Please review my itinerary that I have come up with the help of all you helpful people on this forum - thanks! Please help me with the order of which to do things on each day. AS you can see I have nothing planned for the day we arrive. If there is a day that I have too much crammed in then I can take something out and place it there. Also let me know if I need to swap up some things.
Tues, Oct. 10 - arrive @ 11 am. Staying at the Washington Jefferson on W 51st St. Lunch at Carnegie Deli.
Wed. - Battery Park, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Cite, Financial District
Thur - Today show, Rockefeller Center, Top of the Rock, NBC Studio Tour, Times Square, The Lion King, Dinner at Thalia
Fri - Empire State Building?, Grand Central Station, Century 21, SoHO, Little Italy, Chinatown, Greenwhich Village, Lunch at Lombardi's
Sat - Shopping on 5th Ave, Trump Tower, Serendipity, Central Park, Zoo, Carriage Ride, Tavern on the Green
Leave on Sunday

WTC site is directly across the st. from Century 21, so I'd put those on the same day.

What's your intent? Are you planning on just walking through Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown etc.? You could easily spend a full day (or even week!)in each neighborhood checking out the shops, dining at the cafes and taking it all in.

Please keep in mind that some items will have long lines associated with them (Empire State, Ferry to Statue of Liberty), so even if you wanted to, you couldn't breeze through.

What about taking the Greyline tour. You can get a 3 day pass, get off in Soho and get back on a separate bus when you're ready. The tour does a huge loop, and buses are supposed to come every 10 minutes or so. We really liked getting an overview of the City that way. Then, you can spend the time walking the Brooklyn Bridge, having coffee in the Village or shopping in Century 21.

I wouldn't attempt your itinerary as written. It's exhaustive and won't leave you with much other than the opportunity to say you've been there.

A visit to the SOL and Ellis Island will take the better part of a day. You can do that and pass by the other things you mention. You could walk the Brooklyn Bridge on the same day but I think it would be exhausting. I think you need 2 full days downtown, one as you describe Wed. w/o all of it and then another, maybe Fri. for the balance plus soho, etc. You won't be able to do it all. To that point, I think you either have to decide which things you're prepared to cut, or as someone else said, maybe consider a bus tour on day 1 that passes by a lot of places so you can feel you "saw" it and come back to some later this trip or the next.

Tavern on the Green is mostly judged to be overpriced with not very good food, although the setting is pretty. It's usually suggested you go for a drink, or lunch or brunch rather than dinner.

I agree with the previous poster about more time for downtown if that is extremely important to you. To give you an idea, I walked the Brooklyn Bridge early morning, then walked from there through Chinatown and into SoHo, where I did a little shopping. By the time I got to Greenwich Village it was nearly dark. However, that was in November when it gets dark earlier. I ate at Lombardis in Little Italy for lunch. I do a lot of photography, so I walked around at a fairly leisurely pace for the first 2/3 of the day. I think this plan makes a very nice day. Do the Financial District on the Ellis Island/SOL day.

Well - if you're doing top of the Rock I wouldn;t do the Empire State Buidling too. The view is not that different - and it takes a tremendous amount of time standing in line (TOR is timed tickets).

Also - you haven't included any of the major museums. I would spend the 3/4 hours allocated to the ESB at one of the major museums - either the Met (and you can see some of Central Park too) or MOMA - depending on your taste. If you decide on the Met go to the web site in advance and pick out 2 or 3 departments to see - since you could easily spend several days there. Some of the most accesible are impresionist paintings I can NEBER get enough VanGogoh), the Costume Institute and the Egyptian Department with the Temple of Dendur.

Your hotel is close enough to Central Park, that you could wander around there the first day.

You can also walk to Times Square from your hotel the first day/evening too.

How good of a walker are you? No matter how in shape you are, walking around NYC can be tiring - so you might want to plan a few rest times in there. Whenever my parents visit me, they always tend to have a little siesta in the hotel room in the evening before venturing out again.

Your last day sounds like a lot. We walked up 5th avenue from 42nd street and only went in about 2 stores. We rested at Trump Tower and headed up to Bloomies and Serendipities. We got to Serendipities at 2:30 pm on a Thurs and the wait was an hour and a half. You can't make reservations for dessert only, so go for lunch or dinner and get those reservations! Although I can't imagine being able to eat those desserts after lunch or dinner.

But I don't see how you could make it to central park that day also. That would be exhausting.

ps. Just do Top of the Rock (it was awesome) and not the Empire State Building. Go at dusk and stay after sunset to see the lights go on. I think that was the #1 highlight of my trip.

Another thing you could do is take the Staten Island Ferry. It's free and gives you great views of downtown and the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty involves long lines, and (in my opinion) is not worth the wait. Ellis Island, on the other hand, is pretty cool, but you need to spend some time there to get the most out of it.

Make sure you make a reservation for Tavern on the Green. Although most people as for the Crystal Room, if the Garden is open, you will get the best service (hopefully it isn't to hot). And if Carly still works there tell her Ingrid says Hi.

Carriage Rides are a little over-rated but can be nice. If open, the New York Historical Society is a great glimpse into NY's past. Stroll down the street and check out Lincoln Center

Have fun seems your trip will be jammed packed

Ummmm, we do have what's known as weather back here, and it happens all year round. Like yesterday, it poured TORRENTIALLY. Not a day anybody wearing anything other than a wet suit could walk around in comfortably. And it's still rainy (although less).

October is generally one of the finest months in NYC, cool and dry, by you still need to think in advance about how rain would force you to revise your plans.

I would plan your days in two chunks: morning and afternoon. And for each chunk where you've planned to do an outdoor activity or pay to see a view, pencil in the alternative plan if it rains during the morning or the afternoon.

Make sense?

I would go to the Chrysler Building instead of the Empire State Building (since you are going to Top of the Rock). And I would go to the Central Park boathouse or the Met Museum restaurant rather than Tavern on the Green. I would skip the Central Park Zoo.

joelst, I am thinking of going on the NBC studio tour w/my daughter in late August. Will you please post back on how that goes, I'd really like to hear about it. Thank you in advance.

I just booked Top of the Rock for Sat. night after seeing Drowsy Chaperone- the last time slot at 10:50 pm...should be great!

oh shoot, I see you aren';t going til OCt.! well then , you can read my trip report about it.

emd, will you plan my trip too!

I don't see a museum on your list. If you are a big museum-goer, still consider adding the Frick Collection to your plans. Amazing home to an amazing private collection. Won't take much time to see - but you will always remember it. Small. Not overwhelming. Just fabulous.

Serious consider adding the Frick.

emd -
I just went on the NBC Studio Experience Tour last Monday and it was really worth it. I loved the little inside information I learned, and as soon as we got back from NYC, we put on NBC to see some of what we learned about.

Definitely book that ahead of time.
The time slot I had wanted was full, but they run so many tours....

oh and if you want to see my photos from last weekend there are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammimarie/

My goal is to write up my trip report this weekend and post by Mon or Tues.