Senior Class Trips and Educational Tours with Winged Victory USA

WV USA- 2004-2005
New York Student Field Trip Itinerary

Click here for a printable PDF of the New York 3-day General Education Itinerary.
Day 1
7:00 AM	Depart school on a deluxe, climate-controlled and restroom-equipped motorcoach.
12:00 PM	Arrive at Rockefeller Center, "the heart of New York", meet your Winged Victory USA Tour guide at the corner of 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. Your guide will take you on a short orientation tour that will begin at the world-famous lower plaza, where one of your classmates can take your picture in front of the gilded statue of Prometheus, and will end at an underground McDonald's where you'll be free for an inexpensive lunch at your own expense.
1:00 PM	After lunch, you can walk to the adjacent Today Show studio which is easily visible through large street-level windows, or visit NBC Experience where you can actually videotape an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno or do the weather forecast on the Today Show with Al Roker.
1:30 PM	Time-permitting, you will also walk with your guide through the Channel Gardens and across Fifth Avenue, to the 150-year-old Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Though it is located at the center of midtown Manhattan, and is now dwarfed by nearby skyscrapers, it was thought by its parishioners, when construction began before the Civil War, to be too far out in the country.
2:00 PM	Afterwards, meet the bus in front of the Today Show studio and depart for the American Museum of Natural History.
2:30 PM	Arrive at the American Museum of Natural History, the biggest and best natural history museum in the world. Upon arrival, your guide will give you a brief museum orientation, beginning at the Haida war canoe and ending at the 55-foot-high Barosaurus (the world's most complete specimen), following which you will be free until 3:45pm to return to the exhibits that interested you the most. Don't miss the Hall of Minerals and Gems containing jewels valued at $50 million, including the Star of India (a star sapphire about the size of an egg), or the dinosaur, or meteor, or giant sequoia exhibits.
3:45 PM	Make your way over to the Rose Center.
4:00 PM	Here you will see a 4:00pm show in the Hayden Planetarium. The level of technology and scientific content presented here has never been so readily available to the general public. With its high-definition system — capable of combining real-time visual simulations with pre-rendered graphics — the new Hayden Planetarium is the largest and most powerful virtual reality simulator in the world, matched only by the supercomputers used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), or the largest of military research facilities. “The Search For Life: Are We Alone?”: Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? Ancient mythologies and contemporary science fiction have presented imaginative possibilities, but how does modern science approach this question? The Search for Life: Are We Alone? begins to answer this intriguing question in a breathtaking new Space Show narrated by Academy Award–nominated actor Harrison Ford.
4:45 PM	Meet the bus at the 77th Street entrance and depart for dinner at Planet Hollywood in Times Square.
5:30 PM	Enjoy your dinner at Planet Hollywood, in the heart of Times Square! The restaurant is located across from the MTV Studios, and can sometimes be spotted in the background of the popular show "TRL."
6:30 PM	After dinner, walk across the street into the heart of Times Square.
6:45 PM	Here you will stop briefly for a group photograph at 6:45pm, then walk back to the 75,000 square foot Virgin Megastore, the largest record and entertainment store in the world.
8:30 PM	Meet the bus on 45th Street, in front of the Planet Hollywood gift shop, say goodbye to your tour guide for the night, and transfer back to your hotel, where you will check-in, and get some well-deserved rest.
9:00 PM	Arrive at and check-in to your rooms at The Sheraton- Meadowlands, right across the river, in New Jersey! The newly renovated, 21-story Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel and Conference Center is right by the Meadowlands Sports Complex - New Jersey's premier center for sports, entertainment and special events. The 427-room hotel has a large amount of meeting space, including a conference center and the largest ballroom in all of northern New Jersey.
10:00 PM	Overnight security begins.
Day 2
7:00 AM	Full American Breakfast Buffet in the hotel, which will include: Scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, home fried potatoes, french toast, bakery items, cereals, yogurts, fruits, juice, coffee, tea.
8:00 AM	After breakfast, reassemble in the lobby, meet your bus and depart for Manhattan. You will meet your guide en route, at the corner of 10th Avenue and 42nd Street. You will then begin a New York City sightseeing tour that will end at The Met.
10:00 AM	Arrive at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: There are several large museums in New York but the Metropolitan Museum of Art is truly gigantic. From the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue, the Met, with its tall columns and windows, immense stairways and water fountains, looks like it could be an emperor’s palace. The size and diversity of the artwork on display is even more impressive; the museum’s collection contains works from every part of the world, spanning the Stone Age to the twentieth century. The Egyptian Art gallery includes a whole temple that was shipped to America as a gift. You will be free to view some of the icons in the American Wing, including George Washington Crossing the Delaware, and a number of other very familiar works by Grant Wood, Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe. Afterwards, head to your favorite exhibits! In short, there will be something here to inspire every member of the group.
11:30 AM	Transfer to the Trump Tower for lunch.
12:00 PM	Arrive at The Trump Tower. There, you can have lunch at your own expense in the lower level, or you can easily walk to McDonald's on 57th Street. After lunch, you’ll be free to explore Fifth Avenue.
1:30 PM	Meet the bus between the IBM Atrium and Sony Plaza, and depart for the United Nations.
2:00 PM	Arrive at the United Nations, where you will briefly leave United States soil as you step onto the grounds of the United Nations Headquarters, an international zone with its own post office and postage stamps.
2:30 PM	Depart on a guided tour that will provide very good views of the Security Council Chamber and the familiar speaker's rostrum in the 2070-seat General Assembly Hall, in which each of the more than 180 member states has one vote.
3:30 PM	Return to your hotel to freshen up and dress for dinner.
5:30 PM	Meet the bus and depart for dinner.
6:15 PM	Enjoy a visit to Greenwich Village where you'll have dinner at Gonzalez ý Gonzalez, a popular Mexican Cantina that is well known for its authentic food and its extensive collection of traditional Mexican folk art. There, upon arrival you'll have a three-course Mexican dinner beginning with sopa de tortilla (corn and onion bisque baked with tortillas and cheese), a fajita platter and dessert.
7:30 PM	After dinner, meet the bus and depart for the Empire State Building Observatory.
8:00 PM	Arrive at the world famous observatory at New York's famous Empire State Building, a New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark, which soars more than a quarter of a mile into the atmosphere above the heart of Manhattan. Located on the 86th floor, 1,050 feet (320 meters) above the city's bustling streets, the Observatory offers panoramic views from within a glass enclosed pavilion and from the surrounding open-air promenade. Since the Observatory opened to the public in 1931, almost 110 million visitors have thrilled to the awe-inspiring vision of the city beneath them. Each year over 3.5 million people are whisked to the 86th floor to be where Cary Grant waited in vain for Deborah Kerr in an "Affair to Remember", while Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had their fateful meeting in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle." The observatory is handicap accessible. All in all, the feeling and spirit of New York City is embodied in the Empire State Building. From the people who fell in love here, to the ones who have returned with their children and grandchildren, everyone recognizes the building not only as an awe-inspiring landmark which offers one of the most spectacular views on earth but an unequaled symbol of American ingenuity and Art Deco architecture.
9:30 PM	Meet the bus and return to your hotel.
10:00 PM	Overnight Security begins. EVENING OPTION #2: (price dependent upon show cost) After dinner, depart for your choice of Broadway shows. EVENING OPTION #3: (approx $18 more/person than Gonzalez and Empire) Depart on your Spirit Dinner & Dance Cruise at 7:30pm for a 3 hour journey around the tip of Manhattan: Dinner, music and spectacular views of the Manhattan Skyline are just the beginning of the entertaining evening ahead of you!
Day 3
7:00 AM	Full American Breakfast Buffet in the hotel, which will include: Scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, home fried potatoes, french toast, bakery items, cereals, yogurts, fruits, juice, coffee, tea.
7:45 AM	Check out of your rooms, place your bags on the bus, and depart for Manhattan. You will meet your guide en route at the corner of 10th Avenue and 42nd Street. Then transfer to Battery Park.
8:45 AM	Arrive at Battery Park, the birthplace of New York City, in Lower Manhattan. At 9:30am, board the Circle Line Ferry for a short ride to Liberty Island, where you will have about 10 minutes to take photographs of the 300-foot-high Statue of Liberty. It's copper skin is hung on a central tower designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who is somewhat better known for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. At 9:55am, re-board the ferry to Ellis Island. There, you'll visit the magnificently restored immigration depot through which seventeen million people passed between 1892 and 1954, during the greatest wave of migration the world has ever known. At 11:50am, after your Ellis Island visit, you'll board the Circle Line ferry for the last time, and return to Battery Park, during which you'll get quite a magnificent view of Lower Manhattan.
12:15 PM	Meet the bus and transfer to South Street Seaport.
12:30 PM	Upon arrival at the historic Seaport you will have an inexpensive lunch at your own expense and then be free for 1/2 hour for souvenir-shopping and picture-taking at one of New York City's most popular attractions.
2:00 PM	Meet the bus and begin your journey home, exhausted yet forever enriched.
Your trip also includes:
A customized, keepsake DVD for each student and group leader, made from photographs taken with a camera that we will loan you for your trip. The images are downloaded, set to music, and then mailed back to you on a DVD to enjoy for years to come! A comprehensive Travel Protection Plan, underwritten by Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company and administered by Trip Mate, Inc. is included in the price of the trip. This Plan provides benefits such as Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation, Medical Expense Emergency Assistance, Travel Delay, Baggage and Baggage Delay. A Travel Insurance Certificate will be provided to your child’s teacher for each child on the trip. Liability Insurance - WINGED VICTORY USA carries $2,000,000 in Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insurance.