What a great day we had today!!
Our grandson loved the intrepid.
He was fascinated by the ship, the many planes on its flight deck, the fact that they could take off and land on that deck (with all of 250 feet to do so), he couldn\’t wait to get in the pilot\’s seat of every aircraft he was allowed on, and he was ecstatic about sitting, upside-down, in the Mercury space capsule replica and fiddling with the controls (with his grandmother, who is just great about things like this, upside-down right next to him).
I did my part too. I sucked it up and took him on the 4-D (not 3-D, but 4) “ride” to a “distant planet” in which there is a video of a roller coaster track you are “riding” on, and seats that replicate how you would be bounced around during the breakneck-speed ride. My wife was happy to forgo the “pleasure”….but our grandson asked if we could do it again.
In addition to the many general admission exhibits, we booked a one-hour tour, called “planes explained”. Our guide, Keith, turned out to be an anthropologist with a love of planes – and boy did he know his stuff…as he had to, since our grandson asked more questions – good ones, too – than any of the adults we were with.
Food-wise there is an Au Bon Pain on the Intrepid – which was exactly what we would have wanted: good quality, quick service, moderate prices — and a very nice fellow, Oscar, who took care of us while we were there.
As for parking, we had a discount coupon – $24 for a lot about two blocks from the entrance. But we easily found street parking a block and a half away (47th, just east of 12th, for you New York drivers), and my wallet never left my pocket.
Our grandson couldn\’t have been happier. And, as grandparents, all we had to hear was “Can we do this again? When?” to be even happier than he was.
Do you need me to tell you we\’ll be doing this with him again? I didn\’t think so.
