In the famous words of Taylor Swift, welcome to New York, it’s been waitin’ for you!
Last month, April 2026, Evan and I traveled to New York City for our joint 33rd birthday celebration. We both are big Harry Potter fans, so naturally, we planned our trip around Broadway and The Cursed Child. And let me just say, the show did not disappoint – it was literally everything and more!
Of course, we did other things aside from just eating chocolate covered frogs and drinking butter beer. Here is a break down of our itinerary for the long holiday weekend (Marathon Monday in Boston).
Day One
On our first day of the long weekend, we drove from Boston to New York City, spending about five hours in the car, with traffic. Normally, the trip is shy of four hours.
Once we arrived, we checked into our hotel, Marriott Vacation Club (we are Marriott members and this hotel was perfect for our weekend needs).
After showering and getting ready, we ate dinner in midtown at Valerie, where I ordered a dirty martini, and we shared the baby gem caesar, truffle fries, and charcuterie.
We finished off the night on broadway, where we watched The Cursed Child at Lyric Theater. If you are a big Harry Potter fan, like we are, this play is for you! Everything from the stage design, to snacks, to our very own balcony box, and special effects, surpassed our expectations and were 10/10! Of course, it was an experience to watch Tom Felton reclaim his role as Draco Malfoy (and he was absolutely amazing!).
Day Two
On our full day in New York City, we got up early and grabbed breakfast at Liberty Bagels (I ordered the rainbow bagel and Evan got the blueberry bagel; we both ordered the original cream cheese schmear).
Even with the rain, this couldn’t keep us away from checking out some sites, including the infamous Statue of Liberty and Elis Island. We booked the 9am departure with statue Liberty Cruises in Battery Park.
After checking out the Statue of Liberty, Evan was set on visiting the Nintendo store, and even ‘sent it’ on purchasing a Switch 2. From there, we walked a bit around Times Square, the Rockefeller Center, and Bryant Park/New York Public Library, before heading back to our hotel, and then out for some sushi at Izakaya MEW.
After hanging out at our hotel and taking a long mid day nap, we worked up an appetite for some pizza. We were originally going to go out to Lucali in Brooklyn, but that seemed like an expenditure in the rain, so we wound up finding this cute spot on Yelp called Gelso & Grand (the aperol splash and margherita pizza were to die for).
Finally, we finished out the evening with a nightcap up on the rooftop of our hotel, and even had a view of the Empire State Building.
Day Three
On our last morning in the Big Apple, we grabbed some Dunks (because New England runs on dunks and my hubby can’t go a week without his refresher), and walked around Central Park.
We were originally going to have a picnic in Central Park, but with the weather being cold and rainy, we opted into walking around instead, which was more than okay, since it allowed us to cover a lot more ground and say hi to cute pups out on their morning stroll.
Thanks for visiting the Wizarding World of New York City with us! Stay tuned for the next travel blog. I have a feeling it might have something to do with Nantucket, MA 😉
Sandra Rives
What a whirlwind experience! Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (where family on Julia Grimes nee Rupp family entered the USA), sight of the Empire State Building (remember “King Kong”), and a Harry Potter event featuring the Tom Felton! Pretty exciting!
Sandra Rives
Looking forward to the post about Nantucket!