review Archives - Page 15 of 18

June 18, 2013September 1, 2016

Review: Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasures – Good for Kids? Discovery Times Square NYC

If you perk up when you hear about divers finding sunken wrecks full of precious metals, Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasure exhibit at Discovery Times Square would be a good one for you.

Learn about pirates and deep sea exploration at Shipwreck. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Groupon has discounted tickets as I post this, but act quickly. If you’re new to Groupon, get the tickets here. If you’re already a Groupon user, get the tickets here. Search under Long Island, NY in the search bar on top for “Shipwreck.” Tickets on Groupon are $12-15 (kid/adult), which is a savings. Read the Groupon fine print before buying.

As you might imagine, treasure seeking is a high tech affair. The exhibit focuses on finds from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a deep ocean exploration public company (NasdaqCM: OMEX) that salvages items from shipwrecks and does mineral exploration. They choose from the 6,500 shipwrecks in their database, evaluating them based on archeological importance, claims to the property, and other factors.

WHAT YOU’LL SEE Continue reading “Review: Shipwreck: Pirates and Treasures – Good for Kids? Discovery Times Square NYC”

June 17, 2013December 16, 2017

Review: Pole Position Raceway Birthday Party

***Pole Position is now RPM Raceway**

We won a Jersey City Pole Position birthday party at a silent auction (we were the high bidder!), and told our son that was his party the next year. It was the best birthday party ever. Fortunately only one of the kids had gone before, so it was a new experience for almost everyone.

Overview of the Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The carts are electric. While the room is loud, it’s apparently quieter than if they use gas (and it smells better too).

They have party rooms overlooking the raceway on two sides of the building at Pole Position Raceway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Unfortunately we arrived late to our own party. Continue reading “Review: Pole Position Raceway Birthday Party”

June 16, 2013September 1, 2016

Review: Flying Porter Airlines

This is the third (and last) in my three part Toronto series. You can read about the Distillery Segway/food tour here, and a Toronto photo essay here.

I went to Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference, and flew Porter Airlines for the first time. While most flights go into the Pearson airport, my Porter flight arrived at the downtown Billy Bishop Airport, which is two minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. You can actually see the CN Tower (which looks like Seattle’s Space Needle) and downtown from the airline exit ramp. And if your staying downtown, even better. They run a free shuttle every 20 minutes dropping you off very close to the MTCC, Toronto’s convention center. My hotel was 1.5 blocks from there, making it a cheap way to get to/from the airport.

View of downtown from the Porter plane. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

On board, the flight attendants are dressed in really cute designer outfits with retro pill box hats. I couldn’t find a royalty-free photo to use, but you can see the Porter uniforms here. Even on short flights, they serve complementary mini meals, including free wine and beer in actual glass.

porter food — Complementary Porter meals with actual wine and beer served in actual glasses. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

If flying out of Billy Bishop Airport, get there early to enjoy the nicest waiting areas I’ve seen Continue reading “Review: Flying Porter Airlines”

June 13, 2013August 29, 2017

Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour

As you saw from my Toronto photo tour yesterday, I was recently in Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference. I visited Toronto’s Distillery District with a tasting tour and Segway ride. Next time the Segway people might want to have us ride the Segway BEFORE the beer tasting, but there were no accidents so we’re all good. Thank you to See Toronto Now and the Segway Ontario’s Distillery shop for hosting the great tour.

The brick buildings and cobblestone of the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

The Distillery used to produce 250 million gallons of whiskey a year, and has a colorful history starting in 1831, including the company’s co-founder (James Worts) throwing himself into a well after his wife dies in childbirth. His milling partner William Gooderham recruits Worts’ 13 year old son to help him convert the mill into a whiskey distillery. A distillery that produced lots of whiskey for the Americans during the prohibition.

Some fun sculptures at the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan — A fun sculpture at the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Though the area is now paved as far as the eye can see, it used to be on the water. Garbage thrown into the water was eventually paved over into landfill (kind of like in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, though they didn’t use garbage), and the coastline is now much further away. Continue reading “Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour”

May 16, 2013March 3, 2015

Review: Washington Crossing Historic Park with Kids

You may have seen the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. It’s at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. More about the painting (and its inaccuracies) further down.

You can see the actual site of the crossing at Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania. Continue reading “Review: Washington Crossing Historic Park with Kids”

May 8, 2013November 2, 2019

Review: Pippin – appropriate for kids?

With 10 Tony nominations and a positive New York Times review, I was glad I had tickets to see the Pippin revival the day after its official opening. I’ve not seen Pippin before so I can’t compare how this revival is different, though the circus theme is new, and the lead player is a woman instead of a man. And her arms are so buff that Michelle Obama’s look downright flabby in comparison.

Let’s start with the million dollar question for my family-friendly theater-goers:

Is Pippin appropriate for kids? Continue reading “Review: Pippin – appropriate for kids?”

April 2, 2013March 3, 2015

Treat of the Day: Sugar and Plumm, Purveyors of Yumm

Just a few days after Easter, I thought I’d tempt you with come Easter candy – and some that’s not specifically for the holiday. This treat of the day comes to you from Sugar and Plumm, with stores in Paramus, NJ and the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Pictures are from the latter location, just around the corner from the American Museum of Natural History, where ironically we were seeing an exhibit on whales.

This chocolate egg crate is all edible! And costs $45. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Ahhh the chocolates...Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan — Ahhh the chocolates…Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

These chocolates came in flavors like Continue reading “Treat of the Day: Sugar and Plumm, Purveyors of Yumm”

April 1, 2013December 16, 2017

Review: Whales: Giants of the Deep Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History

Did you know that dolphins and porpoises are whales? We learned that, plus many other interesting facts about whales during our visit to the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit Whales: Giants of the Deep. Admittedly I knew very little about whales before going to this exhibit. I didn’t know that the precursors to whales WALKED, losing their legs eventually as they took to the ocean full time. A simulation video of the whale’s evolution is a good visual representation.

Did you know that whales can be broken up into two categories: toothed whales and baleen whales? Toothed whales are smaller, and include dolphins and porpoises (porpoises don’t have beaks, dolphins do). Baleen whales are filter feeders, taking in larger amounts of small food and filtering it out, where as toothed whales go for single prey, swallowing it whole.

In addition to videos and other displays, the exhibit features Continue reading “Review: Whales: Giants of the Deep Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History”

March 22, 2013November 2, 2019

Review: Sleepover at the Liberty Science Center

There’s nothing like being at a Liberty Science Center Camp-In with 900 Cub Scouts and (some of) their parents.

One of the advantages to a museum sleepover is a behind the scenes look. You won’t get that here, but what you do get is presumably a smaller crowd than you’d get on a weekend. Of course if you’re there with almost 900 Cub Scouts, you’ll find that they all want to do the same things: race cars.

Even if you don’t want to read about the sleep-over portion – this post has a regular review in it too – keep reading.

The LSC does have a number of evening programs like you’d find during normal open hours – and like open hours, you can go to the programs or explore the museum on your own. While we were there, they offered two live science presentations (one on electricity and one on the four states of matter), and two lab programs (one on infections, and one on the Hudson Home lab).

The museum is too huge to tell all, so I’ll just pinpoint some of the highlights. You can’t see the whole museum in one trip.

Liberty Science Center lobby with collapsible sphere. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Continue reading “Review: Sleepover at the Liberty Science Center”

March 3, 2013August 28, 2017

Review: Big Apple Circus – Legendarium

This was my first time at the Big Apple Circus, having been to many other circuses. What I loved most about it was its size. It was an intimate circus, without extraneous characters running around. Everyone counted and the show was high quality.

The ring before the show started. The middle has a listing of the performers. The live band is above the entrance in the lit-up area. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

I brought three 11 year old girls to the show and they loved it, as did the younger kids sitting around us. With only 16 rows of seats (about 1,700 total guests), you’ll have a good view no matter where you sit. I’ll tell the story mostly through photos. Continue reading “Review: Big Apple Circus – Legendarium”