annie
Cast Member
Posts: 321
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 12-31-02 05:31 PM
No, that's not a typo in the subject, we spent yesterday afternoon, Dec. 30, at Times Square. We try to get in to see all the holiday displays with the kids when we can, but it's been awhile, in fact it was the 4 year old's first time. In order to keep this on topic, I'll compare mid-town Manhattan to WDW whenever appropriate.
Arrival
We drove in from NJ, always an adventure. I just shut my eyes and said some prayers while my husband drove, and when I opened my eyes we were in the lot, yay!
Saw crazy people on the open air top deck of the tour busses (it was 35 degrees!) Transportation- advantage WDW. Weather, definite advantage WDW!
Lunching with the Princess... er, I mean Empress
We strolled along, peeking in the window displays. Looked like a 20 minute wait to walk directly in front of the Saks Fifth Ave. windows! And it wouldn't be the last time we longed for Fast Pass! We decided to skip the line and look over the heads. The display told the store of Sleeping Beauty, and it was gorgeous.
Continued on and saw... PIGEONS! My youngest was thrilled beyond words with the pigeons. Then he saw PACKAGES! On a CART! With a PACKAGE MAN pushing the cart!
Ah, to be four again... This was the highlight of his day.
We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral, but they were trying to shuffle the gawkers out so they could hold mid-day mass, so we didn't stay long. They have a pretty peace display up inside I really enjoyed, though. Lots of childhood memories for me there.
Hungry? Why yes. One of the ways NYC is becoming like WDW is the themed restaurants. In fact there are two very popular ones right across from each other- Ellen's Stardust Diner, and Mars 2112. We headed to Mars, and lucked into only a 20 minute wait (it was well over an hour when we left.)
This place is really cool. You climb into a simulator for your trip to Mars (pretty fakey fakey and bumpy, Disney has nothing to worry about, but it was fun and impressed the four year old.)
After the "ride" they seat you in a dark, very Mars-like room. The food is actually very good and very reasonable for NYC. Characters, the Empress, the Captain and QT pi (I can't figure out how to do the symbol for pi on here) wander around and visit the tables. I'd put this one on about equal footing with Disney, at least the actual restaurant. They even exit you out into the gift shop. A must do if you bring kids to NY!
Well fed, we only had one more destination (actually,
I'd had two but we never did get to the Disney Store
 .) The world's
largest Toys R Us, with it's indoor ferris wheel.
Unfortunately it was sold out until much later than
we planned to stay, so we had to skip it. The cars
on it are all themed to various toys, including Toy
Store and Potato Head (see, on topic!)
The ball
After battling the crowds (much worse than anything I'd seen at WDW!) we bought a few trinkets and headed back outside. They had the bleachers, lighting, and speakers for the ball drop all set up, and I don't know what we saw more of, delivery trucks with extra eats and champagne, or press looking for a good spot to set up for the obligatory ball drop story. We saw the balcony where Dick Clark will be standing tonight, and some workers doing last minute checks on the ball and 2003 lights.
Our brief visit over, it was back to the terror of driving out of Manhattan. Again, closing my eyes and mentally fingering the rosary seemed to help, and we arrived home safe and sound!
Happy 2003!
annie
"Are the fires of Hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? Who can provide the world with the answer to these pressing questions?"
"The candy man can," Rumsfeld added grimly.
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