Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post

bobbylouie · 04-28-2022, 09:55 PM

[QUOTE= [*]NBC Tour / Top of the Rock – I really enjoyed this. The view is better than the Empire State Building because you can see the Empire State Building! Less expensive, also.

[*]Statue of Liberty – If you really wanted to get near the Statue of Liberty and not spend any money you can take the Staten Island Ferry for free
area. Lots of people trying to sell you cheap knock-offs of things.
=QUOTE]

As somebody who lives nearby and is in Manhattan at least once a week, I would highlight these two things especially.

You're probably going to spend more money than you imagined, and spending anything to go out to the Statue of Liberty is the biggest waste.

The free Staten Island Ferry service is probably the #1 overlooked bargain for any visitor, since you get both a free ride across New York Harbor
(with a nice view of lower Manhattan) and a reasonably close pass by of the StofL for plenty of photo ops. The only down side is that you have to
take it both ways to return to lower Manhattan, and the trip is 30 minutes each way, so you burn an hour.

And you do have to mini-sprint to make it back for the return trip, since they force you to get off when it docks in Staten Island and then rush
around to the entrance to get back on before it leaves minutes later. Otherwise you have to wait another 30 minutes for the next one.

But it costs $0 for as many people as you have with you. There won't be a whole lot of that during your visit.

As I just typed that, walks through Central Park also came to mind. There's always a gathering in Strawberry Fields
playing Beatles/Lennon music across the street from the Dakota, where he was murdered.

If you have any interest in TV production or history, the NBC Tour is also worth it. You "usually" will get to see the Saturday Night Live studio
and the Tonight Show studio (although it is subject to rehearsal/taping schedules).
Tickets for the Tonight Show are pretty tough to get, but Fallon does a "monologue rehearsal" earlier in the afternoon
and they give out tickets for just that if you just want to get a sense of what it's like to sit in the audience.

The monologue rehearsal is a lot longer than the actual monologue, because he sometimes runs 40-50 jokes just to see which 6-7 get the best reaction to be used that night.
Tickets for any TV show taping are ALWAYS FREE and not transferable (same in Los Angeles), so don't get scammed into buying anything like that from somebody on the street.

04-28-2022, 09:55 PM	#12
bobbylouie Crash and Bang Winger Join Date: Jan 2011 Exp:	[QUOTE= []NBC Tour / Top of the Rock* – I really enjoyed this. The view is better than the Empire State Building because you can see the Empire State Building! Less expensive, also. []Statue of Liberty* – If you really wanted to get near the Statue of Liberty and not spend any money you can take the Staten Island Ferry for free area. Lots of people trying to sell you cheap knock-offs of things. =QUOTE] As somebody who lives nearby and is in Manhattan at least once a week, I would highlight these two things especially. You're probably going to spend more money than you imagined, and spending anything to go out to the Statue of Liberty is the biggest waste. The free Staten Island Ferry service is probably the #1 overlooked bargain for any visitor, since you get both a free ride across New York Harbor (with a nice view of lower Manhattan) and a reasonably close pass by of the StofL for plenty of photo ops. The only down side is that you have to take it both ways to return to lower Manhattan, and the trip is 30 minutes each way, so you burn an hour. And you do have to mini-sprint to make it back for the return trip, since they force you to get off when it docks in Staten Island and then rush around to the entrance to get back on before it leaves minutes later. Otherwise you have to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. But it costs $0 for as many people as you have with you. There won't be a whole lot of that during your visit. As I just typed that, walks through Central Park also came to mind. There's always a gathering in Strawberry Fields playing Beatles/Lennon music across the street from the Dakota, where he was murdered. If you have any interest in TV production or history, the NBC Tour is also worth it. You "usually" will get to see the Saturday Night Live studio and the Tonight Show studio (although it is subject to rehearsal/taping schedules). Tickets for the Tonight Show are pretty tough to get, but Fallon does a "monologue rehearsal" earlier in the afternoon and they give out tickets for just that if you just want to get a sense of what it's like to sit in the audience. The monologue rehearsal is a lot longer than the actual monologue, because he sometimes runs 40-50 jokes just to see which 6-7 get the best reaction to be used that night. Tickets for any TV show taping are ALWAYS FREE and not transferable (same in Los Angeles), so don't get scammed into buying anything like that from somebody on the street. Last edited by bobbylouie; 04-28-2022 at 09:59 PM.