Yes of course you go the the OWO for the view. That’s a given and it certainly didn’t disappoint - but the whole experience for the price you pay could have been so much better in many ways! The management, in my opinion, need to reassess what visitors want from such an expensive ticket or reduce the ticket price to reflect what you actually get. To be fair and balanced, the OWO obviously has the most spectacular view as expected and a real ‘take your breathe away moment. For a visit to NYC this is therefore a must. However here is what the management need to look at:
1. The ticket price. Yes we went for the fully flex ticket where you can arrive at anytime as we didn’t want to be limited to a specific time and to be fair - great idea to do that - but for what you actually get for the price of any of the tickets on offer - is poor. Yes you are paying for the view - get that - but that is it. The quality of the experience once inside is poor in my opinion having visited many attractions around the world that make the ‘experience’ a whole lot better and more engaging. It literally is just an observatory! Lots of glass and walking to different directions of views. How great would it be to have people at various points to bring the experience to life ? To Talk about the history of Manhattan that you can see/ talk about the views at each direction / pick out specific points to elaborate on/ have interactive displays / visuals etc etc. Anything to make the paid for experience deeper and much more engaging. It seems no thought has gone into the actual experience once you are up there. Yes there is one location where a person stands up behind, yet again a very basic uninspiring ring of screens - a few nuggets of info but the majority of this was so boring. Yes there are interactive tablets ( see below for that feedback!) but again these were poor and seemed a cheap, quick ‘let’s give them something extra albeit minimal’ attempt to improve the experience.
2. The interactive tablets. There were included in our ticket - but you get the observation level and kind of wander round and then if you’re lucky you stumble across the table with the tablets on and 2 or 3 staff members just standing chatting amongst themselves. No signposting/ no ‘ come and get your tablets here’ kind of situation . If the observation level was busy you could very easily miss/ walk straight past. Low quality/ very heavy tablets that have very little information on the buildings/ view. Tip for management - research the tablets/ content of the tablets provided in Casa Batllo (one of the Gaudi buildings) in Barcelona, Spain - now that is what you expect from an interactive tablet - they sure know how to engage their visitors and exceed expectations.
3. The staff - as in many other reviews we found many staff members extremely rude. Stephne serving on one of the 2 (one was closed on our visit) drinks/ bar ‘pop up’ type stations on the observatory deck as awful! She was serving a couple, no one else waiting, and we went up to the free side of the bar just to take a look at the menu/ prices and she barked, not even looking at us, ‘the line is that side’. Firstly what line and secondly we were just looking at the menu on the bar. How else would we have known what there was? Our server in the restaurant Andre) - again rude, dismissive and very sarcastic. He spoilt our experience that we had been looking forward to for a number of months. I had booked using the OpenTable link - and had documented our reservation was for a birthday. This was not picked up on on arrival - no mention of it so we raised it with the guy who seated us and also with Andre - but no happy birthday/ no attempt to make this meal/ evening special. What a shame.
4. The lift graphics and entrance presentation/ graphics in the theatre once you arrive up. In my opinion this could be a very quick fix for management. One of the most interesting and fascinating pieces of information in the whole of the OWO is unfortunately during the rapid ascent to the top in the lift! Once you realise what you are seeing on the walls of the lift - the ascent is over! Blink and you’d miss it. If the lift was busier you would also miss it! Once at the top realising you’d missed most of the story/graphics being shown in the lift, you are then escorted into a small theatre and given a graphical display of various sights around NYC for 2-3 mins - ordinary in my opinion and uninspiring - and then at the very end you get that wow factor you are waiting for.
Why on earth don’t you switch the lift graphics (and apart from the view, one of the most interesting engaging parts of the visit) with the boring theatre graphics! Has no one thought of this? To see Manhattan evolving on the big screen, where you are focussed and have the time to appreciate it - would be incredible especially with the surprise at the end!
All in all - fabulous place to visit but feel bitterly let down by the experience itself and staff
Réponse de l'hôte
Mar 2022
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We strive to deliver the best experience possible, so we’re sorry to hear that we did not live up to your expectations. We value our visitors’ feedback as we consistently strive to deliver the best experience possible. We will take your words into consideration as we continue to develop our plans for improvements and changes to the observatory; we are hoping for a reimagined experience to arrive in the next few years. Sincerely, Delfin Ortiz, General Manager, One World Observatory