The last time I visited the Statue of Liberty, it was the spring of 1992. A bunch of us had hit the road from Northwestern, driving to New York for what was (for most of us) our first experience in the Big Apple.
We didn't have any firm plans back then. We just showed up at Castle Clinton at Battery Park, got our tix and hopped on the boat. A short ride later, we were climbing up the steps inside the statue, making our way to the crown.
View from the boat.
More than 16 years later, I was back for the first time during our recent trip. And yes, things have changed. It's post-9/11, after all, and the Statue is obviously a prime target for nutsos. The security just to get on the boat was just as intense as flying. And we soon discovered that the closest we'd get to Lady Liberty would be the walkway surrounding the statue. Tickets to the statue pedestal ("monument access") are available -- but must be requested in advance (a limited number are available the day of, but I assume those go fast). And obviously, no one's getting inside the statue these days.
Lady Liberty's got back!
In the end, just making it to the island and looking at the statue from below was fine. We would have had to go through a second round of security screening just to get up to the pedestal... and really, the view both of Liberty and of Manhattan were just fine from down below.
Tix to get to Liberty Island are $12 for people over 13 (with a discount for seniors), while kids 4-12 are $5. Thankfully, that meant that the Blogger Preschooler was free.
I say thankfully, because ultimately we only stayed on the island for about half an hour. Really, once we took our photos, that was about all there was to do. With the BP eager to make it back to Manhattan, we cut our visit short. We didn't go to Ellis Island (which I did visit in 1992) -- sometimes, when traveling with a little kid, you gotta know your limits.
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