If you think that New York City doesn’t offer a lot of things for visiting kids to do, please think again. There is more to New York than the borough of Manhattan. Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island each offer a wealth of things to do and see.
Quirky kiddie fun
Tell your kids you’re taking them to the New York Transit Museum, and you’re likely to be greeted with blank stares. Tell them that’s where you’ll board a big yellow school bus for a half-day pizza tasting adventure through all five boroughs, and their reaction will be quite different.
Older kids can take selfies with their favorite pop stars at Madame Tussaud Wax Museum. Located near Times Square on 42nd Street, the wax museum provides hours of family fun with more than 200 wax effigies of celebrities past and present. The Travel Channel reminds readers that wax characters might be frightening to younger kids, so be sure to exercise parental caution.
Playgrounds, playgrounds everywhere
You can spend a bundle on a day’s dining in New York City, but you don’t have to. Each of the five boroughs offers plenty of public parks where you can have a picnic and enjoy a great day without shelling out a lot of cash. Each borough boasts dozens of delis where you can load up a basket with DIY sandwich makings for an al fresco dining experience that everyone’s sure to remember.
If you’re staying at the Marriott New York in Manhattan, let the kids burn off some energy at the Park For All Children on Corona Ave at 111th Street. The park offers playground gear for kids of all abilities. Here you find a 12-foot-long suspension bridge, a baseball diamond, plaques written in both braille and English, and a water wheel zone where kids and their parents cool off on hot summer days.
Big Apple on the cheap and not-so-cheap
Snag a New York Pass for each member of your family, and you can save a ton of money on typical city attractions, says Get Your Guide magazine. Pay once for the card, and enjoy front-of-the-line ticketless access to dozens of fabulous Big Apple attractions. The card doesn’t provide transportation or food, but you can afford more of that with the money you’ll save with this remarkable travel pass.
If you’ve got the wherewithal to treat the entire family to one or more Broadway shows, by all means, do so. There are a number of entertaining plays that keep a kid’s rapt attention throughout. The Lion King, Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, and Sponge Bob Square Pants wow audiences of all ages. Your concierge can tell you how to obtain tickets for shows that suit your travel itinerary.
The Big Apple is chock full of thrills and delight for children of all ages. In fact, once you explore the five boroughs of fun, you may wonder why you did not opt for New York as a travel destination sooner.