Top of the Rock

The Rockefeller Center’s observation deck first opened in 1933, but closed in 1986 due to low revenue. But as of yesterday, it’s renovated, and has re-opened to the public as Top of the Rock. And guess what – Kristy scored (read: “bought”) tickets for their opening day! So off we trundled last night for our 8:15 PM entrance time.

The whole experience was very classy. When you buy your ticket, you get assigned an entrace time – a very effective solution for controlling the crowds. In fact, we only had to wait about 4 or 5 minutes during the whole experience! The elevators up to the roof are also very cool, with a clear perspex roof through which you watch the elevator shaft (which lights up in neon) race by as you journey to the top.

And as you can see, the view is just brilliant (it helps that we had a very clear night, of course). One of the biggest selling points is that you actually get to see the Empire State Building – something you obviously can’t do from their observation deck (that’s it lit up in blue). (One could argue that, in contrary, you can’t see the Rockefeller Center when you’re standing on their observation deck – but their building is nowhere near the spectacle of Empire State).

The actual layout of the observation area is much better too – with decks at 3 different layers, it caters much more efficiently to the crowds. The whole experience is topped off with multiple gift shops for unwitting tourists to buy overpriced souvenirs. In my opinion, Top of the Rock has definitely trumped Empire State as the observation deck of choice for visitors to New York.

Update: I’ve put all our photos up online for a short period of time. All in high resolution! Some are a bit grainy due to the high ISO speed (I didn’t have a tripod), and they’re all unnamed so it’s a bit of a lucky draw. Enjoy!