WiscAZ

When purchasing an unscheduled ticket do you still have to wait in line or can you just show up whenever? I would assume you would need to wait in line or why would anyone purchase a timed ticket. If you purchase a timed ticket do you have to be there right on time or if you are a little late are you ok?

How busy would an afternoon on Monday June 24th be?

themicah

I assume you're talking about TOTR and not ESB? Timed tickets definitely let you skip the outside line at TOTR (there are other queues inside, but they snake through exhibits that are interesting in their own right, and shouldn't take long). I don't know if there's a hard rule about how late you can be with a timed ticket, but I think they're pretty flexible as long as they aren't overwhelmed with visitors. They'll also let you exchange your timed tickets for other times as long as they aren't sold out. But I don't go down there often enough to have a good sense of when the peak times are or whether 6/24 would be a particularly busy day (can't imagine why it would be).

UKtravelbear

IIRC the time ticket give a 30 minute block (6.00-6.30 etc) and as long as you arrive withing that block there should be no issues.

They do have some limited flexibility but on one visit I made they did refuse to admit a group who were over an hour and a half late but that could have been down to the bad attitude of the group leader rather than the lateness - I got the impression they had dealt with this man before because they were saying things like 'you know the rules' and 'you have been told before not to do this'.

They issue timed tickets to allow people to have a comfortable visit i.e not over crowded and if lots of people turn up late it ruins the experience others have also paid for.

As to if it is going to be busy on a particular day that is much harder as it depends on if tour groups have been booked, what other people decide to do and the weather.

WiscAZ

Yes, sorry I am talking about TOTR. So just to clarify, is purchasing a non-scheduled ticket any different as far as lines go than showing up there and purchasing a ticket?

FlyinHawaiian

I did TOTR about a month ago on a Friday. I showed up around 10:45 a.m. and was assigned tickets for 11:15 a.m. It wasn't very crowded (although we did have to deal with two seperate groups of elementary school children on a field trip).

themicah

Aside from the time it takes to buy the ticket, I don't think there's much difference. I'm not sure, though, as the couple times I've been there I've used timed tickets.

Frederik123

IMHO, Top of the Rock has better views then ESB. I also enjoyed the reasonable price on the "Sun & Stars" package - two entries, once during the day and another at night for two spectacular experiences.

Finkface

I did TOTR in May and it was much better than the ESB. The views are better and the bonus is you get to see the ESB as part if the view. We bought walk up tickets and waited less than 5 minutes to go in. This was on a Tuesday around 10 or 11am. Lots of space up top so you don't feel crowded unlike the ESB. Defonitely the better experience IMHO.

catmndu

I visited both this past November. Both were ok but I really preferred TOTR. I thought the views were better and it was less crowded. I felt that the ESB was trying very hard to move me along as quickly as possible and to empty my wallet at the same time. TOTR was lower key.

WiscAZ

TOTR was by far better views than the ESB. Really enjoyed all the great pictures we got to take. There were a few staff members that were not that pleasant but overall it was worth it.

mjrkong

I'll be in NYC end of May with a couple of friends and we're staying just a few blocks from ESB. I was thinking about going there on our first night (due to flights arriving late, we wouldn't be at the ESB before 10PM on a Tuesday). Does anybody know if I should expect the same long lines at this time, or should we be fine? I don't want to drag my friends into another gigantic queue after just clearing immigration at JFK an hour earlier....

I accept that TotR is better value / experience / shorter lines, etc., I just thought under the circumstances it might be nice just to walk just two blocks to ESB instead of taking a cab to TotR instead.

UKtravelbear

I've been to ESB at 10PM and there have been no crowds at all. In fact it was a very pleasant experience.

I prefer the ESB at night and ToR for day time viewing

mjrkong

Thanks, UKtravelbear, that's outstanding news.

callum9999

I know this is an old post, but I didn't experience that at all. I was on top of the ESB for a good 2+ hours (I went in the evening so I could see daylight then night time on one admission) and no-one ever suggested I needed to leave or move. I did find the inside exhibits pretty dull though and preferred TOTR.

That being said, it's the Empire State Building! It's such an iconic building I couldn't skip it.