NYC Vacation

Here are some ideas for you with links to reviews on things such as central park zoo, carousel, fao scharwz, etc.
http://www.bigbluetrunk.com/triplog/644

Hi. Can't answer all your questions but a couple of thoughts having just moved out of the city and having a 7 year old and a baby. Central Park is always fun for kids - and the zoo is great. Chinatown is another good area with lots of stores with little inexpensive toys to get and great open fronted fish and produce stores to look at. The tenement museum on the LES is also good as it involves walking tours of the actual houses. Don't under-estimate things like just riding the subway for an experience, especially if you are coming from a more rural setting. In terms of hotels, I used to live near one that was quite far north in the city but I think reasonable rates and had a pool (I suspect in mid-town pool hotels are limited and pricey). It was a Courtyard Marriott at 92nd and 1st. FInally for your date night, if you like Japanese food (not just sushi but something different but delicious) I would recommend a restaurant called Sakagura in mid-town - it is under an office building but just great. That's it off the top of my head - if I think of any more will add another post. Have fun!

We did that when my son was about 18 months. He loved the Central park, the zoo, the rides, the dancers, everything there. He liked the double deck buss tour (it was a nice warm day), he loved the little green spots between the buildings, especially the fountains there. He even waited on the big que for the Empire State Building. There were a lot of nice people on the que there... Toys-R-Us was an every day favorite. We stayed in Marriott right against it. Excellent hotel, but no swimming pool. We had a wonderful time and he did great. I think it is not important what you are doing there, it is important how is your little guy doing. If he is well rest, well fed and happy, you can do anything and have fun. Ignore the clocks in NY and follow his schedule. We had fun, hope you will too!

I went to NYC in 2004 (I think), before I had kids anyway, so will not be much help there, but when we went touring inside the Statue of Libery wasn't an option due to some renovation, but we were still able to take the boat out to Ellis Island and tour in there, which was great and interesting especially if you have family that came through there.

As for you and your husband my biggest tip would be to invest in tickets to a Broadway show. I saw Wicked in NY and in Seattle and the show in NY, sorry to say, was WAY better. It might have been the hype and the fact that the NY showing was before the Seattle one, but I'd still say that was the highlight of the NY trip.

Also, I went with a group of women from work so we went to Ground Zero and heard there were outlet stores nearby, but I didn't think they were "outlet" prices. We appreciated looking at the pictures and reading what was said beside them, but I could imagine that if I was there with my kids that it wouldn't be very interesting to them.

Anyway, those were a few of my favorites, oh, along with paying to go to the top of the empire state building - too bad it was a cloudy day! But, still a classic NYC tourist thing to do! I hope you have fun!

there are a million things to do, you can do nothing and have a million things to do... it depends how old your kids are. the central park zoo is great and you can do it in a couple of hours, nice and easy. you can easily spend the day in the park, the carousel, etc...museum of natural history/planetarium also. toys r us in times square is fun, dont miss the big dinosaur with the little kids. if you are going on a weekend or school vacation, things like the statue of liberty are going to have huge lines. a circle line tour is nice. the south street seaport is also nice on a nice day.

visit FAO Schwartz! :)

The Central park zoo is pretty fun and right in the city. It is small but still a fun stop. ALso take the kids to the big toy stores - FAO Schwartz and Toys R Us - they are pretty amazing! As for you and your husband if you are interested in seeing a show I would definitely say go and see "In the Heights" It is a newer show so a little cheaper and easier to get tickets and it is amazing!! My husband and I saw it last april and I thought he was going to not be too excited about going to see a show but I swear he liked it even more than I did!

We are also going in Sept. I researched online and googled "child friendly New York" and got a list of hotels etc.

GL.

I was in NY about 12 years ago and I loved it!! You should make sure and check out the Empire State Building. Its totally safe cause you ride an elevator up and there is fencing around the top so the kids can't all off. And lobby decor is just amazing!

On your date day you should check out a broadway play. There are so many to choose from right now that you don't even have to see a musical if you don't want to. A trick I learned is that if you in the afternoon, the play is just as good, but the price is a whole lot better.

Also, check out Little Italy with all of the bakeries and sweet treats. those are so fun. There was one I went to that was fabulous, but I forgot the name, sorry.

I hope you have a great time and good luck. PS don't forget your cell phone and plan on eating a hot dog and pretzel from a street vendor because they are so super yummy although probably not very good for you.

Statue of Liberty is a narrow staircase all the way up so probably not a good idea for lil'ones. Ride the Staten Island Ferry (not during 8:00am-9:30am or 3:30-6:30pm rush hour---super crowded!!) Central park Zoo, Planetarium, Madame Trusseau Wax Museum, Yankee Stadium (can go on tour even if you can't get tickets to a game), Coney Island, Lion King or Mary Poppins for the lil'ones on Broadway. ESPN Zone (before it closes),
FAO Shwartz, Serendipity in Little Italy, Juniors Cheesecake, Regis & Kelly, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, The View, Rachael Ray Tv show tapings, Ground Zero (History lesson for lil'ones), Sport Center at Piers on West Side Highway, Intrepid, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Hamptoms, etc. You can do a red double-decker bus tour, or helicopter tour. Also, a horse and buggy ride through Central Park. Is that enough LOL! Enjoy our cultural mecca!