For Tom and Patti Daly of Wallingford, Conn., who arrived in the city on Saturday with their children, 8-year-old Tyler and 10-year-old Marisa, what would have been a $398 outing — four tickets to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — turned into a $104 foray to the Madame Tussauds wax museum.  Mrs. Daly said the family had considered canceling the trip. The “Grinch” tickets would be refunded, but they could not get out of the two-night hotel stay they had paid for in advance.  “We thought we’d make the best out of it, then — make it an adventure,” she said.  As they ambled east on West 42nd Street, her husband added, “The museum may not be as fun as Broadway, but it’s a whole lot cheaper.”  Outside the Shubert Theater on West 44th Street, Cecelia Pan and her friend Anne Ehlert flipped through the pages of a New York City travel guide, scrambling to come up with an alternate plan for the afternoon. Their sons — Ms. Pan’s Alex, 9, and Ms. Ehlert’s Kevin LeFleur, 10, who are fourth-grade classmates in Arlington, Mass. — were to have watched their first musical, “Spamalot.”  The tickets, which Ms. Pan bought online, cost $111 each, an amount they were told would be refunded to her credit card. (The women said they planned to save the money for a return trip to the city.)  “Too bad the kids are having to learn the hard way what a strike is,” said Ms. Pan, a high school science teacher.  They headed for a Starbucks on Eighth Avenue, where over lattes and doughnuts, they pondered a few destinations: shoe shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue (“No,” the boys said in unison); an incursion to the Nintendo World store, which they had already visited on Saturday (“That place gave me a headache,” Ms. Ehlert said); or the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, an interactive museum on East 56th Street that seemed to please everybody. But there were no tickets left.  “We can go to Greenwich Village and walk around,” Ms. Ehlert said, wishfully.  Finally, the women had an idea: “How about visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral?” one of them suggested. “And we can go ice-skating at Rockefeller Center after that,” the other added.  Kevin and Alex nodded in agreement, so they all grabbed their coats and headed east on 40th Street, then turned north on Fifth Avenue. The boys sauntered ahead, slapping fire hydrants, kicking air, chasing pigeons.  At the church, they stared wide-eyed at stained-glass windows. At the skating rink, they giggled and glided to the sound of Elton John.  “I want to come back to New York to see the show some other time,” Kevin said as he laced up his skates. “But right now, I’m having fun.”  C. J. Hughes contributed reporting.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: With Theaters Dark, Finding Their Fun Elsewhere. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
As the stagehands’ strike entered its second day visitors with theater plans wound up instead with a few unplanned hours on their hands. And some unexpected savings.