Hotels and restaurants will be mobbed the whole weekend since there are about more than an extra 30,

We will be using a windfall mini-school holiday to take our son to NYC for his first time during the first w/end in November (same weekend as the Marathon). We are planning on doing some of the touristy stuff - he *really* wants to go to the top of the Empire SB; Lego store at Rock Ctr; we'll likely take him to FAO Schwarz, Grand Central, and hopefully new york city hotel deals grab some tix online to Spiderman. So mid-town makes sense.
My son travels best when we can have a suite, i.e., doors that close between us and him at his bedtime, so he can have some relative darkness and quiet. So I have researched available suite hotels (that we can afford LOL) and have narrowed the list to the following. We have never stayed at any of them, so any and all opinions and suggestions are GREATLY new york city hotel deals appreciated: Omni Berkshire, The Benjamin, Affinia 50, Affinia Shelburne.
Impact of the Marathon can be huge. On Sunday more than a million people line the route to watch the runners and street new york city hotel deals traffic in the areas adjacent to the race (as in Manhattan east side from mid 50's up) will be stopped. So - on that day plan on using the subway to get anywhere.
Hotels and restaurants will be mobbed the whole weekend since there are about more than an extra 30,000 runners plus their families/friends. Reserve everything you can far in advance and expect hotel prices to be high.
You might want to look at hotels that are not in midtown to avoid the crowding and highest new york city hotel deals rates. The Beacon on the upper west side - a good family neighborhood with a lot of restaurants that will welcome small children - have suites but you may need to contact them directly. You will be an easy stroll or 2 stops on the subway to midtown. Or you could look at the Eastgate Tower. The latter is older but started as an apartment house so the suites are large and the prices low. Also this is far enough south that you can probably work around the worst of the traffic on the est side on Sunday.
As for dining - many foodie type places will not be especially welcoming of a 7 year old unless you eat very early - since they usually don't do that well with upscale 2 hour dinners. How picky is he? Will he do any ethic cuisines? Or is he just a pizza, burger and chicken finger new york city hotel deals kid?
The Omni Berkshire was recently renovated/updated and is a lovely old hotel. All the others you mention are part of the Afffinia group, all suite hotels, well run with most suites having kitchens. Kitchen could be a help with a picky eater. Don't know if the Omni suite has one. In order of "niceness" the Omni, Benjamin, the Affinia Shelburne (only has kitchens in executive suites) and the Affinia new york city hotel deals 50 last because it's been some time since it was renovated. They're all in midtown east where the marathon should have little to no effect on you apart from having driven up hotel prices because of strong new york city hotel deals demand. Have a look on oyster.com for photos although not sure they're updated the Omni photos.
The city will be busier than usual. I think it would be good fun for you to plan to watch a bit of the marathon. Buy ESB tickets in advance online. Without some info apart from "picky eater" I can't see how anyone can help.
In my haste, I failed to define "picky eater." I guess I also thought to spare everyone from the overly detailed "requirements." (I feel I must offer a bit of a defense here for the poor kid...he is otherwise a well behaved, well mannered, articulate kid who is a pleasure to be around....seems to be a "super taster" and has trouble new york city hotel deals with strong and/or distinct new york city hotel deals flavors.) And so: chicken tenders, "certain" pizzas (not Pappa John's type delivery kind, but not super original, woodfire "artisan" pizza, either; somewhere in the middle) PBJ, ham sandwich, plain noodles, plain meatballs (but separate, dear god, from the noodles, and no red sauce, so not spaghetti and meatballs). No burgers, no hot dogs. No ethnic, not even chinese, although could probably convince him to eat plain noodles new york city hotel deals if hungry enough. That all being said, he totally will eat fried clams and an occasional fried oyster. And salmon. Mostly good with fruits and veggies. new york city hotel deals Too much info now? : )
I guess my naive mind was thinking we would walk to wherever wanted to go in Mid-town, not relying on cabs, and thus, the desire for a mid-town hotel. Not realistic? Not realistic in general? Or just the weekend of the marathon due to the inability to cross closed streets and terrifically bad traffic jams making open streets dangerous? new york city hotel deals Nytraveler, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that if we are visiting that particular weekend, no way in h*ll should we stay in mid-town? All of the places we plan on seeing are in mid-town, although a little further west from where it sounds like the marathon action is taking place.
I just re read what I wrote, and I guess I sound like the person who asks for advice from someone in-the-know and then tries to explain to them why their advice, so generously given, won't work. Sorry if it conveys that way. I think I just had my heart set on the "convenience" of midtown and my brain doesn't want to switch gears.
BTW, we love the idea of watching some of the race...I am a runner and I think my son would get a kick out of watching a race on such a massive scale Thanks for the encouragement to do so, I was wondering how daunting a feat it would be.
The big problem is Sunday. Several streets on the east side are closed and that means east/west streets work only very intermittently. So all of the traffic heads to the west side. The runners come over the 59th St bridge, then head up First Ave to the Bronx, then down Fifth Ave and then across Central Park West and into the Park. So anything above about 50th St will have major traffic jams - which back up further new york city hotel deals downtown.
If you walk everywhere (except where the race is being run) you can get around - but expect new york city hotel deals sidewalks to be crowded from about 50th St and up. If you want to see the race in person First Ave is the best place - but people start lining up hours in advance and the sidewalk is packed from stores out to the curb until you get quite far uptown. A 7 year old won't see anything unless you get there really early - or take the subway up to 86th or further north and then walk over to First Ave. We saw it several times when I lived on the east side - it was 1.5 blocks from my house - but it's very hard to keep track of people in the crowds - so you need to hang onto a small child (Probably he has to sit on someone's shoulders to see) and agree on where to meet later if you are separated.
And if you do decide to watch part of the race definitely watch the start on TV (on the Verazzano new york city hotel deals Narrows Bridge - there are so many runners the bridge shakes). In recent years the elite runners (men and then women) start early - so they aren't interfered with by clods who used to not finish but run at full speed for a short distance and get in people's way at the start - and have all their friend see them on TV).
-Parts of Manhattan are nearly impassable to vehicles and even pedestrians on Sunday, but, they don't really seem to be the areas you are interested in. Below 59th street, there are few areas that will be directly affected.
Saturday new york city hotel deals will be the worst day for some sites like the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock,Intrepid, Statue of Liberty as the international visitors seem very drawn to thos places. Theater tickets may be harder to get especially for musicals, so if you really want something specific new york city hotel deals like Spiderman, I think you need to get them in advance if it's for Saturday. Sunday might be easier as so many will be running new york city hotel deals and or watching the marathon!
So if you're OK with the cost for a hotel, realize that you're coming at a busy time of the year (though not the absolute busiest,), prepare yourselves for crowds and longer waits in some places, I don't see terrible problems with your plans
So, I'm thinking we'll go for it and book the Omni Berkshire for that weekend. Sunday will be a good day to avoid activities above 50th-ish; maybe a day to go see the Spiderman matinee (as of tonight, still good seats available). We'll expect longer lines, thicker crowds, longer waits and so will try to make reservations ahead of time, especially Saturday and Sunday.
And you are right about what to take him to. The NY Public Library and the Museum of Natural History are also on our list, as are Ellis Island and a wander around Chinatown (nothing even approximating that in Baltimore!) We have been to Air and Space at the Smithsonian, new york city hotel deals but haven't seen the Shuttle here yet (it is in Virginia)...so that is a strong contender, but not a necessary. Lego is on the list because new york city hotel deals Dad and I visited there when we were here last, boy has seen a photo, and so is obsessed about it. He may be so enthralled by everything else that we may be able to overlook. And, alas, the ESB. There is apparently no negotiation on that one. I have heard that Top of the Rock has much better views, shorter lines, etc. There was some sort of emphasis on it in a book he read at school, plus the King Kong reference, and so, that "is" quintessential NY to him. Perhaps if we "schedule" it for Monday, he may be "over" it by then.
If you haven't already decided, I can recommend The Beacon (as mentioned above). Suites are newly re-decorated and very nice. Call them directly for the 2bdrm/2 bath suite. There is a great market across the street and a full kitchen. Daily maid service. A subway station right outside. Great location and good service.
Twinkletoes, we went to the Empire State Building this summer and it was a Thursday, not a holiday. It was very crowded that evening. My youngest new york city hotel deals was 11 and had a hard time seeing anything. If you do decide to go to the Empire State Building--and I'm not sure I WOULD with the craziness--then you definitely want to get the ticket that does the second, higher observatory as well as the main open deck. Far less people pay the extra amount (I almost didn't) but it proved to be what made the Emp