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

In New York at the moment. Truly a trip of a life time!
Tips if you can afford to book the express fast passes for the observatory/ Empire State/ Statue of Liberty. The ques are very bad and in the cold it’s truly worth it. Even with the fast pass we queued for an hour for the Statue of Liberty and as it was so cold we were nearly passed out.
With the kids it might be hard to do so much each day. We did world trade observatory and the Statue of Liberty on our second day and we’re so so so tired had to go back to the hotel to sleep from 3pm until the next day :( The jet lag affected me and the kids very badly (hubby not too much, he’s been doing some of his own adventures while we nap/ rest at the hotel).
Dont want to put a downer as I absolutely love New York and it was my dream, just was completely unprepared at how tired I would be! And I still wake up at 4am each day and can’t seem to last past about 8pm (so 9 am and 1am uk time).
We did both empire and world observatory and I loved both, if I had to choose I would go with Empire State. But definitely get an express pass, it’s expensive but you won’t regret it :) The Empire State has an outside bit and is more iconic. The world observatory is a bit taller and more modern and spacious at the top, the Empire State felt a little enclosed.

Have fun!

I'd totally recommend a quick burger at the Burger Joint in The Parker Meridian (hidden behind a curtained wall) and seeing if you can catch a game (of anything!) at Madison Square Gardens.
I can't wait until our kids are old enough to go - enjoy!

I haven't RTFT since my last post but having done the Empire/TOTR and One World - I'd definitely go for One World - there's a really cool lift that shows you how Manhattan was built through a projection on the wall and it manages queues well and get to it inside from the subway (not to be underestimated in January weather. If you want to save money, the Met has a 'suggested' donation to get in but in reality you can pay whatever you want from 1c though most people make it at least 1$. If you're there on a Friday, bearing in mind the likely weather, think about going to the Museum of Moving Image www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/. It's (just) in Queens but the subway ride gives a good view of Midtown (if I remember rightly, I think I do), it's free between 4-8pm on Fridays and it's fabulous for kids and warm. I'd avoid going to Ellis Island (great though it is) and Statue of Liberty - the ferries are a pain and take up a lot of time when there's so much else to explore and hanging around in the cold is no fun for either adults or kids. I'd agree that Central Park Zoo probably isn't worth the cost and do pick up a copy of Time Out NY from your hotel. New York often has great events for kids, quite often free. New York is magical and you're going to have a fab time.

Top of the rock is a must

I just got back from NY. It was very cold but with enough clothing was fine. Our highlights were taking the NY Water Taxi www.nywatertaxi.com/ to Brooklyn and past the Statue of Liberty, The Ride was great fun, Greenwich Village was my fav place especially Joes for a slice of pizza and Grom next door for ice cream, ice skating also a must do in winter, I'm not a fan of the Empire State - TOTR is better, Times Square was a nightmare as there were too many people (make sure you all use the loo before you go there - I ended up in tears as I was so desperate and the queues were miles long everywhere and only customers could use loos in McDonalds etc).

Oh and we didn't have to queue for the empire state we just got there early on our first day as we woke at 5 am anyway and it opens at 8.

Think I'd be prepared to be much more flexible. It is likely to be extremely cold, and with the itinerary you have planned, I think you, and especially your children, are likely to be exhausted by day 3. I'd just make a list of some 'must sees' and fit anything else around them, depending on the weather and how you are all feeling. Not trying to quash your enthusiasm at all, just being realistic.

Personally I wouldn't bother with Macys, Trump Tower or the M & M shop. Central Park zoo is depressing, and Central Park itself is so enormous you can keep yourself entertained there anyway (although again, if its really cold, you wont want to be outside for long). Times Square as a tourist destination has always puzzled me - its just a junction with billboards and thousands of people, there's nothing to see really. DD worked in Manhattan and she couldn't understand it either. There are so many other really interesting places to visit.

The poster who said to take a bus ride early on is spot on. It will help you get your bearings and might point you towards some places you hadn't thought of visiting. Am sure you'll have a fantastic time, and just to say we had a fantastic experience with immigration last time. We got chatting to the border guard and he asked us what show we hoped to see. I'd assumed he was testing us out to see if we were legit tourists I've watched too much Border Security on TV but once we told him, he ferreted about in his bag and gave us a voucher for half price tickets for that show!

I agree you might want to play it by ear. Some days we did loads and some we did very little dependent on kids energy levels. Also Ellens Diner is supposed to be fun but the food is apparently awful.

Oh and this place was great for breakfast empire-diner.com/ - DH reckons they have the best waffles in New York.

Get an Uber from the airport to your hotel.

Don't do the Highline.

Check what's on at the Guggenheim before you decide to trek up there. I went a while ago and it was a very dull exhibition.

Our favourite museum was actually the Cooper-Hewitt Museum.

Do The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

Rent bikes and cycle round Central Park but wear warm clothes including warm gloves.

Avoid Times Square as much as possible.

Do a night bus tour of NY going out to Brooklyn. Negotiate the price down as much as possible.

Don't eat at the touristy places. There are so so so many other great places to eat.

If you're in Chelsea at all there's Chelsea Market, a huge Apple Store and the Gansevoort Market has loads of different foods that kids would love.

I loved the High Line experience earlier this year, but that was in the summer!

When I went in my early 20s during heavy snow, one of the highlights was this cable car: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island_Tramway

I love, love, love cable cars and go out of my way to find them wherever I go. Not everyone enjoys them, but I would make a return visit if I was bringing my kids there because I know they'd love it too!

Don't bother it's the Natural History Museum, I like museums and even I was bored. If you expect it to look like the one from Night at the Museum it doesn't (a Museum in Canada was used for the entrance lobby). Don't bother with Trump Tower, definitely do try and see a show on Broadway.

Newme175 you’re exactly like me and my kids it’s took 8 nights here before me and the kids have slept properly I’m fortunate to be staying at a friends so plenty of time to do things slow I take my hat off to those who do nyc in a few days

We bought a new york pass when we went a couple of years ago, gets you into lots of places. We went up the rockafeller centre and empire state building and the views from top of the rock were much better. We saw Les Mis.... oh my god it was amazing! I'm so jealous, i would love to go back! Just take into account travel time in between attractions as well. We went to an interesting museum in brooklyn too, called the american transport museum (i think) it had all the old subway carriages from the past 100 years, and the intrepid sea, air and space museum was more interesting for my husband than me lol but it was ok, but if you have boys they would probably love it. Have fun!

I've just recently been to New York and I definitely recommend Top of the Rock over the Empire State if you can only afford one of the two. The views are better in my opinion and you get the view of the Empire State from Top of the Rock.

Have you looked at the NewYork City Pass? I used this when I went, might be worth a look if there's a lot you want to do. It's around £90 per adult and £70 for a child but it includes admission to 6 Attractions (Including Empire State, Top of the Rock, 9/11, a sight seeing cruise which was fab and some museums). It depends what your interests are but I found it cost effective.

I also recommend the Big Bus tour - There will be people trying to sell you tickets around Times Square and they can haggle prices quite well if they're trying to fill seats. We got ours for $25 each at night and the receipt said they were supposed to be $70! It has fabulous views at night and drives over the bridge into Brooklyn.

If you or your children are into Cookie Dough there's also a fab "Do, Cookie dough confections" basically a shop just selling loads of different cookie doughs and tastes just like the naughty stuff you eat straight from the bowl when baking!

Haven't rtft (sorry, didn't want to read and run).

You need to allow AT LEAST an hour to get through customs and especially immigration unless you have pre-clearance. Also it took almost 2 hours to get from JFK to Times Square in everyday traffic last time we went plus time to wait for the transfer coach/taxi.

Highline and Brooklyn bridge will be bitterly cold in winter, I wouldn't take my kids this time of year.

One World Trade Observatory was phenomenal and would be top of my list despite cost, Empire State too.

Trump Tower has BONKERS security too, not worth going in imo.

Very jealous!

I live in NY (in the burbs now) but was in brooklyn for 5 years before that, and here's my tips. I think some of your plan is a bit ambitious in regards to the amount of walking with two kids, but it all depends on what they're used to.

General tips:

• don't bank on clearing customs and immigration quickly. Different airlines have different terminals and not all have the passport / eye scanner gates. You can easily wait ~2 hours especially if you land at the same time as a flight from a non english speaking country (it generally holds up the passport agents whilst they find interpreters)

• be prepared for customs and immigration to be as rude as anything, if they're not, then you've won the lottery.

• go to the toilet before you leave the airport! - the time you're arriving you could well be stuck in rush hour traffic. If you take a yellow cab its a flat fare to manhattan (think about $50 last time I took one plus tip)

• Subways - Get an unlimited subway card. The subway here isn't zoned like London, its a flat fare to everywhere. You can buy a weekly pass each, or block buy tickets that you can share between you. Download a subway map before you come - the paper ones are shit and unusable. there are usually two lines- express and local. Local stop everywhere, express do not, and you can often find yourself sailing past the stop you want!

• look up opening hours for the museums; lots are shut mondays and tuesdays, and most don't open late

• Keep an eye on the weather before you come RELIGIOUSLY! It's currently -13C but feels like -17C with the wind chill . This will impact the clothes you bring and what you can do. I walked downtown yesterday for 30 minutes and it took an hour for both sets of cheeks to defrost afterwards

• Buy melatonin once you're here from the pharmacy. Its available OTC and its in the vitamin aisle - get the low dose 5mg one and it'll sort out your jet lag, if you have issues with it

• be aware of the 110 voltage we have - EU / UK hairdryers etc don't work properly here as a result

• don't forget our insane tipping culture - 20% standard in restaurants bars and cafes, and cabs, hotel valets etc also expect tips and everyone (ime) gets pissy if they don't get them

Your itinerary

• Big yes to doing a bus tour and getting those fast pass tickets as it'll get you places quickly without having to queue
• times square is INSANE. If you want half decent food etc venture a bit further out as a lot of the places round there are v v expensive and not great
• staten island ferry is a great way to see the statue of liberty without having to do the full tour. But beware of the walk time from the staten island dock manhattan side to the manhattan side of brooklyn bridge as its about 20--25 minutes,which again is weather dependent. Being right on the river will freeze your proverbial knackers off!
• seaglass carousel - id go to the one over in brooklyn in Dumbo if I were you instead if you're going over brooklyn bridge
• Brooklyn bridge is great if its not too cold, but go early as its mental and you have to watch out for death wish cyclists. Its a good 30-40 minute walk across the bridge and from the brooklyn side Its actually a bit of a hike from there to the barclays center if you have kids in tow. There's 2 subway lines there tho that cn take you to it
• DUMBO round brooklyn bridge has lots to do (carousel, new revamped park with semi covered sports stuff including an ice rink atm) also home of grimaldis world famous pizza
• Guggenheim - seconding the poster who said its not all that. The building is fabulous, the exhibitions are often of the 'rock on a plinth' stroke your chin and talk about juxtaposition type
• MOMA is much more worth a trip (imo)
• there's cooler stuff downtown like the tenement museum thats meant to be worth a trip and also seconding the brooklyn transport museum
• I'd swerve trump tower, mainly because there's nothing really to see and its a pita it get to as its loaded with security round there
• Also a fan of the intrepid as there's loads of stuff to see on there and its not all war based stuff
• I've done 1 WTC, TOTR etc and wasnt impressed with any of them tbh (call me a philistine..) as you have no real idea what you're looking at. Good if you want to get a view of the city and how far it goes
• Central park zoo is very small and not worth the $ imo- the bronx zoo is much bigger but its also much further out so appreciate it might not be a doer
• consider doing dimsum in chinatown if you want something a bit different - there's a decent place called the golden unicorn that caters for locals and tourists. Also try out proper bagels somewhere - Katz deli on the lower east side is a stalwart of traditional NYC cuisine (just be prepared for large portions..)

The Tenement Museum is really good.

Tiffany's even if it's just for a nosy round! There's an amazing yellow diamond on display on the ground floor. Would definitely recommend Empire State Building at dusk and watch it go dark. If you need a break for the city Greenwich village is nice to have a wander round and you can see the block of apartments which is shown in friends.

Junior’s Cheesecake in Brooklyn. The best cheesecake and lovely staff. They do good breakfasts too. Brooklyn is worth a visit anyway nice city centre decent shops and not as hectic as Manhatten.

Staten Island ferry is enough to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island museum is good, but, I'd prefer my children to see the Met (fab pyramid to walk through and classical architecture, weapon gallery with suits of armour on horses etc). Central park Zoo is lovely for smallies, yours are a bit too old. Bronz zoo is good, but, we were disappointed as animals were largely out of view in "Natural habitat". Moma has Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night. To save money, avoid tourist restaurants, there are lots of delis, just off the main drag, with stir frys and salads etc for $.

Agreed re skipping Highline in winter and adding top of the rock. Have you got grand central in there?

9/11 museum is amazing but does take up a good couple of hours

I haven't read the full thread, so others may have said this, but ...

you need to go to the Metropolitan Museum. It would be like going to London & not seeing the British Museum.

MOMA is amazing, and the Frick Collection is charming.

I would recommend spending some time on the Upper West Side and visiting Zabar's Delicatessen.

Also the Union Square GreenMarket (not every day).