New York: The Ride
When we began to plan our trip to New York, having pre-purchased a 10 attraction pass for New York attractions, the biggest dilemma was which 10 attractions to choose. I spent months reading reviews, blog post and on-line forums, and read so many conflicting views until in the end, we just chose the attractions we liked the look of and hoped for the best. Having decided to do The Ride, we pre-booked before our visit to secure our chosen time slot and, on the day, made our way to the pick up location on Times Square.
The Ride is described as “a 75 minute interactive entertainment experience with 2 comedic hosts and 5-7 live street performances featuring a 4.2 mile route of the Times Square area.” The bus is designed in tiered seating, facing outwards with large glass windows and as we made our way onto the bus both Gaz and I looked at each other as though to say, “What have we let ourselves in for?!”.
One thing I will tell you about Gaz, Lewis and I, is that we share a hatred of forced fun. You know the kind of thing I mean – clapping, cheering, singing, dancing, any kind of audience participation where you just want the ground to swallow you up – and hilariously, The Ride is all of those things, ramped up by tenfold.
But for some reason, maybe the excitement of New York or the hilarity of the hosts, all three of us absolutely LOVED it and within two minutes of setting foot on the bus we were giving Mexican waves to passersby, laughing out loud and literally on the edge of our seat waiting to see what would happen next.
As the bus drove slowly around the route, performers placed in the crowds would step forward to perform, under the guise of being a regular person going about their day, and it was just the most clever and entertaining concept and unlike anything we have ever experienced before.
The hosts were absolutely hilarious and their observational humour was second to none leaving us all in stitches as they gave a running commentary of people on the street and tongue in cheek remarks. I have never laughed so much in a long time!
As well as being funny, the hosts were also really clued up on the history of New York and talked us through all of the major landmarks, and many of the hidden gems. Regular tours can get a little boring when you’re 15 and so for us with Lewis, this was just the perfect way to learn more about the city in a much more fun and entertaining format.
As we made our way. around the tour we watched street dancers, singers, saxophone player and ballet dancers, and every single one was incredible. I found myself pre-empting the next performance, scouring the crowds to guess where the next dancer or singer might be planted, and yet every single one came as a huge surprise!
Although I’m sure the performances follow the same format, they also try hard to incorporate ad libs to make it more personal to each tour. So when a rapper started performing for us it was hilarious that he included observations about us in the bus into his rap and I was delighted when he mentioned the lady in her grey hat. That’s me!
It was also amazing to see that some of the performers popped up a second time in a different location, pairing with others to create the most beautiful duet around the fountain at Trump Towers. I loved seeing the reactions of those around them, oblivious to the fact this was all part of a performance for The Ride, and watching their faces was almost as much fun as watching the acts themselves!
At the end of the tour as we drove back through Times Square the hosts announced that it was time for karaoke and the words to New York, New York came on the TV screens in front of us. It sounds crazy given just how many amazing things we did during our stay in New York, but that moment right there may well be my absolute highlight. Sitting in a bus singing New York, New York at the top of our voices is a moment that will stay with me forever and every time I think about it I get a lump in my throat at how lucky we are to have made those memories.
For us The Ride is a real must if you’re visiting New York and I defy anyone not to love every single minute of it. The moment we stepped off the bus I wanted to do it all over again, and when we return to New York in the future with the children, it will be the very first thing we book.
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