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NYC

shantydaze

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My wife and I are taking our niece to the City in early June for a combination graduation/18th birthday present. We are scheduled to get into into LaGuardia Saturday night at 10 p.m. and leaving Tuesday morning.

Initially, we had planned on staying at an AirBnb in Manhattan all three nights, but were finding it difficult to locate a reasonable priced apartment. We found one in Chelsea that looked very good. After booking it, we immediately received a message from the host indicating made a mistake when blocking the dates the apartment would be open and that he would be returning from a business trip during our stay. He asked us to cancel with a full refund, otherwise he would be charged a $50 penalty.

Being the nice person that I am, I cancelled the reservation. Unfortunately, it was not until I cancelled the reservation that I was informed the refund would take five to 15 business days to process. It took two business days (four total as the refund was made today, Tuesday, and I made the reservation on Saturday). I also found out that if the host cancels, you can apply the payment from the cancelled reservation to a new reservation and, depending on how close to the stay the cancellation happens, AirBnB may provide you with a credit towards a more expensive, equivalent reservation.

Ultimately, we decided to stay near the airport Saturday night and found an AirBnB on the Upper West Side (West 69th Street) for Sunday and Monday night.

My niece is a big fan of musical theater. Throughout the years, we have taken her to Chicago and our local theater to see shows. The main purpose of the trip is to see a show. Because of days we are going to be in the City, the only option is a Sunday 3 p.m. show. Broadway Across America shows are performed on Sunday nights and Mondays, so I did not even think to check to see whether that was different in NYC. It is as looks like all the theaters are dark on Sunday night and Monday.

My niece has indicated she would like to see Anatasia or Kinky Boots. Has anyone used "Today Tix" for shows or have other suggestions? It looks like I can save about $25 a ticket in service fees over the broadway.com website. For the most part, the reviews of the site look good.

We plan on getting around via the subway, but are not sure exactly what my niece will want to do while we are in the City. I see the unlimited day pass has been discontinued, so we are trying to decide whether it would make sense to get the seven day pass for $32 each. In Chicago, rather than buying a fare card, I can use apple pay on phone, is there a similar method of payment in New York?

Final question: Any suggestions for how reasonable priced activities or restaurants? We do not want to break the bank, but would love to bring her to some fun "local" places. Any good apps we should download on our phones?
 
My niece is a big fan of musical theater. Throughout the years, we have taken her to Chicago and our local theater to see shows. The main purpose of the trip is to see a show. Because of days we are going to be in the City, the only option is a Sunday 3 p.m. show. Broadway Across America shows are performed on Sunday nights and Mondays, so I did not even think to check to see whether that was different in NYC. It is as looks like all the theaters are dark on Sunday night and Monday.

My niece has indicated she would like to see Anatasia or Kinky Boots. Has anyone used "Today Tix" for shows or have other suggestions? It looks like I can save about $25 a ticket in service fees over the broadway.com website. For the most part, the reviews of the site look good.

We plan on getting around via the subway, but are not sure exactly what my niece will want to do while we are in the City. I see the unlimited day pass has been discontinued, so we are trying to decide whether it would make sense to get the seven day pass for $32 each. In Chicago, rather than buying a fare card, I can use apple pay on phone, is there a similar method of payment in New York?

Final question: Any suggestions for how reasonable priced activities or restaurants? We do not want to break the bank, but would love to bring her to some fun "local" places. Any good apps we should download on our phones?

You are correct about there are not very many Sunday or Monday evening Broadway shows, but Beautiful, School of Rock, Once on this Island, and SpongeBob are all available in the evening. But there are lots of Sunday matinees to choose from. Many will be tough to get tickets for less than 30 days out, but Kinky Boots and Anastasia should be easily available. You might be able to get the best deal on those to shows by trying the Times Square Ticket Booth on the day of the show. You should be able to get tickets for either show at 40%-50% off if you don't mind taking a chance by waiting.

Today's Tix can work but you're not going to save any money using it. Don't use Broadway.com either. You're best luck is usually to go thru the show website, but calling the actual theatre box office will save you on fees.

My two cents - Come From Away was the best show I saw this year. Its a musical about how the town of Gander Newfoundland (pop 5000) dealt with having to take care of 7000 airline passengers grounded at their airport because of 9/11. Funny, sad, original, historical; Just a great show.

A MetroCard will get you around the subway at a discount. Not sure about ApplePay. But with three of you I'd suggest using Uber. I've had great luck with it in Manhattan.

If you're on the upper west side you're near the Museum of Natural History. The New York Historical Society is a great museum as well. If the weather is nice the West Side Community Garden is beautiful. And make some time for Central Park or Riverside Park. Both are impressive to walk. For food, give a look at Alice's Tea Cup. It's a true tea house that your niece might enjoy. There are three locations, one of which is in the upper west side.

Hope this helps !
 
You are correct about there are not very many Sunday or Monday evening Broadway shows, but Beautiful, School of Rock, Once on this Island, and SpongeBob are all available in the evening. But there are lots of Sunday matinees to choose from. Many will be tough to get tickets for less than 30 days out, but Kinky Boots and Anastasia should be easily available. You might be able to get the best deal on those to shows by trying the Times Square Ticket Booth on the day of the show. You should be able to get tickets for either show at 40%-50% off if you don't mind taking a chance by waiting.

Today's Tix can work but you're not going to save any money using it. Don't use Broadway.com either. You're best luck is usually to go thru the show website, but calling the actual theatre box office will save you on fees.

My two cents - Come From Away was the best show I saw this year. Its a musical about how the town of Gander Newfoundland (pop 5000) dealt with having to take care of 7000 airline passengers grounded at their airport because of 9/11. Funny, sad, original, historical; Just a great show.

A MetroCard will get you around the subway at a discount. Not sure about ApplePay. But with three of you I'd suggest using Uber. I've had great luck with it in Manhattan.

If you're on the upper west side you're near the Museum of Natural History. The New York Historical Society is a great museum as well. If the weather is nice the West Side Community Garden is beautiful. And make some time for Central Park or Riverside Park. Both are impressive to walk. For food, give a look at Alice's Tea Cup. It's a true tea house that your niece might enjoy. There are three locations, one of which is in the upper west side.

Hope this helps !

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought about trying to get tickets the day of for a show, but since it is the main reason we were bringing her to New York, was not sure I wanted to risk it.
 
Skewed toward south of mid-town.

The item I miss most about NYC are my friends at Piccola Cucina. Fun small restaurants (can't go wrong with the one on Thompson or Spring Street) and they are around the corner from each other. I recommend trying out different cuisines if you aren't familiar. I became enamored with Indian food while NYC. Joe's on Carmine St was good for a drunk slice, and if you want a better slice then I'd recommend Prince Street Pizza or Saluggi's on Church St.

I typically went to the TKTS counter on Jay Street (Brooklyn) the day of a show to get decent prices.

Other reasonable activities - walk around battery park - world trade center memorial for the views, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, Chelsea Market, and Intrepid.

Apps - google maps (shows subway and walking routes which is important because of subway construction that may re-route you), uber, embarkNYC (subway maps). I walked or biked everywhere in the city so it depends on your groups fitness.
 
You are correct about there are not very many Sunday or Monday evening Broadway shows, but Beautiful, School of Rock, Once on this Island, and SpongeBob are all available in the evening. But there are lots of Sunday matinees to choose from. Many will be tough to get tickets for less than 30 days out, but Kinky Boots and Anastasia should be easily available. You might be able to get the best deal on those to shows by trying the Times Square Ticket Booth on the day of the show. You should be able to get tickets for either show at 40%-50% off if you don't mind taking a chance by waiting.

Today's Tix can work but you're not going to save any money using it. Don't use Broadway.com either. You're best luck is usually to go thru the show website, but calling the actual theatre box office will save you on fees.

My two cents - Come From Away was the best show I saw this year. Its a musical about how the town of Gander Newfoundland (pop 5000) dealt with having to take care of 7000 airline passengers grounded at their airport because of 9/11. Funny, sad, original, historical; Just a great show.

A MetroCard will get you around the subway at a discount. Not sure about ApplePay. But with three of you I'd suggest using Uber. I've had great luck with it in Manhattan.

If you're on the upper west side you're near the Museum of Natural History. The New York Historical Society is a great museum as well. If the weather is nice the West Side Community Garden is beautiful. And make some time for Central Park or Riverside Park. Both are impressive to walk. For food, give a look at Alice's Tea Cup. It's a true tea house that your niece might enjoy. There are three locations, one of which is in the upper west side.

Hope this helps !
My son saw School of Rock. Loved it.
 
I hear Sbarro is good if you're looking for an authentic New York slice.

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I forgot about Red Lobster and Bubba Gump Shrimp. Both are a must whenever I'm in NYC.


I believe there is a TGIF's in Times Square, but we are going to be there on Sunday and Monday, so it just seems wrong to go there.
 
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. We all enjoyed ourselves and according to my fitbit for the two full days we were in the City walked just under 30 miles.

We had breakfast at Good Enough to Eat, which was very good.

We ended up seeing Kinky Boots, which was good. I was surprised at how small the theater was compared to the Broadway Across America theaters in Wisconsin and the theaters in Chicago.

My niece wanted some New York pizza on Sunday as we were walking around the Upper East Side. We stopped at a spot (I can't remember the name), ordered to the pizza at the counter. I went to the bathroom while my wife and niece paid for the pizza and brought it to the booth. When I got back, I had to shake my head as both my niece, as well as my wife (who is a CNY native), got a slice of deep dish pizza. While my niece talked about how great her "New York" pizza was, I had to let her know that just because she was eating pizza in New York, she was not eating New York pizza.
 
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. We all enjoyed ourselves and according to my fitbit for the two full days we were in the City walked just under 30 miles.

We had breakfast at Good Enough to Eat, which was very good.

We ended up seeing Kinky Boots, which was good. I was surprised at how small the theater was compared to the Broadway Across America theaters in Wisconsin and the theaters in Chicago.

My niece wanted some New York pizza on Sunday as we were walking around the Upper East Side. We stopped at a spot (I can't remember the name), ordered to the pizza at the counter. I went to the bathroom while my wife and niece paid for the pizza and brought it to the booth. When I got back, I had to shake my head as both my niece, as well as my wife (who is a CNY native), got a slice of deep dish pizza. While my niece talked about how great her "New York" pizza was, I had to let her know that just because she was eating pizza in New York, she was not eating New York pizza.

Good job on the FitBit ! Unless time is short or its late at night I love walking Manhattan.

The average Broadway theatre is 1100 seats . Most theatres hosting broadway tours across the country are twice that.

Glad you had a good time! I go 3-5 a year and I'm still hitting items on my bucket list. Hoping to go to an SU game in the Garden sometime soon. For one reason or another the timing has never worked before.
 
Good job on the FitBit ! Unless time is short or its late at night I love walking Manhattan.

The average Broadway theatre is 1100 seats . Most theatres hosting broadway tours across the country are twice that.

Glad you had a good time! I go 3-5 a year and I'm still hitting items on my bucket list. Hoping to go to an SU game in the Garden sometime soon. For one reason or another the timing has never worked before.

I was able to go to a game against St. Johns at MSG when I was in school as a part of our annual weekend in the City. It was a good time and I would recommend it. Unfortunately, there are not as many opportunities now that we are in the ACC.
 

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