NYC TKTS - tips or tricks
 

Hi!

I was wondering if anybody has any tips or tricks for nabbing tickets from the TKTS booths in NYC. i.e. best times to line up to avoid long waits??

We are planning to be in NYC from a Wed night through to tuesday. We have no preference for which shows as we have seen most of the big ones already in London.

So any thoughts - just generally?

The shortest lines at the Times Square TKTS booth usually occur from late afternoon right up to curtain time. It's a good news/bad news thing. The bad news is that, by then, many of the shows' allotments will be gone. The good news is that sometimes shows release unsold tickets close to curtain time.
Of course, you can always go to the TKTS booth downtown. However, that means spending time in the hot subway stations! In terms of time, it's tradeoff, i.e., instead of spending time waiting in line at Times Square, you're spending time going back and forth on subways!

Of course, if you are planning to see other things downtown (Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Federal Hall, Chinatown, etc), the downtown TKTS booth makes a lot of sense. You can also get Sunday matinee tickets on Saturday at the downtown booth, but not at the one in TS.

I strongly second HowardR's recommendation about a late-afternoon visit. If you just want to see a show but don't have a strong preference, then go after 5, so you have your tickets by 6 and can grab a bite to eat before the performance.

But the real trick is to avoid the TKTS line entirely. Join Playbill.com or Broadwdaybox.com to find out what the regular discounts are. That way you can buy your tickets in advance and know both what you're going to see and where you're going to sit. You can now get e-tickets, which I normally do, and then you don't even have to pick them up at the theater ... just print them at home.

I got to a lot of theater, and while it's not always half-price, it's always discounted. I consider $65 a good discount for a how that costs over $100 and well worth the trouble when I get my tickets in advance. I haven't paid full-price for Broadway for years, and I usually get to see everything I want to see.

While I'm sure there are lines, I've never seen a line at the downtown TKTS at South Street Seaport.

Thanks for all the tips!! I was thinking maybe booking one show in advance and then bowling up to the booth last minute if we fancy seeing another show or two while we are there.

We do enjoy going the theatre - we will certainly miss London when we leave for good in just 2 weeks :-( .

I'd second the recommendation for booking discount tickets in advance on broadwaybox.com or theatermania.com. Others may remember better than me, but isn't the TKTS booth cash only?

Someone on this board recently mentioned that they went to the box office of the show/theatre that they wanted to attend the day of the show and got tickets for an otherwise sold out show.

I have had excellent luck with showing up about half an hour prior to showtime and snagging superb late released house seats at TKTS. :)

I will say-more for any future readers of this thread than for the OP-that the success of using TKTS depends on lots of factors, such as who is in your party. I would think that a person wanting a single ticket, or two people willing to sit apart, would have good luck. But a group all wanting to sit together, or a family with young kids for whom only a couple of Bradway shows would be appropriate, would be well advised to buy tickets in advance.

Agree that TKTS is good if you're flexible about what show you see - and for 1 or 2 people.

If you have your heart set on one or two shows - or there are several of you - you're better off using broadwaybox.com. The discount will probably be less - but you have a much better chance of getting something specific.

Or - if you want to see one of the few sold out hits - you need to try to buy tickets months in advance.

book marking - thanks