4th of July in Manhattan
 

The plan so far includes arriving at our midtown hotel on the 4th of July and staying for 2 nights. On the 5th, we have tix to the 1:05 Twins-Yankees game. What plans should I make for some fun on the night of the 4th? I'm thinking it rather naive to picture just subwaying down to Battery Park and enjoying fireworks over the Statue of Liberty from the ferry. Top of the Rock? Empire State? Rainbow Room? I'm guessing that any of the 4 options these are either a) impossibly crowded, b) impossible to reserve, or c) impossibly expensive. What would you do that night?

Viewing fireworks from the shore (the main fireworks are in the lower east river sponsored by Macy's) involves a crowd of approximately a million people (depending on heat and huniidity). If you do this realize you must stand the whole time, public facilities are extremely limited and you must bring lots of water with you - since getting in and out of the mob will take a lot of time. (And the strets in the entire area are blocked off to vehicular traffic - so plan on subway and feet.)

I would check Top of the Rock to see if they're selling tickets for the Fourth yet. Assume they will go very fast since they limit ticket sales for every time. (Lines for the Empire State building are horrendous on any day - and will be worse on the 4th - since tickets can be used on any day there is no telling how many people will show up.)

Sometimes boats like the Circle line offer july 4th cruises. Might be fun....

The fireworks on the 4th actually take place in several places in the city. In my opinion, the best place to watch them would be from Long Island City rather than Manhattan. It won't be nearly as crowded, and you will get a better view from the area around Gantry Plaza State Park (basically a pier in the East River). You get off the 7 train at the first stop in Queens (Vernon-Jackson) and follow the crowds to the river. It's completely safe there and very convenient to Manhattan. The fireworks are actually set off from the eastern end of East 35th Street in Manhattan, which is still very crowded, but you can stand in the street at the end and get a good view. However, the area around the South Street Seaport, while very crowded, is certainly do-able.

And there are also fireworks at the SOL. There are many cruise options for viewing the fireworks depending on your budget. Here's a page with some of the cruise options.
http://gonyc.about.com/od/holidays/a/fourthofjuly_2.htm

Bateaux NY is supposedly the nicest cruise. I think a cruise would be better than viewing from the top of a building.

It reminds me of that Springsteen song - "4th of July, Asbury Park", aka "Sandy":

"Sandy,

the fireworks are hailin' over Little Eden tonight
Forcin' a light into all those stoned-out faces left stranded on this Fourth of July..." (http://www.brucespringsteen.net/song...sburyPark.html)

Maybe you can go there... http://www.cityofasburypark.com/