Please critique and see if trip is doable, what I need to add, take off, switch around, etc:
Jan. 1 - arrive in city around 10:00 am; check into hotel (hopefully) see Christmas tree area, check out some store windows, walk around Time Square a bit, go to Top of Rock; ticket booth to try to get tickets to a show for the evening:
Jan 2 - Today Show (I know it's crazy, it's my daughter's birthday); Ground Zero; Police Museum, Ellis Isl/Statue of Liberty; walk the Brooklyn Bridge; Have tickets for South Pacific for 8:00 pm.
Jan 3 - Met Museum, Central Park (what area should we see this time of year), FAO Schwartz, China Town;
maybe get tickets for another show;
Jan 4 - Grand Central Station; Botanical Gardens, maybe check out a specific neighborhood?
Jan 5 - our plane leaves at 5:00 p.m. - haven't planned anything for this day yet, what should we see that I haven't mentioned and what time should we leave the city?

I'm sure I've missed something we wanted to see and I'm sure some of this needs to be switched around a bit. Help please, leaving in 2 days. Jean

Sounds like a pretty good itinerary - not too packed, which leaves you time for just enjoying the sights and some down time before evenings out.

I would pick SOL/Ellis & Brooklyn bridge on a day I knew the weather was good. Yesterday was perfect - mid 40s & brilliantly sunny. Hat, gloves, and scarf were needed, but sun was toasty warm as long as you found it. Today is not so nice- 5-10 degrees cooler and very very windy. Just keep an eye out for the weather day to day for the outside activities, including Central Park. It's supposed to get a bit colder over the next few days, so I recommend full length coats if you have them.

How old is your daughter? If she's a teenager she might enjoy Greenwich village. You can do GV, Little Italy (basically just Mulberry St) and Chinatown all in one block. Some neat shops, and countless places to eat.

Don't try to walk everywhere. Use subway to travel long distances north/south, and use a taxi to get from random points around town.

As for Brooklyn Bridge, many recommend walking all the way across from the Brooklyn side into Manhattan. While nice, you can also just walk part way out from the Manhattan side - either to the 1st tower or a short way past. It's a long walk all the way and if there is wind you'll feel it over the open water.

If you actually want to go to SOL/Ellis Island, you need to order tickets in advance online and request a monument pass. It can well take 4-5 hrs. when you include lines and security. I don't think you can fit all the other things in on that day you list. It happens to be one of the things that is open on Jan. 1 if you want to consider doing that instead when you arrive.

The Botanic Gardens are in the Bronx. Are you planning on going up there? If yes, there's a Metro North train from Grand Central terminal and you can buy a train ticket and entry to the gardens together at the station.

Chinatown is nowhere near the Met, Central Park, FAO Schwarz or the theater district. If you want to go to Chinatown, do it on a day you're downtown. (Have you plotted this all on a map?)

Thanks a lot for your quick response. My daughter won't be with us, she just wants me to wave to her from the Today Show, so we're going to try to brave the cold and crowds to do that!
It sounds like we need to move China Town up to day 1 while we're in and around Time Square, etc., so I'll move it to day one.

As far as the Botanical Gardens - I saw advertised a train display with a mini. NYC, thought it sounded really cool, is it worth the trip there and if so what else is in that area that shouldn't be missed? If it's not fantastic, we can skip that.

And no, I haven't plotted it on a map, I tried that but was having a little trouble with it, so just came back to ask you guys. Thanks for any and all help.

If you don't have a large paper map I find that www.maps.google.com is handy for laying out things like this. You can put a placemark at many different locations, then more easily see where different sights are clustered & can therefore be logically grouped together.

Chinatown should be moved to Day 2, not Day 1. If you DON'T spend half the day at Ellis Island, I would also add Greenwich Village and Soho to this day, OR the Tenement Museum and Lower East Side.

I understand you need to get to the Today Show by 6 or 6:30 in order to have a chance of getting on camera.

Thanks, will move China Town to Day 2. Is it worth close to half a day to do SOL and Ellis Island, or should we just see without taking the ferry and actually visiting the two of them. Is there something anyone would recommend in place of that? And how much time should we allow for China Town?

There's actually a different, obviously much smaller mini-train display right in Grand Central at the Transit Museum annex.
You can see a video of it right on their website http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/

The Botanical Gardens are beautiful and as a member I sometimes make a separate visit to see the trains (haven't this year). Not sure if that is worth a trip for you with so many other things on your list

You really need a map of NYC.

The ferry to SOL/Ellis Island is t the very southern tip of Manhattan.

Chinatownn is downtown - but still quite a bit north of South Ferry.

Times Square, Rock Center and major department stores are midtown (miles from Chinatown).

Central Park and the Met are uptown (miles from midtown). Gp tp the web site of each to see what they have to offer - and print out a map of Central Park (which is huge).

The Botanial Garden is in the Bronx - a whole separate borough (county) and will take at least 45 minutes to get to. Also - there's relatively little to see since it's midwinter. (Unless you mean the Brooklyn Botanial Garden - also a different boroough and a long trek).

Agree:

you need advance tickets for ferry to SOL/Ellis Island - to cut at least an hour off your waiting time. And both will take almost all day to do.

Do Central Park on a day you get better weather - if you do - since it looks like we're headed back to normal temps (daytime highs in the 30s).

The exhibit at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx is well worth your time. It's a true work of art!

The best way to walk the Brooklyn Bridge is to take the subway to Brooklyn and then walk back, so that you're looking at the view of Manhattan as you walk. Take the 2-3 to the first stop on the Brooklyn side and then walk back.