Planning a family trip May 18 - 24th. Daughter is 19 and son is 22. (They will always go with you on vacation if you go someplace fun and you pay!) We will be staying near some friends in Floral Park. There is so much to see and do I am sure we can't fit it all in. I must add that we do things as economically as possible as we are paying college tuition for 2!!

Arrive Friday, May 18 at Laguardia 2:50 p.m.
Taxi (would have to be a van) to hotel. Dinner somewhere. Any suggestions? Was thinking maybe a Harbor Lights Cruise to start things off.

Saturday: Day with friends

Sunday: Would like to go to mass at a cathedral. Was thinking St. Patricks. Rest of the day is open.

Monday, May 21st we have tickets to a taping of the Daily Show. They want you to arrive between 3:30 and 4:00.
Tuesday: open
Wednesday, we have tickets to the Yankee/Red Sox game and will spend the day with our friends again.

We leave Thursday at 12:05 p.m.

In between the above we would like to fit in as much as possible. Can you help group the list together?

Battery Park/ take cruise by Statute of Liberty.
China Town/Little Italy
Brooklyn Bridge
Central Park
Times Square
TOTR
Empire State Building
We have to play tennis at the tennis center where U.S. Open is held. (#1 son is a tennis instructor in the summer)
World Trade Center site
Shopping
Was thinking about theater tickets, maybe Altar Boyz,(broadwayoffers.com has discount tickets for $39.99) trying to find something to appeal to everyone is hard. Any help or suggestions are appreciated!!

Floral Park is in Nassau County-part of Long Island. While it's just over the Queens County (part of NYC) border, it's Nassau County never the less, and you may have a problem getting a taxi to take you there for a decent price. It says on the taxi website
"For a trip to the Counties of Westchester or Nassau the fare shall be:

the amount shown on the taximeter for that portion of the trip that is inside city limits, plus twice the amount shown on the meter for that portion of the trip that is outside the city limits;"

Check with your friends on this. It may be insignificant, but you should know. I also wonder how close your hotel will be to transportation to get you into Manhattan. And how do you get back and forth to your friends' house? YOu might want to consider renting a car.

It sounds like you might benefit from some sort of overview bus tour to get to see a lot in a short time. Kingofnyc.com and nypartyshuttle.com are both well reviewed. The Grayline hop on/off bus tour can also be good if the weather is decent.

Altar Boyz is available on discount in several places. Look on broadwaybox.com too.

Thanks for the info. I will talk to our friends about airport transport and what is best. The hotel we are staying at is within walking distance from our friends. They have indicated it is close to train stations, etc. My husband was there one other time and the taxi had to call back to the base to find directions. I think I will mapquest them just in case so I know how far it is. Was taken for a long ride for a short distance by a taxi driver in Chicago once. When we told him it seemed liked we were going quite a way out of the way he replied, "Want to walk?"

A car service might be the way to go. Ask your friends if they know of any local car service operations. I wouldn't use one that is based in NYC

I too have questions about where you'll be staying. I'm only aware of one motel like place in that area and I would have said about a 15 minute walk to the nearest train station.

You should not have any trouble getting a cab from LGA - but you will have to give them exact directions on how to get to the motel - since NYC cabs don;t know Nassau county at all. Or - you could have your friends arrange for a local car service to pick you up - they would know how to get there as long as you give them an exact address.

Are you planning to go out to Floral Park (about 40 minutes outside Manhattan) and then turn around and go back into the city the same day?

On your days with your friends are you going to be going into the city - or are you staying out in Nassau county?

On Wednesday the Yankees game is a night game. Will you tour the city during the day, then go to the Bronx, then back to the city and out to Nassau? (On the subway you won;t get back into the city until after 11 - and hopefully catch the 11:30 LIRR train - since after that they only run once per hour to Floral Park. Or are your friends going with you - or will meet you there with a van or ???

You also need to keep this train schedule in mind if you do any shows in the evening.

I wouldn;t do both Empire State and TOTR - the latter is much easier to deal with - timed tickets instead of waiting in interminable lines.

As for the National Tennis Center - I know it's scheduled far in advance. Have you looked into when you might be able to get playing time? And how to get there from Floral Park - perhaps a combination of LIRR and subway?