Mom and Son Itinerary feedback please?
 

My son and I will be going to NY end of July first of August.

We have sit down and made this itinerary and looking for any feedback please.

I've tried to keep everything together for the area we will be visiting on that day.

We love to eat and snack around, so any recs for unique places, would be awesome. We plan to do breakfast in the room most days, but one morning would love to grab it out (any recs?)

Thanks so much!


Sun July 29th
Arrive EWR around 11 am
Uber or LYFT to Hotel
Check in Hotel Beacon 1-2 pm
Pick up some groceries for our room or do Amazon delivery
Rest and head out to Grand Central Station/Eat
Head over to Bryant Park then Rockefeller Plaza
Top of Rock @ sunset then head to Times Square
Return to hotel

Mon July 30th
Leave hotel and head to Slice of Brooklyn pizza tour
When finished head to Union Square/Flatiron Building/Greenwich/West Village (Carrie Bradshaw apt)
Chummleys to eat...walk to friends apartment
Empire State Building
Return to hotel

Tues July 31
Head to SOL early (pedestal)
Ellis Island
Lunch (any suggestions for a place around this area?)
Trade Towers Memorial & Museum (not positive on Museum)
One World Observatory
Trinity Church (graveyard)
Head over to Wall Street/Charging Bull
Take Ferry or subway over to Dumbo
Walk BB back
Chinatown
Dinner (suggestions again please?)
Hotel

Wed Aug 1
Sleep in/Relax
Head to Intrepid Air n Space Museum
Eat@ McQuaids Public House (?)
Circle Line Cruise - 3 hr cruise
Walk High line explore Chelsea, etc
Hotel

Thurs Aug 2
American Museum Of Natural History (10-12 am)
Shake Shake lunch
Walk through Central Park (starting around Stone Arch and exist around 5th Ave)
Trump Tower (Quick look and grab a ice cream @ the Ice Cream Parlor)
Roosevelt Island Tramway
Rooservelt Island
Night Horse drawn buggy ride (Central Park)
Maybe United Nations (?)
Hotel

Friday
Check out @ 11:30 and head to Penn Station, catch LIRR to ISP airport

Buggy ride is Central park is not as exciting as one would think. I would skip that.

No Broadway Show? I would add one.

Why doesn't ISP work for your arrival? If you take a train into Penn station from EWR you can go downstairs to the subway and take the #2 or #3 train uptown to the second stop (72nd St). If you exit on the 73rd St. side of the station you will be across the street from the Beacon.

How old is your son?

Why not walk the Brooklyn Bridge the same day you're doing the Slice of Brooklyn tour? Seems like it would be logical to do it then instead of making another trip over. I'm assuming the tour picks up/drops off in Manhattan but you can just ditch them on the Brooklyn Side and walk back.

First of all you must take a tram from the airport in Newark to a stop in Newark where you get NJ Transit to Penn Station and then take the subway uptown. At Penn Station the 7th Ave and 8th Ave subway platforms are confusing since they one of the few stops where the locals and expresses are on separate platforms. Additionally there are countless stairs to negotiate.

There are many tourist things on your agenda I would not recommend among them-carriage ride, Circle Line, the UN and Roosevelt Island itself. The tram ride is fun.

I will never understand the charm of the shake shack, although the shakes are good there many hamburger places that are better and you do not have stand on line. Among the better burger places are Corner Bistro (zoo on weekends) Brindle Room, Paul's Da Burger Joint, and the Burger Joint. Each very different.

I would never have breakfast in a hotel room, they are incredibly overpriced. Throughout the city, including the UWS, are what called delis (delis used to mean either a Jewish or German restaurant or meat store) where you can get a breakfast for a fraction of the cost. There are plenty spots on Broadway and Amsterdam.

Go to one of NYC great, great store Zabar's. Try to avoid Sat and Sun mornings.

From Newark Airport......a train, not a tram...
 

I think “breakfast in the room” means cereal and pastries they buy and bring back, not room service. It’s a great way to save time and money.

From Newark Airport......a train, not a tram..

The Airtrain is 2 or 4 cars (now there's a big difference from a tram) to the NJ Transit. So it is three trains to the UWS and and many stairs thru the third world Penn Station and one of the worst run commuter lines in the Metro Area-NJ Transit.

Have fun.
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If you are walking around NY and are interested in snacks and unique foods
Yonnah Schimmel knishes,
Russ and Daughters smoked fish
Real bagel they must be boiled and there are a number of places Ess-A-Bagel, Tal's, David's, Murray's and Absolute.
You must have a dirt water dog-a frankfurter from a street vendor. I also reluctantly recommend the big soft pretzels as they are often overcooked and always overpriced
Halal Guys
NY has the best bakeries-Some are bread and pastries, others are just pastries Avoid the chains and look for Orwasher's, Sullivan Street, Two Little Hens, Veniero, Bruno's, Levain. Popular on the tourist list is Ferrari's and Magnolia's they are OK.

Maybe someone can recommend a pizza by the slice place. The original Arichoke is now plain awful.

And for something wonderful and totally different is Patacon Pisao Venezuelan arepas

And these are many store made ice cream and gelati places-Il Laboratorio de Gelato, Davey's, Cones on Bleecker, Cones and Sundaes on East 10, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory but there are many more

Wow, thank you all for the terrific feedback. Love al the recs on food and also taking the subway from EWR to Penn Station. I wasn’t sure how much trouble it was from EWR or if LYFT would be easier.

I’ll try to answer all the questions..

*My son will be 15 and absolutely has no interest in seeing a Broadway play (trust me I’ve tried lol)
*It was cheaper to fly into EWR and out of ISP.
*We are going to scratch the things mentioned (plus more?) and maybe try to work the Bronx Zoo now (we went to Zoo today and they said “you’ve gotta go to the Bronx Zoo if able” so now he is thinking he wants to see it ... working to combine/delete stuff to free up enough time for Zoo. Do y’all think the Zoo worth it?
*By breakfast in the room, I meant donuts, waffles, bagels, etc that can be bought at the store when we arrive, sorry I wasn’t clear on that.

I think I’ve covered everything, everyone’s help is greatly appreciate!

" taking the subway from EWR to Penn Station."
 

There is no subway from EWR. It is a train. New Jersey Transit - Home
The subway is in NYC, not New Jersey.

<<*My son will be 15 and absolutely has no interest in seeing a Broadway play (trust me I’ve tried lol)>>

My son felt the same way until I brought him to Rock of Ages. He trusts me now. I solidified that trust when I brought him to Book of Mormon. School of Rock is playing now but I haven't seen it so I don't know if it's good or whether it would appeal to a 15 yo.

*It was cheaper to fly into EWR and out of ISP.
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Do you know that ISP is more than 50 miles from the UWS? Did you make the reservations yet? Have you priced transportation from UWS to MacArthur?

LGA, although under extensive renovation is the simplest airport into Manhattan.

To reach ISP from Manhattan, you will take the LIRR to Ronkonkoma, a route that runs once per hour on a weekday at midday. The train ride alone at that time of day is 1 hour 24 minutes and will cost $13.75 each. At Ronkonkoma you'll spend at least another $5 each to get to ISP. Departing at 11:30a and aiming for the 12:10p from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, arriving 1:40P, to make all the connections properly I would hope your flight was no earlier than 3:00p.

How much money are you saving by traveling to ISP?

If you do visit Roosevelt Island, don't miss the FDR Four Freedoms Park.

I think you will be bored on the 3-hour Circle Line. A better choice is one of the half-loops that takes only 90 minutes. Many opt for a half-loop at twilight to see the sunset and city lights.

Tues: July 31: When we went to Ellis Island, we ate at the cafe on the island. We got the daily specials and they were surprisingly fresh.

Aug. 1: Does your son like tek stuff? If so, then maybe, you could stop at B&H Photo Video, kind of near Chelsea Park and the High Line. It is just a store, but it's huge. My teenage boy liked it.

Aug 2, if it's expected to be hot out, you might want to visit Central Park in the morning and Natural History in the afternoon as it would be cool inside.

Unsure which day--perhaps instead of United Nations if you have time... Morgan Library. It's a much smaller, more doable museum. They have a summer exhibit that sounds cool on Medieval Monsters.
Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders | The Morgan Library & Museum

Sorry, for the late response ... I came here to answer, but had to wait 24 hrs. Anyway....I'm getting a better hang of including quotes, etc. lol

Thank you :)

I will run Rock of Ages by him and see what he thinks, thank you

Yes, I punched it into city mapper just to see what options I had on getting there. But it was almost a $300 difference from EWR and almost $200 from LGA and the flights weren't as good.

Thank you. We thought about the twilight one.

Thank you, he loves history and tech stuff, so I will be checking those things out. The Medieval Monsters sounds interesting.

He now thinks he would like the Bronx Zoo, so I am going to move some things around/delete some things and add that in on Wed for a few hrs (I was reading it takes about 4-5 hrs to visit it?). Is it a easy commute over there?

Taking Uber or LYFT to ISP will eliminate any savings you gained by flying from ISP--it is FAR from Manhattan and an expensive ride.

The Bronx Zoo will take time to reach. I always think of it as an all-day activity.

Central Park has a zoo--it is small and can be visited in little more than an hour, but a visit there will not require redoing your entire schedule.

Birdie is right about the plays. Just ask him to go with an open mind and see one; it will be just a few hours out of his life, and if he hates it, you'll never ask him to do it again. My dad, who is old and cranky, had NO interest in seeing plays; my mom bought him a ticket anyway, and he went, grumbling the entire way. Turned out he liked enough to see them on a regular basis. The only one he saw that he really disliked was Cats, but he still agreed to go after that and see more. We saw Book of Mormon yesterday, and he loved it.

I've seen a LOT of shows in my time, and I also really disliked Cats :lol:

sf~my friend's teenage son still hasn't forgiven us for taking him to see it!;)

I don't think Rock of Ages is playing on Broadway anymore but School of Rock is.