My family (hubby and two boys 7 & 10) will be going to NYC for our first visit over Thanksgiving weekend. We have reservations at the New York Hilton and I've been having fun reading about all the exciting attractions the city has to offer. I have a few questions I hope you can answer:
1. Do you recommend the tour of Statue of Liberty or is it best to take the Staten Island Ferry?
2. Where do you suggest going for a nice Thanksgiving late afternoon/early evening dinner? We'll be going to the parade during the day.

Thanks for any hints you can pass my way.
Best.....Beth

We were in NYC last Thanksgiving for the parade. We had dinner at The View at the top of the Marriott Marquis. It was a very nice buffet and the views were great.
If you want front row for the parade, make sure that you are out at the parade route around 6am. We did bring a couple of chairs and they were helpful during the long wait. We had a great spot on the corner of 41st and Broadway. If you go too much closer to Herald Square, it becomes a quiet zone - not much fun watching there!
You'll have a great time!

I have never taken the tour at the Statue of Liberty, but I live in NYC, and every time we have relatives come into town we just take the ferry over and it's fine to explore Statue of Liberty on your own. I suppose if you're interested in a lot of the factual details on Lady Liberty, you should take the tour. But, you can still learn a lot on your own...As far as lunch/dinner, there are a gazillion great restaurants in NYC. I would browse through a NYC Zagats guide at a bookstore and pick out a few that sound interesting - the West Village is a great little area to get a great and quaint meal - maybe check out a few places in that neighborhood to see what they might be offering for dinner on Thanksgiving. There is a place called Home on Cornelia St that is a small and nice/"homey" place - they normally serve very good upscale "comfort food" and I think they put on a very good Thanksgiving lunch/dinner for a pre-fixed price. Good luck...Laura

Going to the Statue is a time consuming stop so a lot depends on your schedule. The visit to Ellis Island for the Immigration museum is considered very worthwhile by most, but again time consuming. You use the same ferry for both.

Friend of a Farmer is a charming comfort food place in the Gramercy Park area that somewhat known for it's Thanksgiving dinner. They start taking reservations Nov. 1 and get sold out pretty quickly. Someone posted about it last year. In fact, if you do a search here for Thanksgiving dinner in NYC you'll find lots of previous posts with ideas. If you told us the sort of place and price you had in mind it would be helpful. Do you want informal? Do you want to be able to walk from the hotel (limiting)?

Home is a good idea. Blue Hill and Fraunces Tavern are others that have been mentioned in the past. I personally would stay away from the typical tourist places like Tavern on the Green etc. They're not great to begin with and this holiday can make them an utter zoo.

There is no way in hell I'd try and do the Statue of Liberty tour over Thanksgiving Weekend. It will be so packed, it will take up half your time there.

The Staten Island Ferry is a lovely trip. Take it at dusk so you can see the Statue of Liberty light up as well as the lights of Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Truly one of the most stunning views of NYC.

Hint: watch the parade from the Upper West Side. That way you'll get out earlier than everyone else and can beat the crowds to the restaurants.

Hint: Watch them blowing up the balloon figures for the parade the night before.

Thank you to all who responded. I really appreciate your insight! Still in the planning stages...

Beth

I agree with GoTravel. Thanksgiving weekend is a very busy one in NYC. And, that means that visiting the Statue of Liberty would consume a lot of time in waiting. Take the Staten Island Ferry instead.
As for dining suggestions, you didn't say how much you wanted to spend not what type(s) of food you prefer.
As for places to visit, I'd put the American Museum of Natural History at the top of your list, with the dinosaur exhibit and the planetarium as definite must-sees.