New York City is so much fun! We flew in on Southwest Tuesday morning. We were on the same flight as LoCash, so we snagged a picture with them before we started our adventures. We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott New York Downtown Manhattan, and it did not disappoint. We had two queen beds, a living area with a sofa sleeper, a kitchen, and one large bathroom. It was so cute and cozy for the five of us.
On Wednesday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then made the morning trip to Starbucks. We walked to see the Bull and then on to Battery Park. From there, we hopped on a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We bought pedestal tickets in advance, which was really cool. We spent several hours exploring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We had lunch at Shake Shack, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, visited Grand Central Station, and then St. Patricks Cathedral. We did some shopping at, literally, the biggest Victorias Secret I have ever seen. While we were there, one of the sweet workers showed us the dressing room where all the angels try on their outfits. After exploring all three floors of VS, we stopped at Bill's Bar & Burgers for milkshakes. Then, it was on to Radio City and Rockefeller Center before ending our night.
Thursday morning came early! We woke up before the sun to hit up Starbucks before going to the live recording of Good Morning America. We applied for tickets weeks in advance and landed general admission tickets. The night before the show, our tickets were upgraded to priority!! We were front and center for most of the recording, and then we got to meet Robin Roberts. When our time on GMA ended, we stopped for breakfast at Brooklyn Diner. After breakfast, we picked up our rental car and drove to Hoboken, New Jersey. We spent the day walking around the area of Hoboken, seeing Carlo's Bake Shop, and munching on Insomnia Cookies. We had lunch at Grimaldi's, then went to explore Times Square. We spent awhile shopping around before seeing Aladdin on Broadway. And ya'll...Aladdin was AMAZING!!! I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a broadway show. After the show, we stopped for dinner at Carmine's where we all split the biggest bowl of lasagna.
On our last day in NYC, we had breakfast at Sarabeths. After breakfast, we rode in a cart and bike tour around Central Park. The weather was absolutely perfect!! Inside Central Park, we saw the fountain from Friends, the tunnel where Chuck and Blair got married in Gossip Girl, and Bethesda fountain. When our bike tour was over, we walked to the MET to sit on the steps and pretend to be Blair and Serena. We had lunch at Serendipity, then took the tram to Roosevelt Island. The tram ride over to Roosevelt Island had some of the most beautiful views of the city. After seeing Aladdin, we bought tickets to see Frozen on broadway, too! Our Disney-loving hearts enjoyed every minute of it!! (But Aladdin still is at the top of the list.) We ended our night having cheesecake at Juniors before heading to the hotel to pack up for our early flight home.
Our trip was one for the books! We got to see everything that we wanted to see and more, but mostly we enjoyed our time together making memories! Watch the video recap of our whole trip to get the full experience. If you have been to NYC, what are some of your favorite places to go, things to do, places to eat?
