Roosevelt Island is a wonderful NYC destination for kids! It is situated in between Queens and Manhattan in the East River. It’s an island that features residential buildings, expansive parks and walkways, Four Freedoms State Park and is home to Cornell Tech. River walkways line the perimeter of the island and offer sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. You can access Roosevelt Island by a bridge from Queens or the F subway line from Manhattan. The other way on and off the island is on the Roosevelt Island tram!

Roosevelt Island Tram with Kids

The tram is our favorite way to get from the island to Manhattan. The tram fare is the same cost as the subway, bus or ferry! It typically runs every 10-15 minutes and moves parallel to the Queensboro Bridge. It offers sweeping views of the city and the East River. The tram also takes you over 2nd avenue so you get a pretty cool view of the traffic below!

Graduate New York

Roosevelt Island is a wonderful base location for a stay in New York City! We recently spent the night at Graduate New York located on the Cornell Tech campus. We stayed in The Loft Suite, inspired by the 80s iconic pop culture movie “Big.” The three bedroom, three bathroom suite features fun memorabilia from the movie, and is completely filled with toys and games. 

The girls loved exploring the rooms, playing with the giant animals from FAO Schwarz, jumping on the mini trampoline, and playing pinball. We also bowled, shot baskets, drew on Etch A Sketchs and played classic games like “Battleship” and “Twister”. It’s such a fun space!

The suite also featured 80s tech blasts from the past, including a boom box, a rotary phone, and a Polaroid camera. We took turns capturing photographs and watched them slowly come to life in front of our eyes as the images were exposed. 

The Loft Suite also includes the movie “Big” available to watch on VHS, and I enjoyed teaching the girls the mechanics of how to work an 80s television set and VHS tape player. 

With 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, “The Loft” is a great space for a fun stay with family, grandparents, or friends!

Alice’s Tea Cup

Tram and Tea is a wonderful NYC combination! You can ride the Roosevelt Island tram over the East River and it lets you off at E 59th St and 2nd Ave. Riding the Roosevelt Island tram with kids is a fun, unique way to see the city! It’s a 0.5 mile walk to Alice’s Tea Cup, a whimsical tea house located at E 64th St and Lexington Ave. They serve a variety of delicious sandwiches, scones, treats, and teas.

Alice’s Tea Cup has an expansive menu filled with lots of savory and sweet options! We feasted on the Mad Hatter’s spread of goodies, which is a lovely kid-friendly option. The girls dressed up and brought along their puppy purses. They LOVED drinking tea and eating on fancy dishes. It’s a great brunch, lunch, or late lunch restaurant!

The Mad Hatter’s Tea included an assortment of sandwiches, scones, and treats. Our favorites were the curried chicken salad sandwiches, cheddar scones, strawberry scones, chocolate chip cookies, and mocha cake! We also ordered Alice’s tea, berry tea, and mango tea. We loved that there were so many kid-friendly options to choose from!

Roosevelt Island is a fun place to explore with kids, and a wonderful base for your next trip to NYC!

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