New York 7/7 - zoo, Nintendo and more pizza

[Jayne82]

So last full day in NYC and we chose to head uptown to Central Park zoo. It might not be on the top of most tourists agenda but with kids ages 12/10 we need to mix the culture of the city with fun family stuff aimed at them. The whole experience which includes Central Park zoo, small animal zoo and 4d cinema was $70 (slight white lie about the eldest being 12 and not 13). Now the zoo is quite small but the kids enjoyed it and there were education stations at various points to collect stamps and learn facts. The sea lions were very entertaining we happened to be there just before feeding so they were on full performance mode and it was lovely to see a vet on site giving them a once over too. The 4D theatre is only a 10 min show but is Ice age movie themed which we all enjoyed. Now the small animal zoo was quite depressing very very small and various colour of beige nothing of interest for the animals. We walked down 5th (getting 2x street pretzels and 2 diet cokes $10) heading to apple again for DH to choose his 40th birthday present (Apple Watch as they cost the same in $ as we pay in £ so save around 20%) and to the Nintendo store whilst enroute looking for flip flops for DD who despite our protests had worn her sliders today and who’s feet were now blistered and sore. We went into Nintendo and we really enjoyed it. Didn’t think the prices were too bad at all $40 for a hoodie, $20 for adult t shirt. We are late 70’s/80’s babies so grew up with mario, Super Nintendo, SNES and game boy. DS enjoyed playing on the many game stations and to be fair we could of spent a fortune in here. We then caught the subway F downtown to 2nd and went to Katz deli, we didn’t visit last time. The system is a little confusing. You get a ticket then can either wait (20-30mina) for table service or order from the counter. We had an idea what we wanted so counter ordered. You get sandwich’s and soup at one part then move down for soda and beer, they mark your ticket and You pay on your way out. We ordered a turkey sandwich in rye, Mitzo soup and 4x cans of pop and it was $36. The sandwich was a large size and comes with a side of pickles and the mitzo soup is a thin broth with a large seasoned bread/dumpling ball it was actually very nice. We all shared. We then headed back to 34th/herald (topping up our metro cards again!) to find our maid service mid clean in our room at 4pm so we dropped our bags and headed to the bar next door. Happy hour so 2x Cosmo for me and 2 pints for DH and soda for the kids $34. We walked across the road to Payless shoes and got champion flip flops for DD for $10 they look just like sketchers and I’m hoping her feet won’t grown much anymore now at a uk 7. I also picked up a gold Birkenstock style sandals for $25. We headed back to hotel for an hour to chill and rest feet. We headed back out around 7.20. we visited Pink the store, followed by a tourist trap for key rings for DD friends. Next stop was midtown comics for DS and a quick walk up to Times Square to replace photos from night one! We headed back to the hotel via 2 bro pizza again (this time the one on 9th/40th due to DH directions) - 7 slices of loaded pizza and 2 diet cokes $23.25, followed by 3 slurpees at 7/11 on 8th and 2 beers and 2 bottles of water $14. We have definitely found it expensive here as your paying for every little thing, but in hindsight we’ve wasted money on over priced soda and water and snacks (should of found target sooner) and by making a mistake with the metro cards (prob spent an additional $50) but having breakfast included in hotel was a bonus even if basic. What always surprises me is that city tax and stuff they add on so for the 2 nights at the crowns plaza we were charged $68 tax and for the 5 nights at the HIE we were charged $231 which has come out of the money we brought and to be fair I’ve topped up our Caxton card by approx that amount.

[Bootrip2]

Very interesting, might try and fit a quick wander around the zoo.
I was a bit worried by city tax too, but had an email from hotel to say its included in price already, so we shall see! Im allowing $150 per day for 2a, 1ch, so hopefully should be ok, not planning fine dining, and we have a deli near hotel which looks ok.

Sounds like you having a good trip. X