We were in NYC, last month. Us and 13 year old GD. Stayed at a Hilton about 2 blocks from the Wall street bull. 3 blocks from the boat to the statue of liberty, and maybe 6 blocks to ground zero. If memory serves about $225 per night. Great location though.
We stayed three nights, did the above and Time Square and central park, plus a few other things. 3 nights was plenty for us. NYC is just to busy. GD would have stayed for a month however
Getting around, subway is an option but would have been confusing for us at least. And with luggage, even more difficult.
We did Uber and Taxies, not all that spendy and worked out well. Although I will admit a couple of those taxi rides were scary. They tend drive like it is the Indy 500.
I would add, if you are like us, Kent WA kids, and maybe you are the same ( as in sort of small townish) NYC is intimating. So we spent the money to make it less so. I think the Hilton, at that location was a good choice, as well as taxies and uber. As opposed to trying to figure out subways or buses, or driving on our own