Here is the itinerary I am working on for my girls weekend with my 20 years old sister. Please give me comments and advice.
Dates: Feb 16-19
Day 1 : arrive JFK 5:35 am. Cab or car service to hotel (Hampton Inn TSq) drop bags. Grab a bite, cab or subway to Battery Park, first ferry to Ellis Island. Spend a couple hours there, head back to Battery Park, grab either cab or NY Water Taxi to Brooklyn for lunch at Grimaldis. Cab or water taxi back to Manhattan. Then we will either go to Top of the Rock, or head back to the hotel for a nap after our redeye! Our plan is to try for rush tickets to a show every night, so we will split up and head to 2 theaters at 5:30-ish to get into the lotteries and connect via cel phone to see if we get in to one. If not what could we do this evening? I also can’t decide if we should to go to ToTR in the day or wait til evening/night.
Day2: We have 2:00 tickets to Wicked. I thought maybe we could visit the East Village or Greenwich or Chelsea, find a flea market in the AM. Head back to Ollies Noodle for lunch then the show. Suggestions for this evening?
Day3: Chinatown. Planning on going to the Lunar New Year firecracker celebration in the early afternoon and walking/shopping Chinatown. Maybe Tenement Museum also. Back to Broadway at 5-ish to do the lottery again. Suggestions for this evening if we don’t get tickets?
Day 4: The Met is open for a holiday Monday so that’s where we are headed today. We will also cruise around central park a bit..see Strawberry Fields etc. Our flight leaves JFK at 8:50 pm. When to we need to head for the airport to get there in time?
Other things we’d like to try and see/do:
Century 21
Tiffany
We may opt out of Ellis Island and do the Tenement Museum instead. Which would be more fun for a 20 year old and her 36 year old sister?
Thanks in advance.. you all have such great suggestions I can’t wait to hear from you!

Alana

Alana, slow down, calm down. It's not a race. From which direction are you coming?

If you're up to doing Ellis Island when you arrive, go. Otherwise, you might take the FREE Staten Island ferry roundtrip and get a photo op look at both the SOL and Ellis Island. No long lines, no standing.

Century 21 is not far from either of the ferries downtown if you're up to shopping on that first morning. In fact, the earlier you get there, the better. Maybe head there first after dropping your bags at the hotel.

The water taxi is not running for the trip over to Brooklyn at this time of year so you'd have to subway or taxi.

When you get off the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan, you're not far from the South Street Seaport. There's a TKTS booth across from there IF you don't want to deal with lotteries. But depending on where you're coming from, if Europe, I wouldn't suggest you go to the theater on your first night here. You'll be very tired. If you lay down in the afternoon, you might not wake up. Instead of a show, maybe do a city lights bus tour or perhaps a shorter off broadway show. Altar Boyz has been very popular and you can get discount tickets either at broadwaybox.com or at the TKTS booth. Only 1 1/2 hrs. no intermission.

OR, on Fri or Sat. night, the Metropolitan is open until 9 and they have drinks and music in the main hall. MOMA (museum of Modern Art) is also open late on Fri. til 8 and it's free from 4 pm on (although it gets really crowded then and this is a holiday weekend). MOMA is not far from Rockefeller Center. moma.org

Top of the Rock, imo, is best either during the day or at dusk. Central Park is one big black hole at night.

What about ice skating? Any interest? Central Park, Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center all have it.

I wouldn't call either Ellis Island or the Tenement museum "fun." They both in different ways allow you to glimpse the immigrant experience. The Tenement Museum is less time consuming and near other things a 20 yr. old would like but Ellis Island is a grander more enveloping experience. You would need a reservation at the Tenement Museum as it's small and popular.

I'm unclear whether you're flying domestic or international. Generally you need to check in 2 hrs before for dom. and 3 for int'l so check your airline and then allow at least an hour to get to JFK by taxi. I'd book a car service to pick you up to go out to the airport so you don't have to worry about finding a cab. I like limores.net

Agreed ... relax. New York is a city to walk & explore. You can not and will not see it all, but you CAN come back.

Buy a Flashmap of NYC and explore the city by neighborhood/area.

Also keep a Zagat's in your purse.

Enjoy!

I talked to my sis today and it seems that neither of us is too intent on Ellis Island, so we will probably just take the SI Ferrry for the views. Thanks for the heads up about the water taxis not having service this time of year!
We are coming from Utah, so we will not be dead tired..a nap will suffice.
Sis is a poor college student, so we are just going to try the rush/lotteries,because I doubs she can afford the TKTS prices, but we will go to the booth and see..
Also thanks for the heads up on the Met open late..I knew it was on Fri but not Sat. We might hit that Sat night instead of Monday, BYT sis is an art major and I think Monday might be better as we can spend ALL day if she wants to.
I know that first days sounds a littel rushed..but we are up for it.
My biggest problem is I know what we want to do..I just need to get the scheduling right. I have a great map so I think I am getting it grouped well by area.
Any hints on good flea markets? We are both into funky artsy craftsy vintagy stuff so i am thinking shopping in Chelsea East Village will be good right?
Alana

Chelsea & the East Village are on opposite sides of Manhattan.

Walk up Broadway from Canal (or down from Bleecker) and you'll encounter some markets ... but maybe not in mid-February???

http://www.hellskitchenfleamarket.com/
The Garage Market is the best of these. It's on two levels and indoors. Get there early if you're looking for something in particular. You are also close to Loehmann's, another good place for bargains.

For flea markets, if you're talking about jewelry and knick knacks, you might check out the Chelsea Flea market on 25th & 6th on the weekend.
http://www.hellskitchenfleamarket.com/

There's another one on the upper west side and one in Soho. But if you're looking for vintage clothing, thrift shops and consignment shops would be better. There's lots of info already here if you do a text search for thrift shops or consigment.

Can't remember if I mentioned there are some discount promotions that might help you. Seasonofsavings.com and
http://www.nycvisit.com/PaintTownSea...?pagePkey=1626

In the latter, there are some museum discounts including 2 for 1 offer at the Frick and a $3 off/ticket at the Guggenheim if you use an American Express card. (I saw the Spanish show--El Greco to Picasso at the Guggenheim this weekend and it's very good).

Anything you can purchase in advance and not lose discounts is worth it. Lines are long everywhere for buying tix. I was really surprised how long the ticket line at the Guggenheim was on Sun.

Show-wise, let your fingers do the walking: Only hit the booths if your desired show does not have a discount code online. Try Broadwaybox.com

Alana if you have an Amex card there
are discounts for everything from
attractions,museums, dining, etc. at
www.nycvisit.com/paint.

It's an annual thing. Print out the
"coupon" & bring w/you. Runs from 1/2 thru 2/28/07. Maybe it will help your bottom line.

Lots of Broadway shows have student rush tickets, so if you don't have your heart set on something in particular, just hit the theatre district around 7:30 and give it a try. You probably won't get tickets to the big hits (like Jersey Boys or Mary Poppins), but there should be plenty of choices.

Playbill.com has a fairly comprehensive list of the policies:
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuz...cle/82428.html