Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I only share products and services I personally use or genuinely recommend.
NYC can be super overwhelming to plan—and it can get expensive so quickly.
When I’m planning trips to big cities, I always look at the city-pass options to see if there’s a way to bundle some of the attractions we already want to do and save a little money.
For NYC, we went with the Go City Explorer Pass. I bought us each a 3-attraction pass with a plan: The Edge, a Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour, and then I’d let my 6-year-old choose our third activity from the huge list of options.
We did neither of my planned activities.
And somehow, the things my son chose instead became some of my favorite memories from the entire trip.
We Skipped The Edge for the Empire State Building
First up: the Empire State Building.
I had over-researched this one. I read the reviews, compared observation decks, planned and planned, and eventually came to the conclusion that one of the things that makes NYC look so unmistakably like NYC is the Empire State Building in the skyline.
But you can’t see the Empire State Building if you’re standing inside it.
So I was leaning toward The Edge. We’d get the amazing city views and still have the Empire State Building in them.
My son had other plans.
He really wanted to go inside the Empire State Building. It was close to our hotel and we could see it almost every time we walked out the door—we could even see it from the rooftop pool! And, very specifically, he wanted to go at night.
Best decision ever.
We walked over on the evening of our first full day in NYC. It was late, and the building was practically empty. We had plenty of time to take all the ridiculous photos we wanted on the way up—hello, King Kong—but we didn’t have to wait anywhere. It was basically a straight shot through.
And the city at night?
Absolutely magical.
It ended up being one of those moments I’m SO glad I didn’t plan away.
After my son saw The Edge in person later in the trip, he was also a little less brave about the idea of going up there, so the Empire State Building ended up being the perfect choice for us.
Then He Picked the Intrepid Museum
Next up was my Hop-on-Hop-off bus plan.
We saw the buses everywhere, and I really thought they were going to be a great way to see the city while saving our feet.
My son vetoed this immediately- and consistently, because I definitely asked more than once!
Fortunately, he loved walking NYC and was an absolute champ about it. I swear this boy was built for the city life.
His pick instead?
The Intrepid Museum.
This one didn’t even cross my mind when I was planning, and that is exactly why I’m so glad I let him choose.
We explored the massive aircraft carrier, which was basically every little boy’s dream, and then toured the Growler submarine.
Walking through an actual submarine was honestly just so cool. It was completely different from the other things we had planned in NYC, and it ended up being a huge highlight of our trip.
So…Was the Go City Pass Actually Worth It?
And then there was our third attraction.
We didn’t use it.
For me, the 3-attraction pass cost $119. My son’s cost $99, so I spent $218 total on our Go City passes.
Without the passes, our two attractions would have broken down to:
- Empire State Building: $86 total
- Intrepid Museum + Growler: $66 total
- Total: $152
So instead of saving money, we spent about $66 more by buying the passes.
Was the Go City Pass worth it for us?
Not this time.
I hate that we didn’t take full advantage of something I’d already paid for, but I also don’t regret letting our plans change once we were actually in NYC.
Would I consider a Go City pass again?
Absolutely.
I look at city passes whenever we travel somewhere with a lot of paid attractions. But next time, I’ll make sure we have enough firm yeses on the attraction list to justify the price before I buy one.
See current Go City NYC passes, attractions & pricing →
NYC had so many things to do that I liked the idea of buying a pass and giving ourselves choices once we got there.
For us, though?
The flexibility was great.
The savings were a flop.
And letting my 6-year-old change my carefully researched itinerary turned out to be one of the best decisions I made on the entire trip.