Hello,
We wil be going to New York City with our 5 year old this coming Thanksgiving. We will be staying at the Staybridge Suites near Times Square. We are looking for suggestions of child friendly 4 day itineraries. In addition, we are looking for recommendations of restaurants that we can go for Thanksgiving dinner with our 5 year old. We are looking for a place with ambiance, atmosphere. Our budget is flexible so high end restaurants would be an option. Any recommendations are appreciated.
Thanks

For Thanksgiving Dinner, go to opentable.com and see what's open that day.

Thanks for your response. This site is great however I was looking for recommendations of restaurants serving Thanksgiving type of meal that would be suitable for a family with a 5 year old.

Central Park Zoo and carousel, Staten Island ferry over and back, Museum of Natural History, Dylan's Candy bar, Economy Candy, a ride on the subway and bus( my kids loved that when they were little)ToysRUs in Times Square with it's ferris wheel, M&M Store in Times Sq...for a start.If you have a little girl, American Girl Place on 5th Ave and reserve a meal there. A Broadway Show suitable for kids;there are several to choose from.Radio City Christmas Show.If it's a nice day, let your child run a little on The Highline Park with no traffic to worry about.Carousel with N. American animals and fish instead of horses next to Chelsea Piers, north side in Hudson River Park.

On Thanksgiving many restaurants have set seating at two hour intervals - esp if they are doing a traditional dinner. Not sure if your cild is ready for a 2 hour lunch or dinner.

Looking at opentable makes sense - since it will tell you which places are open and doing a traditional dinner - and which have flexible dining times (so perhaps you ca get out in under two hours).

In terms of a B'way show I would do eithr eLiong King (get tickets NOW) or Mary Poppins. Many shows don;t welcome children that young since they often can;t sit still/quiet for so long and disturb the event for others.

Also consider ice skating - at the rock Center rink or one of the others around the city.

You might have a look at the Sea Grille for dinner (if they will have a menu you like) since seeing the skaters might help keep your child occupied.

If you have a girl I highly recommend dining at American Girl - we did the Brunch in 2010 when my daughter was 5. The food was good and it's such a fun experience! Definitely need to make a reservation asap! Also, the Eloise store in the Plaza is great, too!!

Thank you so much everyone for your responses. We are traveling with our 5 year old Boy. He is super excited and all the suggestions are fantastic. The Sea Grille is not accepting online reservations for that day though. Is there any other restaurant in Rockefeller Center or somewhere else with a good atmosphere that you can recommend for a family with a child? We where also considering the Central Park Boathouse. Any other you can recommend would be much appreciated.

Is Bryant Park Grill accepting reservations? If your boy gets restless before dessert, you can take turns letting him around the park a bit.

Just had another thought, and this will sound, really, really strange but the Brasserie restaurant at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Times Square has a killer 3rd floor view looking right down into Times Square and the food actually is tasty. I would bet they are doing a traditional Thanksgiving menu that day. It's a really easy space, and I bet there would be other kids there, so no pressure to make a 5 year old be a perfect angel (not the he always isn't I'm sure!)

Check it out.

http://www.cpmanhattantimessquare.co...erie-1605.html

Boathouse would be great.

Check this out if you want a lot of NY atmosphere and want to go high-end.

http://nymag.com/guides/holidays/thanksgiving/dine-out/

I really wouldn't worry too much about child-friendly. Any restaurant offering Thanksgiving menus will be expecting families with kids even smaller than yours.

The resto at the Crowne Plaza may not be the touch you are looking for on Thanksgiving Day, but it is worth knowing about for other meals if it turns out your boy gets a real kick out of the lights and taxi flow around Times Square.

Thanks soo much!! The feedback is great and the link Biztravfod gave is fantastic. We wanted to do Aureole but it is booked. Right now we are booked at the Boathouse in Central Park but will keep looking just in case we find something else we like more.

Rock Center Cafe usually does holiday dinners, and it's the most kid-friendly restaurant there (Sea Grill is decided NOT kid-friendly, and I could not recommend that for any meal during your trip). If you are planning to do this, I'd strongly recommend eating later in the afternoon.

Ellen's Stardust Diner might do Thanksgiving Dinner. And it's a very casual, boistrous environment.

I sat next to a mother and child (she was about 7) at Maialino last year, and they had a traditional turkey option on their menu (though it was a little expensive for a five-year-old).

Barbetta is an Italian restaurant in the Theater District, and they do a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Sarabeth's on Central Park South might also be an option. And finally Tony's di Napoli, a family-style Italian restaurant, serves Thanksgiving dinner.

Most restaurants start accepting reservations for Thanksgiving about 4 weeks out, but some are already taking reservations. The reason you may not see some restaurants on the list already is because they haven't started taking reservations yet.

The parade. It's fantastic. Night before you can watch as they blow up the balloons.

Enjoy