With the world starting to open up again, we found ourselves itching to get out of town, and what better time to do it than the kiddo’s spring break? Since our last trip (Napa/Sonoma) and our next trip (Boston) would be a little more grown-up, we thought maybe it would be a good idea to make this a fun trip!
Our itinerary included: a day in NYC (which I’ll talk about in this post), a few days at Mohegan Sun, and a day at Legoland NY.
We have visited NYC before; in fact, we went in November 2020 during the pandemic, and it was so bizarre to see the city so empty. That was a good trip, but we were hoping to show #KidGoodwin the hustle and bustle of the city as it usually is.
We’ve done Central Park and top of the Rock before, and since we were really only popping in and out, we decided to take it kind of easy. On our way into the city, we stopped and had lunch at Blue Smoke near Battery Park; we’d been to a different location on our babymoon and wanted to try it again. It wasn’t quite the same as what we remembered, but the food was still good!
We had initially wondered about taking the kid to see a show, (we were thinking Blue Man Group) but decided not to jam pack our schedule. He seems to enjoy a hotel more than anything, and I think he would have been happy to just stay in the room and jump on the bed, but we did get out and walk around Times Square. We had to make a stop at the M&M Store, naturally.
Later on, we made our way to Bryant Park and spent some time browsing around the NYPL and the children’s library, something we hadn’t done yet. We had dinner at the Bryant Park Grill, which I definitely would recommend, and then strolled back to our hotel.
We were there a little too early in the season, but as the weather warms up Bryant Park looks super cool – they add a putting green, an art cart, performers, etc. so it would be a ton of fun for kids!
The next day, we had an in-room breakfast and then made our way to Rockefeller Center. The kid was super excited about the LEGO store there last time, but this time he had his sights set on the Nintendo store just around the corner. We were there a little early so we went to Blue Bottle to kill time and load up on caffeine before heading to the Nintendo store. We got there just a few minutes before it was due to open, and just as a little line was forming. They weren’t doing anything special that day, people were just lining up to shop.
For the kid, the store was like a Nintendo museum. He had fun studying all of the Amiibos on display and looking through all of the stuffed animals. The store was decorated with lots of Kirby merch, thanks to the recent release of the newest Kirby game, so he was excited to pose with the Kirby cutouts and show off his Switch skills on the giant TV screen. The cutest parts of the store, by far, however, are the giant flagpole in the stairwell with Mario hanging on it, and the big green pipe that you can pose in for pictures!
Was it a long trip? Nope. Was it a touristy-sightseeing trip? Not really. But we did what the kid wanted (for once) and he was pretty happy about it, so it was worth it!
Stay: Westin Times Square
Eat: Bryant Park Grill
Go: Nintendo Store
Go with the Goodwins 