How old are your kids? Our teens loved staying at the Doubletree because of the Times Square location.

What do you consider walking distance? I don't know the locations of all these hotels, and some of them are very close to the park but some are over 20 blocks away. This is walkable but may not what you had in mind. FYI 20 (north-south) blocks = 1 mile.

You mentioned you might go in May instead of July. We are going end of June beginning of July and looked for places near the park (upper west side mostly). The one thing I noticed in all of my extensive research, is that the hotel prices all DROPPED on July 1st. We booked the Excelsior and have different rates for our two June days and our two July days. Maybe that is because the 1st is a Saturday, and nothing to do with the month. I don't know.

Good luck, it's so overwhelming!

Affinia Manhattan is on 31st and 7th av, the doubletree is on 47th and 7th. Central Park South is at 59th St. The Central Park West area is very nice.

Thanks for all of the info. the Benjamin is a bit pricier than the Affinia 50. Looks like we may be travelling with just one of our children (8 year old girl). The Affinia 50 offers an American Girl Place package which may suit us...a little more than the $250 we budgeted but looks like we may not get much for $250 in NYC in May.

All I know is we stayed at the Parker Meridien with kids age 6 and 2 and loved it. The room was plenty big with sofa bed; the TV flipped around for late-night viewing for us/early a.m. viewing for them; we didn't use the pool but it was a nice feature; great location by subways and the park, Times Square. Also, we brought breakfast in each morning from the nearby Pick A Bagel. Would definitely go back with kids.