NYC itinerary with a toddler - comments please
Oct 16th, 2003 | 10:23 AM
#21
Joined: Feb 2003
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We took a four-year old to NYC for a week last spring. Some of this has already been covered by others, but here are my tips:
The biggest hits: Toys R Us; The Lion King (spectacular even if you only pay for balcony seats); the dinosaurs, animals, and space show at the Museum of Natural History; Empire State Building; Central Park playgrounds and zoo; FAO Schwartz (but not as much as Toys R Us); Mars 2112 Restaurant; Katz's Deli (I can't overstate how good the pastrami was, and our daughter loved the excellent hotdogs - John's Pizza is great too); Circle Line boat tour; boat out to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; and taxi and subway rides.
A few tips: It is not all that bad to walk from Broadway to the boats. We took a cab there and walked back, and my wife was a few months pregnant (cabs are easy and cheap though for that distance). Definitely use a stroller for most toddlers - I can't imagine how we would have managed without one.
If you want to save time and trouble at the Empire State Building, go to its Web site and pay for and print your tickets before you go (I guess this is irrelevant if you go with the pass - we decided against passes). The tickets are good for a certain number of days, so you maintain flexibility but don't have to wait in the ticket line. You can even print extras in case you lose one (they are barcoded). Dusk is crowded but worth it. Expect it to be very cold up there; it was in April, and that was during a mostly warm week.
Toys R Us is a good thing for night visits, since you don't lose daylight hours that way. They have a nice candy shop and stuffed Geoffreys dressed like the Statue of Liberty, along with other NY items. Our daughter loves the little metal taxi and NYC fire trucks we picked up in shops around Times Square.
If your child likes Chinese, lunch or dinner in Chinatown can be a nice experience.
There is a nice little toy store in SoHo called The Enchanted Forest. You will find it in some travel guides. Our daughter liked it and walked out with her arms full of stuffed animals.
We didn't find the subways all that tough I guess, but our daughter walked most of the time when not in the stroller. Carrying a stroller around when not pushing can be tiring, so make sure to have a small one. Get subway passes, so you don't have to worry about buying more tickets during the trip.
The biggest hits: Toys R Us; The Lion King (spectacular even if you only pay for balcony seats); the dinosaurs, animals, and space show at the Museum of Natural History; Empire State Building; Central Park playgrounds and zoo; FAO Schwartz (but not as much as Toys R Us); Mars 2112 Restaurant; Katz's Deli (I can't overstate how good the pastrami was, and our daughter loved the excellent hotdogs - John's Pizza is great too); Circle Line boat tour; boat out to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; and taxi and subway rides.
A few tips: It is not all that bad to walk from Broadway to the boats. We took a cab there and walked back, and my wife was a few months pregnant (cabs are easy and cheap though for that distance). Definitely use a stroller for most toddlers - I can't imagine how we would have managed without one.
If you want to save time and trouble at the Empire State Building, go to its Web site and pay for and print your tickets before you go (I guess this is irrelevant if you go with the pass - we decided against passes). The tickets are good for a certain number of days, so you maintain flexibility but don't have to wait in the ticket line. You can even print extras in case you lose one (they are barcoded). Dusk is crowded but worth it. Expect it to be very cold up there; it was in April, and that was during a mostly warm week.
Toys R Us is a good thing for night visits, since you don't lose daylight hours that way. They have a nice candy shop and stuffed Geoffreys dressed like the Statue of Liberty, along with other NY items. Our daughter loves the little metal taxi and NYC fire trucks we picked up in shops around Times Square.
If your child likes Chinese, lunch or dinner in Chinatown can be a nice experience.
There is a nice little toy store in SoHo called The Enchanted Forest. You will find it in some travel guides. Our daughter liked it and walked out with her arms full of stuffed animals.
We didn't find the subways all that tough I guess, but our daughter walked most of the time when not in the stroller. Carrying a stroller around when not pushing can be tiring, so make sure to have a small one. Get subway passes, so you don't have to worry about buying more tickets during the trip.
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FlyingMalteses
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