New York Sky Ride

The first question that many people ask when visiting New York is how they can go about seeing the entirety of New York City without having to spend much money. The answer to that question is the New York Sky ride. Located in the Empire State Building, the motion simulator ride is one of the most popular attractions located in New York City.

The New York Sky Ride first opened in 1994, and was meant to serve as a complement of the observation deck.  The New York Sky Ride provides users with an aerial tour of the city via simulation. The tour lasts an entire 25 minutes, and as you fly over a number of different popular New York City locations, a tour guide narrates your trip.

The original version of the ride lasted through 2002, before it was renovated to include a number of new locations. In the original ride, the simulated ship was piloted by James Doohan, who is most famous for playing Scotty in “Star Trek.”

When it first opened, the ride was very comical. Doohan tried to keep the plane from crashing on several different occasions throughout the ride, as he took you through a number of unexpected locations including the New York Subway system and FAO Schwarz.

Today, the ride is meant to be much more educational than the previous versions of the ride. The renovation was likely due to the attacks on New York on September 11^th, 2001. Flying a vehicle through the sky and going through a fake crash scenario wasn’t exactly appropriate after the attacks, and officials at the Empire State Building decided it would be a good time to revamp the whole feeling behind the ride.

Now, the ride is narrated by Kevin Bacon, and features quite a few new locations that were not previously visited by the New York Sky Ride. A number of locations were also eliminated from the rotation. The Sky ride also now features a number of retrospective shots of the World Trade center, which of course no longer stands at the site of Ground Zero.

The new flight does experience a number of technical glitches, but does not go through the same crash sequence that the original did. This was done in an effort to keep the attacks of September 11^th in mind, and avoid criticism.

The New York Sky Ride is an excellent way to check out all of the popular locations in the city that you will not be able to visit during your trip. With so many different sightseeing attractions, it can be hard to see everything that you would like to during a short stay. The New York Sky Ride allows you to get a good look at these locations without having to make room during your trip.