Kelly and Perry got to ring in 2020 on a trip to New York City in a kid friendly way. It is a bit (ok a lot) crazy to think how much the world has changed since January – with an essential halt to all travel and a global pandemic. It is fun to re-live the video memories of our trip and remember the simpler, pre-COVID-19 days.
Kelly’s work shuts down for a week around New Years which makes for a great opportunity to travel with kids while they are also out of school. I thought that Perry was at a perfect age for a place like New York City – old enough to walk miles and miles each day and to enjoy shows, museums, and good restaurants. I also thought being in NYC over New Years would be a fun adventure, so long as we stayed far away from the madness that is Times Square that night.
Upper West Side
We stayed in a great hotel in the Upper West Side for the first few nights (including New Years Eve) which was great for hitting up nearby museums like the American Museum of Natural History and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM). Turns out CMOM has a whole line up of fun New Years activities including a ball drop and dance party at 2 pm (a much more kid-friendly time). We also took advantage of being so close to Central Park and explored the park both on foot and by horse-drawn carriage. Our carriage driver was amazing and spent a ton of time letting Perry pet the horse and feed him carrots.
Midtown and Lower Manhattan
Once New Years celebrations were over we moved to a Hilton hotel closer to midtown for the last few days of the trip. This put us closer to other attractions that we wanted to explore. We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and visited the Museum of Math and the Intrepid Air, Sea, and Space Museum. Both of those museums were huge hits for our science and math loving kid.
Other highlights of the trip were a walking food tour through Chelsea Market and Perry’s birthday dinner (his birthday is January 3rd) at the Japanese restaurant Ninja. Perry was in heaven dining in a dungeon with live ninjas. We also got tickets to see the Radio City Rockettes perform their Christmas spectacular as well as Frozen, the Musical on Broadway.
Perry had specifically requested a trip to the top of Rockefeller Center so we had to fit that in the schedule too. That one required a pre-reserved ticket due to the busy time of year and it ended up being foggy and wet the morning we did it – but it was cool nonetheless.
Getting Around
Over the course of the week we traveled by train, boat, car, and of course foot. We walked a ton by choice. We would often just walk between places if it was <1 mile and would otherwise require transferring between subways. We did use the subway a lot though and purchased an unlimited week-long pass for both of us upon arrival. We used cabs or ride-share vehicles only when we had luggage and were transferring between hotels or to/from the airport. It was fun to let Perry to help figure out subway routes and I think by the end he was just as good at navigating them as I was.
Final Thoughts
Traveling to New York City with kids over New Years requires planning to make sure you are able to do everything you want to do, and don’t end up in any unsafe or crazy situations. We had an absolutely amazing time though and I am so glad we did it!
Check out our vlog about our trip here. And we would love to have you subscribe to our channel while you are there.
Have you traveled to New York City? What was your favorite activity? What are your tips for making a trip New York City kid friendly?
I was telling my husband I wanted to do a family trip to New York for New Years one of these years. Going to keep this in mind so helpful.
Yes, you absolutely should do it! As long as you have a plan, tickets for things ahead of time, and reservations for restaurants, the added crowds are not bad. And there is such a fun excitement in the air all over the city. Thanks for visiting the site!
I’ve never been in New York during new year’s. But, I would love to go be year. Thanks for sharing, this will definitely come in handy.
This was my first new years in NYC and I must admit I was a little nervous going into it that it would be beyond crazy and hard to manage. But with some planning it was so fun and exciting! Thank you so much for visiting the site!
I’ve been to New York City multiple times, but have only been there twice with kids. The first time we were only there 24 hours and my brother, who lives there, showed us around. I enjoyed getting to relax and have someone else take care of all the details on that trip. The second time with kids was a mother/daughter trip that I organized for me and some of my friends. My daughter was 6 at the time, and the other daughters were 16, 17 and 18. So there was a bit of an age difference and interest level difference too. We found a balance of things to do though that everyone would enjoy. I love NYC and hope to get back there again soon.
There is something so special about taking parent/child trips. And you are so right, there is so much to do there for absolutely any age and interest level in NYC. I hope to get back there when my daughter, 3 now, is just a tad older and can sit through and enjoy broadway shows. Thank you so much for visiting my site!
I love NYC! The idea of switching hotels to be nearer the attractions you want to see is genius. We were hoping to go for Thanksgiving this year, but I’m not so sure that’ll happen now.