Does anyone think my New York itinerary is missing anything?

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

New York Trip with DH and DS's 10 and 7 I'm just over a month and I've had the time over Christmas to come up with an itinerary. Can anyone spot any problems with it such as 'must do' things missed or any things in there that are a waste of money.

Day 1: arrive at approx 9am having left UK at 6am so find hotel (near Time Square) to drop bags off then explore Time Square, 5th Avenue area including M&M world, Macy's etc check in at 3pm dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner then have a relaxing evening in the hotel and an early ish night
Day 2: Central Park, Central Park Zoo and Ice skating at the Woolman rink
Day 3: Natural History Museum and Rousevelt Tram
Day 4: One world observatory, 9/11 memorial (not the museum), Staten Island Ferry, Sea Glass carousel then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to watch Basketball at the Barclays Centre.
Day 5: The Highline, Trump Tower and anything else we ran out of time to do on the other days or things we want to go back to etc
Day 6: check out and fly home

Make sure you do a proper diner breakfast whilst there - you may be paying for breakfast at hotel anyway as it’s common in US. I think someone mentioned the diner/cafe on corner of union just up from Meat Packing district.

I wouldn’t do Ellis island or Statue of Liberty because it’s exhausting and a whole day trip really. —one of the biggest rows me and DP ever had was after waiting for aaaages to go in Statue of Liberty he saw the inside and what the staircase was like and chickened out and we had to go back down against the whole queue!! (Was before 9/11)

Empire State yes!!

Don’t forget a bit of wandering around. All the flyers of the skyscrapers are public and each one has its own style, sculptures, fancy lifts etc. (If you like design this is ace)

+1 for definitely the Empire State because as I said before its so iconic.

Agree also that MOMA is fantastic.

Tenement museum- brilliant.

Proper New York pizza. Arturios is amazing!

Sorry ‘flyers’ = foyers

Essabagel do a mean breakfast

the best "real" food is in the streets rather than the avenues

2nd Avenue between 20 and 40 is great for cheap eats

Francis I think you got really lucky in immigration, I’m really envious. I find arrivals at JFK the absolute pits. Everything from the low ceiling, the cat Von coloured stucco, the heat, the preposterous lines, the shouty women that point people to lines and the obnoxious, offensively stupid Homeland officials (during Eboka crisis: you’re from Sweden? Is that near Liberia?) to Phillipino tourists arriving from Manila who spoke perfect English (WHAT, WHAT?? I CANT UNDERSTAND YOU YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THIS LINE AND STAND OVER THERE)

DAY 5 ADD on the area around trump tower I think there are a lot few.

Big Apple Greeter! You just about got the right amount of time to request one here bigapplegreeter.org/visitors/ I recommend this to all first time visitors to NY and it is a great way to see a bit of the "real" city and learn some background stuff that isn't in the tourist guides.

Other than that I agree with a lot of others. If you can only do one, do TOTR rather than Empire State, although both are worth the visit. If you can do one at dusk and the other during the day it gives different perspectives. Do schedule early in your trip though so you can rearrnage if weather is bad etc. Staten Island Ferry is the best if you just want a sail past of the Statue, but Ellis Island is fab too and may be worth looking at fitting in (for a 7 year old I'd probably do that over the 9/11 museum I think). The Guggenheim is worth swinging past, if only for the architecture. And the Stage Door Tour at Radio City is good too.

I'd skip the Highline and Brooklyn Bridge due to weather, and would probably skip Central Park Zoo too - as someone else said, it's great if you live in NY, but a must see for tourists at all.

A lot of the things I've suggested are included in the NY Pass, so it may be worth looking at getting those. The beauty of these passes is that you can pop in to places and not spend that long without shelling out more money.

ineedamoreadultieradult, if you think your boys might be a little too young for the 9/11 museum, I would take them to the Intrepid museum instead.

The 9/11 museum is very thoughtfully done, but the whole subject might be a bit beyond a seven year old. But seeing a real a space shuttle, aircraft carrier and submarine would certainly not be.

We avoided 9/11 altogether when I took the kids. They love flying and I didn't want to risk putting them off the flight home!

I think Ellis Island is defo worth it, understanding the nation of immigrants thing is so important to the national psyche and also pleasingly anti-Trump. Think the story is very accessible to kids at those ages and loads of good books, I loved this one at that sort of age for eg www.amazon.co.uk/Wildflower-Children-Famine-Marita-Conlon-McKenna/dp/086278283X?tag=mumsnetforum-21

I was last in NY in March and I was also drawn to Trump Tower as political though defo anti-Trump. It IS basically made of gold so your DS won’t be disappointed! Easy to fit into your Central Park day, go to
Columbus Circle on the tube, have a coffee at TT (there’s a Starbucks) then start your Central Patk walk from the bottom right corner

Your trip sounds ace, enjoy!

If you have an afternoon nap you will wake up at 1 a.m., completely disorientated. I would push through but only as far as an early dinner then call it a day. You can use the early wake-ups to your advantage when sightseeing.
Bus tour is good to orientate yourselves and cover a lot of ground, less tiring than walking (things are a long way apart).
Even on a nice day High Line and Brooklyn Bridge will be freezing (nowhere to escape the wind).
The original Junior’s Cheesecake is in Brooklyn with a branch just off Times Square.
I’d only go in shops if you need to warm up, you can shop at home.
I loved Ellis Island but possibly the kids may not be old enough to be interested.
And FrancisCrawford - tell me when your experience with immigration happens to you twice.

We've been up both the Empire State and Top of the Rock. We preferred the view from top of the rock as you can see the Empire State Building and more of Central Park.

We also enjoyed a trip to Liberty and Ellis Islands. We couldn't go inside the Statue if Liberty as it was closed back then.

We spent hours in the National History Museum and some time in the Met and Guggenheim (the entrance hall with the views up the stairs is impressive in the latter.) dh went to the Intrepid and enjoyed that a lot too.

We also spent a lot of time in Central Park but that was in May and July, not the winter.

Dh and Dd enjoyed a sandwich at Katz Deli. It was busy but the servings were huge and apparently tasty.

Tbh once we'd done the bus tour we spent most of the rest of the time walking around.

Ellis island is well worth a visit. Very interesting,

Radio city music hall. Is beautiful. We took a tour round. Stood on the stage and met a rockette.

Grand central station is worth a visit.

Central Park was covered in snow, so you can’t linger.

I went the last week of jan.

It is so cold. You need thermals and prepare yourself for the chill factor. It’s biting especially down by the river. I couldn’t feel my thighs for most of the week we were there. So cold. Nothing like UK.

The Central Park Zoo is really expensive and is only just ok. You are probably close to $100 for a family of four, for a very small zoo. In bad weather, I'd definitely give it a miss unless someone is particularly passionate about animals. Central Park itself is lovely though, and you can tick off Trunp Tower on the way there.

I think the first full day you are there, you should do a guided bus tour. That way you really feel like you have seen absolutely everything and then spend the other says doing particular areas of interest. For first timers to NYC, especially for children , I'd say Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island (it's all the one ticket) is a pretty big one. Liberty Island itself will be cold and outdoors but Ellis Island is mostly indoors and fascinating, and could be pitched well even to a younger child. They will also like the boat ride!

Staten Island ferry is fun. The Roosevelt Island cable car (is that what you meant?) is also good fun and cheap, but is a bit out of your way for everything else for a small enough attraction. The island itself is very dull indeed but it does have a nice view of the Manhattan skyline for photo opportunities.

Empire State used to sell a ticket were you could visit in day time and then return for a second visit after dark, to get the two different experiences of the city. I agree that one tall building is plenty.

Visit the main library and Bryant park which has a winter market and ice rink also. Also go view Rockerfella Plaza while you are on 5th avenue.

You might get luckier with the weather but late January /early February is usually when the blizzards hit and walking in the snow is a drag. Make sure to pack for very cold weather

I haven't RTFT so apologies if I'm repeating anything:

If you like a dessert you have to go and have cheesecake at the Magnolia Bakery in Grand Central Station. You won't taste cheesecake like it anywhere else, amazing. They're huge though, is get one to share for kids!

The 9/11 museum. I know here are mixed feeling on this but I felt it was done in a very respectful way. It is quite harrowing in parts though, you know your kids best. If they are particularly sensitive, there may be bits that it's best you guide them around. The only thing I saw that I did not like at all was people taking photos in there - selfies with a blown up fire engine and the like. Awful, but that was the tourists not the museum.

If you go to Broadway I would highly recommend The Lion King, I think at the Minskoff Theatre (not sure that's spelled correctly). It was mesmerising. Floor seats are a must!

We also ate a Bubba Gumps on Times Square. Really tack-tastic tourist thing to do but the food was decent, not expensive and if the kids have seen Forrest Gumo they'll love it!

We have been to New York a lot and two things that my children always liked which (I think) haven't been mentioned are the Maths Museum and Governor's Island. The Maths museum especially has had an unexpectedly rapturous reception and has a lot of interactive exhibits.

Incase you don’t know this. There are no public toilets in NYC. So you can use ones in hotels. Cafes.etc for free without using their services. So if you do pass trump tower......

I’d skip Ellen’s Stardust Diner. I found the food was awful, entertainment was good, service was all false smiles, ‘give me money as I’m a struggling Broadway wannabe’. Bloody hideous.
There’s loads of places to eat in NY, and this one I regretted wasting my time and money to tbh.

I had an awful meal on Planet Hollywood. First and only time I’ve sent food back.

Immigration : I have an eagle passport so can only comment on the shit my family get.

Jetlag : if you are there for less than a week, stay with it
NYC is a 24 hour city - if you are up and about at 6am go with it

Famous restaurants : I was born on Manhattan and do not feel that I've missed out by never visiting one

Odd things to do : Union Square Market - good food, good souvenirs, good people watching

I liked the food at Ellen's. The queue was horrendous though and yes a lot of sob stories and buckets brought round for donations for the struggling actors.

Governors Island has an amazing junk adventure playground and fantastic views of the Statue of Liberty. You'd need to be wrapped up within an inch of your lives though!