New York with kids

[mrs2cats]

We're off to New York in a few weeks time (flexible about days so might be 3 or 4 days) with our 2 children aged 11 and 13. I haven't been to New York for many years.

Just been trying to look through mumsnet at the must-see. So ideas at the moment are Central Park, the Staten Island ferry, Top of the Rock. Our kids aren't really into museums any more unfortunately .

What other places are good for 2 children who moan about walking too much?

TIA

Hi, we are thinking of this for next year so I have been googling but haven't actually been, I do know that if you want to go to the top of Statue of Liberty I.e the crown, you need to book in advance.

Museum hack may suit your kids

Tripadvisor has some good schedules and if you look at things to do in NYC on tripadvisor there is loads. Broadway theatre if they want some non walking time?

There's a book I got ages ago called 50 things to do in NY for kids (or something like that). It has some good suggestions. I think amazon have it.

We walked across the Brooklyn bridge, my kids enjoyed that. FAO Schwartz, the Plaza (because it was in "Home Alone"), Empire State Building (queues horrendous so we got express passes), Toys R Us and The Disney Shop and MnM world on Time Square, grand central station, Little Italy for Pizza, Ellis Island (they didn't really get much out of that tbh, was more for me), watching the local kids play basketball in the park and little league on Saturday morning at Central Park.

I'd suggest watching lots of films set in NY (most of them!) before you go. I went with my dp (without DCs) but my DCs still love pointing out places that we went to, bless them. Would love to take them one day so they can see it for themselves and as dp and I are big film lovers, most of our tourism was based around things we've seen on TV rather than cultural pursuits

We did 5 days last summer with our 12 year old and 10 year. We are all big walkers but we felt with the heat and the size we needed to sometimes take the subway.

The things we did that I remember were:

• walk Brooklyn Bridge and pizza at Grimaldis followed by a walk round Brooklyn and then a trip of the East River ferry
• Statue of Liberty (only just reopened so couldn't get tickets to the crown)
• Staten Island ferry
• Top of the Rock @ dusk/early evening
• Times Square at night (shopping at the massive Aeropostale shop and just taking in the lights)
• New York Yankees baseball (got tickets in advance really easily)
• Dinner in Chinatown and markets round about (Joe's Shanghai with their amazing soup dumplings)
• Lunch/dinner @ Shake Shack several times but one evening in Madison Square Park
• Central Station (great Apple store there)
• Wall Street
• 9/11 memorial (again booked in advance) and church
• Lunch @ Chelsea market (great indoor food market) followed by walking the High Line
• Greenwich Village
• FAO Schwarz

Central Park

• Walk 5th Avenue
• South Street Seaport (I think we walked from Wall Street and then over Brooklyn Bridge)

Plus we just meandered whilst looking up and around a lot.

Very jealous. There's so much for all ages to do there.

Off the top of my head I'd say Top of the Rock, Central Park, Staten Island Ferry (just run round to get straight back on the return ferry), Max Brenners, (google it if you haven't heard of it) Central Park, Roosevelt Island Cable Car, Shake Shack, South St Seaport, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Bronx Zoo ( wed is pay what you like if I remember right, oh and did I mention Central Park!

A trip out to queens and or Brooklyn is great if you like to get a real feel for the place. (Especially for Sunday brunch). We often stay uptown or off manhattan for that reason.

Also look up Mommy Poppins online for the latest on what's on. Some of the best memories we have are of going to more local/seasonal events. Have a great trip.

we're hopefully going soon too - dc will be 11 and 8 by then. Any hotel suggestions? We've been before but that was pre-kids and budget is lower this time!

Do you have to be a baseball fan to get much out of going? I know that sounds daft but I like the idea of going but wonder if it's actually quite boring.

Beanie we stayed at the Warwick, which was a good central location.

The high line is supposed to be good (though we didn't make it there)

Book your slot online for top of the rock, we also love the big bus tours, they do a deal with north and south loops and liberty / Ellis island ferry ... But if you can catch a ticket seller at Columbus Circle outside Central Park, you can negotiate

We also did the lion king, ground zero, Times Square, Chinatown for dinner (look for good dumplings on Yelp) and little Italy for ice cream / coffee. Kids are 5 and 9, we did 3 days in May and had a great time.

Baseball is boring, I find American football is too, basketball is much better (we live in the USA) .... I would rather catch a hockey match in NY

Baseball is boring, I find American football is too, basketball is much better (we live in the USA) .... I would rather catch a hockey match in NY

Thanks butterflies, will remember that

I'm not a baseball fan at all.

Having been to baseball, basketball and American football in the US, they are all a bit boring to a certain extent as they are so slow - lots of breaks/innings/time-outs etc. I was expecting more from basketball which I actually quite like ( we saw Boston Celtics so a big team) but it was just as slow as the rest plus you're indoors.

Like all sports you can get a good and a bad game but I thought out of the 3, basketball was a better all round experience for the kids with the singing, music, food/snacks, price, free caps (maybe just the day we went) and the groundsmen dancing to YMCA with their brushes part way through. Plus it's a bit like rounders so the kids could relate to it.

Plus I felt it was a more typical all-American experience.

"BeanieBabe" we stayed here:

www.affinia.com/Dumont

It was good because you got a small kitchen with large fridge microwave etc which was useful for breakfast occasionally, drinks and snacks. It is on 34th street so right down from Macy's and the Empire State and a short walk to the East River ferry, Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station and just around the corner from a Subway station.

New York hotels are expensive but we got a really good deal on this one. We had a studio sweet with 2 Queen beds.

They also have wine hour at 5pm where they serve free wine and nibbles for guests, if that takes your fancy!

Hi, going to NYC next year with 7 year olds, 5 nights.

So far on list:
Statue of Liberty and ellis island, book crown in advance
Central Park
Fao shwarz
Dylan's candy store
Empire State or top of rock or both, depending on how many views from top we want
Nicks game
Dinner at johns pizzeria Times Square
Poss dinner china town, we are staying Times Square, is that going to work for convenience?

Have ruled out Broadway show due to cost

Thinking of doing the New York pass, is it worth it?

Will google the other things on this threAd

We were there this weekend with 12 10 and 7 yo. Best thing we did was water taxi. We got on at pier 79, saw the whole skyline from the boat and got off at brooklyn for lunch. Great pizza place called jiulianas.

Also central park, empire state and the high line.

It was amazing!

Thanks titty how do I get to pier 79, where is it?

All of the above and also the USS Intrepid. Great fun inside and out.

Water taxi info is here:

www.nywatertaxi.com/tours/hop

We bought tickets online beforehand but I expect you could buy them at any stop.

We had planned to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and get back on it on the Manhattan side, but it was too hot and the kids were too tired.

Pizza place is here:

julianaspizza.com/

It was amazing.

Also forgot to mention that Dylan's Sweet Shop is well worth a visit.

Thanks titty, Dylan's in on the list. Will add water taxi. Thanks

I would agree about not seeing baseball. 4 hours of eating and drinking, people getting up and going to the loo and chatter. No-one watches the game. The planes flying over were more interesting! Definitely not for children.

My children loved Central Park. Girls like Tiffany's, and MoMa is great even if you just see the iconic pictures. Top of the a Rock is worthwhile and so is Ellis Island. We also did the Staten Island Ferry. There are also many fabulous buildings to see and interesting areas such as Greenwich Village and the Meatpacking District. Just looking at people can be great fun - and that's free!

We went to the New York Aquarium, it was great! It's at Coney Island which is brilliant..

We did the pier 79 boat too. It was great. We did that the first day and it really helped us to get our bearings.

We also did baseball batting cages at Chelsea Piers, and a lovely lunch.

www.chelseapiers.com/fh/drop-in/batting-cages.cfm

We did baseball in Toronto, and I would agree that it is a bit boring for kids.