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Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/23/2008 4:11:05 PM
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2shaye
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We will be in New York City at the end of June for 9 days. We've booked our hotel and air fare. Dh will be in a conference for at least two days, and we will all be going to a big banquet, as well as a few church services (Times Square Church). My dd is 13. We will be going with a very large group of people from dh's work. Dh has been once with work, and dd and I have never been.
I know, as a group, we will be going to the staute of liberty, Ellis Island, and a broadway show. I don't know what else they've planned. Also a few other ladies wanted to join us and go in together to rent a car and go to Niagra Falls.
What are some "must see/do" things in the city that are relatively inexpensive? Dh and I have to plan this out this weekend (or next). He MUST have a plan or will get frustrated and think we've wasted our money. He is not spontaneous. Oh, and none of us are really interested in museums - maybe just one.
Thank you!!!
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/24/2008 9:30:48 AM
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stellaluna
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Most things to do in NY are free or inexpensive. There's a zoo in Central Park--Central Park is worth seeing anyway. If you're only going to one museum, I would recommend the Museum of Natural History. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge...go to Coney Island...visit China Town and Little Italy...Rockefeller Center...the Diamond District...the United Nations...Empire State Building.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/24/2008 2:58:01 PM
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humbleinspirit
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Also, do the free Staten Island Ferry and see either the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island as well. Make sure that you eat at one of the fine establishments. Try to get free tickets to one of the shows such as Saturday Night Live, Late Night With David Letterman, etc. Take the NBC tour. Ride The Subway, see the Bronx Zoo. These are just a few things that you can do there.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/25/2008 12:54:17 AM
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brothertodd
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When did Staten Island go free It was .25 (manhatten side) free other side.
I do recoment the Circle Line -boat ttrip around NY, but it does cost. Walk around Coney island and the boardwalk, and if your willing to spend a little Take a ride on the Cyclone, and eat a nathans hotdog. I introduced my wife to one and she doesn't really like anyothers now.
I know you said you dont like Museums ..but i have to recomend the Museum of Natural History.
And a walk around the South Street Seaport -a mall, shops, old sailing ships. If your around the south ferry area. Its been over 10 years for me Im getting homesick
omG..no its been 20 years, man time flys. One more thing if you all like baseball see a Yankee game if possible, becaus ethis is the last season of the House that Ruth built, they are building a new stadium.
< Message edited by brothertodd -- 5/25/2008 1:04:04 AM >
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/25/2008 12:58:35 AM
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humbleinspirit
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Now wasn't Coney Island being closed this year?
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/25/2008 1:00:47 AM
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brothertodd
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i dont know
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/26/2008 3:03:52 PM
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techne
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MOBIA (museum of biblical art)
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/26/2008 7:03:59 PM
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humbleinspirit
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Not to mention the American Bible Society as well.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/26/2008 11:32:51 PM
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djv1255
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I visited the museum at Ground Zero. In the basement, you could post messages. One post from a little girl really got to me. It reminds me every time I think about it why we can't forget 9-11.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 10:33:45 AM
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iwillfearnoevil
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quote:
Can we do all these things in 5 days?
i think niagara falls is really pushing it. you're talking at least a 7 hour drive one way and that's counting no traffic into or out of city. plus there is walking to do at the falls, you just don't drive up, see them, and turn around. so you're going to be there at least a couple of hours and even longer if you want to do the boat ride.
also you can't do all those things in 5 days. nyc is big and spread out and very tiring. have you bought a nyc tour book from the bookstore yet? there is lots of walking and subways. i guess if you just want to speed by a building in a cab and not get out and go in it's doable. some of the things you listed are all day or half day activities. i believe a guidebook can help you narrow down your activities to what you think would be most enjoyable and then come up with a gameplan.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 10:54:05 AM
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Wild-Rose
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quote:
think niagara falls is really pushing it. you're talking at least a 7 hour drive one way and that's counting no traffic into or out of city.
I agree. I live in Rochester NY and it would never occur to us to see Niagara Falls and NYC in one vacation. It would be one or the other. NY is a big state!You don't want to waste so much time just driving around. Closer to NYC is the lovely Hudson valley. That would be worth a drive if you want a day out of the City.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 11:21:54 AM
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elastic
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quote:
Here's what we've got so far:
Broadway, or off - Broadway play
Niagra Falls (one whole day since the drive is so long)
Gimbals
Tiffanys
FAO Schwartz
Century 21
Macy's
Fifth Avenue
United Nations
Ground Zero
Grand Central Station
Union Station
Wall Street
Metropolitan Museum of Art
History Museum
McDonalds (dd really wants to go to the biggest one.....)
Greenwich Fillage
Radio City Music Hall
Empire State Building
Carnegie Hall
Madison Square Garden
Rockefeller Center
Brooklyn Bridge
Coney Island
China Town
Little Itlay
Diamond District
Federal Reserve Bank
Staten Island Ferry
NBC Tour
South Street Seaport
Bronx Zoo
Times Square
Must Eats
Boardwalk at Coney Island - Nathans Hot Dog
Asain Letterman guys deli across from theater
New York Bagels with cream cheese and lox
New York Cheesecake
Can we do all these things in 5 days?
I'd love more comments, ideas or suggestions!
ok, doing all of that in 5 days is only realistic if you aren't planning on actually staying at these places for more than 5 minutes each 
for instance, if you are planning on going up into the empire state building, you should give yourself at least 2 hours...you have to stand in line, then ride up to the top, then see the view, then come back down. it's not something you can do in 15 minutes...however, if you just want to look at it, then you'd be fine.
i suggest if you want to do the majority of these things, group the things that are closest together.
for instance: Macy's, Herald Square, Madison Square Garden, and the Empire State Building are all located near 34th Street. Easy to do in the morning.
Broadway, the McDonald's she wants to visit in Times Square, Times Square, etc..are around 42nd Street. Dave Letterman and Times Square church are in the same area, around 51st-ish streets. Grand Central Station is on 42nd also, but on the opposite side of the island. if you take the bus or subway across, you can be there in 5 minutes. (The shuttle or the number 7 train)
for times square church, unless your group has called ahead for seating reservations, be prepared to get there very early, approx. 2 hours before the service begins on sunday morning, to get a seat. That is why i changed churches 
For Coney Island, you need a day. it's located in Brooklyn and it's pretty far out. it takes just over an hour by subway to get there...if you are taking a cab there, be prepared to spend around $75.00 each direction.
Same for the Bronx Zoo....it's way out of the city, and you'd need a day to do it. you should just do the Central Park zoo, that way you could visit your FAO Schwartz and do all the 5th avenue shopping things, since they are relatively close together.
you could also group the following things together since they are all located downtown and are within walking distance of each other (if you have 20 minutes or so to walk from one thing to the other)
in no particular order:
South Street Seaport, ground zero, wall street, brooklyn bridge, china town, little italy, staten island ferry, etc....
you will do a lot of walking if you don't use public transit, so i suggest getting the 7 day metro cards. i believe they are around $10.00 per person. They will give you free subway maps at the info booth, so you can't really get lost. if you have tons of money, then feel free to take cabs everywhere, but they can get pretty expensive.
let me know if you have any more questions.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 11:25:05 AM
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elastic
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i would also add, don't go to coney island *just* for the hot dog. they are not that good, and you can get them in other places in the city. i believe there is a Nathan's eatery just across the street from Madison Square Garden.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 11:35:21 AM
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iwillfearnoevil
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quote:
ORIGINAL: elastic
i would also add, don't go to coney island *just* for the hot dog. they are not that good, and you can get them in other places in the city.
lol ... yeah i think a few things can be overly romanticized ... like you want to see Macys ... to say you've been or to actually do shopping? do you really want to spend hours in an department store on vacation that sells things like your macys just a bit more in price though and then have to lug the stuff through the city with you? :)
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 12:34:14 PM
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2shaye
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Thank you so much you guys! I spent the ENTIRE day yesterday researching, mapping and more researching these activities. Then, the three of us decided on what was most important for each of us to do, so we put those at the top of our priority list.
We have 5 days as a family, then dd and I have 3 days to ourselves. I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but Elf is a family favorite movie, so, dd really wants to kinda "walk" in Buddy's footsteps to some degree. I know....
We've ruled out the museums. None of us have any interest whatsoever in museums. I put that on my list because "everyone" says we "have" to go. Gimbals is really Macy's so that is out too. I know, we have Macy's here, too. We are not going to shop to buy stuff, but we want to "experience" and take a picture of most of these things.
Niagra Falls we are doing with another group and we plan to take the whole day. I know it's long, but this is what 100% of us want to do. Dh's priority is Coney Island, so we plan to take a day to do things in that direction. Ground Zero and Grand Central Station, I found out, are on the schedule for when we are in the big group, so we won't do that on our own. We're cutting Greenwich Village and Union (Penn) Station too. We might cut the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, but that's something I wanted to do. I've walked across the Golden Gate, so...
Dd wants to go to the Bronx Zoo, so I'll suggest (again) the zoo in Central Park. We will probably spend most of another day there. I found some cool maps online and everyone seems excited to explore that.
I've got a reservation to take a tour at the Federal Reserve Bank. Supposedly, we will get to go down to the vault and see the gold. Everyone is pretty excited about that too. Surprisingly to me, dh and dd are really looking forward to experiencing little Italy and Chinatown. We've got those here in LA and I'm not impressed, but it's something they want to do.
Regarding all the shopping, dd and I just want to experience how "the other half" live. We likely won't buy anything. Oh, and we've crossed off Century 21.
Thanks for the tips on transportation. That's dh's part! We don't have tons and tons of money, so we will likely be riding the subway or walking. I'll look into the metro pass thing too.
Anyone have recommendations on restaurants for about $30 a plate? We'd like to go out nice to dinner a few times.
Again, thank you so much for all your first hand advice and experience!
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 12:49:49 PM
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elastic
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quote:
Anyone have recommendations on restaurants for about $30 a plate? We'd like to go out nice to dinner a few times.
that depends on what you are in the mood for, or what kind of food you want to eat. you can eat any kind of food from any nationality in nyc.
all the touristy places are about $15-25 per person...hard rock cafe, planet hollywood, bubba gump, chevy's, espn zone. i don't consider those 'nice' places, but the tourists seem to flock there.
there is a pizza place called john's pizza near 44th between 7th and 8th. not the best pizza, but it's in an old church, so the architecture is nice, and it's an experience. it really depends on what kind of food you are wanting to eat. at south street seaport, and (also near the museum of natural history) there is an UNO's pizza..which is quite delicious. their pastas are pretty good too.
if you are wanting a more fancy upscale place, you are going to pay way more than $30.00 per person....examples would be Sardi's or Le Cirque.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 12:54:05 PM
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elastic
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here's a website that pretty much shows all the restaurants in the city, their prices and menus. hopefully this will be helpful to you.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 4:20:03 PM
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2shaye
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quote:
ORIGINAL: elastic
all the touristy places are about $15-25 per person...hard rock cafe, planet hollywood, bubba gump, chevy's, espn zone. i don't consider those 'nice' places, but the tourists seem to flock there.
Yeah, we have those here too. I love Bubba Gumps, but I think we'd rather go for something new. I'll check out that link. Thank you SO much elastic!
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/27/2008 7:31:42 PM
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stateofgrace
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Check into the CityPass...if you or someone you know is a member of Costco, you may be able to get them at a discount (at least a few years ago). It's like 5 or 6 attractions like the Empire State Building.
The Bronx Zoo is VERY nice but the area around it, not so much.
Central Park would likely be pretty that time of year.
The NBC tour is fun but I wouldn't recommend it for young children (too much standing around and waiting).
Between the Broadway/Times Square area and Central Park, getting closer to the Park, are some more inexpensive restaurants.
For girls - the American Girl store, especially the restaurant (going for afternoon tea is less expensive than lunch or dinner, and is a lot of fun with the small sandwiches, etc.).
It might be fun to watch some movies set in NYC and then recognize the sites...Enchanted, Leopold and Kate, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle.
DD#2 saw Mary Poppins a few weeks ago; said it was very good, very well staged, liked it better than Beauty and the Beast.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/28/2008 4:18:30 AM
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bzirk
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The City Pass is pretty good, but a few of the places on it are museums, so it might not save you as much as it could.
As for the Statue of Liberty, I'd take the Circle Line tour, which is really good by the way, and just wave as you go by the island. Actually going to the island takes up almost a whole day and in my opinion there was nothing gained by going because you can't really go up into the statue. It was very anticlimactic -- plus they not only run you through a metal detector but also frisk you. It was a little awkward for my six year old to be frisked.
The Bronx Zoo isn't bad if you take the bus that goes directly there, but the Central Park Zoo is pretty good, plus, it's in Central Park where there is ALWAYS something going on, and plenty of familiar sites you've seen in movies.
Regarding transportation, I hope you ride on the subway during your trip. The 6 train between 59th and 42nd is a good, safe trip and then you can catch the Shuttle over to Times Square. You'll see lots of street performers on the way.
BTW, hot dogs from the street vendors aren't bad. It's a real slice of New York and it won't take as much time or money.
On eating out anywhere else, frankly, if you live in LA, then much of the stuff immediately around Times Square is going to be old hat and a lot of the stuff around the South Street Seaport too.
But if you end up going to Times Square Church, there is a great diner across the street that features singing waiters and waitresses -- Stardust Diner. BTW, it indeed pays off to go early to Times Square Church; otherwise, you'll be standing or in another building watching the service. Same thing with the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/28/2008 9:36:50 AM
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iluvatar
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quote:
ORIGINAL: 2shaye
I know, as a group, we will be going to the staute of liberty, Ellis Island, and a broadway show. I don't know what else they've planned. Also a few other ladies wanted to join us and go in together to rent a car and go to Niagra Falls.
Niagra Falls we are doing with another group and we plan to take the whole day. I know it's long, but this is what 100% of us want to do.
Niagara Falls is great - that's where I proposed to my wife. But trying to fit it into a trip to NYC is a bad idea. As someone else said, it's at least 7 hours EACH WAY - probably more like 8-9 once you factor in traffic, pit stops, border crossing (the Canadian side is better) and driving habits. Niagara Falls deserves a couple days on its own.
-Dan.
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RE: Vacation in New York City - what should we do? - 5/28/2008 10:11:55 AM
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elastic
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quote:
The 6 train between 59th and 42nd is a good, safe trip and then you can catch the Shuttle over to Times Square
The 6 train to pretty much anywhere is the safest and CLEANEST ride, it is also the most punctual of the lines...it is the train the mayor uses after all, so the 6 train, and it's various downtown stations, get special treatment.
quote:
BTW, hot dogs from the street vendors aren't bad. It's a real slice of New York and it won't take as much time or money.
yes, i'd say these are actually preferable to Nathan's. We call them Dirty Water Dogs....and some vendors sell other things such as chicken and rice dishes, lamb, etc...we call that Street Meat!
tasty.
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