I went to the top of One World Trade yesterday.
The "Observatory" opened a few weeks ago and I got to visit it yesterday afternoon. I was in NYC on 9/11 and saw the second building go down in person. I had been to the Twin Towers multiple times prior to 9/11. I liked walking around them and had been to the Windows on the World restaurant a couple times. I wanted to visit the Observatory to see how the building turned out.
From a few blocks away, the building reminded me of the old buildings. It was a towering structure that shot into the sky. The bottom of the building is a square just like the old buildings. I looked up when I was standing next to it and could not see the top. There's something different about standing next to that building vs. the Empire St. Building or 432 Park. It just feels bigger and more imposing.
I went in and the first place they send you is the basement. From there, you walk through an airport style security check. Then there is an area that looks like a tunnel through granite. It is meant to communicate that the building is standing on top of old NYC rock. In the tunnel area there is a video of the construction workers, managers, and others talking about what was involved in building it and what it meant to them. Some of the people speaking said that this is the most important thing they will ever work on and why the building is symbolically important. One of the comments was about how the building was built with love and it was a great place to work. The video was heavy in emotion. But there was no mention at any point in the visit to the building about 9/11. It was all about the construction and the views.
Once past the video area, I went to the elevators. The elevators were cool. The walls were made of screens. The screen showed how the city changed through the years from swamp to what it is today. NYers love their NYC history and this was a treat.
The elevator goes to the 102nd floor in around a minute. The Observatory floors are set up to maximize the money spent. On the 102nd floor you can walk through an area where a picture is taken. Then you take an escalator down to the 101st floor. This floor has popular NY food (hot dogs, pastrami, etc.). I had a hot dog which was surprisingly good. Then from there you go to the 100th floor. The 100th floor is where you can walk all the way around and see in any direction. They claim the views are "forever" and I can see why. I could see well into NJ, and probably out to Beach Channel if not Long Beach. A small plane flew by and it was only a little higher than us. Helicopters were flying beneath the observatory.
There is an area full of screens where someone presents various facts about NY. There are categories like Food, Arts & Culture, Entertainment, Money & Finance, and more. One of the categories under Money & Finance was "The One Percent." I was surprised by the category, and watched the presentation. They basically said that many NY buildings were built by titans of industry and that the money isn't always there anymore, but you can still see the money in some of the buildings today. It's pretty interesting that this major tourist attraction near Zuccotti Park was willing to use this term.
The path to the exit goes through another monetization opportunity. You have to walk right through the souvenir area to get to the bathrooms and elevators on the 100th floor. The elevator down shows the outside of the building on the screen. I really liked the elevators.
After leaving the building, I walked to the Twin Tower footprints. They are immense. They are wringed with the names of those that died. The footprints are now open to the public. Years ago you needed a ticket to get close to them and they were hard to get on the same day. There is also a 9/11 museum, but I didn't go there. There was a long line for that. Tickets for 1 WTC were easy to get. The museum still looks like a tough ticket, so if you're visiting NY, plan in advance.
Overall my experience was positive. It was great to see this important new piece of NYC. NYers should check it out and see what they think. For me, the emotion of it all really got me when I saw the video underground. It brought on some of the memories from 9/11. I also felt it when approaching the building knowing what happened and how some people died. I don't know if I'll ever visit the museum. I'm not sure that I will want to relive that day.
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