I planned this trip a few months in advance and used points for flights. I booked The Westin Grand Central and got a good rate using ABA discount as my husband is an attorney. It was about $500/night which was a good rate at this time of year compared to other hotels. I wasn’t in love with the location. The Avenues are a lot longer than I remembered, but there were always taxis outside. Last time we stayed at Hyatt Centric Times Square and I preferred that location. It also had 2 queens v 2 double beds at the Westin. The room was clean and updated though. We did have an issue with the elevators one day. They were so crowded, we couldn’t get on for awhile. We had to split up and even then, we had to wait for about 8 full elevators to pass. They did provide breakfast vouchers. The line was always long though, so we just grabbed to go ( you could get 2 items per voucher and we had 4 vouchers).
We took an early flight so we could get a full day in on day 1. We arrived at the hotel around 10:45am. We were able to check in early. We had a small hiccup when our keys didn’t work and I had to go back down and wait in line again. We dropped our luggage off and headed off to explore. We planned to walk to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. We stopped to get a snack at a food cart. My daughter loved the corn dogs and son had a pretzel.
We then stopped at the Adidas store to shop a little. My husband got some sweatpants. It had a cool look inside.
We admired the Saks window displays. This was the first year they had no light show.
We then walked across the street to see the famous tree at Rockefeller Center. It was pretty crowded, but so festive. The kids weren’t used to the crowds and my daughter got a little upset about getting shoved.
They were taking a break from ice skating and cleaning the ice when we arrived.
We then shopped a little. I bought some black boots at Cole Haan. We all got some scarves off the street. There were lines for FAO Schwartz and the Lego Store. Someone told my husband 2 hours!
We had reservations for a late lunch at Tavern on the Green at 1:45pm, so my husband ordered an Uber to go there. It was hard to find - after that we just hailed taxis most of the time. When we arrived at Central Park, there was still snow on the ground! The kids were so excited to make snow balls! We had arrived a little early, so they were able to play some.
Tavern on the Green was decorated nicely and we thought the food was quite good. Next time I would maybe request the beautiful white room with views of the courtyard. We were seated in the back room. They had French onion soup as a special. My daughter loved it. The burger was flavorful.
The weather was forecasting rain for the last 2 days of our 4 day trip, so we tried to fit in a lot today. My son’s only request was to go ice skating. I looked up Wollman Rink in Central Park and they had availability, so I booked it for 4pm. We took a pedicab over to the rink. He gave a little commentary along the way. It was $35.
My daughter and I watched as my husband and son ice skated. I was afraid I would break a bone and ruin the trip. They both enjoyed skating and we enjoyed watching!
We walked a little and saw the pond partially frozen!
We then taxied back to the hotel to rest a little. My husband had requested some site seeing and an observatory. Summit One was fully booked for the week. Top of the Rock had limited availability, but I was able to get a late night one. I didn’t want to chance rain and no visibility so booked for tonight a few days ago. I had watched a YouTube video on the Cocoa and Carols Harbor Lights Tour and thought it looked nice, so booked that for the site seeing. It was nice seeing these things at night. On our previous trip we did these things during the day. It was hard to get some good photos at night.
The Harbor Lights cruise was at 7. I was hoping there would be food near the cruise, but there really was nothing quick, so we got snacks from a vending machine. The cruise was really nice. It was lovely to see the city all lit up. They provided cookies and one drink per person. There was a jazz band playing Christmas music. We went by downtown and the Brooklyn bridge and the Statue of Liberty. The boat also had Christmas decorations.
We then had to book an uber since there were no taxis and headed for Top of the Rock. We had it booked for 9:30pm. The lines were pretty short and it wasn’t too crowded.
We walked around a little and saw the tree at night.
My son talked about Raising Cane’s all the time so we headed there. It was a longer walk than we thought, but we made it. The flagship store is in Time’s Square and it was very crowded even late at night. There were long lines and a DJ! My daughter fell asleep. The chicken fingers were good, but they taste a lot like Guthrie’s I think.
We taxied back to the hotel and went to sleep. It was a full Day 1!
