New York City is a wonderful and exciting place to visit any time of the year. It can also be an extremely kid-friendly destination (and a great place to spend quality time bonding with your kids as a single parent). When visiting The Big Apple, during the winter or spring, there are countless activities you can enjoy, including seeing and experiencing some of NYC’s most famous landmarks and tourist attractions.
Making advanced travel reservations in NYC (especially for hotels) is essential. However, tickets for shows and tours should also be purchased in advance to insure availability when they’re wanted. It’s also important to wear comfortable shoes, since you’ll be doing a lot of walking around the city.
TOP FIVE FAMILY-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES
If you’ll be visiting New York City during the winter or spring months, when the weather is still chilly, you can experience countless indoor and outdoor activities which are family-friendly. The following is just a sampling of five popular activities and attractions worth experiencing:
1. Broadway Show. There are plenty of Broadway musicals that are kid and teen friendly, especially those based on Disney movies. Disney’s The Lion King, for example, is a visually stunning show featuring amazing costumes, sets and life-size puppets. The show retells the story from the movie, but offers a handful of additional songs. Also on Broadway, you’ll find Disney’s The Little Mermaid (opens January 10th) and Disney’s Marry Poppins.
To learn more about the award-winning Disney musical, visit
http://disney.go.com/theatre/index.html. Other family-friendly Broadway musicals that are well worth seeing include: Hairspray, Legally Blond, Rent, Grease and Mamma Mia!. Wicked (a prequel to The Wizard of Oz) is also an extremely popular musical, but it’s not suitable for kids under the age of ten. To pre-order Broadway show tickets, call (800) BROADWAY, visit
www.broadway.com, or contact any Ticketmaster location (
www.Ticketmaster.com). While in NYC, tickets can also be purchased at a theatre’s box office.
Expect to pay at least $50 to $150 per ticket for a Broadway musical, even for matinee performances. One way to save money is to buy same-day, half-price tickets at the TKTS booth located in Times Square. Tickets are based on availability. The temporary location of the TKTS booth, which only accepts cash payments, is at 46th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue.
Once you have your tickets in-hand, arrive to the theatre about 15 minutes early. Most Broadway theatres don’t have lobbies, so if you arrive too early, you’ll have to wait outside until just before show time. If you’re picking up tickets at the theatre’s box office, do this at least one hour in advance, but plan on exploring the Time Square area until just before the show.
