I fuly sympathise?

Or fully sympathize?

And yes - mine fills in several really awful words automatically - and I haven;t figure out how to kill them yet.

(I blame part of it on having so many different keyboards (large on desktop in the office, medium on 17" mac laptop at home, smaller on PC laptop from the office, and smallest on the iPad. I can;t get my fingers coordinated - esp my pinkies. And it won't stop giving me ; for '.)

Cindy-- You definitely want to be in the City.
Not sure if you settled on hotels yet, but here are a few others to try.
Check ut Riverside Hotel http://www.riversidetowerhotel.com
Or Hotel Belleclaire. Hotel Excelsior is another one.
All 3 are on the Upper West side.
I think Riverside is the cheapest-- and available-- but it doesn't get great reviews. BUT--- I wouldn't care about the room so much. If you're in NYC to take in the sights, you won't need/want much time in your hotel. Being in the city, in a beautiful neighborhood, is so much better than being in NJ or Long Island.

I would NOT reco Riverside Towers. there have been posters here who reported walking in, seeing how bad the place is - and then walking right back out to find another hotel. They described filthy rooms and hallways, wallpaper peeling off the wall and broken furniture. This isn't modest or budget - it's just a place you really can;t stay. This is one of 2 or 3 places in Manhattan that I would reco people not stay.

As for the other places mentioned - the are very pleasant hotels - but FAR above the OPs budget of $100 per night.

I have recommended Long Island City hotels a couple of times on the OPs other post but don;t know what they have decided.

Thanks, everyone! Staying two nights with friends in downtown Manhatten, and two nights at Hampton Inn Times Square North... Good reviews, free breakfast, and about $220/night.

Bought tix to Nice Work if You Can Get It, and hoping to visit Tkts and try for Newsies, Forbidden Broadway, Edwin Drood, Once, or War Horse.

I say we see as many as we can afford, my husband says we will obviously see more than we can afford. :)

Any great tips on places to eat or not as well known great spots?

On advice of friends, we are thinking:
The Highline
Tenement museum
Alice's Tea Cup

And I'm dying to do Ellis island and Top of the Rock.

Robert restaurant in the Museum of Art & Design at Columbus Circle. Drop dead views of Central Park, reasonably decent food not pricey, esp prix fixe lunch. Much nicer fancier prix fixe lunch at Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental. Others also like Jean George's prix fix lunch (weekdays). Food Court under the Plaza hotel has good options and good excuse to have a look inside. Do you know about menupages.com?

Not far from your hotel, Capital Grille in the Time Life building has a 3 course prix fixe dinner for $39 with nice choices. http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/Loca...heatreMenu.asp

That's a pretty good deal at Capital Grille. I'm going to do that sometime.

That prix fixe dinner is pre-theater. Assume you can't get it at the normal dinner hour. And it's only at that location - not all of the others. (There's one across the street from my office - and they don;t offer it.)

If you're considering walking on The High Line, then you may want to dine at The Red Cat, on Tenth just above 23rd. We've never been disappointed there. Reservations generally necessary.