Everything & Anything New York City

phatbear

You mention prebooking a lot of activities however I never bother and wait until im there, consider pre booking esb and totr and it raining on both days, sure you wil see stuff but it wont be clear. also I always suggest going up totr and no bothering with esb as the view is much better than esb, with the exception of seeing the chrysler building.

Personally would suggest having an idea what you would like to do and then being as fluid as possible, after all if you dont get everything done you have got an excuse to go back to NY.

Things like madame twoswords and ripleys is virtualy the same as the ones in London so personally I wouldnt bother with it, however thats just personal preference

KK22_2

jimmyeatblink wrote: »

Hi Guys, have found this thread to be really usefull. Thanks for all the great info. :T Me and my friend are going to New York in May for 9 nights/10 days, flying from Bristol and staying in the New Yorker hotel. Could someone look over my mini plan who has been before and see if it looks feasible or any suggestions. We are going to pre-book most of the activities through expedia (get money back from cashbackkings.com). Most evenings will be spent going to bars and watching movies.

Day 1, Arrive in NY at 13.20, get to hotel, have a wander, visit ripleys believe it or not in times square

Day 2, Empire State Building in morning, statue of liberty in afternoon, visit Brooklyn for some pizza

Day 3, top of the rock observation in the morning, all loops tour in afternoon, maddame tausards after that in early evening

Day 4, on location tour, films and movies in the morning, nbc studio tour after that, then shopping on fifth avenue. Have a look around the financial district in the evening

Day 5, tour of madison square garden in the morning, then go and visit coney island in the afternoon

Day 6, Central park and the zoo in the morning, go and visit little italy and china town in afternoon, try and find where flight of the concords was filmed

Day 7, Visit Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Morning, American Museum of Natural Art in the afternoon

Day 8, MOMA in the morning, King Tut exhibition in afternoon, early evening

Day 9, Trip to Woodbury Shopping Outlets, afternoon and evening more shopping and grand central station

Day 10, More shopping and flight back at 6.30

Hi,

Not sure what actual day of the week that your coney trip falls on, but in May the full attractions etc are only open on weekends. Im also going in May and was interested in seeing things like the wonder wheel in action and so will be going on a weekend!

Savvy_Sue

phatbear wrote: »

You mention prebooking a lot of activities however I never bother and wait until im there, consider pre booking esb and totr and it raining on both days, sure you wil see stuff but it wont be clear. also I always suggest going up totr and no bothering with esb as the view is much better than esb, with the exception of seeing the chrysler building.

Personally would suggest having an idea what you would like to do and then being as fluid as possible, after all if you dont get everything done you have got an excuse to go back to NY.

Things like madame twoswords and ripleys is virtualy the same as the ones in London so personally I wouldnt bother with it, however thats just personal preference

Agree with phatbear, we hadn't pre-booked anything, and I was quite glad of that, we could do what we wanted when we wanted rather than having to rush from one thing to the next.

Philippa36

We fly today!

I haven't booked anything except my birthday dinner on Sunday. We'll take each day as it comes. We've got TOTR vouchers for a few $'s off but didn't want to book a date in case the weather wasn't good.

I'm not a planner though and it may help you to have everything sorted before you go. I would agree with Phatbear - Ripleys and Madame Tussauds are the same the world over, I'd rather go round the Bronx Botanical Gardens or explore Brooklyn, or even just spend more time in Central Park - it'll be beautiful weather in May.

mcphail

Thank you everyone for this brilliant thread - lots of useful information!

There are a group of 8 of us going to NY in June - can't wait, as first time for us all.

We would like to book a limo from the airport to our apartment, but wasn't sure if a limo would take 8 of us, plus our luggage? Does anyone know if they do, and if so, any recommendations on which company to use, as there seems to be loads to choose from. Many thanks in advance for your help:o

thatsfabulous

Philippa36 wrote: »

We fly today!

I haven't booked anything except my birthday dinner on Sunday. We'll take each day as it comes. We've got TOTR vouchers for a few $'s off but didn't want to book a date in case the weather wasn't good.

I'm not a planner though and it may help you to have everything sorted before you go. I would agree with Phatbear - Ripleys and Madame Tussauds are the same the world over, I'd rather go round the Bronx Botanical Gardens or explore Brooklyn, or even just spend more time in Central Park - it'll be beautiful weather in May.

Have a fantastic time Philippa :T

acdmiller

sometimes they add a standard service charge per room such as 10% the room price and this is supposed to cover service in the bar/cleaners any service they provide they do it in miami also so we warned as can mount up especially if yu staying long time as you are out most of day and then you paying the service charge elsewhere as well as the hotel.

Also don't forget to call your bank to say your going i was out shopping and was over 45mins in one store while thy called bank then through security it was a right pain

jimmyeatblink

phatbear wrote: »

You mention prebooking a lot of activities however I never bother and wait until im there, consider pre booking esb and totr and it raining on both days, sure you wil see stuff but it wont be clear. also I always suggest going up totr and no bothering with esb as the view is much better than esb, with the exception of seeing the chrysler building.

Personally would suggest having an idea what you would like to do and then being as fluid as possible, after all if you dont get everything done you have got an excuse to go back to NY.

Things like madame twoswords and ripleys is virtualy the same as the ones in London so personally I wouldnt bother with it, however thats just personal preference

Sorry pre book is probably the wrong wording, on expedia you can pay upfront for vouchers to redeem on any day for most of the attractions. The main reason in doing it was getting cashback from cash back kings. Got around £80 back from the actual holiday, so should get about £40 from activities. The only reason we were going to do ESB aswell as TOTR was if we got the New YorkCityPass i would rather do them than another Museum!

jimmyeatblink

KK22 wrote: »

Hi,

Not sure what actual day of the week that your coney trip falls on, but in May the full attractions etc are only open on weekends. Im also going in May and was interested in seeing things like the wonder wheel in action and so will be going on a weekend!

Thanks, will swap the days around so we go at the weekend

mcphail

h[I]eaded downtown (took subway) to the brooklyn bridge and saw the most amazing views (only walked half way)! We then took the staten island ferry to see the view of the lady liberty (i had to pinch myself a few times because i still cudnt believe i was in nyc!).[/I]

Marias 1981 - thanks for your really useful post, and I'm glad that you had such a great time. I like your idea on what you did for your first day, as we too arrive around 1pm, and hadn't planned anything for when we arrive. How did you get from Brooklyn Bridge to the Staten Island Ferry, as I've google mapped it, and all I can see is walking for 45 mins - is that what you did? did you just stay on the ferry and do a round trip? Thanks:o