Review: Madame Tussauds in New York City

When one visits the Big Apple, there are certain things you just have to see. The Empire State Building. Times Square. The Statue of Liberty. I have to say that after a trip in February 2011, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is not one of them.

I had been to a Madame Tussauds before, however it was the one located in London, and that was almost 15 years ago. It had been a while, and we were bored one afternoon, so my parents and I decided that we were sick of Times Square and decided to go to the Wax Museum. As soon as I walked in, I knew this might have been a mistake. The line went forever just to get tickets. Then each of us was charged roughly $40 a piece to go into the museum. The ticket price included all these "extras" including a 4d version of "The Wizard of Oz", a haunted house called "Scream", and a Behind the scenes pass. You could not opt out of any of these items, which might explain the bloated price tag.

After getting our tickets we waited and waited on the stairwell. Originally we thought it was a line waiting to get on an elevator. The museum is several stories tall so you start at the top and work your way down. However, the line was for a photo op with King Kong, where you could of course purchase your photo. You can opt to skip this, but this is after waiting in line just to get to the point of skipping.

Once we got into the actual museum, it was a total zoo. In London, all the wax figures were behind ropes. In this version, there were no ropes, so you could snuggle up with Leonardo DiCaprio and get your photo with him. However, this was where it was a hindrance. Every one wanted their photo with every wax figure, making it crowded, with no real flow, and shoving elbows just to see the wax replicas. Some were better than others, but for people like my parents who aren't so pop-culture-savvy, the name tags were not always next to the figurine, making it somewhat of a guessing game as to who is that wax figure.

Onto another room where it was American Presidents, or significant world figures. What was nice about being able to get up close to the wax figures was that you could see how tall these people were in real life. Couldn't believe how tall George Washington was. And of course, another photo op with President Obama and the First Lady, which you could purchase as well.

Later on in the museum, after rooms of sports figures and musicians, there was the haunted house-like attraction called "Scream". Now I must admit that I skipped this not because I was scared, but because I was with my parents who did not want to go. Why make them wait for me?

At one point you had to walk through a candy shop, where you could sit down for a bit and chomp on your favorites sweets. In my eyes, another chance to spend even more money then you have already. At every stop there was a chance to get more of your dough. This was starting to get annoying.

Then onto the 4D experience of "The Wizard of Oz". This was roughly a 20 minute version of one of the greatest movies of all times, with your chair rocking a couple times and wind blowing in your face occasionally. The worst part was you couldn't simply skip the movie. You had to wait until the next movie was starting, and then walk through the theater. Waiting for the movie was agonizing as there were whiny children, no seating, and people got very pushy in order to get the " best seats".

Finally, we approached the end, where there was yet another photo opportunity, this time I think with the Incredible Hulk. By this point I had totally had it with the photo ops. Actually, I had totally had it with this museum. Maybe I went at a busy time. Maybe it was my mood. But personally, I wouldn't go back there for maybe another 15 years. Maybe.