Our toddler Leo B. rode a carousel in Sacramento back in March, just before his second birthday, and he loved it so much he threw a fit when it was over, and the brief ride became one of his most salient memories. He talked about it all the time and asked to see "carousel pictures" over and over, and then we went home to L.A., where the one time we tried to drive to find a carousel, the damn thing was out of operation and we had to hide it from his view.
So when we spent a week within a couple blocks of Bryant Park, we were thrilled to discover Le Carrousel at the beginning of our stay. Tickets cost $4 each or $20 for ten, and I decided we could manage ten rides over the next five days. I gave away a couple of rides, but we did use eight, so that was $20 well spent.
Le Carrousel is in the thick of Bryant Park, not a huge one, but plenty big enough to impress small children. There was a cute little ticket booth, where I bought a punch card that I was able to redeem for tokens throughout the week (not sure why this extra step was necessary, but the gold tokens had their own charm, I suppose). The carousel was always staffed by one or two people who dealt with tickets and watched to make sure that children were attended and strapped in and that nothing went wrong during the rides. They were, as a group, friendly and efficient.
The carousel didn't get busy during the week, so Leo got his pick of horses and was able to stay on for consecutive rides. There was more of a crowd on the Saturday, when we were using up his last tokens. Another parent asked us to move him off his favored horse so her kids could ride next to each other, and we obliged, only for Leo to become upset and for another full-on five-year-old to throw a loud tantrum and demand the same apparently very attractive horse. The mom who had us move then gave up the horse for this older child, and I wish everyone involved some minor indignity or discomfort for this nonsense, making my baby cry so a brat who should know better could have his way.
Anyway, you can't always get what you want, and mostly, Leo did get what he wanted, which was near-daily carousel rides for an entire week. If you have a little one who loves a merry-go-round, I'd highly recommend frequent visits to Bryant Park. read more