Steve Renshaw

A variety of rides on the boardwalk at Coney Island. Really a collection of small parks not always directly accessible from one to the other so it can be a little confusing. We got wristbands via a New York Pass which excluded a few of the bigger rides like the Cyclone, but there's still enough for all ages from preschoolers upwards. You can pay for the bigger rides as well if you wish. The wheel was a separate park and wasn't on when we visited, but the weather had been poor all day before our early evening visit. There was supposed to be fireworks on Friday evening but these hadn't materialised by the time we left just after 10, again maybe weather related.

All parts of the park are accessible from the boardwalk and a stroll up and down is a nice way to break up the rides. Very vibrant and busy in the evening and a good selection of food and drink outlets if you want to eat or just sit and watch. Really good 3 or 4 hours as an option, slightly off the main NYC tourist trail.

I was not quite sure what to expect from RiseNY, but am very glad we went. I thought it was informative, interesting and really entertaining. That's a hard thing to manage. The walk through section deals with New York's growth as a city and then it's explosion into the modern media age. It's great - where else is Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street going to tell you to go away? There's bits covering every era and on fashion, TV, movies, music and Broadway, so there is something for everyone in this bit.

But the highlight is the 'ride' at the end - even for someone like me who is not a fan of coasters or thrill rides at all and was a little concerned by what it actually was. If you can cope with air travel, you can cope with this. They are a little coy about what it actually is so I won't say too much, but I loved it and it is done really well. Would recommend 100%.

It will take about 60 to 90 minutes from start to finish and is basically right on Times Square so it is easy to slot it into even a short trip to NYC. We got in with New York Pass so not sure how much it costs individually - I never checked, but I would have paid it.