last-minute trip to NYC with kids. What to see/do?

[Anonymous]

Anyone had any luck getting TKTS reduced price tickets to Lion King? (hoping!)

[Anonymous]

In NYC now, and finally look at the website for Matilda, and its final broadway performance was Jan 1 of this year! Did not realize it's no longer an option. It's on tour now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In no particular order...

Weather permitting, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. You can either walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn or take the subway into Brooklyn and walk back to Manhattan.

If Smorgasburg is open for the season, it looks like fun. Not sure when it opens for the season

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Yankee Stadium tour or game

Madison Square Park -- you can eat at the original Shake Shack. Someone always chimes in and says that Shake Shack is in DC. Yes, I know, but it is fun to have a burger in MSP under the lights and to see where the idea began.

Eataly -- right across the street from MSP and there is a Lego store right nearby as well

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island -- Ellis Island was more interesting to me than I thought it would be and kids LOVED going to the Statue of Liberty. We climbed up to the first level we were allowed to.

You can go to the TKTS booth in Times Square and get reduced priced tickets for a show. Also, you might check out Travelzoo. I have gotten some great deals on shows and admission prices to attractions in NYC.

Intrepid Museum

Central Park -- on the East side, you can see the children's literature statues and on the West side, you can see the memorial to John Lennon

I actually don't recommend the World Trade Center site with kids. We went on one trip and I was a mess. I did not have any reason to be a mess, but I was a blubbering crying mess and my emotions took me (and my husband) very much by surprise.

Another poster agreeing about the WTC. Your kids will be in excitement mode and it is very hard to soften that down in a spot that needs to be treated much more reverently. There are a lot of folks who get there and become extremely emotional, as the PP expresses, and excited children may not get that. When we got there we had 12 kids aged 5 to 17 and I very quickly realized that we had not done enough prep with the kids (think about the stuff you do ahead of time before going to someplace solemn like the Holocaust Museum) and ended up having to reign it all in and give a mini-lesson on WTC, history, hate, etc. At the end of it we had a crowd around us and a couple people asked when the next tour and lecture was going to begin so I guess I got it done but, boy, I wish we had thought about it ahead of time and done some pre-work or just not gone. Love all the other suggestions and the Intrepid is just great!

This is off-topic a bit, but your message was interesting. We just moved here last year, my kids (11-15) learned over and over about WTC (NJ schools), 911, controversy over WOMD. They were shocked that kids here know nothing - different curriculums I guess.

We took the kids to WTC last year and they were fine. The only surprising thing for us was the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone had any luck getting TKTS reduced price tickets to Lion King? (hoping!)

I've never seen TKTS for lion king, you can check the app/website online to see what is offered each day. I also have had better luck stopping by the box office for shows than TKTS, surprisingly getting cheaper prices that way.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for all the tips. We had a great time!

Were staying in Brooklyn. One day we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, explored Chinatown (a self-guided food tour), and went to the Phantom of the Opera.
We also went to Central Park, and spent a day at the Natural History Museum (Crazy crowded, because NYC public schools have the same spring break we do.) Also went to Harlem, at breakfast at Sylvia's, saw the Apollo theatre (I wanted to do a guided walking tour, but they were sold out.) From there, took the bus downtown, because we wanted to see more of the city and were tired of the subway, and then took the Roosevelt Island Tram (thanks for that suggestion.) It was really nice to do, and not something I would have known about without this forum. Went to the Whitney, where the kids could participate in an art-making activity, and the biennial is underway. That was fun. Then walked the Highline, and brought up lunch from the Chelsea Market.

One day we stayed in Brooklyn and took a very long walk through several neighborhoods and made some interesting stops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all the tips. We had a great time!

Were staying in Brooklyn. One day we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, explored Chinatown (a self-guided food tour), and went to the Phantom of the Opera.
We also went to Central Park, and spent a day at the Natural History Museum (Crazy crowded, because NYC public schools have the same spring break we do.) Also went to Harlem, at breakfast at Sylvia's, saw the Apollo theatre (I wanted to do a guided walking tour, but they were sold out.) From there, took the bus downtown, because we wanted to see more of the city and were tired of the subway, and then took the Roosevelt Island Tram (thanks for that suggestion.) It was really nice to do, and not something I would have known about without this forum. Went to the Whitney, where the kids could participate in an art-making activity, and the biennial is underway. That was fun. Then walked the Highline, and brought up lunch from the Chelsea Market.

One day we stayed in Brooklyn and took a very long walk through several neighborhoods and made some interesting stops.

Thanks for the follow-up post! I was one of the contributors and I always wonder what people do ... Sounds like you had a great time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for all the tips. We had a great time!

Were staying in Brooklyn. One day we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, explored Chinatown (a self-guided food tour), and went to the Phantom of the Opera.
We also went to Central Park, and spent a day at the Natural History Museum (Crazy crowded, because NYC public schools have the same spring break we do.) Also went to Harlem, at breakfast at Sylvia's, saw the Apollo theatre (I wanted to do a guided walking tour, but they were sold out.) From there, took the bus downtown, because we wanted to see more of the city and were tired of the subway, and then took the Roosevelt Island Tram (thanks for that suggestion.) It was really nice to do, and not something I would have known about without this forum. Went to the Whitney, where the kids could participate in an art-making activity, and the biennial is underway. That was fun. Then walked the Highline, and brought up lunch from the Chelsea Market.

One day we stayed in Brooklyn and took a very long walk through several neighborhoods and made some interesting stops.

Thanks for the follow-up post! I was one of the contributors and I always wonder what people do ... Sounds like you had a great time!

We did, though I've visited NYC and brooklyn multiple times over the last few decades and never has it felt so exhausting in terms of just the sheer number of people out and about! But that's probably partly due to changes in the city (safer, more tourists) and partly because the weather was beautiful, and also it was spring break for NYC schools.