For beaches the Carolinas may be worth a visit. Can motor there from New York taking in a touch of touring on the way.

Hi Nicola,

Well starting with the weather, bear in mind that Florida has a hurricane season that starts in June. Obviously there's only a slim chance of one occurring during your holiday and even less of it hitting Florida! But if you want to be sure, Florida in April is not Hurricane season but is still nice weather.

NY is expensive, but to be honest, it's a lot of hassle to stay outside of it so if you can afford it, stay in Manhattan. Depends what your budget is - you can get a decent hotel for £70-80 a night in NY. http://www.hotels.com often have deals on and NY is one of the cities they usually offer. Keep an eye on it as you get closer to your trip.
3 days is fine in my opinion. A couple of days to sightsee and a day for shopping!

Cheers

TC

Thankyou both for your replies.

I will purchase guide books for NY and Florida so I can have a look.

Regards

Nicola

We took our girls (then 9 and 5) to New York and 3 days was perfectly adequate to see the sights at a child-friendly level. My brother-in-law lives in the Bronx so we stayed with him and despite the travelling in and out we didn't feel we had missed much. I highly recommend The Brits Guide to New York as a guide book.

We were in Orlando last month and the weather was great. I think April is regarded as being the best time to go from a weather point of view (no hurricane risk and not too hot or wet). Again, have a look for The Brits Guide to Orlando.

Thanks Elaine. I will look for those on amazon

We did this last oct,with our 10 year old granddaughter.we had 3 nights in new York,which was literally just 2 full days,but we managed to fit in,central park,fao schwatrz,dylans candy store (which she loved) staue of liberty,Inc climbing to the crown,top of the rock,ice skating at the rockerfella centre,ribleys believe it or not,plus 2 tours on the hop on,hop off bus,plus times square,where she loved the m&m store & toysrus.we also went to the empire state building,but decided to leave it,for another visit,as the queue was horrendous.
We booked the flights through united vacations,along with the hotel,which was the holiday inn midtown.the reviews,aren,t that good on trip advisor,but I can honestly say,there was nothing wrong with it.it is located on west 57th st & was walkable to times square.
It cost us £1800 for the flights & hotel & because we had booked the hotel,with them,we could just pay a deposit.we booked the townhouse,at Windsor hills ourselves.
Kiera loved new York & wants to return next year,but I have persuaded her,to try las Vegas instead,so me & her grandad,can renew our vows,as I have treated myself,to a bypass,so I will be thin so she is excited about that,but she definitely wants to return to new York,so I think,you will all enjoy,your trip.
Happy planning
Tracy

We have just returned (thursday) from doing this. My son is 10 and it was our first visit to NYC. He and I both LOVED it and cannot wait to return.

Flew Continental into Newark from Birmingham, had a 5 night layover and then flew from newark to Orlando. We then spent 10 nights in Orlando. Flying back from Orlando to Birmingham via Newark

For us the timing and length in New York was ok, altho we enjoyed it more than florida and would have quite easily have spent longer there, but we were able to fit a lot in, but still not as much as we had hoped or planned! We will definitely go back. We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel on West 34th and 8th and the hotel was lovely, ideally placed. If we were to stay outside of Manhattan we would choose Brooklyn as subway access into Manhattan was very good and quick (we went over there a couple of times, once to get tickets from the TKTS booth to save queuing in New York) flying with Continental we didnt have to pay for the internal flights as it was just classed as a layover so this is also something to consider rather than having separate flights which you then have to pay for baggage for.

Beach wise Disney is around an 1-1/2 hours from St Petes/Clearwater or a shorter time away from Daytona area beaches.

We have also been to NY a few times and last time we went it was so expensive (close to thanksgiving) that we decided to stay outside. We discovered that Jersey City is a good spot, because you can take the Path Train (cheap) from there straight into NYC and arrive in about 15 mins on a direct train right at Macy's. Trains run all night, but some of them run a slightly different route. I guess with a kid you won't be out that late anyway. We stayed in the Westin for about £60 per night. It was either priceline or hotwire. It was right opposite the train, and also beside a decent shopping mall (tax free in NJ so cheaper to buy in Macy's there than in NY ). Also along the street was Target and Bed Bath & Beyond and maybe Best Buy (not totally sure). Definitely a good option if you want to half your hotel costs (or maybe even less than half!).

Florida - if you plan to do Orlando there's also lots of beaches for a few nights stay nearby. We went to St Pete's Beach for a few nights, really liked it. Stayed in the Tradewinds Island Grand which was very good. Bars and restaurants out on the street, other shopping nearby - outlets etc. Drove up to Clearwater for an afternoon/evening, also liked that. And we stayed in Melbourne over on the East coast which we also enjoyed. It's much less touristy though, however is close to the Kennedy Space Centre if you plan to do that. There's also places to stay close to the Space Centre in Cocoa Beach.

April is much better. You can find many nice beaches within NY, such as the Harris Beach Pllc, the Elbow Beach Bermuda, Beach Bum Training and Beach Street Eatery.

If you are planning to enjoy your holiday within the city of New York, you do not need to live outside this city. There are many cheap hotels within the city. Here is a list of the names of cost-efficient hotels in New York:
Chelsea New York Hotels
Columbia University Hotels
The New Yorker Hotel
The Pod Hotel in New York
Hotel Pennsylvania
Times Square New York Hotels
Washington Square New York Hotels