Arriving in New York on Tuesday, 7/10

My daughter and I are flying from Ohio to New York this Tuesday. We will arrive early AM and are staying at the Yotel. My plan is to Uber to the hotel, drop off our luggage and Uber to the 911 Memorial and explore all of the attractions (SOL, Ellis Island). We plan on spending the entire day. This board is a wealth of information and the seasoned travlers always seem to be able to offer helpful tips and advice. What would be the best way to maximize our time? Any suggestions on the best way to see the attractions in a certain order? After we have finished our touring for the day we will go back to the hotel. The next morning we are going to the Megan Kelley Show then back to the hotel to gather our luggage and make our way to Pier 88 to board the Carnival Horizon.

If you haven't already bought tickets to the SOL from the official seller, http://www.statuecruises.com, your options will be limited. Crown tickets sell out months in advance, Pedestal tickets weeks in advance.

Within Manhattan, subway is a much more efficient way to get around.

From the airport (I assume LGA), it is simpler to take s yellow cab from the official dispatch line than try to connect with an Uber.

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Someone mentioned cabs from the airport in response to your early morning arrival time....If you're flying into LGA, I second this. Twice in the past month or so, I've flown into LGA, arriving at 8am and there was no cab line. Depending on what terminal you arrive to, due to construction other ride-for-hire vehicles (car services, uber, etc) may not be able to come right to the terminal and require you to shutter to where they can stop....another factor making cabs easier.

As for your sightseeing day:

The 9/11 memorial is outside, free, and doesn't take long to see. The museum on the other hand, requires admission and can have long lines, but it SO worth seeing! I'd consider getting advance tickets if you can. I've been twice, spent several hours both times, and really could have spent longer.

Likewise, if you take a ferry to Ellis Island, you could spend hours going through it. I did, and found it extremely fascinating. They also have a genealogy room with computers where you can research your family history if interested. You an look up passenger manifests from ships arriving with immigrants and maybe see your great grandmother's name or something...kind of fun if you happen to know you have ancestors who arrived via Ellis Island, or you wonder if they did. The museum itself can be a self-guided tour with headphones. It takes you through as though you are an arriving immigrant, and goes through all the steps immigrants went through...documentation, health checks, quarantine if necessary, day in the life, etc. Lots of interesting photos and exhibits if you're into that.

You could easily spend an entire day just going through the 9/11 museum and the Ellis Island museum, so decide if that's really what you want to do or what your priorities are. If you don't actually want to tour Ellis Island, and only want to see the SOL rather than go through it, you can always take the ferry over but not get off, or do the Circle Line boat tour around southern Manhattan. I recently did the Circle Line with my kids around the entire island of Manhattan and we got great views of the SOL...captain went very slow to allow people ample time to take pictures. The ride that only goes around southern Manhattan is only 1.5 hours I think; the entire island tour is 2.5 (?) hours.

You can usually buy advance tickets to most things, so decide what you want to do, and try to get your tickets ahead of time to avoid lines.

Hope this helps!

9/11 and Ellis Island... YES as mentioned above. Statue of Liberty? You can get off and walk around without an advance reservation but honestly, just the boat ride alone on your way to/from Ellis Island is good enough.

Consider a walk through Times Square, Chinatown, or Central Park.

There is another active thread about subway rides and how to calculate a card. But if you only need transportation a couple of times then feel free to Uber if you are more comfortable with it. Have a great visit!

Prebook 9/11 museum with tour, very interesting give yourself 90 mins to 2 hours, if it is a clear day consider taking elevator to top ride is amazing and so is view, no need to pre book this. Other interesting things in walking distance is trinity church and Frances tavern.

We spent 3 hours in the 9/11 Museum and preferred seeing it at our own pace to going on a tour.

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If you do tour you then can spend all the time you want in museum. Tour was excellent

N.Y. has a Hop on Hop off.

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A little late, but we just did a staycation last weekend, SOL and Ellis Island Saturday, 9/11 museum and freedom tower observatory Sunday. We booked SOL months in advance, this was the first time I ever went in. It is definitely worth just booking the pedestal, for great views, a small museum, and cool a/c and a nice bathroom, plus benches to relax. You can walk up, and there is an elevator.

We got tickets in advance for Sunday, but you can bypass big lines by purchasing online even that day, and having the tickets on your phone. We had zero lines.