All of the Nintendo systems, all in one place.
A few weeks ago, I got one of the best opportunities I’ve ever gotten in my life. I got an opportunity to go to New York City to be in the audience for a taping of Live with Kelly and Ryan with one of my good friends, Mariah, and have a lunch with the titular stars. You can read more about how I got this opportunity here. This blog will serve as kind of a retrospective on the whole experience from my point of view. From the plane rides, to the limo rides, to the actual show itself, it was an experience that I would take again if offered.
This is part three of my retrospective of NYC. Part four, covering the trip home on Thursday, will come out soon.
Wednesday
After the Luncheon
After we finished the luncheon at ABC, Mariah and I made our way back to the hotel to change clothes. We didn’t really want to wear our dress clothes when we went out exploring New York, so we made the detour back.
We discussed what we wanted to do while we were exploring, and we made a plan for this afternoon. I remembered that the Nintendo store in New York City existed, so we were both on board with that. We’d also wanted to explore Times Square, as well, with all the things they have to offer. Those were set in stone, but there is so much stuff I wanted to do, that I wish I had a couple more days to do them.
Those things I really wanted to do? A tour of 30 Rock, for one. It would be awesome to do as a journalism major and TV buff, and we could put the tickets on our credit, which we’ve barely used to this point. Also, possibly attending a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I mentioned this to Mariah near the beginning of our trip, but since the timing didn’t quite work out, we scrapped it. Since we watched TBS the previous night, where it mentioned Conan O’Brien was taping episodes at the Apollo Theater, she was interested in that. I looked into it, but the taping was super-early, at around 8am, so that got quickly scrapped, too. So, entertainment-wise, there wasn’t much we could do, other than walk around and see what’s there.
Around 3:15 or so, we left the hotel to start on our journey. We decided to stop by the Nintendo store first, but we did not want to walk it. That means we had to call a taxi to get us there. This was the first time I have ever hailed a taxi by myself, but it was pretty easy. We got a taxi fairly quickly, and were on our way to Rockefeller Plaza.
The Nintendo Store
Mariah and I are both fans of Nintendo video games. So, when I told Mariah about the Nintendo Store, she was all over it from the get-go. Our taxi driver dropped us off at the NBC studios, so we had to walk a little bit to get to the store. When we got there, though, it felt like we were in heaven. The store had everything a Nintendo fan would want: Merchandise, amiibo, games, and even demo stations for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and more.
One of my favorite parts of the store was a collection of all the old Nintendo systems. Starting with the Color TV and ending with the recently-released Switch, it was awesome to see how gaming has evolved over the last 30-plus years. The most intriguing one I saw was a collection of old Game Boys, including one that was heavily damaged in the Gulf War. The kicker? According to the sign, the system still works.
That is the definition of durability.
We had plenty of our $250 credit to spend, and we blew half of it at the Nintendo Store. I bought a T-shirt, a hoodie, a Super Mario Adventures books, a stuffed Yoshi, and a Yoshi key chain. Mariah got herself a sweatshirt on the credit as well. Total spent: $130. Well worth it.
Rockefeller Plaza and Times Square
We went around to a couple other places around Rockefeller Plaza, including the M&Ms store. That store was pretty quirky, with a few make-your-own-mix stations and merch and stuff, but we didn’t buy anything there. Again, if we had an extra day, I’d have loved to visit more places around the area.
We then made our way to Times Square, where I snapped the picture seen in the header in Part One. We made a couple stops to the Toys R Us store, giant Etch-A-Sketch and all, to look around, and then browsed Forever 21. Again, we didn’t buy anything in both of those places, but it was pretty neat to check it out.
Because of our early morning, we decided to wrap things up, but not before we got some dinner. Our original plan was to go to a bar that Natasha recommended to us at the lunch. When we got there, however, the bar was already full (didn’t help that one guy was spread out over, like, nine hundred seats), so we decided to go somewhere else. So much for free hot dogs with the purchase of a drink.
We decided to go to another diner, this time the Westway Diner, which was right nearby. I was still full from both breakfast and lunch, but I still tried to eat something resembling a meal. I got some chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks, but I could barely eat more than one or two of them. It was a good meal nonetheless, and we hailed a taxi back to the hotel.
We stayed in for pretty much the rest of the night, preparing for another early morning to get back home. That last leg of the trip will be covered in Part Four of my Retrospective.