King Kongs New York Home (Empire State Building)

Member Name: lilmissmup

Product:	Empire State Building
Date:	23/05/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Views of New York, To say that you have done it

Disadvantages: Long queues, views not as great as TOTR.

At the beginning of May me and my boyfriend went to New York City as a treat for his 30th birthday, one of the things we did whilst in The Big Apple was visit The Empire State Building.

Empire State is right in the heart of Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, about a ten minute walk from Times Square and pretty easy to find, you can't help but see it so use it as a marker when you get lost!

The building was built over 2 years starting in 1930 and consists of 102 floors with 2 observatories, the main one on the 86th floor and one also on the 102 floor which is indoor only (you wouldn't want to fall off here!).

When we went to the Empire State it was Saturday and very busy, the first thing I realised is they love queues here!

You can purchase your tickets before you arrive and this is one thing I would highly recommend you do to skip some of the queuing (although not all!).

We had got entry from a Bus Tour Pass we had brought so we managed to skip the initial queue for tickets which was moving very slowly and just head through security which was just like going through an airport, bags x-rayed and you as well.

We then had to join another queue, this did move quite quickly and we had a professional picture taken with a background of The Empire State behind us but unfortunately a lady decided to queue jump at this point so the photographer ran after her, we got his assistant and my boyfriend was too busy staring at the commotion so we didn't buy it, I was a bit annoyed she didn't tell him to look back at the camera!

After this we joined another queue which is for the lift to the 86th floor, after about 15 minutes queuing we were told we could walk the 6 floors instead if we wanted and so we did as was fed up standing around but oh my god I was so out of breathe by the time I got there it took me five minutes to breathe normally again, please note I am a healthy 24 year old non smoker so if you have health issues really do not do this!

Once we got up to the 86th floor we entered the observatory and it was very busy up there.

The first thing that hit me was the views were not as good as ones from Top Of The Rock, I had been warned about this though.

Also because it was so busy it was hard to take great pictures, the best views we got from here were of the Hudson River, we did have a map which we purchased for $3 which told you the views from North, West, East and South which we did need to clarify things.

After about 15 minutes we had decided we had seen enough, we hadn't brought the tickets to the 102nd floor as this was more expensive and we didn't want to queue for tickets so we headed back down and into the gift shop.

The Empire State building has a very extensive gift shop with a lot of choice including memorabilia with King Kong on it and general New York Souvenirs, we got a bit carried away and spent $80 in there but I may never go again so didn't mind really.

After the gift shop we exited the building and made our way back into Times Square.

If your going to New York City you have to go here and it is a good thing to do but I recommend trying to go on a week day if you can, prebuying your tickets and if you want good pictures especially of the beautiful Central Park then also visit Top Of The Rock, I liked the Empire State Building but much preferred Top Of The Rock.

Adult tickets cost $20, Children $15 and Under 5s are Free.

Summary: Something you have to do whilst there but don't expect it to be too amazing.