NYC trip report

[KrisM]

We are back from NYC. I thought I'd post my trip report since I got so much advice here!

We left home about 6am Thursday. We drove into the rain and it stayed with us nearly the entire drive east. Not a fun drive! The forecast was for nice weather Friday and Saturday and a good chance of rain the rest of the days. We found our hotel pretty easily, but figuring out where to drop off people with luggage was very hard. We finally just picked a place and called it the drop-off. Then I went and parked in the garage. In hindsight, we all could have gone to the garage – not far from the hotel at all. We stayed at Hyatt House in Jersey City and had a room with 2 queens and a pull out sofa. The room was huge with a small kitchen, a big open area, and just a lot of space for 5 of us. The bathroom had a sliding, frosted door, which a few of us were uncomfortable with. The door was only frosted, so people inside were visible enough to someone looking at the bathroom. And of course, there was not a sealing, closed door, so noises traveled. Flushing when others were sleeping seemed really, really loud! We ate in the restaurant, which was okay. The view was very nice. We had hoped to go to the rooftop restaurant, but kids aren’t allowed after 8pm and by the time we finished, the rain had started again.

Friday, we were up for breakfast and packing. We checked out and drove the short distance to Liberty State Park. We had 11am pedestal tickets. There was no real line and we got onto a ferry very quickly. We decided to go to the Statue of Liberty first and spent quite a bit of time there. We were glad we kept the pedestal tickets, as that level was not crowded and we enjoyed it. The old museum is still open inside and the new museum contains the original torch, so we walked through both. We decided to skip Ellis Island this trip. Maybe next time? We took the ferry to Battery Park and walked around lower Manhattan to see Wall St., the Oculus, One WTC, 9/11 Memorial, and other sites. Only DD wanted to go up the tower, so we ended up skipping that. We spent a couple hours there before taking a ferry back to Liberty State Park for our car. And then we drove to our Manhattan hotel! We survived, but it took us about 90 minutes in total. I think the traffic in Jersey City was some of the worst. We ran into a couple crazy intersections in Manhattan, too. We had decided just to do the valet parking from the hotel, because it was only $20/day more and it just seemed worth it. It was really easy and I’m glad I knew what to expect for pulling up to the hotel.

We stayed 4 nights at Courtyard Marriott Manhattan Midtown East. The room was big enough and had 2 queen and 1 sofa bed. It was very quite and we never heard the road traffic. The only downside was no on-site restaurant or bar. We asked at the desk for family place we could go and have appetizers or desserts and drinks, but the only suggestions were Dylan’s Candy Bar, which has a café that closed at 7 or 8 pm, and Serendipity, which wasn’t what we were looking for. I wanted a place like Applebee’s, but not Applebee’s. Just a place of that style for the 5 of us.

Saturday started with a tour of the NBC Studios. It was about an hour and DH and I liked it a lot. The kids were okay with it, but they don’t watch SNL or the Late Show, so they didn’t care too much really. We did some shopping in the Rockefeller area. DS2 told us one of the You Tubers he watches really like to eat at 5 Guys, so we made his day by having lunch there 😊. Then we were off to Central Park and the Met. Even though I had a plan for Central Park, we thought it was confusing trying to figure out how to get to what we wanted to see. And it was so, so crowded. I guess Saturday afternoon was a bad plan. We ended up near Strawberry Fields and decided to hire the guys on bikes to get us to the Met. Those were the most expensive 15 minutes of our trip, I’m sure. We spent a few hours in the Met. DD could have spent the entire day there. She really liked it a lot. DS2 was crabby and bored. I think had we done it a different day, it would have gone over better in general. So, I didn’t see much of what I wanted to. We also found it confusing trying to get around. We wanted to start with a snack and a drink and it took asking 3 people for directions to a café that was open. The first one we were directed to was closed when we got there. I think that added to DS2’s crabbiness.

Sunday we were up early for the Empire Statue Building. DD and DS2 wanted to go up this one, so we did. Zero lines at 8am on Sunday, so that was nice. We liked that since we’d been walking around and seeing other areas, we had an idea of what we were looking at from above. We had waffles for breakfast from Wafels and Dinges in Harold Square and that was good, except they had no bacon. DS1 had ice cream on his waffle - for breakfast. Then we went to Target just to see what Target in a city looks like 😊. We walked to Times Square and spent a little time there looking around and shopping. The afternoon was at the Museum of the Moving Image. DD and DH really liked that too. The rest of us enjoyed it as well. It was interactive enough for DS2, so that was good.

Monday started at Hudson Yards and The Vessel. Thanks to whoever mentioned that here! We had fun walking it and finding each other, etc. We were going to walk the High Line, but we thought it was going to rain, so we skipped that and went to Brooklyn instead. Lunch at Grimaldi’s and then walking the Brooklyn Bridge. I had plans to do more in Brooklyn, but it really looked like it would rain hard. So we skipped most of that. It only rained a little bit after all. Everyone liked walking the bridge, especially DS2, who bought some mangoes on the bridge and thought that was fantastic! He also liked that walking it meant we arrived in Manhattan by 4 different methods – ferry, car, subway, foot. After the bridge, we took a hotel break and then went to the Museum of Illusions, which was a quick museum, but a lot of fun.

Tuesday we were up to check out and store our luggage. Then walked over to the UN early, because again we thought it would rain! No rain on the way there and we were early enough we got a space on an earlier tour. We enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. We finished up the visitor center and walked back to the hotel. We changed our clothes, got our van, and left about noon. Five minutes later, it was pouring! Had we not had the earlier tour, we would have been in the rain for sure. The dress code was much more casual than I guessed with many in t-shirts and shorts. I guess I'm not sure what the point of having a dress code listed is.

We all had a good time and are glad we went. DD would love to go back. Maybe she and I will go sometime. The marching band will go when she’s in 12^th grade, so I think we’ll plan on that for her and maybe I'll tag along! There are things I’d like to see if we go again. I ended up skipping the Tenement Museum because the kids weren’t interested and it looked like rain. I decided to get other outdoor things in instead. I’m bummed on that, but it worked out for the best overall. I would have spent more time in the Met, too.

I wish I had more restaurants ready before we left. I had a handful, but not enough. I should have had 1-2 ideas in all the places we could have been. Too much time looking for a place to eat!

I carried 5 disposable ponchos around Sunday and Monday and 10 on Tuesday. Never used them, despite the forecast calling for a good chance of rain each day. We had light rain a couple times, but nothing much at all. So it worked out, but it did make us change plans a few times to try to do the inside things during the times more likely to be raining. We could have seen more neighborhoods and park areas if we didn't do that.

Thanks for all the help here!

[jent]

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for posting all the details.

[California]

Thank you so much for the update! We'll be going later this summer and your itinerary and notes have been a huge help.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Very good trip!
How was the subway? Figure out the passes ok?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KrisM]

Very good trip!
How was the subway? Figure out the passes ok?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was good. We ended up buying 2 on Friday because we came and left on the ferry. Then used the credit card and debit card to get the other 3 on Saturday. So it worked. I did try buying a 3rd on my credit card and it wouldn't let me.

[KrisM]

Thank you so much for the update! We'll be going later this summer and your itinerary and notes have been a huge help.

Have fun!