OT: New York

[ellen82]

I understand It did have mixed reviews..some people said it was great and some had not.

My sister was looking for a budget friendly hotel, I read those reviews and two people said the biker location was a lie. It did have a lot of positive reviews for a basic location, which is what she wanted which is why I sent it to her.

I have a friend who is a manager of a large resort and I have seen reviews where she told me were lies so I always take some bad reviews with a grain of salt, into consideration but not as the only reviews to consider.

I stayed a brand new hotel in NYC in the Canal district and the location and feeling I had were worse than when friends and I had rented a condo! It was in a very noisy, dirty area. The hotel was beautiful but the location left to be desired.

I only recently found out that apartment rental was illegal in NYC. I was just stating that I had no problems with my experiences.

Usually I do research way into depth before booking one, going by reviews, talking to the owners and looking into the area.

I have the advantage of having friends living in NYC who can also give me feedback on the area before booking.

I am not a travel agent but its just the way I have booked things.

I will warn against Hotwire at times: A friend booked what they listed as a 4 star hotel and he got there and he said it was maybe a two star...I am very wary of Hotwire as you cannot see where you are staying until you book...

BBs are also a nice way to stay as well but price-wise can just be as high as a hotel.

I do stand by my statement that if you can, stay in Manhattan. I personally prefer being able to get back to where I am staying for breaks or between meals without having to travel too far. Its easy to get around NYC but I do prefer to not have to leave the island IMO.

 

[papertraveller]

Hi OP,

We did NYC two years ago and had a fabulous time. Our DD was 10 at the time. We flew JetBlue from Buffalo to JFK, then subway into town. We stayed at a Courtyard very close to the New York Public Library -- had the smallest room ever, with a great view of the ventilation shaft. But like Disney, you're not spending much time in your room!

We bought the hop-on hop-off bus pass, and ended up doing three of their tours: north, south, and night-time. They were great and we had loads of fun. We picked up our theatre tickets there, but should have bought them in advance. We saw Mary Poppins, Addams Family -- couldn't get Lion King though.

We did Rockefeller Center, which was great. Walked through a portion of Central Park, saw the World Trade Center site, shopped at Century 21, American Girl and Canal Street. We recommend Carmine's for great Italian (but difficult to get into -- I think we ended up eating at 10 p.m.), and a terrific pizza place off Times Square that I think was called John's.

Our NYC experience was just like our week in Chicago -- just with a few more people around! We're huge fans of both cities.

I will confess that when we talk about going again, we think we'll stay either in Jersey or in Brooklyn. Transportation is so easy in NYC that you can save a few dollars that way.

Have a great vacation!

 

[greenclan67]

Thank you everyone for all of the great advice. I wasn't trying to start any arugments at all. Of course, I am a planner by nature, and love doing it. So I always take every and all advice I get filter through it, (which most of it is awesome all the time) then cross check the info with trip advisor and other sites I can find. Of course I would always do that. I hope people would do the same with advice that I have given as well. It would def have to be something I felt comfortable with for my family and I, otherwise I wouldn't feel great about doing it!
Again, thank you for everything, everyone here on the Dis is full of so much great advice, that I can already feel NYC calling me. I have to wait til the last week of July to go, but gives me plenty of time to have all of my ducks in a row so to speak!

 

[YukiPhnx]

There's one thing I HIGHLY recommend. Scott's Pizza Tour.

Even if you're not a big fan of pizza, you'll learn a lot about the making and history of pizza from a guy that's really enthusiastic about all that is pizza. You'll also get a tour of the less touristy places of NYC, which is always nice.

I went on the Crosstown walking tour on my last trip in August and will be taking his bus tour this coming May. I'm not a big fan of pizza, but he turned me into a Pizza snob. You will not regret this tour, it's so much fun. It pretty much made my trip last year.

http://www.scottspizzatours.com/

If you DO go, tell him Yuki sent you! You can also see other reviews on TA. They all rave about him.