SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Experience Ticket

Really nice experience with kids. Unbelievable views of the city. TY Would recommend for new travelers definitely with kids.

I was really looking forward to this and was disappointed -- it's just windows. You don't feel connected to the view as, for example, the Met Museum roof garden. I understand why it's expensive, but for two people or more it gets super pricey. The optional expensive elevator ride is just up and down . There's no feeling here, you could be watching a movie. I live here, so I know what I was looking at, and that was fun for about 10 minutes. But for tourists -- how do they know what this building is and that park and that bridge? The three floors are basically the same view. On the top floor you can get expensive food and drink, but at that point we were ready to leave. And be aware: if you don't have advance tix they tell you they have no room, but for an additional fee you can go in immediate and take the top floor elevator. So how come they suddenly had room? Really? There are other observation decks -- I found this one sterile and disappointing. And it is kind of crowded but you can get close to the windows at all times -- and fyi the elevator to the first observation floor and down again is super packed like the subway at rush hour, if that makes you uneasy.

That you go to the 91st floor look out the windows day or night take pictures then go to the room with the silver helium balloons buy drinks & appetizers. The hype & cost is more than it should be.

We went into SUMMIT One Vanderbilt not really knowing what to expect, but ended up absolutely loving it. We booked the Premium Experience with a tour guide and, for us, that made a huge difference to the whole visit. Our guide was Mitch and he was brilliant. He was so enthusiastic, made the whole tour fun and added loads of extra commentary and interesting facts throughout. Having a guide also meant we could skip the queues, which made the whole experience feel much smoother. Mitch basically became our personal photographer too! He knew all the best angles, helped us with poses and made sure we came away with some really good photos. The experience itself starts before you even reach the main rooms, with a dark immersive hallway while you wait for the lift. The only part that didn’t feel particularly premium was right at the beginning. We were directed to wait next to a sign in a public area with no seating and very little explanation about when our guide would arrive. For a premium ticket, this part could definitely be improved. The mirrored room was probably the most impressive part for us. The combination of the mirrors and the views was amazing, and you can see so many of New York’s major landmarks in one place, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center and Central Park. We visited during the daytime and I would definitely recommend it because you can see so much of the city. The room with the floating silver balls is fun and very Instagram-friendly, although it didn’t quite work as intended when we visited. Mitch showed us a video of how the room is supposed to look, with the balls floating in mid-air, but because there were so many people they were mostly either on the floor or stuck near the ceiling. We also did the glass ledges, which were great, although this section felt slightly rushed. It was more a case of getting your photo and moving on rather than having much time to stand there and really take in the drop. We also did the Ascent glass elevator. It was good, but probably not one of the highlights for us, so if this is an optional extra I wouldn’t say it’s essential. We spent a couple of hours here and that felt about right. Overall I thought it was absolutely worth the money, particularly with the Premium Experience. The views are some of the best we had in New York for seeing so many famous landmarks at once. A huge part of what made the experience so good for us was having Mitch as our guide. I would definitely recommend SUMMIT and, if your budget allows, I think having the guided Premium Experience really adds to it.

As well as the views, the art installations make this more than just another look out point. That said this is the best view of the Chrysler building in the city.