New York Oct half term passes

[cheesenpickle]

We are going to New York October half term and im looking at planning our iternary. Passes seem to be the cheapest way but if you use these then presumably you can't book so you just turn up? Im worried about massive queues as its half term and spending hours doing that won't be fun at all!

im also wondering about eating in evenings. I don't want to spend time wandering looking for places but equalling booking every night seems over whelmiing and a logistical nightmare.we need reasonably priced places.

Dh has recent cancer diagnosis ( had op and now on monitoring) so haven't had time or head space to think about trip
so i feel last minute and v disorganised.

any insight/ tips appreciated.

Sorry to hear about your DH

Which passes do you mean? What sites did you want to visit? Where are you staying?

If you get a citypass you still make timed reservations for the attractions you visit in the citypass app (I haven’t used it but just looked on their website).

so sorry about your husband.

If you’re happy to eat in diners/pizza restaurants and the like, you shouldn’t need to book. But there are also amazing relatively inexpensive restaurants if you want to be more adventurous.
Are you going with children? How old? Where are you staying?

we are staying in long island city. i have a 12 year old so far i have that you need tickets for- The Ride, Summit one, Empire state , Radio city tour, Rise, 9/11 museum, intrepid, skyscape . Looking at city pass its on a few you have timed booking, the rest you turn up at i think.

I'm going October half term, I am not getting a pass as stuff we need to do it seems to be cheaper ad hoc. I am planning maybe 2/3 mornings breakfast in a diner and I'm hoping hotel has a fridge. I think we will grab and go meals most of the time. I think there is a street food market by Dumbo and also in Chelsea.

I think Long Island city is in queens so are you planning on eating in the evenings there or in Manhattan? It may be easier / cheaper near hotel.

I don't want to be negative but have you sorted insurance?

@fairlygoodmother any recommendations welcome for inexpensive good places to eat.

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky we haven't got insurance yet but know we need to use one that covers pre existing conditions.

i think in the main it might be easier to eat near the hotel and maybe do the odd evening in Manhattan .

maybe i should price what we want to do separately. just assumed the pass would be cheaper.

We went to NY in August and only booked the tickets for 9/11 museum and the Top of the Rock 2 days before we arrived.

We didn't do the pass as we weren't sure how much DD actually wanted to see/do and didn't want to run from one attraction to the next.

Alternative to Top of the Rock is the new One Vanderbilt tower next to Grand Central Station.

NY is expensive for food. Coffee/pastry in the morning for 3 people was easily over $30, the one breakfast at a great dinner was $50. OK, we stayed in mid-Manhatten.

Timeout market in Brooklyn is great for food. Loads of options!

Liberty bagels great for breakfast/lunch.
I recommend you order online to pick up so you can skip the queue

I would investigate asap. USA medical treatment is very pricey and if it is a relatively recent diagnosis that will also score it higher (I used to work for travel insurance)

(Sorry not trying to put any negativity on the holiday - it's just something I am always so conscious of)

Have a look on Groupon for passes. We bought them when we went earlier this year combined the Groupon deal with cashback on top cashback so every attraction ended up being about £17 per person. Definitely money saving.

Mondays were free for 9/11 but you need to be online to book super quick.

You need to sort your insurance.

Have you got your Estas?

The US (NY anyway) doesn’t have half term so it won’t be as insane as other times

Re food, most places require reservations as most people eat out (apartment kitchens are tiny so most ppl don’t cook slot at home) go early on and you’ll prob have better chance of walk in. Depending on where you’re staying will determine what’s around there. Remember the bill will be + tax + tip and it can be pricey as a result

You can search by location and price point on open table fkr decent restaurants

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky Sorted out travel insurance today fairly straightforward thankfully.
@buzzwordten on the list though only from reading another NY thread.
@reluctantbrit i think won't be having coffee/ pastry too often.
@fairlygoodmother would like to do mixture of diners/ nicer restaurants
@LittleMy77 hadn't thought of using open table thanks.

We went to New York last October half term (2022) - family of 4, kids aged 13 and 11
years old.
We stayed centrally near Times Square and breakfast was included at our hotel.
with respect to passes, we used the 2 day New York City pass which was really easy to use. You couId pre book time slots and move them around if needed. It was good value and we used it to for the Edge, Empire State Building, top of the Rock, air/sea/space museum.
Food wise, eating out was fairly expensive and as we are veggie we did specifically look for some recommend veggie places which were excellent.

Eating out is expensive but there are ways to economise - there are food trucks all over the city which are (relatively) inexpensive. Pizza’s are huge and a large pizza can easily feed 2.

There are numerous things which are free such as the Staten Island ferry & the Highline. Walking around Brooklyn at Halloween is nice too - loads of houses decorated in a way we Brits don’t go in for!

We went 4 years ago in the October half term and got a train to Sleepy Hollow. Google it. There are numerous things Halloween related (although mostly at night time) which could be fun. It’s a nice contrast to Manhattan too. I think Tarrytown is the nearest train station from memory.

Best wishes to you & yours, especially your DH

@Mummydoctor we are just working out the best pass for the number of sights we want to visit. its good you can move times as well.
@Whohashiddenthebiscuits thanks for the tip. im looking forward to Halloween especially the parade if we can get anywhere near it.

another question..Broadway shows. i know you can queue on day at booths. what time do you need to turn up and are you queing for hours. can't decide if better to just book direct but its so expensive. Its important we go at son does musical theatre.

Download the TodayTix mobile app and switch the location to New York. The prices seemed to be similar to the discount booth we saw. We used the app to book a show (I use it all the time for shows in London). This was back in 2019 and the tickets were delivered to us by someone from TodayTix on roller skates outside the theatre before the show. In the U.K. , the tickets are on the app and emailed so this might be the case now for NY. It’s a well known site & many people in the theatre groups I belong to use it without any problems.

However you do get your tickets, be aware that drinks and snacks cost WAY more than the U.K. on Broadway. We were stung £60 for a beer, glass of wine, Diet Coke and packet of M£Ms. DH was pretty choked!

@Whohashiddenthebiscuits Do you use the app on the day to get the tickets for the best price or could you do it a few days before ( but would you get the same discounts).

Gosh £60 that's ridiculous!

I booked mine about 2 months before - same as booking here, the closer to the date the less availability you’ll find on discounted tickets

We went in August for a week with the kids. We bought the 5 day pass with New York Pass by Go City.

We used it for bike riding around Central Park, no pre booking required.

Entrance to 9/11 memorial, just turn up, we went in the morning and waited half an hour to get in.

Empire state Building- we prebooked before we left the UK.

Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island/Liberty Island- we prebooked before we left the UK.

We did a sunset cruise, which had sold out by the time we arrived so they gave us tickets for the next day so we didn’t have to queue again.

Hop on hop off bus no pre booking required.

We watched a baseball game which we could have done on the pass but we didn’t want to risk it selling out so bought tickets separately.

Summit 1 was a massive hit with our DC so I would recommend that but don’t think you can do it on the pass. We were given free tickets by our booking agent.

We saved money by doing the pass.

Food wise - we just found food depending on where we were as trying to plan ahead and being in certain places at specific times was too stressful.

Our most expensive meal was breakfast at Ellen’s Stardust Diner but it was worth it as the waiters/waitresses sing show songs while you’re eating ( we don’t really drink alcohol so that kept the prices down)We did this on our first full day there as we were awake early and there can be queues to get in. They don’t start singing until 8.00am though so aim for that time if you go.

What are you doing about money?

I didn’t want to take lots of cash so I opened a chase account as you can withdraw cash from them free of charge ( there are lots of branches in New York) and they don’t charge you for using your card.

I’m using it now I’m back too as they are currently giving 1% cash back up to £1500 spending a month.