Plan for our first trip to NYC, Please help

Hi all,

We%26#39;re coming a long way from Sydney and its hot summer to NYC with two teenagers. With lots of great help here (thanks a million guys), we%26#39;ve worked out our plan as outlined below. Please make as many comments as you see fit. We only got one week to go ... can%26#39;t wait. Many, many thanks again

Ny itinerary

Sat 24th Dec: Arriving ~2pm, Catch taxi to Embassy suite hotel in Downtown Manhattan. Find something to eat, then maybe shopping for warm clothes at Century 21 (only if needed). Go to bed early

Sun 25th Dec: Ice skating in Central Park and 5th Ave for Shop windows displays, St Patrick鈥檚 cathedral, Rockefeller centre and Diamond district. Chinatown for late lunch then Xmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall at 7pm

Mon 26th Dec:

Morning: Lower Manhattan including World Financial Centre, Winter Garden, Ground Zero, St Paul%26#39;s Chapel, Woolworth building %26amp; City Hall, Cunard building, Wall St, Federal Hall National Memorial, Trinity church %26amp; Staten Island in the morning.

Afternoon: Shopping at Macy鈥檚 and ESB

Tue 27th Dec:

Morning: Upper East Side and Northern part of Central Park if not too cold. Windows shopping along Madison Ave %26amp; Bloomingdale鈥檚.

Lunch at Serendipity 3.

Afternoon: FAO Schwarz and Sony wonder lab, Model trains at Citycorp Centre

Wed 28th Dec:

Morning: Brooklyn boroughs with Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. Walk Brooklyn bridge if not too cold

Night: South Street Seaport

Thu 29th Dec:

Morning: Cathedral of St John divine, Children鈥檚 Museum of Manhattan.

Afternoon: American museum of Natural History

Night: Lincoln Centre

Fri 30th Dec:

Morning: Upper West Side with Lincoln Centre and American Museum of Natural History and maybe Children鈥檚 Museum of Manhattan in the afternoon

Night: Top of the Rock

Sat 31st Dec:

Morning: Cloisters if can see fire works from near hotel. Stay low key around hotel if want to see fireworks at Central Park

Afternoon: Met and Central Park

Sun 1st Jan: Bronx boroughs for Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights and the New York Botanical Gardens Winter Train Show

Mon 2nd: Chelsea

Morning: 6th Ave Shopping

Afternoon: Indoor swimming if not too cold or Children鈥檚 Museum of Art if too cold

Tue 3rd Jan

Morning: Queens for Queens museum, Hall of Science, a zoo and a botanical garden

Late afternoon to sunset: get on Top of the Rock

Wed 4th Jan: Last minutes shopping around Orchard St in East Village, SOHO, Chinatown

Thu 5th Jan: Flying home at 5pm so we鈥檒l see what we like most and do that in the morning

Plan for our first trip to NYC, Please help

Whoa. I think in general you%26#39;ve overplanned, but not badly. ;)

OK, first big NO, NO. Chinatown is all the way downtown (nearer your hotel) and everything else you mention on Xmas day is midtown including Radio City. Would make no sense to go all the way downtown to eat to go back uptown for Radio City. I think you need an eating plan midtown.

I%26#39;m not sure if they%26#39;ll be open, but Houston%26#39;s in Citicorp might be a good idea. I hear the food is ok, it%26#39;s not expensive and it%26#39;s close enough to the things you%26#39;re planning before and after without being right near Radio City which will be a mad house.

Another idea is doing a nice meal at La Mangeoire. They%26#39;ve got a very nice looking prix fixe for $35/person adults, $25/kids. Very reasonable and again, near Citicorp so reasonably well located for your other activities w/o being in the main chaos. Here%26#39;s their website.

http://www.lamangeoire.com/

Look under events and holidays for the menu.

Second bad idea, imo, is Macy%26#39;s on Dec. 26 in the afternoon. It will be a madhouse. Save it to later in your trip. I would do no shopping on the 26th.

Too much planned on the 27th. Spend the whole day uptown and do FAO Schwarz and Sony and Citicorp on another day. (Citicorp on Xmas day?) The Met. museum would be ideal for the 27th with the park.

The children%26#39;s museum is a waste of time with teens imo.

I have to come back to this later to absorb some more. ;)

Plan for our first trip to NYC, Please help

1 general observation, lots of museums and no theater? Imo, you HAVE to go to at least 1 show, even if it%26#39;s not on Broadway. Are the teens boys or girls?

Instead of the Children%26#39;s Museum go to the Met.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Egyptian and the Arms %26amp; Armor sections.

metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp鈥?/a>

metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp鈥?/a>

Whew.....

Jeez, I%26#39;m got tired just reading this plan.

Definitely a bit over planned, but, OK...that%26#39;s why they print menus.

I%26#39;d drop the Children%26#39;s Museum and substitute the Planetarium at the AMNH.

With two teens, I%26#39;d scrap the Century 21 shopping for anything and take them to Paragon sporting goods on Broadway and 18th. At least then you%26#39;ll have stuff they might actually wear.

When you say ';Lincoln Center'; do you have performance tickets or are you simply going to enjoy the space? If the latter, that%26#39;ll only take an hour unless you%26#39;re taking a backstage tour.

Two teenagers are NOT gonna tolerate FAO Schwarz, especially at holiday time. Substitute (or add) a round trip on the Roosevelt Island Tramway over the East River at dusk. If the night%26#39;s clear, the view looking West to the City will ';knock your socks off.';';

Have a ball.....try to eat in Chinatown.....the best is Dim Sum on a Sunday morning.

Travel safely,

Joe in NYC

Thanks so much everyone. we%26#39;re revising our plan at the moment. We realise that%26#39;s very challenging as well. We thought we%26#39;d map out most (if not all) things that we want to do and if we couldn%26#39;t do it all, we%26#39;d save it for next time (in a million years perhaps....)

Our two girls ages 13 and 10 and are particularly keen on music and hands-on arts, which explain Children%26#39;s museum of art in Lower Manhattan. We also try to amuse them as much as we could so in between shopping (which they%26#39;d rather not)

We wanted to see Phantom of Opera and planned to try our luck at the discount ticket booth once we got there. Now that you reminded us, we might try online nytix.com, thanks to this forum.

Thanks again everyone, we%26#39;ll work on our 2nd draft itinerary and post it here for comments again.

broadwaybox.com may have some discount codes listed for the theatre tickets? Just an idea :)

We are in NY around the same time, njoy your trip!

Emma

Well, without a doubt, you are very, very thorough. However, you may not be able to fit everything in each day. Take more time at fewer locations, and you won%26#39;t feel rushed.

I agree with previous comments: Many days are too jam packed. I thought the first liness were the whole day, until I read, ';Afternoon:...'; (By the way, I work downtown, but I%26#39;m not sure what the Cunard Building is on Dec 26th.)

Re Dec 31 - Could you clarify?

Re Mon, Jan 2: I know your kids like swimming and other things you mentioned, but I%26#39;d skip the Children%26#39;s Museum (and do the Met instead, as others have said), and the swimming. If your kids want to play some sports, go to the Chelsea Piers. Perfect since you want to shop in Chelsea anyway. Take them rock-climbing in the Chelsea Piers facitlies!!

http://www.chelseapiers.com/

In general, you%26#39;ve picked great things to do and see. Be flexible and have a great time!

For Tue, Jan 3 -- the Queens Museum is a great idea (don%26#39;t miss the Panorama!), and the Hall of Science is fun -- but skip the botanical garden (all frozen, nothing to see, and even in summer it is not nearly as good as the ones in the Bronx or in Brooklyn) and the zoo (again, the Queens zoo is the weakest of the bunch.)

However, you may want to consider going further into Queens to the end of the #7 line (Main Street) and have lunch in downtown Flushing, which has become the middle-class Chinatown. Check on line for restaurants -- the original branch of Joe%26#39;s Shanghai, for example, was the one in Flushing, not the one in Manhattan, and there are many other great Chinese and Korean restaurants within a block or two of Main Street station.

We could never thank you enough here. You%26#39;ve all been great help to us and in general all NYC tourists.Your kindness is what makes NYC such a special place. With so much info provided, I feel as if I already know NYC well even before arriving.

Anyhow, please help us one more time. Below is our revised plan for the trip. Please add recommendation for lunches and dinner as well.

Sat 24th Dec: arriving ~2pm. Check in Embassy Suite hotel. Grab dinner and go to Century 21 for more warm clothes if needed. Go to bed early

Sun 25th Dec:

Morning: Lower Manhattan including World Financial Centre, Winter Garden, Ground Zero, St Paul%26#39;s Chapel, Woolworth building %26amp; City Hall, Cunard building, Wall St, Federal Hall National Memorial, Trinity church %26amp; Staten Island in the morning. (Queensboulevard, the above landmarks are what-to-see in our guidebook, please let us know if any of them is a waste of time. Many thanks)

Afternoon: Chinatown for late lunch then go back to hotel to get dressed for Xmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall at 7pm (we thought it鈥檇 be nice to get a bit dressy for the show and thus taxi to the show)

Mon 26th Dec: lower Central Park %26amp; upper Midtown

Morning: Ice skating in Central Park then ride bus 5 along 5th Ave for Shop windows displays, St Patrick鈥檚 cathedral, Rockefeller centre and Diamond district.

Afternoon: If have time and feeling energetic, we鈥檒l go to a round trip on the Roosevelt Island Tramway over the East River at dusk. If the night%26#39;s clear, the view looking West to the City would be great

Tue 27th Dec: Upper East Side

Morning: Upper East Side and Northern part of northern Central Park if not too cold. Windows shopping along Madison Ave %26amp; Bloomingdale鈥檚 for Xmas deco (ride bus 1 along Madison Ave for shop windows deco)

Lunch at Serendipity 3.

Afternoon: and Sony wonder lab and FAO Schwarz (our kids love toy shop, so I thought I might still take them), Model trains at Citycorp Centre

Wed 28th Dec: Brooklyn boroughs

Morning: Brooklyn boroughs with Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. Walk Brooklyn bridge if not too cold

Night: South Street Seaport for Xmas tree and deco

Thu 29th Dec: Upper West Side

Morning: Cathedral of St John divine and maybe Children鈥檚 Museum of Manhattan.

Afternoon: American museum of Natural History and Planetarium

Night: Lincoln Centre just for the Xmas tree and deco (we don鈥檛 have tickets to any show yet. Please let us know if any show here you鈥檇 consider not-to-be-missed)

Fri 30th Dec: Midtown %26amp; Times Square

Morning: Grand Central Terminal, United Nation Headquarters, Chrysler Building, New York Public Library, Bryan Park

Afternoon: Toys r us and Times Square. MOMA if have time (free 4-7pm)

Sat 31st Dec: Met %26amp; Fireworks

Morning: If we can see firework at Statue of Liberty from our hotel room (we鈥檒l have to see which room we get) then we would go to Cloisters in the morning then Met in the afternoon. Back to hotel for a rest and wait for fireworks

If we could not see fireworks from the comfort of our room (or just feel like being at Central Park for New Year鈥檚 Eve), we鈥檒l just take it easy around nearby Chinatown, Little Italy then have a rest in the afternoon before dress really warm for MET and Central Park鈥檚 midnight fireworks

Sun 1st Jan: Bronx boroughs for Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights and the New York Botanical Gardens Winter Train Show

Mon 2nd: Chelsea

Morning: Shopping at Macy鈥檚, ESB then 6th Ave Shopping and Union Square green market

Afternoon: Indoor swimming if not too cold or go to the Chelsea Piers for rock-climbing in the Chelsea Piers facitlities if too cold

Tue 3rd Jan

Morning: Queens for Queens museum, Hall of Science and go to the end of the #7 line (Main Street) for lunch in downtown Flushing (Joe%26#39;s Shanghai) and there are many other great Chinese and Korean restaurants within a block or two of Main Street station.

Late afternoon to sunset: get on Top of the Rock

Wed 4th Jan: Last minutes shopping around Orchard St in East Village, SOHO, Chinatown

Thu 5th Jan: Flying home at 5pm so we鈥檒l see what we like most and do that in the morning

Looks like a great trip--can I join you? :)

Per your request, here are a few meal suggestions:

Dec 26th. You%26#39;ll be around St. Pat%26#39;s and Rock Center. There%26#39;s a little coffee shop-type place on 51st between 5th and Madison called Prime Burger. They have counter and table seating, but also these seats that I think kids your age might like, where you%26#39;re sitting down in seats arranged in a U-shape, and each seat has a swing-arm that serves as your table. I get a kick out of it, and I%26#39;m just a wee bit older than 10. Regardless of the seating, it%26#39;s a good place for a basic lunch of a burger/sandwich. Others on these boards have recommended the cafe in Rock Center, underground, that affords a view of the ice skaters.

Dec. 27th. If you eat dinner in the area of your hotel, there are a bunch of good places in TriBeCa (and I%26#39;m sure new ones that have opened up since I worked there a few years ago). Petite Abeille, on West Broadway, is good for mussels, fish, salads, etc. Bennett%26#39;s, which is right next to door to it, seems like a good, basic family place. Check www.menupages.com for other restaurants in the area (check Financial District and TriBeCa).

Thursday the 29th. If you need a snack after the cathedral there%26#39;s the Hungarian Pastry Shop on Amsterdam and 111th. Admittedly, the pastries are actually not so great, but it%26#39;s a long-time Columbia University hangout and a good place to get in out of the cold. Not too many students around this time of year, though. For a bite closer to the Children%26#39;s Museum, Cafe Edgar is on 84th between Broadway and West End, and on Amsterdam there%26#39;s Fred%26#39;s, Good Enough to Eat, Flor de Mayo, all of which I like. There%26#39;s also EJ%26#39;s, which I%26#39;ve never been to, and Artie%26#39;s delicatessen on Broadway, which again I%26#39;ve never visited but people seem to enjoy.

Friday you could eat, cafeteria style, at Grand Central, in the food court in the downstairs area. Grab a table and set out for sandwiches, soup, etc. Also branches of different restaurants (Mexican, Indian). Many posters on this board stop here for cheesecake at Junior%26#39;s and seem to love it.

Hope that helps. Have a wonderful trip!