You can buy the hard hat hospital tour ticket with the ferry ticket and it tells you what ferry time to check in for the particular hard hat tour. And note if you chose the early bird she’d hat tour you can’t get off at the Statue of Liberty, but then you are the first people on Ellis Island so much lest crowded. That worked out great for us.

https://www.cityexperiences.com/new-york/city-cruises/statue/new-york-hard-hat-reserve/

The audio guide is quite good. There's one specifically for kids, but it sounds like yours would be too old; it's aimed at children aged 6-10.

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/self-guided-audio-tour.htm

Anonymous wrote:Go from the NJ side...many fewer people and less wait for a ferry.

It’s been 7 years since we took our tweens, and the NY side was a disaster from a crowd control perspective. Hopefully it’s better now, but we waited forever in an orderly line and then right at the entrance, they opened multiple doors and the line disintegrated and it become a free-for-all. I remember telling my kids that no matter what, they had to stay on their feet, because I was afraid they’d get trampled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highly recommend the hospital tour when your are there. Need to book in advance. https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html

Was coming here to say same thing. My family loved it

PP, can you explain how to ensure that your tickets are timed correctly for Ellis Island and the hard hat tour?

I went to Ellis island with my then 9 year old. He and I loved it, especially the hospital tour and the audio tour of the main area.

Anonymous wrote:Highly recommend the hospital tour when your are there. Need to book in advance. https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html

Was coming here to say same thing. My family loved it

Anonymous wrote:Highly recommend the hospital tour when your are there. Need to book in advance. https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html

Agree with this. My teens would have been bored if we'd gone without doing this tour.

Highly recommend the hospital tour when your are there. Need to book in advance. https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html

Go from the NJ side...many fewer people and less wait for a ferry.

Book through the national park site and get tickets for the Statue of Liberty and ellis island. You can deicide there if you want tickets to climb the statue of liberty. Go early. You can pack a lunch - we bought a few things at a convenience store before we went.

I was a bit underwhelmed as an adult who had been waiting to go for years. Finally made it in 2023.

The best part was the ranger-led talk (regularly scheduled tour of the immigrant processing area). I liked that and my teen and tween boys listened carefully. I would recommend that.

The museum exhibits and collections were not as interesting as typical DC Smithsonian museums. It felt a bit random. Basically a lot of knickknack artifacts from different cultures.

I am usually pretty tolerant of average cafeteria fare but I want to warn you that Ellis Island's cafeteria food was expensive and not very edible. And the eating area was grubby despite being in a nice room. It's hard to screw up chicken tenders and fries. But they managed.

Liberty Island's museums were a bit nicer. Perhaps because they were smaller and maybe more recently refreshed.

I would say to think through your priorities carefully. If your kids only tolerate museums for 1-2 hours, you should choose which half day you want to be at Ellis - AM or PM. If AM, go first thing, take a tour, then quickly depart for Liberty Island if it doesn't suit you.

Anonymous wrote:Get ferry ticket from the official link ( careful don’t get fooled by private tour sales on your way the ferry departure point).

https://www.statueofliberty.org/visit/

Yeah for things like this I just go through the official site. There are so many different tours and sites and some seem scammy. At least this way you know there will be no issues with getting what you want.

Get ferry ticket from the official link ( careful don’t get fooled by private tour sales on your way the ferry departure point).

https://www.statueofliberty.org/visit/

What’s the best way to see Ellis Island with kids (tween-aged)?