Do Top of the Rock’s New Rooftop Rides Make It the Best Observation Deck in NYC? Our Review

October 22, 2024

Since 1933 visitors have been flocking to the observation deck at Rockefeller Center in New York City. In the early days, they could lounge on Adirondack chairs in an area painted to look like a ship’s deck, attended to by a cadre of “Ask Me” guides described by Daniel Okrent, in his superb history book Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center, as “well-spoken young men on their way to better things.” (One early guide was a then-struggling actor named Gregory Peck.)

The guides were expected to answer any and every type of question, according to Okrent, from identifying buildings and ships in the harbor to talking about current Broadway shows and nightclubs. Limeade, buttermilk, and sarsaparilla were for sale on the observation deck, along with tongue sandwiches and souvenirs.

Visiting was a genteel and gently educational endeavor back then. Boy, have things changed. 

You still get the dazzling views, of course, with the great green expanse of Central Park on one side and a jagged forest of skyscrapers on the other.

But today, Top of the Rock, as the observation deck is now called, is one of five sky-high Manhattan venues vying for tourist dollars.  

In 2024, Rockefeller Center's attraction added two rooftop rides in an effort to stay competitive. That has shifted the experience drastically.

Scroll on for my take.  

Related: Which New York City Skyscraper Observation Deck Is the Best?

Like all of the city's observation decks, Top of the Rock offers timed-entry tickets. It adds a free weather guarantee, allowing visitors to switch their entry times and even dates at no extra cost—a big plus.

But prospective visitors must navigate a murky online maze of fees, with a range of entry prices ($40–$61 for adults, slightly less for children and seniors) with no clear explanation that the differing prices aren’t for types of tickets, but are simply based on the time and date chosen. Nowhere on the site is there a breakdown of what price applies when, perhaps because this is dynamic pricing, meaning that a surge in consumer interest automatically causes the entry fee to go up. Frustratingly, you don’t see the entry fee until the very end of the buying process, after you’ve purchased all the extras.

After fiddling around with the system for a good half-hour, I discovered that the starting price of $40 only seems to be available before 10am. After that, the price toggles between $41 and $58 for the rest of the day, except during the photogenic hour before sunset (golden hour), when the admission charge reaches an eye-watering $61.

Could you buy a pass for a 9am entry, and then switch it, using the weather guarantee, for a later time and date without paying more? With possible savings up to $21, it might be a good hack, but I don’t know for sure whether this would work. I couldn't find details of the guarantee anywhere on the ticketing site. 

At every stage, the system asks if you want an Express Pass to skip the lines (a strange offering, when you think about it, since these are timed-entry tickets). 

The short answer: You don't. It took me only 20 minutes to get from street to deck, and that included a 10-minute film about the history of Rockefeller Center.

Alas, the film isn't as detailed or insightful as the exhibits and videos that Top of the Rock once had in the areas before you got to the elevators, back in the days before the pandemic. For that matter, I’d say Top of the Rock's pre-deck show isn’t nearly as compelling as what you get at two of its rivals, the Empire State Building and Edge.

But for visitors who have never been to Rockefeller Center before, the intro film does give the basic story, told with CGI’d vintage footage, sonorous narration, and John Williams–esque music (lots of kettle drum and rhythmic trumpets).

During the film, you'll see the famous 1932 photograph of about a dozen construction workers nonchalantly eating lunch on a steel beam suspended hundreds of feet in the air. The first of Top of the Rock's rides, The Beam, allows visitors to recreate that iconic shot, which was captured during the building's construction. 

Up to seven participants sit on a metal beam, get strapped in with seat belts, and are given a choice of posing with a rubber hammer, wrench, or apple. Riders are then slowly and smoothly lifted 12 feet above the deck (not out over the street), then rotated, first for a look at the view and again for two photos (included in the price) with Central Park in the background. 

The experience lasts 1 minute and 22 seconds (yes, I timed it) and costs $25.  

Is it worth that amount? Let me phrase that differently: Is any experience that takes less than 2 minutes worth $25? 

Here's a look at The Beam going up. As you can see, the riders are incredibly excited.

To be fair, you do get two photos for your $25, and those will likely give the impression you had a far more thrilling experience than you had. So the question becomes: Are Instagram bragging rights worth more than, say, visiting the wonderful Museum of the City of New York, where $23 will get you 2 hours of enjoyment, as opposed to an 80-second rush and a few lousy likes? 

The second addition, Skylift, is a glass elevator, à la Willy Wonka. Circular and roofless with all-glass walls, the thing slowly rises above the observation deck for views approximately 25 feet higher than the hoi polloi who opted for general admission.

Riding Skylift takes more than twice as long as the Beam, so of course the elevator is more expensive: $35 for 3 minutes and 9 seconds. No photos are included, though you do get a video of yourself slowly whirling over the city.

I couldn't find much difference between the views I got on Skylift and what I could see back on the deck itself. And I had to hold my camera over the glass walls to avoid glare. Verdict: thumbs down.

Because of the real estate these two bulky rides take up on the observation decks, the Top of the Rock experience now feels far more crowded than before. That’s true especially on the top, glass-wall-free deck where the views are least obstructed. At sunset, with four rows of people standing between me and the vistas, I felt more like I was down in the subway at rush hour than at the top of the world.

Sadly, Rockefeller Center's intended improvements have badly marred what was once a glamorous, civilized observation deck. If you are coming to NYC, take in the view at one of Top of the Rock's competitors instead. You'll thank me later.