RE: Seeking Advice on Trip to Conneticut and New York City

[Steve-o-bud]

 
Good Evening.
 
 We are planning a trip to the Northeast, last week of June/first week of July. I am the Best Man at my friend?s wedding, and we are looking forward to a nice family vacation while we are out there.
 
 The wedding is near Milford, CT, which will pretty much be our center of gravity. The first part of the trip, we will be in the Boston area with relatives, so, that is pretty well covered.
 
 My daughters are very much wanting to get into Manhattan. We were thinking of taking the train from Connecticut, staying one night in Manhattan, and returning to Connecticut the following evening. Some of the activities that we are interested in include:
 
 World Trade Center site
 Statue of Liberty
 Empire State Building
 Broadway Matinee
 5th Ave.
 Central Park
 Rockefeller Center
 Museums
 Etc.
 
 We are thinking of staying the night at the Eastside Marriott, near 52nd and Park Ave. Is this a good area? Is the general Midtown area pretty safe for the family? We?d like to avoid spending an arm and a leg.
 
 Any insight, suggestions, or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
 []
 
 

[dee106]

 Steve-o-bud
ok, well i think i m the best person to help u out here, i live, work, and play in Mahattan,  so u can e-mail me and i will help u out, first of all, all the actives you want to do are on the west side of town!   or on the border, between, there is a  marroitt  on the west side in " time square"  is not cheap!
 
 1)world trade looks like a big white construction site now,
 
  2)the statue of liberty is closed ,you can only walk around the ground you can t go inside anymore. ferry to that island is ten dollars kids 8.00 you could do Ellis island !
 
 3) what show do u want to see? i might be able to get discount seats! most shows are 60.00 and up
 
 4)fifth ave  from 59 to 34 is mainly shopping , and is very expensive!
 
 5)central park is a day outing by it self, make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes, there is a lot to do there. zoo, skating ,horse back riding, play grounds, artist row, and you have to go on the carousel horses,
 
 6) to take the tour of rockefeller center is nice, same with the NBC studio s (around the corner)
 
 7) we have over 300 different museums here in nyc, from little ones to the major ones,
 plus we have the botanical gardens, and the bronx zoo which are all well known!
 
  when in lower Manhattan the staten island ferry is free, it passes the liberty but doesn t stop, if you are a veteran you might want to visit the veteran memorial in battery park, and in the summer there are a lot of free concerts down there. walking tour of lower manhattan is great, to walk down wall street go see the stock exchange in all its glory, but you have to order tickets ahead.
 
 this is only a few things to do, there is so much more, the street fairs etc... let me know when your coming!
 
 
 

[MommaMia]

 Steve-o-bud
Milford has some lovely little beaches, as does West Haven just a short ride down the road.  If the weather is nice, the beach is worth the trip.  The water won t be warm enough to swim... still in the high forties but shell picking and reading a book might be a nice relaxing time.  You also aren t terribly far from Mystic Connecticut,  about an hour and a half away.  Mystic has a great Seaport with museum and also The Mystic Aquarium... very nice.  And there are always the casinos... Foxwoods is in Ledyard, CT and Moheghan Sun is in Uncasville.

[Steve-o-bud]

 Steve-o-bud
Thanks very much for your responses!
 
 Dee and Ken, we will take you up on your offer to e-mail with questions etc. This is very kind!

[dee106]

 Steve-o-bud
thats what this site is all about

[texacokat]

 Steve-o-bud
New York New York...my favorite town.  DD lives there, I work there (Midtown) but live in Chicago.  Took my mom and dad there last October to see DD in her off-Broadway debut in Greenwich Village.  Here s our itinerary -- we were able to do a lot in 3 days.  We usually stay in a rental apartment (minimum stay is 3 days) on West 46th between 5th and 6th (if the Firm isn t paying!)  Email me if you need the particulars.  I think we pay $115 (with tax) a night for a one bedroom with a full kitchen and living room.  
 
 The Intrepid is a Must.  Dad is a Korean Vet and was very impressed with the memorial.  There s also an impressive WWII memorial in Battery Park.  If you want to save money on a Circle Line tour, take the free ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island -- it goes in the same direction.  I would recommend the " semi"  Circle Line tour.  90 minutes on a boat is enough!   Since we had elders with us, we skipped the walk to Stawberry Fields in Central Park, but Tavern on the Green is a tourist Must!  Eat in the garden.  Expensive but worth it.  And the Toys r Us is a hoot.  There s a life-size Barbie house and Gigantic Scary Dinosaur built of Legos.  Don t forget to visit Candyland, too.  And I ve learned as a frequent business traveler, any city I visit that has a double decker bus tour is the best source for historical and architectural info.  Highly recommend it.  While in Times Square, just hang out and look for the Naked Cowboy with a Guitar.  Only in New York!
 
 Sat. pm - Day 1:  Check-in, unpack, deli downstairs has light lunch
 5:00pm ? depart for lower Manhattan for dinner
 5:30pm ? Pre theatre dinner at LeGigot (a James Beard Society award winner), a few blocks from the Provincetown Playhouse (18 Cornelia St. btwn. Bleeker & 4th, 627-3737)
 8:00pm ? ?Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,? (Provincetown Playhouse, 133 MacDougal St. btwn. Wash Sq. So. & W. 3rd)
 10:00pm ? post-theatre party at local bar
 
 Day 2
 Breakfast in apartment (fresh fruit and bagels for sale in deli downstairs, yum)
 Mass at St. Patrick?s Cathedral (50th & 5th Ave.) Sunday Morning Masses: 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:15 (Cardinal s Mass)
 USS Intrepid ? 10am-5pm, Pier 86 12th Ave. & 46th Street New York, N.Y. 10036
 Public Information Line: 212.245.0072)
 Lunch in the mess hall of the ship (no kidding!  It?s a McDonald?s)
 3:30pm to 5:30pm ? Circle Line Boat tour
 Dinner with DD at Firebird Russian Restaurant, 365 W. 46th, 212 586 0244
 
 Day 3
 Breakfast in apartment
 Greyline Double Decker Tour of New York City:
  -- Battery Park:  Korean War Memorial, World Trade Center Sphere and Eternal Flame, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (Frequent departures: 8:30 am - 5:00pm
 Start loop at Gray Line Visitors Center @ 777 8th Avenue (between 47th & 48th Streets) Valid for 24 hours)
 2:30pm ? Lunch at Tavern on the Green in Central Park (873-3200)
 Midtown:
 -- Rockefeller Center
 Return to apartments to freshen up
 Dinner with DD at Ben Benson s, 123 W. 52nd, 212 581 8888
 Empire State Building at night (5th at 34th, last elevator at 11:15pm)
 
 Day 4
 Breakfast in apartment, pack bags
 Times Square:
 -- visit the largest toy store in the world
 -- buy chotchzkes
 Lunch at Lindy?s (1655 Broadway at 51st) ? famous for their cheesecake!
 Depart for LaGuardia
 Home at last!  What a nice trip?and memories made to last forever?
 
 On the Trade Center -- we have never been.  The Grayline bus passes nearby so you can get a sense of the devastation.  Also passes St. Vincent s and the cyclone fence that holds the memorials as well as the little church.  DD lives a few blocks from the site and plans her travels out of the way as her dorm view used to be the Towers -- she watched all the horror in her young sophomore year.  There s a gallery in SoHo that invited any and all (amateurs and press) to bring in pictures related to the event.  They have them stored on a database and printed on a laser printer.  They re hanging on clothelines in this small gallery and you can purchase a printout for $25?, which benefits widows and orphans fund.  It is astonishing...would recommend that over the actual site.   Photo after photo...very impactful.
 
 While in SoHo visit Kiehl s -- the greatest natural skin care product provider on earth!  And very popular with the suburban ladies!  They give free samples of anything if you ask.
 
 You can t get a bad meal in New York.  Plan your restaurants carefully!  There are too many to choose from...
 

[Steve-o-bud]

 Steve-o-bud
We re getting very excited about this trip! Our current plan has us in town on the 2nd and 3rd. NYC sounds like a great place to visit. The last time in the Northeast, we drove from Morristown, NJ, to Orient Point - Shelter Island on the tip of long Island. Our route pretty much bypassed the city. Now, I wish we would have spent some time.
 
 Anyway. Looks like we ll be staying at the Marriot Eastside, for $149/night. This is a restricted, 14 day advance purchase, with no changes or cancellations allowed. Kind of like an airline ticket.
 
 We are looking into a Broadway show, that the kids can enjoy. We ve seen Disney s " The Lion King" , in Hollywood at the Pantages theater, and the kids and us enjoyed that quite a bit.
 
 We are thinking about seeing Beauty and the Beast, I don t want to pop for the $95 Orchestra Section seats, so we will probably be making due with the Mezzanine $65 seats.  I also understand that another Disney show, Elton John s Aida, is also running. It appears that for either Beauty and the Beast, or Aida, there is a 2 pm and 7 pm show. Our kids are pretty good with staying up late, and behaving while at shows, but I m wondering if the 7 pm show would be a good idea with the kids.
 
 Again, I aprreciate your input. The obvious pride that you have in your city really makes us anticipate the visit!
 
 Again, Dee and Ken, Kathy and Scott, Thanks.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[dee106]

 Steve-o-bud
THERE IS A PLACE YOU CAN GET HALF PRICE TICKETS THE MORNING /NOON OF THE SHOW YOU WANT TO SEE, BUT THE LINES CAN BE LONG. IT S RIGHT IN TIMES SQUARE, http://www.nyctourist.com/broadway_tkts.asp REGUAL PRICE FOR LION KING OR ADIA IS 75-100 EACH!
 THIS SIGHHT GIVES U SOME OF A DISCOUNT http://www.entertainment-link.com/category.asp?category=Broadway&source=goto&keyword=broadway+ticket
 
 ALSO ASK THE HOTEL AHEAD OF TIME IF THEY HAVE ANY DEALS, CALL THEM, SOME GIVE PACKAGES!
 ALSO GET A  MTA  ALL DAY FUN PASS TO RIDE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT ON OUR BUSES AND TRAINS! CAB S ARE VERY EXPENSIVE!

[Steve-o-bud]

 Steve-o-bud
Dee and Ken, Kathy and Scott:
 
 Well, we are back from our trip. What a great time. We flew in to Newark, picked up a car, and stayed the night in Parsnipiny (sp) NJ. Nice town, nice hotel, wife booked through Hotwire for about $60 bucks.
 
 Drove to Marlboro, MA the next day, and spent the next couple of days with my wife s aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins, on Indian Lake.
 
 Headed to NYC. Driving in on I-95, heading into Manhattan through the Bronx at 3:00 pm, found us stuck in MAJOR TRAFFIC. One thing New York and New Jersey seems to have plenty of, much like our beloved So Cal area, is TRAFFIC!
 
 After getting directions via phone from the hotel, managed to navigate into town via the Tri-Bourough Bridge and the FDR Parkway. Fought our way through midtown traffic and made it to the rental car office (near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, just right before closing. We turned our car in, since we knew we wouldn t need it, and didn t want to spend $38 per day parking at the hotel.
 
 The bad news was, that we didn t have time to drop our stuff at the hotel (Westin Times Square), so we had to schlep all our stuff a couple of blocks, looking like major tourist geeks.
 
 The hotel was GREAT! Right on 42nd and 8th, friendly, courteous, staff, and nice amenities. We could see down on to 42nd, and could see the Empire State Bldg, which of course thrilled our 6 and 9 year olds.
 
 Had dinner the first night in Little Italy, and took the subway. It was pretty hot down there, but once in the train, it was quite comfortable. What an elaborate and efficient system! Dinner in Little Italy was great, loved walking down Mulberry Street.
 
 The next day, we hit a few stores in Times Square. Toys R Us was amazing. The day was pretty clear, so we headed over to the Empire State Building. Great view, and helped us orient ourselves to Manhattan. We then headed down to the WTC site.
 
 This was really something. NYC is pretty noisy, but I was struck by how quiet, and somber it is when getting off the Subway at Canal St. We saw the list of names of the victims, and took photos of the names of my Mother-in Law s friend and former neighbor who was on the Boston flight. The size of the excavation is staggering, and also was touched by the many messages written on the fence. With the size of the island of Manhattan, I can t imagine what chaos the entire area must have been in.
 
 Walked down to Battery Park, very nice area. Headed back towards Times Square, after a quick recharge of our batteries, went to dinner at Jeckle and Hyde s. The kids had fun.
 
 Our last day, we walked around a bit, down to Macy s, and up to Grand Central. Amazing. Took the Subway to 59th (I think), and went to FAO Schwartz, and just the small part of Central Park, near the Plaza Hotel. I thought that Park Avenue was quite grand.
 
 We left New York City, and headed back up, to Connecticut, for my buddy s wedding, of which I had the honor of being the best man. Very pretty and historical area, this part of the trip was most low key, but quite enjoyable.
 
 Now we re back to the rat race here in So Cal.  NYC was amazing. I was surprised at how many things there were that interested the kids. With all the walking, I noticed that the people seem to be more fit. One interesting thing, was that folks sure walk fast, and if you are in the way, watch out! Also, pretty much anarchy out there on the roads, with the cabs, pedestrians crossing, every street corner is like the first lap of the Indy 500!
 
 People say that New Yorkers are rude, etc., but we ran into many helpful and nice folks. I think it says alot that this many people, in such a small area, can co-exist without the whole place imploding. Here in LA, under similar conditions, we d have riots every other month.
 
 Dee and Ken, Kathy and Scott: Thanks for your input and advice. It made us feel like we had a little local knowledge to start out with!