Dennis and I just got back from an NYC trip with our good friends Mitch and Bailey, and I have thoughts. Strong ones. Some of this trip was everything I hoped for. Some of it, I would skip entirely next time. Here is the honest rundown, no sugar-coating, the way I always do it.
We based ourselves at the World Center Hotel, about a block from the 9/11 Memorial. That visit got its own post — a much more reflective one. It deserved its own space, not a spot crammed between hotel opinions and Broadway hot takes. So this post is the lighter half of the NYC trip: the hotel, the food, the tours, and the one experience that let us down enough that I need to warn you about.
Our NYC Trip Home Base: The World Center Hotel
First impression: budget, dated, a little confused about its own color palette (lavender door trim in the lobby, mint green bathroom tile — a combination nobody asked for). But the bed and pillows were delightfully comfortable — genuinely one of the best hotel-bed experiences I have had. That goes a long way after a day of walking in a heat index over 100 degrees. There are two restaurants plus a rooftop bar with a great golden-hour sunset. The rooftop cocktails were excellent, but not cheap — $57 for two drinks before tip meant we stuck to one round. Every floor has a water station, and there is a coffee bar in the lobby. Still, the best thing about this hotel, hands down, is the location: about a block from the 9/11 Memorial, and close enough to the subway that Broadway and Times Square were about 20 minutes away on the R train.
O’Hara’s: Our NYC Trip Watering Hole
One more thing about home base: O’Hara’s became our people. It’s a small Irish pub just steps from the 9/11 Memorial, and it was severely damaged during the attacks, the second floor gutted and the windows blown out, closed for nearly eight months before it reopened. Since then it has become a gathering place for first responders from all over the world, and the proof is on the walls: thousands of patches from fire departments, police precincts, and military units, some from countries I would have to look up on a map.
Ask, and the staff will bring you “the Book,” a leather-bound scrapbook kept behind the bar full of photos, newspaper clippings, and letters from visitors thanking O’Hara’s for keeping the memory alive. We did not plan on making it our nightly ritual, but Bailey gets full credit for finding the place itself and leading us there on night one. By day two we were back on purpose, every night: recap the day, regroup, order another round. It became our daily watering hole, and Bailey is the reason why.
The Go City Pass: Worth Every Penny on This NYC Trip
We bought the 2-day Go City Pass, which covers admission to 100-plus attractions, and it saved us over $100 per person. We used it for the 9/11 Museum admission (the guided tour there was a separate add-on we paid extra for — full story in that other post). It also covered the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry, Top of the Rock, The Edge, and the Big Bus Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour. Overall, this is a genuinely great value if you are hitting more than two or three paid attractions on your NYC trip — and most first-time visitors absolutely will.
Pro Tip: Do Top of the Rock at Night, Not During the Day
Top of the Rock almost didn’t make the cut. One of our friends had warned us the lines and wait times could be brutal, so we were on the fence about doing it at all. Then we were having a beer at Iron Bar in Hell’s Kitchen when I remembered something from my second trip to New York: doing a bunch of these same attractions late at night, when hardly anyone else was around. (We once walked to Grand Central Station around 2 in the morning and had the place practically to ourselves.) It was 10:55 when that memory clicked, and we took off practically running to get to Top of the Rock before it closed at 11:30.
We made it in time, and it made the entire experience. No lines, no crowds, just the two of us, Mitch and Bailey, a few other adventurous souls, and the skyline. If you have any flexibility in your schedule, go late anyway. It is a completely different, far better experience than fighting daytime crowds for a spot at the railing.
The Edge: Cool, But Go in Daylight
The Edge is way cool, worth doing for the outdoor observation deck and the glass floor alone. I would go during the daytime for this one, since the views are the whole point and you want to actually see them. The “Immersive Experience” add-on inside, on the other hand, is overrated. It is fun, but it does not have a real wow factor, and I would not go out of your way for it. Still, it’s part of the experience and already included in the admission, so do not skip it entirely. We managed to snag a window table inside, where Dennis, Mitch, and I each had a beer and Bailey had a fantastic non-alcoholic canned beverage. An adult beverage and that view? Didn’t suck at all.
The Big Bus Hop-On-Hop-Off: Not This NYC Trip
This is the one I need to warn you about. I have done the Big Bus Hop-On-Hop-Off tour on my first two trips to NYC and loved it both times. This time, though, traffic was so ungodly congested that we never even got off for the stops on the Blue Line. It took forever just to move through the city. On top of that, the audio commentary did not keep up with our actual location, the stops played out of order, and when the Blue Line route ended, there was nothing on the audio to tell us the tour was over. We just… stopped. We actually thought the bus had run out of gas!
So I am giving this one a solid 3 stars, and I would not recommend it based on this particular visit — even though I have genuinely liked it before. Still, there was one bright spot from the bus route: we caught Little Island, the small, funky park built on those unusual sculpted pillars out over the Hudson at Pier 55, plus the High Line, on our way toward The Edge. Both are worth seeking out on foot, even if you skip the bus entirely.
Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology
This one was a genuine surprise. Mercer Labs, an immersive art and technology museum near our hotel, was super cool, and there were parts of it I did not want to leave. Neither did Dennis. So if you are near the Financial District and want something different from the usual tourist stops, this is worth the detour.
Chinatown and Little Italy, on Foot
We walked about two miles to Chinatown for dinner at New Shanghai. It was fantastic — both the food and the staff, who were hilarious and clearly loved their jobs. Afterward, we walked through Little Italy and made our way back to the hotel around 12:30 in the morning. We felt safe the entire way, the whole time. And since NYC restrooms are customers-only, when I really had to go at one point, we ducked into a random neighborhood bar and just had a beer. Worth knowing before you are caught out on a long walk yourself.
Broadway on Our NYC Trip: The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is absolutely offensive and absolutely hysterical, in the exact South Park way you would expect once you remember who wrote it. This is not a show for the easily offended, full stop. The audience the night we went was every race and walk of life you could imagine. Still, the entire crowd was in hysterics from start to finish, regardless. Just know going in: we are all going to burn in hell. Probably.
A Times Square Thunderstorm on the Way to the Show
On our way to the Book of Mormon, we got caught in a massive downpour and a full-on severe thunderstorm, right as we were making our way through Times Square. It was SO cool. Even though we were completely drenched, hearing the thunder crack and reverberate between all those skyscrapers was absolutely earthshaking. Times Square already comes at you with enough sensory overload: lights, screens, crowds. Add a real thunderstorm on top of that, and it becomes something else entirely.
New York Pizza Showdown: Joe’s vs. Ray’s
We also have to talk about the New York-style pizza. I tried it for the first time on this trip, all thanks to Mitch and Bailey wanting a slice. The crew at O’Hara’s pointed us to Joe’s Pizza, and they were not wrong: one of the best slices of pizza I have ever had, with dough that folded perfectly, exactly like you see on TV. Then, on Saturday near Times Square, we tried a second spot: Ray’s Pizza. It was just as good, maybe one of the best I have ever had, period. A real pattern was emerging. The crust at Ray’s was a little different (it did not fold the same way the traditional New York slice does), but it was still excellent: crispy, and it genuinely melted in your mouth. Both get a 10 out of 10 from me.
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry
We also used the Go City Pass for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry, and made a choice I would make again: we skipped getting off at Lady Liberty and went straight to Ellis Island instead.
Ellis Island was the right call. The main building is in the middle of a $100 million renovation right now, called Ellis Island Reimagined, so expect some construction noise and a closed gallery or two. The third floor’s special exhibit was shut when we went. That did not stop us from wandering through room after room, reading everything, taking our time. I found myself doing the thing you do at a place like this: trying to imagine what it felt like to walk off that boat and set foot on U.S. soil for the first time. Equal parts hope and terror, probably. It stuck with me longer than I expected it to.
The heat is where I have to be honest with you. It was close to 100 degrees and sunny the day we went, and waiting for the ferry back to the mainland was brutal. Your choices are wait in line with zero shade or risk getting left behind, and there is exactly one mister, way up at the front, doing nothing for the rest of us. I am honestly surprised nobody keeled over. A little shade structure or a few more misters spread out would go a long way, National Park Service. Just saying.
The Honest Recap
So, that is the lighter side of our NYC trip: dated hotel decor with a bed worth forgiving it for, a Go City Pass that earned its keep, one bus tour that let us down after two great experiences with it, and a Broadway show that might get us all sent somewhere warm. If you want the part of this trip that actually stayed with me the most, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum post is the one to read next. Have you been to NYC recently? I would love to hear what you would add to this list, or what you would tell me to skip.
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