To ease my PDD, I’m working on our vacation for next year to NYC. It’s so much harder than WDW! There’s no crowd calendar, I don’t know when to make ADRs, I need a touring plan!
Blurg. So spoiled.
NYC has much to offer, there is a recent food topic going on suggesting many good places to eat.
When are you coming, how many, what ages. What are you hoping to do?
I am a Long Islander, I know some of NYC, and there are others here who know better than I.
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It would be July for five nights. Me and DH, dd13, ds 10, dd6. Dates are flexible. We are foodies. We’d prefer an apartment over a hotel. We’d like to do Statue of Liberty and Ellis island but other than that we are open.
Foodie check out this topic:
http://forum.touringplans.com/t/nyc-and-miami-liners-non-wdw-questions/5203?u=jedilogray
I would look into any possible concerts or shows at central park or Lincoln center.
South Street Seaport is rather close to Lady Liberty, and there are a lot of food choices there.
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Ah thank you! Just what I was looking for!
@teamcooyon We’re taking the kids to NYC next year prior to our WDW trip. I’ve been twice now sans kids, but this will be the first trip for DH and the kids. You do kind of need a plan, it’s such a big place!
Lots of great recs in the the thread @Jedilogray has linked you too, I’m definitely putting those on my must do list for food with the family!
In terms of attractions, there are some great passes you can get which will save you money. This is the one we are getting - Go City® | New York Passes | Save up to 55% on Attractions
We’re going to get the 7 attraction pass. I’ve done quite a lot of the things on the list, so I’m really just picking my favourites to do with the family and what I think they will particularly enjoy.
(you could also look at City Pass, and New York pass)
We’ll be doing the hop on hop off bus, which i can highly recommend, it’s a great way to see the all the sights of the city, learn a little of the history of the buildings and also get your bearings.
Also on our list are the Met, The museum of natural history, statue of liberty, bikes in central park, top of the rock, empire state, and one of the twighlight cruises.
If doing bikes in the park, it’s closed to traffic on weekends, so you can zoom around the roads in there, lots of fun!
We’ll also being walking across the brooklyn bridge for Pizza and Ice Cream. If you do this in the late afternoon, you can watch the sun set from the pier and all the lights of manhattan come on, gorgeous!
We’ll also be doing the toy stores, Toys R us in times square, FAO Schwarz on 5th and MM’s world times square. And also those candy stores on the other thread.
For souvenirs - there’s a great store Pearl River Mart on broadway in Soho, a lot cheaper than some of the other ones around.
In terms of dining and ADRs 
www.opentable.com is a great resource for booking restaurants ahead of time if there’s one in particular you really want to go to. Not sure about the ones on the other list re bookings, but I know some of the high end ones that I’ve been to in the past you need to book 3 weeks out.
I"m not going to be doing much pre booking for this trip though, I feel like we’ve got to lock so much in for the WDW leg of the trip, I just want to find our way with food in new york and do what comes easy. It’s also hard to lock in a time to eat, last trip we made 8 / 8.30 dinner bookings and we’re still struggling to get there on time as our days were so busy. Could easily have eaten at 10! On saying that i think the pace will be slower this trip with the kids, don’t want to wear ourselves out for disney!
I"ve got lots of food recs for NY, it’s my favourite place to eat, i’ve been to lots of not kid friendly places, so thus my hunt on the other thread!
These are the ones I’ve been to I think I’ll be ok with the kids (age 8 and 9) with an early reservation:
Balthazaar - french brasserie in soho - gorgeous decor and atmosphere, yummy breakfast and lunch (can recommend the french toast with berries at breaky, the goats cheese tart at lunch)
L’esquina (brasserie)- mexican in tribeca - you go in via a cantina and walk up to a man at door, they walky talkie down to make sure you’ve got a reservation, then you go a journey down a stairwell, through the kitchen and into the restaurant. Dark and moody, as many restaurants are. the crab tostadas and ceviche is delish!
Buddakan - asian food - meatpacking district - love this place, will take the kids here, but early reservation.
(lots of people tell me that spice market is better than buddakan - I’ve been to both, the duck curry at spice market is divine, but was none impressed with the service) The design of buddakan is gorgeous so that’s part of why we’ll go)
Laduree - french pattisserie - macarons in soho - will go here for a morning or afternoon treat
The best thing i’ve found with NY last two trips is to make up a wish list of things we want to do, places we want to eat, and roughly map out the days of the areas we’ll be in - ie soho, central park, battery park etc and try to do things all in one day in the same sort of spot. You can also refer back to the list if you’re stuck on where to go or what to eat.
You can use open table same day for restaurant bookings too. so you can decide what you feel like on the night and then jump on to see what’s available.
Could talk about NY forever. If you want more from a tourist perspective, let me know I’ve done lots! (just not with the kids yet!) 
Not sure about apartments - we’re just going to go with a hotel, we’ve booked a condo for most of our wdw leg, so will do the hotel for NY. Yet to decide on which one, but will be midtown or close to the park. I think it’s easier for attraction touring.
Oh, wow! Thank you!
My dh surprised me with a trip to NYC this past New Year’s. We were there for an epic snowstorm so we were limited on what we could do in 9 degree weather!
I totally forgot about the toy stores! Museum of Natural History and Museum of Modern Art are on our itinerary too. Biking would be awesome too! We have Serendipidity 3, Katz Deli, and Pommes Frites on our list so far but that’s it. I’ve started pinning all the places I’m interested in on a Pinterest board with a map so hopefully I’ll be able to sort what fits what days.
Are you doing any shows?
Paging @LuvMuppets, who often takes the Tweens (now Teens) into NYC. My sense is that they’ve enjoyed shows, the Nintendo store, and Central Park, among many other things.
@WeHave2GoBack has our list down! My kids enjoy broadway shows-we use broadwaybox.com for deals. They have loved Cinderella, Mary poppins, LK, phantom, wicked ans most recently Matilda. All are amazing! Phantom is a bit dark for the younger crowd, but DS still liked it at 10. You’ll get the best deals on weeknight shows or matinees. But they will still hit your budget hard! Also consider shows like Stomp or BlueManGroup…
My kids love love love Central Park, and would stay there all day every day. They love the rock formation climbs near the big playground at the south end of the park (name escaping me), and love to picnic there. We get
sandwiches from nearby Carnegie deli to share. Carousel ride, boat rental are good too. Mostly they just lie the performances that spring up all over the park
My DS can be bribed to do anything with a stop at Ninendo World in the Rockefeller area. Lots of new games to try all over the store. It’s not usually too crowded there on the mornings. Lots of merchandise available. Dd used to,like American Girl, then Little Mismatched rget to consstore, and now she wants to go to Hollister. (Sigh). She has also enjoyed visiting the Intrepid, and she loves Ellis Island. Don’t forget to consider a Yankees game!
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@teamcooyon I’ve been sitting on the fence about a show to be honest. I don’t love them I tend to fall asleep - oops! But if matilda is still on - didn’t know there was one I might do it as I know the kids would love! Muppets is right on budget too - for us it will be the first week of a 4 week trip - followed by wdw our and miami. So we’ll see how we go. Thanks @LuvMuppets for the ticket links - I used that tickets booth in Times Square first trip and have to say it was an interesting experience.
Another place to eat is carmimes near Times Square. Big family style place with whopping serves of pasta. My friend and I went there first trip and ordered the meatballs which were great and think cost about $16 for a platter that we shared. (Apparently designed to feed a family). I’m sure the prices have changed, but the atmosphere is relaxed and rowdy and family friendly.
Moma is great. As is the Guggenheim. Would do all three but I don’t think dh would go for it so wer’re doing the met as it’s got a mix of everything and the Egyptian is awesome. There’s also a cafe/beer garden on the roof which is great if it’s a nice day.
Oh - there’s a big Lego store at Rockefeller centre.
What we’d really love to do is an nba game but we’ll be there mid June so season is finished by then.
Fwiw, MOMA was not a fav of my two (ok, they hated it) but I think it was too crowded for them at the end of a long day, and they were too short to see over the adults. It was a bummer.
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