THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING - A VISIT 7 YEARS IN THE MAKING

The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING in New York City is undoubtedly the most famous building in the world, thanks to its iconic shape and a little help from hundreds of movies and TV shows.

On our last visit to New York in summer 2017, we ran out of time and dollars to go up to the Empire State Building’s observation platform. That turned out to be a good thing as since then a $165 million redevelopment project had been successfully completed, creating a new and improved visitor attraction. 

 

We visited on Sunday July 28th 2024 and found the whole experience to be slick, right from buying the passes online through to entering the designated observatory entrance and then once inside navigating through the interactive visitor exhibitions and up in the elevators to the 80th, 86th and 102nd floors. 

We arrived early on W. 34th Street for our 9am admission and were pleased to discover that we were allowed to bring drinks in with us, for we had picked up a couple of much-needed coffees from Starbucks Reserve, a tenant of the Empire State Building on the first floor. 

The attraction staff were extremely friendly and communication was very good; they worked the lines checking you were in the right place and letting you know what to expect as you moved forwards. You were left with no questions or worries. It all worked smoothly. 

Upon entering the building we went through airport style security, then you were on your way, walking through the exhibitions and displays which succinctly gave you the building’s history and heritage in a very visual and easy to digest way. 

The highlight for us, other than the breathtaking views of New York of course, was the segment where King Kong breaks through the window and you can take a selfie while in his massive hand as the biplanes fly around outside!

Speaking of photographs, we’d had our pic taken with a blue screen at the beginning of the visit and we decided to purchase copies on our way out. There was a big selection of digitally manipulated versions to buy, but we chose the two image package for $30 and got printed and digital copies of us superimposed on a colorful view of the Empire State Building and also with King Kong behind us. We later found this allowed us to download all the versions digitally, so was quite good value. That said, who wants 15 fake photographs of themselves at the Empire State Building?!

There had been a pressure at the kiosks to buy the higher priced package - a countdown even came on screen making you aware that if you wanted a discount you only had 40 seconds or so to decide. 

Our passes were purchased online from the official ESBNYC website and cost as follows:

🏙️ Top Deck 102nd + 86th x 2 = $172.00

😮 Booking fee = $5.00

🥲 Tax = $15.70

💰 Total = $192.70

We had paid extra for an access to the 102nd floor - almost at the very tip of the Empire State Building - and we are glad we did, for the views were even better from up there.

This is a lot of money and our whole visit lasted around 2 1/2 hours, as we took our time to enjoy the exhibits and the stunning views from the observation decks. 

But this is the iconic Empire State Building: a once in a lifetime experience at the most famous building in the world - and it was worth every cent!

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING FACTS

🏙️ Constructed: 1930-1931

🏙️ Building opened: 1931

🏙️ King Kong incident: 1933

🏙️ Height of 101st floor: 1250 ft

🏙️ Height of 86th floor: 1050 ft 

🏙️ Seventh tallest building in New York City 

🏙️ 86 flights of stairs (which we weren’t allowed to walk down on the way out)

🏙️ 4 million visitors per year 

📌 THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, 20 W. 34th St., NY 10001

🌐 www.esbnyc.com

🚇 NEAREST SUBWAY: 34th St.-Herald Sq.

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