Back from Manhattan Club

A big thank you to all the tuggers who answered my numerous questions here and helped to make the trip a little easier and more fun.

From the suggestions culled from the bbs we:

1. Bought Zagats dining guide and used it a lot.
2. Learned how to, and bought timed tickets to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island and ferry tickets as well.
3. Uses www.hopstop.com to plot out our subway routes on how to get where we wanted to go the quickest way (wonderful resource)!
4. Pre-bought Greyline Tour passes on line using our AAA discount and saved $10.00 per ticket.
5. Signed up for Playbill.com, and received emails with discounts allowing us to see two shows with with good seats for about $60.00 a seat. Also used www.telecharge.com and www.broadwaybox.com.
6. Called Manhattan Club to let them know we would be arriving late and to please hold our requested non-smoking room with a rollaway.

Highlights:

We saw two Broadway shows, Avenue Q and The Producers. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Empire State Building, Metropolitian Museum of Art, Museum Of Natural History, and MOMA. Spent almost one whole day walking Central Park. Did Canal Steet, China Town, Little Italy. Did the Greyline Tour Hop On/Hop Off 48 hour pass thing and did three of the four tours, uptown, downtown and the night tour into Brooklyn. My husband did an early morning run over the Brooklyn Bridge, and ran in Central Park every morning.

Shopped a little, ate a lot and had a great time! My oldest daughter is a senior in high school and this may be the last spring break that my two daughters will have together so we wanted to do something memorable and I feel we did.

We are still dragging as we had to get up at 4:30 AM to get to the airport on Friday. Even after a week in NYC, that still felt like 1:30 AM west coast time. When we got to JFK at 6:00 AM it was 32 degrees. When we landed at PDX it was 83 degrees at 2:30. What a change.

Thank you again to all those who took time to answer my numerous questions!

Gayle

How was "Avenue Q"? It's coming to San Francisco this summer and I was wondering if it would be something we'd enjoy.

it is great, very funny. there is full puppet nudity.

Gayle...that was one of the most productive trips to NYC I have ever read...it is amazing how much you were able to do in one trip.

Luanne said:

How was "Avenue Q"? It's coming to San Francisco this summer and I was wondering if it would be something we'd enjoy.

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Hi Luanne,

Avenue Q was witty, sly and more than a little raunchy. I feel it is geared more toward younger people in their 20's and 30's. My husband and I were squirming more than a little with our 16 and 18 year old daughters along with us. We kept telling each other that they had seen worse in movies with friends.

Older teens and above seemed to love it (my daughters thought it was hysterical), but I would not see it again. Too many other good shows to see.

Gayle

Steamboat Bill said:

Gayle...that was one of the most productive trips to NYC I have ever read...it is amazing how much you were able to do in one trip.

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Bill,

Our nickname for my husband is "Terrier Man". He has boundless energy and just goes and goes. I bowed out on a few of the activities, we had friends in town and I met the ladies for a drink at NOBO 57 while the rest of the family did something else.

Believe it or not, the friends were on their way to Paris when they realized AT THE AIRPORT that their children's passport's were expired! They hastily made alternate plans while still at the airport, had flights changed and ended up in New York. We met for dinner one night and they were having a good time in spite of the change. That's what I call flexibility.

Gayle

sun starved Gayle said:

Hi Luanne,

Avenue Q was witty, sly and more than a little raunchy. I feel it is geared more toward younger people in their 20's and 30's. My husband and I were squirming more than a little with our 16 and 18 year old daughters along with us. We kept telling each other that they had seen worse in movies with friends.

Older teens and above seemed to love it (my daughters thought it was hysterical), but I would not see it again. Too many other good shows to see.

Gayle

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Thanks. My dds are exactly the ages of yours. I think I'll skip it this time around.

Luanne said:

Thanks. My dds are exactly the ages of yours. I think I'll skip it this time around.

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And my DS15 would LOVE it.... how do you handle R rated films with them? This is certainly tamer and more redeeming than most of those...

Avery said:

And my DS15 would LOVE it.... how do you handle R rated films with them? This is certainly tamer and more redeeming than most of those...

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Well, taking them to an R rated film is a lot less expensive than taking them to what might be a slightly "uncomfortable" theater show. I had read the description of "Avenue Q" and wasn't sure if it was even something I wanted to see, so it was nice to get input from someone who had been.

We did take our older dd to see "Sideways" when it came out. I still don't think she's forgiven us. :hysterical:

Okay, I'll chime in.

Avenue Q won the Tony Award. When we saw it, we understood why.

It was hysterical while also being profound. It spoke to the challenges facing the younger generation. I'm 59 and we had two of our kids there - ages 25 and 29. To me, any teen 16 and older can more than handle it - heck, they'll LOVE it.

There is so much gratuitous violence and nudity that our teenagers are exposed to in the R rated films. Avenue Q, basically, has some bad language, but it's only a bit and believe it or not, it's used appropriately.

If anyone is opposed to hearing or exposing their teens to bad language, stay away. But it is a truly fabulous show - and we see pretty much everything!

stevens397 said:

Okay, I'll chime in.

Avenue Q won the Tony Award. When we saw it, we understood why.

It was hysterical while also being profound. It spoke to the challenges facing the younger generation. I'm 59 and we had two of our kids there - ages 25 and 29. To me, any teen 16 and older can more than handle it - heck, they'll LOVE it.

There is so much gratuitous violence and nudity that our teenagers are exposed to in the R rated films. Avenue Q, basically, has some bad language, but it's only a bit and believe it or not, it's used appropriately.

If anyone is opposed to hearing or exposing their teens to bad language, stay away. But it is a truly fabulous show - and we see pretty much everything!

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I agree. My daughter was 13 when she saw it and loved it. Yes I was a little uncomfortable in a couple of parts not anymore so then in PG13 movies we have seen together and ideally she would have been older but I think it's especially good for those approaching college years because a lot of what happens is about the challenges young adults face post college.

Loved your itenerary, that's a Shaggy itenerary. shaggy