Where-To- Go Wednesday: The Downtown Experience

We were given a free Downtown Experience for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Downtown Experience

Where: Starts at 200 Water Street      Ends at  South Street Seaport near Pier 15 & 16
             New York, NY                          New York, NY

Who: Tweens and Up

Me: The Downtown Experience was a bus tour around the downtown area with parts that were virtual reality. It was by the same people who did The Ride and The Tour. It was really entertaining! It was interesting. I learned a lot. Even though, I have been on several tours of the midtown area, I haven't really toured the downtown area as much. The virtual reality was cool except for during one I banged my head because I got so involved in it I forgot it wasn't really happening. There was one that gave the experience of an immigrant traveling to America on a ship .When I was in second grade, I had Immigration Day in school where we pretended to be immigrants coming to America. Another of the virtual reality experiences was like we were riding in a helicopter around Freedom Tour, and then we were inside riding up in the elevator.  Some of the things we passed on our tour included the Staten Island Ferry, the Bull Statue, and the South Street Seaport. I have not visited a lot of the places we passed by yet, but I'd like to. It was a very a fun tour!



Mom - The Ride, The Tour, and the Downtown experience are all run by the same company, The Ride. However, unlike most touring companies which just run the same kind of tours in different locations, they are all completely different. Their latest edition is The Downtown Experience. The Downtown Experience is more than just a bus tour of Downtown New York City. It's a tour with a virtual reality twist. On this tour, you will pass such iconic locations as the South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall and One World Trade Center. Through virtual reality you will experience what it's like to be an immigrant coming to America, what it was like when the stock market crashed, what it's like to fly to the top of Freedom Tower and more. In addition to the virtual reality devices, the bus also features 40 TV screens featuring Downtown locations and neighborhoods as they currently exist and/or as they were in the past.  As on all, The Ride's Tour's the Downtown Experience features theater style side facing seating so you don't even have to turn your head to look out the window making it much less likely that you'll miss anything. There is so much to see and do on The Tour that the 90 minute bus ride will pass by in what will feel like only a few minutes. We would not recommend the Downtown Experience for small children who might be bored and also because there are no seat belts on the bus. Older children would enjoy it, however.

For more information or to order tickets to the Downtown Experience go to https://experiencetheride.com/sightseeing-attractions/downtown-experience/.

Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.