Wendy's trip log: NYC- Rockettes 2021

NYC: The Rockettes

November 18-20th 2021

Another trip taken with Tulip Travels was to NYC for the Rockettes. This was a great trip. We had 22 travelers and 6 chaperones. We had a bit of a delay getting out of the Liverpool office as several people lacked their COVID vac cards. You need your vaccination cards to get into the show. This was the first time since being vaccinated that it was mandated for engagement. We finally got on the road and headed out via the tulip travel vans to NYC.

We arrived in the evening and stayed at the swanky ALOFT hotel in New Jersey.

I was super impressed with the hotel. They had given the TT owner a deal and they also provided us with breakfast every morning. Once we were all settled in our rooms, we headed out for dinner at Red Robin. My roommate was Theresa; one of the travelers. She was super sweet.

The following day we were planning on going to the Empire State Building in the morning and hitting the Rockettes show later that day. Unfortunately there were no more tickets for the Empire State building, so we went to the top of the rock. This is the building that the city built 1920's. The complex which is known to be Rockefeller Center was built to revitalize mid-town Manhattan. This is also the building often shown where the workers are eating lunch on one of the high rises while it was being built. In addition to the main building, there is the radio station, the music hall, as well as the center ice skating and art deco statue where the annual Christmas tree is placed.

We waited in line to get into the Top of The Rock!

I didn't even know this was a thing. I had pumped myself up to go to the Empire State Building, but this place did not disappoint. The biggest difference between the Empire State Building and the Top of The Rock is the height and the area of building placement.

You can get a pretty good view of the Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock for example, and you also have a better view of Central Park.

Here's my view of the Empire State Building from the Tope of the Rock viewing platform.

Heightwise, the ESB is 1,050 feet at the observation tower where as the TOR is 800 feet. The Empire State Building is iconic, but from my last experience at the Empire State building, there were more crowds and it took forever to get to the top. The Top of the Rock had some interesting added features such as the building of the rock, a movie about the center and some additional information. The top of the rock has both an outdoor observation deck and an indoor area to rest. This was great as several of the travelers were not comfortable in standing on the outside deck, but could still get the views.

The views were amazing.

Central Park below.

We even picked up a booklet with the names of the buildings we were viewing.

It was definitely a great alternative to The Empire State Building, should you be in a situation like we were. It worked out very well with this group of travelers as we were directly across the street from the goal of this trip....to see the Rockettes. We got a glimpse as we were leaving the Rock. (There is only one bathroom in the plaza itself, this caused a bit of a problem for this group, we were allowed to re-enter and use the facility however I do not think this is a normal occurrence. )

My only regret is that we did not walk down the street to get a glimpse of the Center circle and view the Christmas tree.

Shortly after our visit at the Rock we were on our way to see The Christmas Spectacular with the Radio City Rockettes. We waited in line and as I mentioned at the time of our visit all attendants must have their vaccination cards with them. You also must go through security, This took a bit of time, then it took even longer to allow 21 people to obtain souvenirs. There was only 1 register that allowed cash purchases. We waited for a long time during this process. Bummer there was no magnet and the prices were insane. I don't collect things as I use to, but should you be inclined to do so, be prepared to pay some big prices.

At the time of this writing, this show had been closed early due to COVID. I was fortunate to see the show before this happened. (I so am over COVID.)

I have never seen the Rockettes so I was super excited to be a part of this, and it was my Birthday today, so this was an extra special treat! The story behind the rockettes is actually pretty interesting. Originating in St. Louis as the "16 Missouri Rockets". The group had been founded by Russell Markert wo had taken the British style of Tiller founded dance where as women would lock arms and dance in unison. The group toured the US and preformed on Broadway. Convinced to stay in NY, the group played consistently at the Roxy theater and re-named the Roxyettes. In 1932 the group officially became the Rockettes when they moved into the Radio City Music Hall. They have been such ever since and they still do two of the original numbers; the Parade of the Wooden Soldier and Christmas in NY.

(Below is Parade of the Wooden Soldier)

What can I say, this show was AMAZING!!! There were some pretty incredible performances. I just loved the Santa performance where they explained how Santa is in so many places at once...its because there are 100's of him. This dance number had what appeared to be 1000's of Santas dancing all in unison for miles and miles on the stage. (Im sure mirrors helped). Of course, the Christmas in NY show was WOW as there were real ice skaters and a trolly car that went across the stage. The fall of the soldiers in The Parade of the Wooden Soldier was beyond incredible..just how did they fall like this? There were REAL animals during the Living Nativity performance. This was amazing too.

A few fun facts: All Rockettes are between 5'6 and 5'10 in height. They hold annual auditions in Aug. every year. (Get your dance shoes on...unfortunately I am to short anyway.). These ladies rehearse for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week for 6 weeks before the Christmas Spectacular show. Even when the show is going they preform up to 5xs per day. WOW! The big signature is the inline kicks, (shown above) they kick over 650 times in one day.......

Bottom line AMAZING, an absolute MUST for you Holiday trip to NYC, I still can not believe it took me so long to get there. I think EVERYONE was feeling the Holiday Magic after the afternoon we had that day. We quickly found our bus back to the hotel and ended this incredible day at Buffalo Wild Wings where I was shouted a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY via a MEGA PHONE. I could not imagine a better Birthday.