smithfamily's Compliments and Messages

For your comment regarding:

Macy's Parade Suggestions

You said:

"That sounds like quite the treat! We love NY and go there all the time. We've only done the Parade once and it rained, so that was a bit of a bummer. The best place for watching the whole parade is from Columbus Circle which is at the corner of Central Park South (CPS) and Central Park West (CPW). It's a fabulous location with easy access to subways and lots of great sites. You're also right on the doorstep of Central Park which is full of activities for your kids. Depending on your budget, you can go high-end and stay at the Trump International Towers which is quite nice and has lots of amenities for the kids plus a pool in the hotel which is always a bonus. You can also view the parade directly from the hotel as well. (Just request a room with a view and you probably won't want to be higher than the 10th floor then). For a mid-priced hotel that's nice, you might want to try the Parker Meridien. Hip and fun. Great in-house burger joint. There are also the chain hotels like the Marriott Marquis which are along the route as well. As for strategies, it depends a lot on what your kids like to do. You can watch all the floats get blown up the day before the parade from 3-10pm on 77th and 81st street between CPW and Columbus Avenue.
This website also has some great strategies on watching the parade http://www.nyctourist.com/macys_map.htm.

Non-parade favorite activities include the American Museum of Natural History, watch the Christmas tree lighting at Rockfeller Center, ice skating at Rockfeller / Wollman Rink, and a visit to the Little Airplane Production. If your kids like performances, you might want to catch a matinee of the Lion King or the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City. We love going on a scavenger hunt in one of the big art museum like the Met or MOMA. We go and pick up a bunch of postcards in the gift shop and break up in teams to find the object in question and take a picture in front of it. It's quite fun especially with a larger group like yours. Must do eats are frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity's, candy shopping at Dylan's candy store, official NY hotdog and pretzel from a street vendor, NY bagel from H&H, a slice of NY pizza and a trip down to Chinatown for some amazing Chinese food.

Have a marvelous trip! "

For your comment regarding:

where can we stay between Anaheim and LA

You said:

"Highly recommend the hotels on 1600-1700 Harbor Blvd (so much cheaper). Walk to the park in under 3 minutes. We did Anaheim Plaza - very basic (not fancy) but had a good restaurant and kids eat free. You can get two adjoining rooms and put all the kids in one room maybe if they're old enough?

Other random tips:
1. Check out mousesavers.com for deals (you may be able to save a little).
2. You'll walk A LOT - be prepared for that. Depending on how young your kids are, have a stroller if you have young kids. I loved the walking, but for little kids it would be too much.

we're not much of a tour type of family, so i don't have much to offer there. depending on your style, it might be nice to try going on your own because it'll be easier to custom your trip to the interest of your kids versus the tour guide.

As for where to go. Hit Fantasyland first with Dumbo the Flying Elephant, the Mad Tea Party, Tomorrowland Speedway, It's a Small World (I think that's there too) and more. Then head over to Toontown and check out Mickey and Minnie's houses. Depending on how tired and adventurous your kids are, we love Splash Mountain. Be sure to check the height requirements on rides and plan out your route beforehand, so you don't wait time trying to figure out while you're at the park.

You might want to bring a very small flashlight for the younger children. I read this tip online somewhere and it was perfect for keeping my youngest one from freaking out. Since there are several rides that start off in the pitch blank like Peter Pan, Pirates, space mountain and others,
We would just have it on at the very beginning of the ride. Folks would always tell us to turn it off once the ride started, but that was enough to give my youngest the courage she needed! "