kenm26

Hello all! As the title says, I'm auditioning for "Millionaire", on Monday, July 2nd. My plan is to take the Metro-North from New Haven into Grand Central Station. The audition site is the ABC Building at 57 West 66th Street. Is W.66th St. a "walkable" distance from Grand Central, or should I take the subway? By "walkable", I mean under 30 minutes.
Also, I'll have a couple of hours to kill after the audition, so I'd like to get a bite to eat before catching the train back to New Haven. Can anyone recommend a nice spot for a sandwich and beer... someplace where I'll feel comfortable dining alone...maybe a pub-type establishment? I thought about a place like the ESPN Zone in Times Square, however, I'm fond of the little local "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants. Any thoughts?
Thank you in advance!
KenM.

mclaurie

hopstop.com is a website that gives you detailed directions from point A to point B by train, bus, walking and estimates the cost of a taxi. They estimate the walk to take 34 mins. (it's 1.5 miles according to them). If it's hot and humid as it has been, you'd wind up being all sweaty by the time you got there. It would also be easy to take a subway. You'd take the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square and then the 1 train uptown to 66 st. Lincoln Center.

If you want to eat near the studios, O'Neal's is 2 blocks away.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...=0&cuisineid=0

PJ Clarke's has also opened on 63 st & Broadway and Vince & Eddie's on 68 st. is pretty good.

If you'd rather eat in or closer to Grand Central, the bar at the Oyster Bar inside Grand Central has good clam chowder and oysters.

Cafe Centro is connected to Grand Central and has good burgers
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...2&cuisineid=13.

mclaurie

...btw, LOTS of good luck. Tell us how it goes.

SusanM

Ken,

I don't have any advice on what you asked for, LOL, but I once auditioned for Millionaire, so I thought I'd share my experience so you know what to expect.

These auditions were when the show went on hiatus to transfer from Regis to Meredith as host, maybe 4-5 years ago. (Is she still hosting?)

I auditioned in Chicago. I'd say there were probably 1000-2000 people trying out (I'm bad at estimating crowd size, though). We all sat down in a ball room and took a fill-in-the-bubble test, multiple choice, with maybe 100 questions.

The questions covered a wide range of topics, from pop culture to the arts and history. I did the worst on the questions relating to architecture. (In case this question is still on the test - it's the only one I remember - the family's name in the TV show Party of Five was Salinger!)

We all sat around for a period of time while they graded the tests via computer, then they took the top 100 scorers for personal interviews. Needless to say I was free to go home at that point!

Anyway, good luck and have fun!

celfan

Act like a happy-go-lucky,punch-drunk nut.
It's you're only hope to get on. I'd polish off a bottle of wine before the audition.

celfan

Oh Sorry. I was thinking of Deal or No Deal. Forget the wine for millionaire. I don't want you to blow the $100 question.

travelbuff

It's a pretty LONG walk to the studio, on W. 66th since you are coming into Grand Central on the East side of town that's 2 miles plus distance.

From Grand Central you can take the shuttle train to Times Square and then the #1 train to 66th St. (Lincoln Center stop). The other option would be to grab a cab in front of Grand Central, which will take about 20 minutes with little traffic and longer in bad traffic.

Good luck with the audition.

After the audition, there are lots of places for a bite and I'd suggest walking up Columbus Ave and there are several restaurants per block so you should find just what you are looking for.

kenm26

Thank you everyone! Thanks mclaurie for the tip on "hopstop". Also PJ Clark's looks great! Thanks for the advice on the audition Susan...I tried to study by buying a book called "10,000 answers,...a trivia encyclopedia". There's so much material though. It's impossible to cover it all. I definitely let you know how I made out. Thanks again!
Kenm

kealalani

I really have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if a good bit of the questions come from their games.
Bet it's a worthwhile study tool. Knock em dead!

HowardR

Travelbuff's distance estimate is high. The distance is closer to 1 1/2 miles and is definitely walkable.

nyer

I would say that you could walk--but you probably wouldn't want to--who wants to arrive at an audition all sweaty after a 30-40 minute walk? Assuming this is a weekday, depending on the time of day, midtown streets will be packed with workers--not very strollable, in my opinion.

If you don't want to take a subway or walk, but still have enough time, you can take the m104 bus. It stops in front of Grand Central, goes across 42nd street, and turns up 8th avenue (which turns into Broadway around 59th street). It will take about a half hour, but you can also get off earlier and stroll a little if you want to--maybe get off at 59th and walk to 67th

hawksbill

The Amtrak trains from New Haven to Grand Central are nicer than the Metro North ones, right? And don't they make fewer stops? I haven't done the train thing for a while, but I think that's how it worked.

kenm26

Thank you all again! I think I'll probably take the subway to the audition, and then walk back to Grand Central after. I walk about an hour every day as a form of exercise, so the long walk shouldn't be too bad. It'll be a good way to take in the sights! You're right about the Metro-North trains hawksbill...they're not as nice as the Amtrak trains. However, the Metro-North ticket prices are more suited to my budget.
KenM

ellenem

And the Amtrak trains from New Haven arrive at Penn Station.

hawksbill

Good points.

SusanM

Kenm26,

How did your audition go? We're waiting with bated breath!

HKP

Topping -- curious -- what happened? What was it like?

kenm26

Well,...sadly I'm here to report that I didn't make the cut. I failed to get a passing grade on the written test. When I got to the audition site, there were a line of people who were also auditioning for the show. We were all brought into a room where we were given a written test. My guess is that there were about 150-200 people there. We had 10 minutes to complete 30 multiple choice questions on a variety of topics. I knew the answer to the majority of the questions. I guessed at the rest. Unfortunately, they wouldn't tell us what our score was, or what a passing grade was. About 30-40 passed the test and went on to the next phase of the audition, which was a personal interview. The rest of us were told that we were free to go. I was talking to a woman while we were waiting to take the test, and she said that this was her forth time auditioning. She had passed the test at her previous auditions, however she was not put into the contestant pool. So even if I did pass the written test, there was no guarantee that I would be chosen to be on the show. I was also talking to a man who flew down from Miami just to audition for the show. Unfortunately, he did not make it as well. All in all, it was a great experience and I'm planning to audition again in the future. Thank you all again for all of your suggestions...they were very helpful!
KenM

kealalani

woooooohooooo! You went for it!!!!! thanks for checkin back~~~~~~