Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

Top of the Rock Observation Deck New York City Review

By Leave a Comment

Back in early January, my husband and I took a quick 48 hour trip to New York City. While there, we visited the Top of the Rock observation deck. Today, I want to give a little review of that experience.

Top of the Rock

Top of the Rock

As I mentioned in my Rockefeller Center Tour review, we purchased the Rock Pass for $56/each. The Rock Pass included the tour as well as entry to Top of the Rock. However, you can also purchase tickets to just the observation deck for $34-61 depending on the day and time you select. The tour costs $27 alone, so $56 is a bargain if you are interested in both things!

Prior to booking this experience, I attempted to find reviews and saw they were mixed. Lots of folks loved the views but felt it was touristy and crowded. Having visited myself, I think both of those things are true.

The Crowds

We spent just shy of 48 hours in NYC. Without hesitation I can say this was the most crowded place we visited. We waited in the Welcome Gallery prior to being herded in like cattle to the theater for a 5 minute film on the history of the location. Next up, we waited even longer to board an elevator ride up to the 67th floor. Once there, there’s three levels to explore. However, there were people everywhere! I had to wait for people to get out of the way to take pictures. Then, we had to wait to take the escalators/stairs up to the next levels. If you get overwhelmed with crowds, then don’t go in the afternoon or maybe just skip this place altogether. The crowds were starting to thin a little by the time we left, but it was still pretty busy.

The Views

I will admit, the views from here are magnificent! It was wonderful for us rural folks to see the city from this angle. I also enjoyed seeing the city light up when the sun went down. It was also cool to see landmarks that I’ve seen on TV my whole life from there. It was a once in a lifetime sort of experience.

Is Top of the Rock worth it?

My husband and I loved the views of the city from Top of the Rock. However, I believe it was a one and done for us. It’s just not worth the time suck of waiting and dealing with the crowds to go again. Although, I can see why it’s a popular tourist experience with the gorgeous views. I’m glad we went, but don’t need to visit it again.

DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown Fifth Avenue Review

By Leave a Comment

Back when my husband and I visited NYC in January we stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown Fifth Avenue. Since it’s a recently refurbished and re-branded hotel, there aren’t many reviews available. I thought I would give anyone considering a stay here an overall review.

DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown

DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown

I had a really hard time picking a hotel for the NYC trip. Between high prices, not knowing the area, and lackluster reviews, it can be difficult to find the right hotel in NYC. Given its proximity to the things we wanted to visit, the recent refurbishment, and pricing we selected the DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown for our two night stay. I will admit that this was nowhere near a perfect stay. In fact, I will probably choose to stay elsewhere if I ever return to the city.

Room Options

Given that the hotel is centrally located and basically crammed in (like much of the rest of the city), there are loads of different room configurations available here. I booked a 1 King Bed in mid-October for early January using a Hilton Honors discount. Unfortunately, we received a queen. So, this review will be on a queen size bedroom.

I will say that the recent refurbishment is nice. The room looks sleek and clean when you first enter it. There’s also a good amount of plug ins here since they recently remodeled it. The bed was reasonably comfortable as well. Unfortunately, that’s where the good stuff ends.

It was a tiny room. I know that’s par for the course for a room in NYC though, so I can’t fault them too much for that. However, the heat was turned off when we arrived and we had to get someone to come to the room to turn it on. That took multiple trips down to the front desk to get fixed. I also was surprised to see people right outside our window doing construction. The construction crew got an early start each day. So, make sure you pull the blinds here.

The bathroom had several little issues. The shower door doesn’t properly latch close. The cabinet doors don’t have a hinge to keep them from slamming into the wall/picture. There’s no fan in the bathroom (which makes sharing a room a little awkward if nothing else). Lastly, the faucet was installed backwards. You have to turn it to the right for hot water, instead of the traditional left.

Pros

  • Location – This hotel is right beside Radio City Music Hall. It was perfect for seeing the Rockettes and walking over to Rockefeller Center for the NBC Studios Tour.
  • Recently refurbished – Rooms were remodeled in 2024.
  • Good number of plugins – Older hotels tend to have an inadequate amount, so it’s nice to find a hotel with an ample amount.
  • Italian restaurant – There’s an Italian restaurant housed in the top of the hotel. We had dessert here one night and it was good. The ambiance was nice and romantic. However, the menu was over-priced.
  • Free cookie – Every DoubleTree by Hilton gives out free cookies upon checking in. We enjoyed ours immediately.

Cons

  • Check in was a disaster – There’s no other way to say this. This was the worst check in experience I’ve ever had. The lobby is small with no seating. Plus, they store guest luggage here. To add insult to injury, we were told at check in that if our room wasn’t ready by check in time, we would receive an upgrade. A queen is certainly not an upgrade from a king. We ended up taking whatever we could get as we had dinner and show plans to get to. We (along with several others) waited 1.5 hours for a room.
  • No real luggage storage – This is one of the biggest reasons I won’t be returning here. They appear to have one room for storing guest luggage (maybe?) that gets full immediately. We checked out of the room a little after 8 AM on a Saturday and we still had to stow our luggage in the lobby. They give out a luggage tag to retrieve your luggage. My husband ended up losing ours, but it didn’t matter since we were able to walk right up to take our luggage without anyone noticing or caring! Maybe if you travel light or don’t need luggage storage, this will be ok for you. However, you can expect to walk by lots of luggage in the lobby everyday of your stay.
  • Room is small and wonky – As I noted above, there were lots of little mistakes in the bathroom.
  • Long elevator waits – There’s definitely not enough elevators for a hotel with this many people.
  • Fragrance in lobby – There’s a fragrance dispenser in the lobby of the hotel and of the restaurant. It puts out fragrance every few minutes. If you are sensitive to fragrance (I have a strong sense of smell) then this is a problem to walk by everyday.

Is the DoubleTree by Hilton New York Midtown worth it?

We paid $487.52 for two nights in early January here. I think that’s a cheap room in NYC. However, if I return to NYC I will probably look for something a little further away for better accommodations. It’s probably acceptable for a quick trip to see a show though.

The Tour at NBC Studios Review

By Leave a Comment

While visiting New York City in January, my husband and I were lucky enough to do The Tour at NBC Studios! I didn’t find many reviews of this experience, so I thought I’d do a complete write-up of the experience.

The Tour at NBC Studios

The Tour at NBC Studios

I think everyone has watched at least one episode of a show filmed at 30 Rock or in NBC Studios in NYC. I’m talking about Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, and the TODAY Show. The only way you can get a look at these studios is by taking the Tour at NBC Studios or attending a filming. Unfortunately, all of the shows were on holiday when we visited so we weren’t able to attend a filming. However, that meant that we got to see the two most popular studios on the tour: 8H (where SNL is filmed) and 6B (where the Tonight Show is)!

There are no guarantees which studios you will get to visit on the tour. The schedule of filming and rehearsals dictate which studios are available. However, this increases the repeatability since you don’t know which studios you will get to see this time.

The Beginning

This tour begins and ends in the NBC Studios Gift Shop in Rockefeller Center. The tour guides are two NBC pages. From there, everyone goes through a security check point. Then, you are shown a brief film about the history of the studios at Rockefeller Center. In early January, it was narrated by Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. I assume it has been updated since Hoda’s departure from the show.

Studio 8 H

Then, the group was led out to the elevators and up to Studio 8H! I grew up watching SNL, so it was really neat to finally see where it’s filmed. It’s a much smaller space than I imagined. They told us all kinds of facts about the show. They say the best seat to view the show is on your couch because it can be difficult to see everything live. It was surreal to spend several minutes just sitting in the audience and looking at the stages while discussing the show. We also got to walk down the hallway leading to the Studio to look at pictures of the cast and famous sketches over the years. It was a quiet place, but it was easy to imagine it being lively when they are preparing for a show. We also got to see a few costumes, including The Target Lady!

Studio 6B

Next up, we went back to the elevators to visit Studio 6B! We got to peer in the studio used for Kelly Clarkson’s show but couldn’t actually go in. We learned a little about the history of The Tonight Show and about Jimmy Fallon bringing it back to NYC. Then, we got to enter the studio and sit in the very back of the audience. I will admit, it reminded me of riding the Jimmy Fallon ride at Universal Orlando. Nonetheless, it was a really neat experience.

Finale

Towards the end of the tour, we got to see some behind the camera stuff: where they add sound and edit videos. The grand finale of the tour is allowing the tour group to enter a recording studio to make their own show! I got to be the audio engineer who adds noises over stuff! After the tour, a link to the video was emailed to ticket holders. So, it was a really nice way to tie up the experience.

Tips

  • Not for children – Our tour group included 3 children. One of those children fell asleep in The Tonight Show studio. Then, another time two of them were crawling around in the floor. The minimum age requirement for the tour is 8, but I think that’s too young. Only the last little bit was hands-on. It was more engaging than the Rockefeller Center Tour, but still probably best for older kids.
  • Buy tickets 3-4 weeks out – The site doesn’t sell tickets too far in advance. I purchased ours on December 21st for early January.
  • Buy souvenirs after the tour – This way, you don’t have to carry it around. Also, your pin from the tour gets you 10% off your purchase!
  • Great for fans of NBC shows – I don’t think this tour is worth it if you don’t already have an interest in these shows. Your time and money is better spent doing one of the many other things available in NYC.
  • No pictures or videos allowed – You won’t be doing this tour for YouTube or Instagram. They don’t allow videos at all. The only photo I was allowed to take was of the NBC peacock carpet in the elevators. So, go in for the knowledge/experience and not photos.

Is The Tour at NBC Studios worth it?

It’s $48/a person for this tour. I found that to be reasonable, but I am used to theme park prices. Plus, I’m a fan of the shows filmed here. However, if you aren’t a fan of the shows, then it’s probably not worth it. Have you ever taken this tour? Which studios did you see?

Rockefeller Center Tour Review

By Leave a Comment

Last month, I took a quick 48 hour trip to New York City with my husband. While there, we took the guided Rockefeller Center Tour! I couldn’t find many detailed reviews or tips for taking it when I was planning our trip. So, I thought I would post a review to help anyone else considering doing this.

Rockefeller Center Tour

Rockefeller Center Tour

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I took a quick trip last month to experience Christmas in New York City with my husband. I will be doing several posts over the course of this year looking at other aspects of that whirlwind trip. Today, I want to focus on the Rockefeller Center Tour!

This is a 75 minute walking tour of the three city blocks that make up Rockefeller Center. The tour costs $27/person but can also be booked with other packages. For our trip, we purchased the Rock Pass for $56/each and that included entrance to Top of the Rock. I intend to write a separate post on the Top of the Rock experience at a later date. Today, we will focus on the tour.

The Experience

I found the entirety of Rockefeller Center (not just the tour) to be confusing. The staff sent us to the wrong floor initially and we had trouble getting to where we needed to be. I recommend everyone arrive a little early for their tour if they don’t know where they are going. Thankfully, once we were where we needed to be, it was smooth sailing. Our guide gave everyone an ear piece to hear them better. Then, we were off!

This is a fast paced walk around the complex, including a look at the outside buildings. It was a cold winter day, but our guide didn’t seem to care. We were in and out of buildings without any regard for the constant back and forth temperatures. To be honest, it seemed almost random the buildings we went in. We seemed to zig and zag around and through buildings. Perhaps, that is just the nature of things here?

It was really interesting to learn about the history of the center. Our guide even showed us some photos on her tablet of people and places from years ago. It made the history aspect more engaging. I also enjoyed thinking about Mr. Rockefeller working on this center and Colonial Williamsburg, which tied my recent trips together.

It was also neat to have some of the artwork pointed out and explained. I certainly wouldn’t have noticed some of it or walked around like that on my own. However, I don’t think it’s a tour I need to repeat if I visit NYC again.

Pros

  • Informative – The guide was quite knowledgeable about the center and its history. It was more interactive than just reading about it online.
  • Unique – This is definitely an experience that’s unique to NYC and you can’t do it anywhere else. The artwork is best seen in person.
  • Artsy – This tour certainly made me more aware of and appreciative of the art around and in the center.
  • Short – I think the advertised 75 minutes was pretty accurate. I think any longer would be too long. It was a neat way to spend an hour or so.
  • Inexpensive – Lots of tours are way more expensive. This one was really affordable.

Cons

  • Bigger group size – We had about 20 people in our tour group, which is more than I expected. That made it a little difficult to fit everyone into small spaces or to stay together outside on the street.
  • Weather dependent – It was a cold day and not ideal for this tour, in my opinion. I’d save this one for a nice weather day, if possible. I’m sure it’s not much fun in the rain either.
  • Felt like walking in circles – I’m not sure if we really walked around in circles, but it sure felt like it.
  • A little dry – I appreciate the addition of the pictures on the tablet, but it was a tad dry. I can see why they have separate tours for children and families as this definitely wouldn’t have been entertaining for them.

Tips

  • Pick a good weather day – If you can wait until closer to your trip to buy tickets, pick a day with pleasant weather.
  • Buy a package – We purchased the Rock Pass, which we felt was worth the money. The tour was a neat add-on to help us explore and appreciate NYC.
  • Wear comfortable shoes/clothes – This is a walking tour that goes inside and outside.
  • Arrive a little early – If you don’t know for sure where you are going, then I recommend arriving early to find it. The center is large and can be confusing.
  • Consider booking Top of the Rock right after – We did the tour at 10:30 AM, which was great. However, I selected 4:30 PM for Top of the Rock and that was a mistake. It was way too crowded. I wish we had just gone right after the tour.

Should you do the Rockefeller Center Tour?

The tour worked well for us since it was our first time exploring NYC. I think it’s ideal for couples who like art or history. I could see lots of people getting bored though. If you are more into shopping or shows, then you might want to skip this one.