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In what could be the toughest reservation to book since Momofuku Ko opened, the Statue of Liberty crown, which will be reopened on July 4th for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, will begin accepting reservations starting this Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets will cost an additional $3 and will be combined with reserved ferry tickets, which are currently $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. You can make reservations for up to a year in advance, but competition is going to be intense because the National Park Service is limiting the number of visitors to the crown to ten at a time, with about three groups ascending the crown per hour.
That will add up to an average of just 240 crown visitors per day! But at least the tickets are being distributed fairly to everyone—oh, unless you're a big shot TV personality or the Daily News, which is "teaming with the Department of Interior" to give five NYC children between ages 8 to 15 the chance to ascend to the crown on the day it opens. To participate, be a kid and write a 200-word essay on why the Statue and Ellis Island are important to you. (We'd go with that crazy fight scene on the Statue of Liberty scaffolding in Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins, but that would probably tip off our age.) Others can try making reservations online at Statue Cruises or by calling 877- LADY-TIX.
Then again, after reading the Park Service advisory about the climb, maybe we'll just hang out at the base:
The climb to the crown is a strenuous journey that encompasses 354 steps in a cramped enclosed area with high temperatures. The steps within the Statue are 19” wide, are shallow and taper at one end. Head clearance is 6 feet 2 inches. All crown visitors must be able to climb up and down the 354 steps unassisted... Since the statue is not air conditioned, interior temperatures can be 20 degrees higher than the outside... There are no rest rooms inside the statue itself. The climb is strenuous and not without risk, and the National Park Service recommends that crown visitors have no significant physical or mental conditions that would impair their ability to complete it, including, but not limited to: heart and respiratory conditions, mobility impairments, claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces), acrophobia (fear of heights) or vertigo (dizziness).
Woo-hoo! Let the reservation race begin!
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877-LADY-TIX ! Hee!
I remember going up when I was a kid. How many people used to be able to go up? Surely more than 240 a day.
Went up there once when I was a kid. Even then, I remember it being rough getting up there, and insanely hot once you made it.
I went up with my grandad when I was 7 or 8 -- they let people up continuously all day, so way more than the current restrictions.
They used to have these little resting spots along the circular stairs, but they were removed during the last renovations -- I'll never understand that.
That sounds like an absolute nightmare. I never had any urge to go up there, but the way they describe the journey makes it much easier to say, definitively, hell no.
I did this once with a friend in '93, and the whole time we kept praying (in reference to the person ahead of us), "please don't fart. PLEASE don't fart!"
Is it sad that I know that pic is from 'Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins?
Not as sad as the fact that I had a "friend" growing up that had a framed copy of that poster on his wall. He used to claim it was extremely valuable. He was also the kind of kid that had unopened Wheaties boxes and bottled Olympics sodas in his closet. He always said that he would "have the last laugh some day" when it was all worth millions.
I went up there when I was a kid and didn't know better.
it was hot, crowded, slow and packed back then. I just kept looking up at the circular stairs and no one's moving.
just go up to the upper outside level of the base.
I've climbed it three times. They need to tell people that the view is not that spectacular once you get up there. Plus those last steps are killers. The last steps get so narrow that it's almost like climbing a ladder.
What? You're arguing against all the Gothamist commenters who say everybody should do it just so you can say you did it? I know "Steven" likes to say that going up the steps is the only reason to go to the Statue.
I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I've said time and again that a visitor's center at ground level with wraparound Imax-size screens fed by hi-def cameras pointing in every direction from the crown would be the way to go in terms of safety, security, handicapped and elderly accessibility, enjoyment and volume of visitors served. You don't get to kill yourself on the stairs, bake to death or look out of dinky, dirty windows, but the views could be far more spectacular than just looking at Brooklyn and the Atlantic. The cameras could even show angles you could never see from the head, like Manhattan, New Jersey and even a vertiginous straight down. Even better, put the cameras at the base of the torch flame, where they won't ruin the lines of the statue and would have an unrestricted 360ยบ view.
I know some commenters have mocked the idea as going to the Statue just to see the view on TV, but I defy anyone to tell me how you'd get the same views even from within the crown.
Summer of '95. Me, my sister, and our cousins from Cali. The endless procession of people slowly going up and down the "double helix" is what I'll always remember.
Someone going up: "What's up there?"
Someone going down: [shrugs]
I was joking the other day that it should now be like a Himalayan expedition. A small party with safety harnesses guided by Sherpa.
I remember going up to the crown as a kid, having adults around us slump down to be able to see out the windows, and then filing back down. It was lame but most definitely special, and something I want to be able to offer my kids. We'll certainly try for reservations.
I remember going up to the crown as a kid, having adults around us slump down to be able to see out the windows, and then filing back down. It was lame but most definitely special, and something I want to be able to offer my kids. We'll certainly try for reservations.
The Statue of Liberty is clearly in violation of The Americans With Disabilities Act. Immediate remediation and retrofitting must commence. The statue must be laid on its side and a ramp with a proper width and elevation needs to be installed, as well as side rails and landings with resting areas. Otherwise, an elevator of commensurate size must be installed and an unobstructed ramp for viewing as well. And toilets so leg bags can be emptied in a safe, sanitary fashion.
Forget the crown, they need to reopen the torch!
Does anyone know, has reservation started yet or does it start July 11th?