City Pass – Worth It?
People always ask the question as to whether the City Pass is worth it. $79 for 6 things. Well, I personally don’t think they’re worth it.
What the City Pass site does is lul you into a false sense of security, with huge savings and also a promise of jumping queues, and the only line you get to jump, is one to buy tickets, as you already have them. If you’re clever and book online yourself, you can still jump these queues regardless.
Going through the City Pass pricing I’ll show you how you can save money by not buying the pass, and just paying as you go to attractions.
Empire State Building – Book Online – $22 including taxes – City Pass state $29
Metropolitan Museum Of Art – Pay What You Wish – From $1 – You could pay as little as $1, however, maybe as tourists you should pay more. If you’re only going to be a short amount of time, and see one exhibit, this is where it comes in useful. Lets call it $10 that you actually pay.
American Museum of Natural History – From $1 – Again it’s is a pay what you wish. The City Pass bundles it with the Hayden Planetarium, so states $24 is the cost for that. Lets say you don’t want to to go the Planetarium, just the museum and you pay $7 to see what you really want to see.
MoMA – FREE – Now, what the City Pass websites don’t tell you is that you can attend certain places at certain times for Free. They’re sponsored events by some huge corporation, and they are busy, but it’s a great way to save money. Every Friday 4pm, Cost $0.
TOTR – You can pay $22, but pick up the discount coupons outside, or in your hotel, which gives you $3 off. $19. There is even 5% off on Broadwaybox making it only $18.50 for TOTR.
Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island is the wise choice for most tourists, so $13. However, if you do this on the City Pass, you get a voucher, and you just queue up, and that can take hours at times. At least if you book things yourself, you’ll get a timed ticket, and that’s your ferry.
If you did these attractions, and paid half the suggested at each of the museums you can do that, then your cost is only $71 saving you $8 on what the City Pass costs. Is it worth it? maybe.
