Visit Ground Zero
 

Heading to NYC on June 8th. Any tips on getting tickets to view Ground Zero. What time should we be there? Weekdays better or weekend? Any help would be nice.

<BR><BR>It's busier on weekends than weekdays. Show up at the South Street Seaport in the morning and you'll be given tickets for a viewing later in the day. Depending on the day/crowds, it could be 30 minutes later or 4 hours. The earlier you arrive, the earlier your viewing will be. <BR>

You can see as much walking around the block as you can see from the viewing platform.

<BR><BR>I disagree. I've done both with tourist friends and the view is far superior from the platform. <BR><BR>For a better understanding of the economic devastation, visit the west side of the site. So many formerly thriving businesses & restaurants closed down. <BR><BR>Do be aware that there's not much to see at Ground Zero. It looks like a construction site now.

The ticket booth, which is the same ticket booth as for South Street Seaport Museum, opens at 11AM. Timed tickets are issued (max two per person). When all tickets for the day have been issued, they issue tickets for the next day, times starting at 9AM. We got there on a weekday a few minutes past 11AM. There was hardly any line and we got tickets within minutes for 12:30-1, which gave us plenty of time for a leisurely lunch. Agree that there's really not much to see - you can't even see the ground from the viewing platform. But, the expanse of space is truly amazing.

We're going to NYC (driving from Toronto)next month when school is out, primarily because our teens want to see Ground Zero. Even if all that is physically there now is what you say resembles a construction site. I'm sure you're right. However, the impact of that huge empty space will not be lost on them. They remember going to the top of the WTC a few years ago, walking in the underground mall, sitting in the plaza having a Krispy Kreme. They saw the attack on the WTC on TV. They know what was once there, and I think they will get much more out if it than simply seeing a big hole in the ground. I don't think anyone would be able to look at it and be 'disappointed' or underwhelmed, IMHO. <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

Just back myself. I have to agree with previous posting that you can see just as much from the ground as from the platform, at least now that most debri has been cleaned away.

At the risk of being blasphemous... the thing that struck me when I saw Ground Zero was how incredibly SMALL the footprint was for an event of such huge magnitude. That those amazingly tall buildings left such a small empty space was mind boggling.

Here's info I found right here on Fodors:<BR><BR>Ground Zero Ticket Information <BR><BR>Tickets are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. They are good for half-hour time blocks and are given out in strict chronological order. You cannot choose a specific time to visit. <BR><BR>A maximum of two tickets per person is allowed; 250 tickets are distributed for each half-hour block between noon and 8 PM the same day or between 9 AM and 11:30 AM the following morning. <BR><BR>Tickets are available at the South Street Seaport Museum's ticket booth at Fulton and South Streets on Pier 16. The average wait for a ticket on a busy day is less than 20 minutes. <BR><BR>The ticket booth is open from 11 AM until 6 PM or until no more tickets are available for that day. <BR><BR>To prevent overcrowding on the sidewalks around the viewing area, visitors should not arrive at the platform more than 15 minutes before their allotted time. <BR><BR>Police officers stationed at the viewing platform will ensure that only ticket holders are admitted and that every ticket holder is given sufficient time on the platform. <BR><BR>Tickets are nontransferable and not for resale. <BR><BR>For more information call 212/732-7678. <BR><BR>

We were there the 1st week of April and found out rather than getting a ticket to the viewing platform - which can be several hours later in the day. Was to ride the elevator up to the 37th floor in the Marriot Hotel and have a good view.<BR>Just walk in and act like you are a guest - no problem.<BR>

Why do you tourists still want to go to ground zero? After all, all of the bodies and debris have been removed! There must be some other fresher site of death and destruction to capture your imaginations, isn't there?

Rudy - nice comments. I guess we should close the USS Arizona Memorial too, since all of the bodies are gone. I don't think people are going to Ground Zero to see roadkill.

Rudy<BR><BR>Did it ever occur to you that a great monument has been lost? Many people are having trouble excepting the fact that the great NYC skyline has forever changed. People need to see for themselves that WTC is really gone and pay their respects to where it stood for closure.

Rudy rules! You yokums from the boonies make us NYers sick. "<BR>where can I go see ground zero, and where do I get Pizza " is not only callous it's almost un-american. Let us continue to grieve, and take the WTC off our list of summer attractions.

Not an answer to the question, but simply a brief comment;<BR><BR>Ground Zero evokes such memories, and such emotions. I remember when I was a youngster and visited the WTC where my mother once worked. <BR><BR>As far as emotions go, my fellow Americans please see beyond the differences of race, class, and color, religious belief, democrat, republican, indendant, green, socialist, libertarian, etc. Remember that we do have our allies, our Canadian friends to the north, our Mexican amigo's to the south, and some friends across both the Atlantic and Pacific we sometimes do not see eye-to-eye with.<BR><BR>But for us Americans this is "our," pain & "our," torture view the site not only with sorrow, disbelief, and horror, but do not apologize for leaving the site with an unmitigated anger that will show our unyeilding resolve to PUNISH those like minded people who blew-up my buildings.

I agree with Rudy. There's nothing to see at Ground Zero. I'll bet most of the tourists who can't wait to get down there never saw the Twin Towers before they fell, so they have nothing to compare the current site with anyway. Find some other way to spend your time in NYC. Lots to do.

<BR><BR>To the WTC "visitors" -- glad you can<BR>visit and still grab lunch afterwards. Maybe we here should visit your families' gravesites and have a picnic.

New Yorkers don't own all the pain of what happened on 9/11. It was where OUR country was attacked. Guess what you guys.... it may be a way for all American's to pay homage to the lost, the heros, the victims, and to attempt to get a grasp on an event that changed ALL of our lives.

Our family is intending to view the Ground Zero site in the same spirit (and I don't mean like a cheerleader), that we have viewed, for example, the Vietnam Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, and Yad Vashem. It is not like the way we check out the fireworks at Disneyworld, for heavens' sake! <BR><BR>By the way - for those who "hate tourists" - I guess you never leave NYC? - Cuz if you do then that would make you a "tourist" too.

Yes, Judi, we travel. We just usually don't travel to fresh gravesites for our viewing pleasure.

I'm going to NYC in late June but choose not to visit the site.I just prefer to visit the memorial whenever it is open.I've been to Wash DC twice since 9/11 to visit/sightsee and now want to do the same at NYC.I know my money spent on lunch,misc souv won't be much,but just want to make a point.Again,I'll visit the WTC memorial whenever it's completed.God Bless the victims!

To xxx - <BR><BR>I think Judi has made it quite clear that her visit to Ground Zero is not for viewing "pleasure". Do you really think that's why so many are drawn to the site? I don't. I think they are visiting it as a sign of respect, and to help them understand the impact of the tradgedy that photos and tv screens just cannot convey.

Well, gee, Laura, maybe you can explain all of the tourists that I see straining to take pictures and buying the tacky postcards with the Twin Towers in flames. These people are coming out of morbid curiousity, plain and simple.

I don't believe you can compare WTC to the Arizona (or Pearl Harbor in general). The ones who died at Pearl Harbor were in the majority soliders/sailors who committed their lives to the protection of the USA. Not really the case with the WTC. These poor guys died so suddenly while doing their civilian jobs; filling out paperwork, talking to clients, using the bathroom etc! In fact, even the attackers were of a different mindset. The Japanese gave clear orders that no civilian targets were to be hit, only military. Our honored sailors who died on the Arizona did so in a real war. Those died at WTC died in disgrace with a shameful act of violence. Let's honor WTC victims by not getting in the way.

MYTHOUGHTS has it so right! IM so tired of hearing people compare this site to the pearl harbor memorial. These were civilians here who were never prepared for combat..never rehearsed their deaths as soldiers do. As someone who has inherited from my mother a psychic sensitivity..i can say..the WTC site is full of spirits confused and many extremely malevolent. Those were my feelings when I visited and I wish I hadnt.

There are a lot of complicated issues here. <BR><BR>I spent a lot of time in lower Manhattan these last few days, mainly because I got a room on Priceline for $65, and I hadn't been to Century 21, one of my favorite shopping destinations, since it re-opened. <BR><BR>Yes, there are the tacky souvenier and T-shirt vendors, but every other tourist I encountered, and there were many, showed utmost respect for the site.<BR><BR>The compararison to the Arizona memorial is a good one. Many people visit a battleground - and the WTC is most certainly that - whether it is Concord or Gettysburg or the Arizona to make a personal connection to history and to pay respects to those who died there.<BR><BR>I think it's a disservice to the business people of lower Manhattan to discourage tourists from coming. What was the recent Tribeca film festival but an effort to bring more people into the area? <BR><BR>I may have gotten a bargain on my hotel room, but we spent several hundred more dollars on dining, services, and merchandise - Century 21 again. Those who want to keep lower Manhattan vacant should instead support the businesses that clearly appreciate every dime.

Sunday Night on HBO there will be a Memorial to the Victims of 9/11/01.<BR>Maybe any of you who are able to, should watch that,since visiting the site seems to be important.

I suppose if all of us non-New Yorkers pretended Ground Zero didn't exist, and never showed interest in visiting it, we'd be villified for ignorning this great tragedy, and for not helping with the economic recovery of the area(WTC souvenir vendors excluded).

I am more than a little peeved that NYC'ers think they have a monopoly on grief. I am also sure that many of the so-called "gawkers" are family members or friends of many of those that perished. As a veteran, I also disagree with saying you can't compare the WTC site with others because these were not military people. No one deserves to die, military or not, and the fact that it was not military is exactly why tributes need to be paid. And they did not die in disgrace, they died in a disgraceful act. It is plain that writer (Mythoughts?) never served in military service, or they'd know that few "give" their life. Life is "stolen" from us. We give our time, our sweat.<BR><BR>"Rudy Guiliani": use a better nom d'plume! What an imposter, what a fraud.<BR><BR>Why don't you NYCers turn your wrath to those hawking postcards, framed pictures and T-shirts? Why don't you explain to stores and restaurants in the area why you don't wish them our business? Why don't you ask the various charities to give back the money received from all of us "ghouls"?<BR><BR>Ok, the above paragraph is wrong .. you need better ways of dealing with this event than taking it out on other innocents. Most of those viewing WTC are not visiting in the same spirit as a visit to Magic Kingdom, but as going to Mass. Please find the healing you need, people, but stop venting your anger on other hurt Americans.

A few comments to the previous poster (duh!). First, WTC victims' families have private viewing areas, so I would not suggest that "most" of those that you see at the public platform are families of victims. <BR><BR>With respect to the merchants in the area, I talk to them every day when I go into their businesses. If you had ever talked to them, many of them would tell you that they get very little business from the tourists coming to the WTC site. In fact, before the ticketing scheme was put in place, those near the site would complain that the long lines were in fact blocking foot traffic from coming in to their establishments. The tourists have not been any boon to the struggling businesses in the area.<BR><BR>Finally, I can't believe you would bring up the issue of donations. I donated money for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing and countless other disasters. I would, however, never believe that the mere act of sending a check to a charity means that I can comprehend the suffering of those who were there or who must continue to live with the direct effects of the tragedy on a daily basis.

Actually-duh-some of the NY firemen that died on 9/11,were in Oklahoma City helping when that city was bombed.There are more people than you can imagine, donating every day to other disaster relief besides that here in NYC.<BR>I cannot believe that anyone would make remarks like " you NYers think you have a monopoly on grief" as if this were some kind of pissing contest and you were losing.<BR>Do you think for a minute that there are not thousands,yes,thousands of people in this city that would be glad to trade places with one of you, and you can be the heartbroken ones?<BR> Do you actually think that every NYer doesn't wonder every day,how we are really ever going to get over this? Every time we look at a high rise building? A plane going over the city?<BR> Almost everyone has lost someone-a friend or relative,co worker.<BR>How crass and completely self involved you are to make such a comment.<BR>What a small person you are.

New Yorkers were not the targets - Americans were. And yes - all Americans feel threatened - especially those in other major cities. Did it occur to you that this tradgedy took place on American soil, and that other Americans have just as much right to their grief and angst over this than those who live in New York? Those terrorists aren't chanting 'death to New Yorkers - they're chanting 'death to America'. <BR><BR>Please don't dictate to me how or where of if I should grieve.

no slj, you doofus.it never occured to any new yorkers that this took place on american soil.what a jerk! this must be your way of grieving,huh? trashing new yorkers? nice.

New York was the target of the attack, thereby making New Yorkers the target. Not once, but twice now New York has been the target, and it probably will be again.

Enough! This is getting really ugly. It's disrespectful. Let's get back to travel questions and answers.

On 9/11 we walked out of our building on the upper west side and could see the smoke from the towers.<BR><BR>I have to say that TV made it almost look like special effects and I wanted to see for myself so 2 days later we went downtown and were a block away. We could see WT buiding 9 the last building to go down, and it was a 40+ story building reduced to a 4 story pile of rubble.<BR><BR>I think I understood what Americans/my parents were feeling when Pearl Harbour happened. I was overwhelmed by the sadness and the waste of lives.<BR><BR>We all mourn what happened in NY, DC and PA on 9/11 and I think that the site WTC will become one of most visited in the US.<BR><BR>Most of the trains are running again to the WTC area and most of the shops are reopened. Many of the restaurants in the area have closed, so additional business from tourists is very welcome, and needed. Most business suffered badly in the downtown area for months and many did not make it.<BR><BR>9/11 is now a part of history and those who died in the attacks are truly American Heroes.<BR><BR>Do you think they planned the attack for that day because our "code" for emergency is "911"? I wonder.<BR><BR>Enjoy you time in our city. I think more than ever NYC is becoming everyone's NY now.<BR><BR><BR><BR>

TTT

I live in the 'burbs, but my husband and many friends work in Manhattan, many in the Financial District and know some that were killed. I've been into the city about 6 times since 9/11 and I still have no desire to go to Ground Zero. I don't fault those that do, but for the life of me I can't understand what it is that people want or expect to see? So can someone tell me what the attraction is?

<BR><BR>What's the attraction of Normandy Beach, Pearl Harbor, Gettysburg, Bunker Hill, etc? <BR><BR>Like it or not, Ground Zero is a Historic Site where a terribly historic event took place. People want to see it. I think for us New Yorkers it's more personal, and we have a difficult time understanding the interest. But I entertain many visitors from out-of-town, and the first thing they want to see is Ground Zero.

I think everyone who can visit, should visit. I didn't feel this way initially. I realize now that as 'with it' a New Yorker as I am, I was in absolute shock & surpressing a lot of fear. (Admitting that is not easy.) The shock has worn off, but not much else has improved. My feelings toward living here have changed. I am more alert, feel more protective, & worry every day for this proud, majestic city & its people. I take nothing for granted after having a terrorist attack my own backyard & consider myself incredibly lucky to be alive. <BR><BR>I was near the site yesterday (had to drive by since we came home through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel) & was consumed with sadness & grief. But I must say, it helped me. It put realism & a finality over the disbelief and denial. It really did happen. <BR><BR>If coming to the site helps people keep this fresh in their minds and on their toes, I am all for it. But like an above poster mentioned, the area really does look small. Just like an empty room looks smaller than a room with furniture. Unless you have been there for the before and the after, you may not see just how vast the complex was. Although, if you jog around the whole perimeter, you may get an idea. At least you will find out how in shape you are.