James and anyone else going to NYC. The Empire State Building is absolutely worth it ....BUT by an Express Ticket beforehand. It is $47.50 as against $25 but very worth it. The queues are enormous, but the express ticket means you jump to the head of each queue (there is more than 1 queue). When we went we timed it for sunset and we saw people in the queues as we were coming down that had been there when we started up 2 hours earlier. If you go at a popular time of day eg. sunset!!, the ppl will be 6 deep at the top, but a bit of patience and you will see some fantastic views.
Broadway shows are definitely worth it. We saw Jersey Boys (a real experience in New York!), the Lion King (awesome) and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. We decided not to take chances on getting the cheap tickets from the booth in Times Square as the queues again can be very long and with limited time we had better things to do so book beforehand, well worth the $$$ for good shows.
The Natural History Museum is spectacular. We actually run out of time and didn't make the Hayden! Central Park is worth a full day just on it's own.
We did a walking tour with this crowd
http://realnewyorktours.com/index.htm
They were excellent. Use native New Yorkers as guides and you see so many little things that you would miss otherwise. We had Jimmy Napoli as a guide and he was very knowledgeable, just don't get him started on Alexander Hamilton if you get him as a guide!!
Shame about The Statue and Ellis Island. Ellis is really interesting, beautiful buildings and lots of history!
B&H is worth a visit, just be aware they close for the Jewish Sabbath (friday) and all Jewish holidays.
Times Square is fun, try to pass through a few times as there are often street performers. We tried to walk as much as possible just because it is such a vibrant city and there are things to see, but the subway is excellent once you get the hang of it. We stayed south of Central Park the whole time and felt quite safe the whole time. That said a bit of caution and knowing where you are is essential, but NYC is a safe city on the whole, there are parts of Melbourne I would sooner avoid.
Thats all I can think of for the moment!
Malcolm