starrs

"But another flip response...."

See your midnight post.

Sincerity? Yeah, right.

Go back to your black bottles.

kswl

Well, I enjoyed reading this report all over again, and have made reservations for the prix fixe lunch at Passon in November.

DH and I are making a quick trip to NYC mid November. He has a one-day meeting on 11/14 so we're flying up 11/13 early am and coming back 11/15 late, trying to fit in at least two and a half days for me and one "fun" day for him. We're staying at the W on Lexington and have tickets for Mary Poppins on Friday and The 39 Steps on Thursday. DH said I could pick the shows and I wished at Christmas I could have seen Poppins instead of Legally Blonde... now I am finally seeing it

LowCountryIslander

kswl,

Darn! I'm going to miss you in NYC by just days. Mom and I will be there from Nov. 8 - Nov. 11. Guess I will just have to get to Atlanta again some day soon!

We have tickets for Billy Elliot, Gypsy and Chicago. It's our "Mega-Musical" weekend! We're also checking out Roberto Passon.

kswl

Well, shoot! I can't believe we'll miss each other by three days.... please tell your mom I said hello and have a GREAT time!

I wanted to see Billy Elliot, too, but did not want to pass up my chance to see Mary Poppins with DH. It was one of my favorite films, ever and he has a soft spot for dancing chimney sweeps, I guess Since DD and DS are both Irish dancers I had thought about taking them to NYC with my mother in February to see it, but we decided to go to Sundance instead. Let us know how the show is, I LOVED the movie (once my ears got used to the language).

amcc

NP, wanted to thank you for the brief reference to NYhabitat.com for apartment rentals. I was asked (coerced?)into finding places to stay for some Spanish family members. Using just nyhabitat based on your rec, I found them a 2BR, 2BA! apartment in Chelse that they loved for about $300 a night! They were great to work with, and while I have no idea if all their rentals are "legal", they are well vetted, very responsive, and very easy to work with. I hope to be able to use them when I go to NYC.

NeoPatrick

That's great. Thanks for the feedback.

tamtot

Patrick,
I just have to say I LOVED YOUR TRIP REPORT! I have been scribbling notes in my NYC planning notebook for our Spring trip. LOVE the restaurant details,etc.
You mentioned you had gotten most of your shows at Discount prices. May I ask what website you did them through?
Thanks so much for your help,you've been great to answer questions on my other posts.
SO HELPFUL!
Tammy

NeoPatrick

I got most of the discount codes through either theatremania.com, broadwaybox.com, or playbill.com. But all of those shows I then booked through either Telecharge or Tickemaster, depending on the theatre, and by using the codes. By the way, I nearly always start by looking at availability online with Telecharge or Ticketmaster and then call to get the actual seats. I find I often get better seats than what pops up online as "best available".

kswl

We used broadwaybox.com and another site I can't remember right now and got one set of tix for next weekend at 50% and the other at 40% off.

tamtot

Thanks so much. As a rule, are the discounts only for last-minute purchases? Or will I be able to find discounts now for shows in April?
And does anyone have a word on Mary Poppins? My daughter mentioned she might like to see that. We already have our tickets for Wicked!
Thanks,
Tammy

NeoPatrick

Generally the discounts change and are for up to about 6 weeks or so in advance. Shows about to open usually have discounts for the preview performances (a couple weeks to a month's worth before the official opening. I doubt you'll find many discounts for April shows until about the first of March -- maybe a little earlier.

Mary Poppins currently has discounts through the first part of Jan., so I'd suspect they will be offered for April later on.

kswl

Tammy, we got Mary Poppins tickets for next weekend at 40% off. There are many discounts available, depending upon when you're going. You can't buy spring tickets right now at discount, I don't think, but this should give you some idea of what's available.

http://www.broadwaybox.com/shows/mar...c_tickets.aspx

The one caveat to discount ticket availability is if you're going at a mob-scene time in New York like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or in your case, spring break.

Spainfan

Patrick,

As a native ny'er I always enjoy your trip reports.

As a theater lover you may want to look into Audience Extras. Last minute tickets, mostly off broadway about $7 a ticket. You can see wonderful, awful or in between shows. But live theater is great..even when not great.

Re Gypsy...my partner an I saw it at City Center and loved it. Then recently took my mother...house seats...5th row center. Amazing, amazing. My mother said better than Merman.

Thanks for your reports, and for letting all of us know what it means to be in a loving relationship.

Peteralan

I have not been on the US board for ages but I used to love reading Patrick's reports on his adventures at the theatres and restaurants in New York. Patrick we recently stayed at Poggiolo apartment in Montepulciano which you recommended and we loved it. I believe you were in Apartment3 and ours was no.1.I have had a longtime dream of a month in NYC but, if you think the city is expensive for Americans , spare a thought for we Aussies and our dollar is worth about 70 US cents.

So glad all turned out well for Lee ( and you! )and thank you for keeping my dream alive. PS I snuck a look at your photo and you are right about Lee not looking his age. All the best to you both.

NeoPatrick

Thanks for the kind words, Spainfan and Peteralan. Yes, Il Poggiolo in Montepulciana is a great place isn't it?

TTess

Just so the thread makes 200.

maria_so

neopatrick,

we're planning to do christmas day to new years (jan 3) in new york this year (2009/2010) and have created a post with questions. We want to rent an apartment (I thought near times square for the new years festivities but has since changed my mind because of a post I've seen saying that it will be really busy and we can get barricaded in, etc). Anyway, I have communicated with a few listings in VRBO and have found one blocks from time square for $285/night that we are interested in. My issue is, since posting my questions, most people have told me not to trust renting apartments, that most of them are illegal if less than a month (we want to rent one for 9 nights). I'venoticed on another one of your posts that you found your typical rental from vrbo. what do you think? This is the one we want to rent. http://www.vrbo.com/148717

thanks in advance.

NeoPatrick

I hate to get into the "illegal" argument. There is no doubt that there are plenty of those. And many that are rented are still "bending the rules". Some are condominiums where the owner owns the apartment rather than rents it. While there may be condo rules about pre approval of rentals, etc, and while I'm not going to say it is fine to bypass those rules, in some buildings it is extremely common. Worldwide Plaza, for example, has quite a few owners who rent out their units and while renters are supposed to be approved in advance, etc., they are usually asked just to say they are "friends" of the owners, as it would be impossible to do an advance meeting to be approved to rent there for a week. While we were there, it was clear the concierges, the doorman, etc. all knew that we were renting that apartment and none of them cared in the least or showed anything but full kindness and consideration to us.

I suspect that is the case with the building you are talking about, which may be on 42nd or a little south of there, but obviously a HUGE building (700 apartments).

Sub-letting a rental apartment in a rental (rather than a condominium) building is another matter altogether and you could easily be thrown out.

maria_so

thanks neopatrick. i'm just wary because i've never rented an apartment before in new york and now see it is nothing like renting a vrbo for other places which we most often do and have never had any issues.

So can you tell me how you decided to rent the one that you did? Did you ask them certain questions that made you feel more comfortable about renting it? The one I enclosed included some visitor's reviews but that could be made up, I guess. I hate to be really negative like this but don't want to end up with no place on arrival, etc.

Thanks again for your response.

NeoPatrick

The first one we rented in New York was called Big Apple Getaway which is in Worldwide Plaza, and has its own website in addition to being on VRBO. But I found that due to a recoommendation on another website, I think. The next one we rented I talked back and forth with the "owner" a lot, and it was in a building very close to the first one. What I didn't understand was that it WAS a rental building and we were illegal sublets. That was very tricky, and I think they have since cancelled his lease -- fortunately we got through that one OK. That one was also on VRBO, but no longer is.

The third one we rented was one for a month (the only way they will rent it) and it is also in Worldwide Plaza. I didn't do a lot of checking on it, but felt confident by the correspondence we had.

One think you might want to do is find out what the building itself is called, and do a call to the building itself -- this may take a little bit of "sleuthing". You might ask if there are rentals there or if they are condos and ask if owners of the condo rent out their apartments.