about thinking you can just stroll in to any entrance and just stumble upon what you are looking for - my DH would definitely think that way but I will need to have a list of what entrance to go to for each thing!

Mel
x

 

[disneyholic family]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses. I think we are wanting to stay around 4 nights in New York and I guess my tentative budget is £1k I have no idea really how feasible this is and there is (at this point) some flexibility in this bit of budget.

Love the links to all the Central Park stuff - had to LOL about thinking you can just stroll in to any entrance and just stumble upon what you are looking for - my DH would definitely think that way but I will need to have a list of what entrance to go to for each thing!

Mel
x

the zoo also has within it a children's zoo...
if you go, you really MUST go when the sea lions are fed...
it's a new york ritual - you'll see all the nannies with their charges lined up to watch the sea lions being fed....

i just checked the website - according to the website: The Sea Lions are fed every day at 11:30am, 2pm and 4pm

the zoo is located on the eastern side of the park between 63rd and 66th streets..

you enter from 5th avenue (on the east side of the park)...i think you enter at 64th street...(you can call the number that's listed on their website for more information)..

my kids love all zoos, so naturally the central park zoo is a highlight for them....it's a small zoo - not a huge safari thing...obviously, since it's in the city...but it's a cute little zoo..

i should add that there is a fee to get into the zoo - i don't know how much it is, but it does cost money...(the entrance fee includes the children's zoo)...

your kids are too young for it, but the first time we took the kids to new york, they were very overwhelmed by the size of it...
so to take it down to their level (they were young teens at the time), i turned the trip into the movie tour of new york....i kept pointing out places that they knew from movies they had seen (like ghostbusters - i took them to the new york public library, and to central park west....stuff like that)..
that was the only way i could get them 'into' the city (other than central park, which they loved immediately and the museum of natural history, which they also loved immediately)...but that's a completely different age group...

as for your budget....i think £1k is doable....maybe only for 3 nights, but maybe for 4 nights...
i think i heard somebody stayed at the radio city apartments - it's on that link i posted earlier...i think i saw a post by someone who stayed there and said it was reasonably priced and not bad and there was a kitchenette so they could eat some meals in the apartment....but i don't know anything about it...

 

[WiganTony]

May be worth also looking at Hotels.com for hotel bookings (book through Quidco for a further 10% cashback) as they have a price match guarantee up until a few days before you travel.

We booked with them for the Distrikt Hotel this August, and a few months after booking, a Kayak hotel tracker I had set up flagged up a cheaper price. When I checked, it was Hotels.com who were £200 cheaper, so I managed to rebook at this price then cancelled the original booking.

 

[Ladyshopper]

I've just subbed to this thread, as got lots of the same questions! We're also on a disney cruise out of NYC, but going in May for 8 nights. Am so excited, have always wanted to go to NY, and to combine it with a disney cruise is amazing. Really want to tag on at least 2 nights after the cruise to see some sights, but its all about how much money I can save up, as I know even the budget hotels are pricey!

Also will be looking out for bargain flights.

 

[sandshal]

Were staying at the Radio City Apartments in July - the 2 bedded room works out about £750 for 3 nights and gets 93% positive feedback on tripadvisor .... probably not the plushest place but the location looks amazing.

 

[Melcatfish]

Were staying at the Radio City Apartments in July - the 2 bedded room works out about £750 for 3 nights and gets 93% positive feedback on tripadvisor .... probably not the plushest place but the location looks amazing.

Sounds interesting - will look into it. As I said there is a bit of wriggle room on the NYC accommodation budget so any other suggestions let me know!

Regarding flights - I see Wayne suggests that the best prices are not always to be had as soon as the bookings open and maybe wait for a sale - do August flights ever come up in sales? Most of the time when I see flight sales it pretty much excludes school holidays... Also as a ball park, for economy seats what would be considered a good price on a direct flight and also on an indirect (I know for example Aer Lingus do London to Dublin and then on to the USA as an indirect flight)

Mel
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