The idea of having a pass ahead of trip was great and saved hassle. However we had a very bad experience at the Empire State Building who tried to charge us extra for fast track, we had to queue for hours and then had to wait for a refund. It was chaotic and the staff were not very helpful. However the remaining trips were fine - the Rockafeller was a completely different experience - it was stress free and the staff were lovely. We also went on the Movie and TV tour - loved it!
The NYC Explorer Pass was good value, however be aware that when activating it, you should be asked if you want to upgrade to include all the tours - we were not offered this and later when we requested it we were told it was too late, because we had already used one tour. It was only because of the decency of the female staff that they allowed us to upgrade anyway, which made the pass worthwhile.
staff at madame tussauds were helpful and curteous when buying the bus tour tickets. No problem with vouchers at empire state bldg and the rockefeller Center tour of the Rock was OUTSTANDING!!!
The tour guides on the buses are very courteous, entertaining, and helpful. The bus for hop on-hop off in lower Manhattan was a little disappointing: Waiting for a bus at the beginning of tour to get on bus was 40 minutes waiting on the bus when transferring to the last half of the same tour was almost 30 minutes. Round trip took almost 3 hours.