Our Saturday morning started with breakfast at Ruby Tuesday’s in Times Square. I had Eggs Benedict for the first time and some green tea. The Eggs Benedict was so good. Each time we’ve been to New York we seem to go to this Ruby Tuesdays at least once for breakfast as we know it’s good for wheelchair access and the service has always been great. After breakfast we headed to the Minskoff Theatre to buy our Broadway tickets for The Lion King that night. We managed to get the tickets for a great price due to the wheelchair accessible seating discount. We have always wanted to see The Lion King on Broadway in New York, so it was really exciting that we now had our tickets. As it was our last full day before heading home we wanted to buy some gifts for our Nephew who is a massive Mickey Mouse fan. Where better to go for Mickey Mouse gifts than the Disney store. As soon as we entered the store we were instantly filled with regret as we glanced around the sea of people and the crazy long queues for paying. We continued through the crowds trying to spot anything with Mickey on it. It was surprisingly difficult as most of the store was filled with Frozen items and other Disney characters, but nothing really for Mickey Mouse. Upstairs had a little more so we managed to get a drinking bottle and some t-shirts for my Nephew, which he loved. Our next stop was Grand Central Station to see what their Christmas Market was like. We had a look around the Transit Museums Holiday Train Show where Metro-North, New York Central and subway trains depart from a miniature Grand Central Station. The Christmas Market was a little disappointing as there wasn’t that many stalls, but the ones that were, were very expensive. There was a really good female singer who was busking inside the Station though, so we stopped and listened to her while we drank our drinks and had a snack.
Before dinner I really wanted to go to Bath & Body Works, as I’ve heard a lot about their candles online. It was a short walk from Grand Central Station, which was good. I was in my glory as soon as we entered the store. I didn’t know what to look at first, there was so many different candle scents, body lotions, perfumes, body wash/shower gels, body scrubs etc. Our main reason for going was to get some of their famous 3-wick candles, so we got stuck into smelling and choosing which ones we liked the best. In the end we bought 6 candles, a shower gel and a Christmas themed hand wash. Because we had spent a certain amount in the store we qualified for a bucket of goodies that was worth $120 for $20. After we left the store we wondered how we were going to fit all this stuff into the case. Turned out it wasn’t a problem due to Allan’s packing skills and we didn’t even get charged extra at the airport for being over the weight limit. Great! All the items we got from Bath & Body Works smell amazing and we love the candles. We gave two away for Christmas gifts and they also loved them. I just wish they shipped to the UK. On our way to dinner at The Heartland Brewery we passed Bryant Park and it looked lovely with all the Christmas decorations and the ice rink. I had Grilled Lemon Chicken Breast with sautéed green beans, cherry tomatoes and lemon herb sauce. It was gluten-free and it was lovely. For dessert we decided to share a chocolate brownie sundae surprise. It was really good too.
The toilets were really busy in the restaurant so we thought it would be best to wait until we got to the Theatre and hopefully they would have a disabled toilet we could use. The customer service was great in the theatre. As soon as we showed our tickets one of the managers escorted us up in the lift which was through the back. We asked if they had a family restroom/disabled toilet and at first he said no and was a little confused, then he said there was one disabled stall in both the male and female toilets. Our hearts sank again at hearing this. He completely understood our predicament and went away to see what he could do for us. (Read about our previous disabled toilet problems in part 1 and part 2). He returned to say it was fine for both of us to go into the female toilets as the disabled stall was just before heading through into the female toilet. They were joined, but not in the same room. It worked great and the manager was waiting outside the toilet for us to show us to our seats and said he would be waiting at the end of the show for us too. We really couldn’t fault the service here and we felt like nothing was a hassle for him. The Lion King was amazing from the singing to the overall performance of the cast. I think the whole show lasted about 2 and half hours, but we both loved it all.
The quality of the photos in this post aren’t the best as we only seemed to use our phones for taking photos that day.
Stay tuned for the final instalment of ‘disabled and the city’.
Emma xx
3 Responses
It’s hard to get Mickey stuff here too. At least you found the staff helpful, that always makes a difference.