Talk to me about coney island

[peanut520]

That are your thoughts on a day trip to coney with a 3 year old?

Details:
It will be me, dh, dd, my bother and wife and my parents. We would drive into Brooklyn (about 2 hours drive to dh and SIL's house)and hop the subway over. I was fine and thought the aquarium would be fun for dd, but Dh and my brother want to do the beach/boardwalk. My patents are active so they don't care either way. We would drive home that night.

I have been as a kid growing up in NYC and a few times as an adult but never onto the actual beach. I have a funny rule about needing to be able to see my feet to go into the water.

[Dream]

The aquarium is nice, they have a sea lion show in the evening, check the dates and times. After that you can take a walk on the broad walk, its nice, carnival type atmosphere if you go in the evening. You can take the rides too if you're into it. But I haven't visited during the day so I don't know whether the broad walk is that active.

[buddyleebaby]

Honestly...the beach at Coney Island is not a nice beach, and neither is the ride/midway part. It is definitely not what it once was. There's no harm in walking over to see it but I wouldn't plan on spending the day there with a three year old.

The aquarium is fairly small, great for little kids, and definitely do-able in one day. There is a cute show where they bring the sea lion around at the end to give kisses (nose to cheek) and a little touch pool where they can hold a seastar, touch a horseshoe crab, etc. There may be summer camps there this time of year.

[peanut520]

Honestly...the beach at Coney Island is not a nice beach, and neither is the ride/midway part. It is definitely not what it once was. There's no harm in walking over to see it but I wouldn't plan on spending the day there with a three year old.

The aquarium is fairly small, great for little kids, and definitely do-able in one day. There is a cute show where they bring the sea lion around at the end to give kisses (nose to cheek) and a little touch pool where they can hold a seastar, touch a horseshoe crab, etc. There may be summer camps there this time of year.

Thanks. I thought I remembered it being not so wonderful, but didn't know if it changed in the last few years.

Dh and my brother think we do too many structured activities (zoos, museums, and aquariums) with dd. my brother (childless) goes one step further to say that most kids don't get to go to zoos and museums every weekend (we have annual passes to the local zoo and children's museum). Sorry for the slight vent.

[Clarity]

Honestly...the beach at Coney Island is not a nice beach, and neither is the ride/midway part. It is definitely not what it once was. There's no harm in walking over to see it but I wouldn't plan on spending the day there with a three year old.


We visited BIL two years ago and went to Coney Island. I would never go again. For one it was PACKED. So packed I'm not sure that I ever even got a glance at the water. My dd played under the sprinklers that were there. Now, I didn't care for the crowd but that may have been because it was the 4th of July. It's also a bit dirtier than my other experiences with beaches and boardwalks. That's just my 2 cents but I just wouldn't make the trip.

[Dream]

Hmmm I really didn't think its that bad. We were there last year with DDs, didn't use the beach tho.

[lmh2402]

aquarium = yes

anything else = no

beach/boardwalk is dirty. it's not the best clientele...and it can get really, REALLY crowded in the summer. and not in a good way

i have fond memories of going with my parents and our neighbors to go on the rides and then out to dinner at one of the seafood restaurants around there

but it has changed a lot in the last 25/30 years, and i honestly am not sure i would consider it worthy of a two hour drive, unless you were planning to make the trip to visit family

i'm sure there are other aquariums maybe closer?

though we did take DS to the aquarium there this fall and he loved the sea turtles. but for us, it was not much of a trip.

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad324/lmmazzella/GrayattheAquarium013-1.jpg

[buddyleebaby]

Dh and my brother think we do too many structured activities (zoos, museums, and aquariums) with dd. my brother (childless) goes one step further to say that most kids don't get to go to zoos and museums every weekend (we have annual passes to the local zoo and children's museum). Sorry for the slight vent.

There are lots of nice beaches in NY if that's what they want to do but Coney Island isn't one of them. The beach is supposedly cleaned daily but it's still filled with trash, needles, and pieces of glass. The rides are in disrepair and unfortunately the area is filled with panhandlers and druggies.

[cuca_]

I haven't been to the beach there, but we visited the aquarium 2 or 3 years ago and I was not very impressed. If you are anywhere near CT, I like the Norwalk aquarium much better, and there are some nice beaches off 95. We also visited the Candem aquarium once and really liked it.

[KLD313]

We went last year but it was on a weekday during the day. It wasn't that bad. The aquarium was smaller than I thought it would be so we did that in a short amount of time. Then we walked on the boardwalk and had lunch. It was a little seedy but i knew that going in. I don't know if I would want to go there at night. we didn't go on the beach.

[peanut520]

We were planning to visit my brother and wife and looking for something to do. My brother brought it up coney and wasn't happy when I said dd would enjoy the aquarium.

We have done the aquarium before and know it isn't huge or anything.

[peanut520]

Thanks for the suggests. We ended up doing dim sum then heading to the aquarium. It was a cute smaller aquarium but enough for dd. We still spent 2 hours there.

Just a piece of advice for people planning to visit. The aquarium requires printed coupon and going to coney Island during the mermaid festival/parade is insane! I was super happy we brought the cam so I could face her in to avoid potential cigarettes in the face. It was fun and dd wants to go on the rides next time.