Moviegoing + Times Square + New Year's Eve = Bad Idea?

December 30, 2016 9:01 AM

My friends want to see Rogue One tomorrow afternoon and have suggested a theater near Times Square. Between the crowds and increased police presence, I think getting around afterwards is going to be a headache none of us need. How wrong am I?

The plan is currently to see it around 2 at one of the theaters on 8th Avenue, get out around 4 and eat dinner somewhere on 9th Avenue. I work near Times Square and from my experience being in the area on NYE, the barricades are already up in early afternoon and 4 is around the time it starts to get really crowded. Having to make our way out past the revelers, cops and sand trucks seems like an unnecessary hassle.

Bonus potential obstacle: one person in our group is on crutches.

I've got no problem saying no to this just based on gut feeling, but I'd love to get input from other folks who know the area better than I do, even if it means telling me I'm worrying too much. Thanks all!

posted by Recliner of Rage to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (20 answers total)

Yeah, I don't have any hard facts for you about police presence and so forth, since I avoid the area most of the time, especially around NYE, but that sounds like a terrible idea to this NY native. Having worked by Times Square during a relatively quiet portion of the year and having navigated the city on crutches, there's no way I'd want to combine the two, much less on the craziest day of the year.
posted by ferret branca at 9:16 AM on December 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh hell no.
posted by Automocar at 9:22 AM on December 30, 2016 [44 favorites]

Go somewhere, anywhere else.
posted by Hactar at 9:32 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Uhh - I used to work in 4 times Square and 7 Times Square respectively and I would say under no circumstances is this a good idea. And those were the years before we elected you-know-who and this whole dump truck situation started up. Now I can't even fathom the hassle.

Currently I work in Rock Center and the tree lighting was especially challenging this year for commuters who were innocently trying to get to Grand Central. It is still really overly crowded right now around Rock Center imo - we've all been bitching about it.

I think - this year in particular - that plan sounds like a special kind of nope.
posted by rdnnyc at 9:42 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Apparently they are surrounding Times Square with garbage trucks this year. Avoid avoid avoid.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:51 AM on December 30, 2016

Nopety nope noooooope
posted by zippy at 9:58 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Acting the movie out in sad pantomime inside a cardboard cutout tv frame with the fading apocalypse as your only backdrop would be better. At least then you'd get some tragic whimsy and the hope of humanity flowering amidst disaster. No whimsy and no hope in NYE Times Square. None at all.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:09 AM on December 30, 2016 [25 favorites]

GOD NO.

The barricades area already partially up, there is Sizable Police presence, including the counterterrorism squads in full on riot gear, and they started putting the garbage trucks in place about an hour ago.

I work in a building overlooking times sq, and this time of year is a particular kind of hell for us
posted by larthegreat at 10:18 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pick literally any other theater in NYC.
posted by griphus at 10:40 AM on December 30, 2016 [5 favorites]

If you have a person on crutches I would tell you to avoid this area on an ordinary day, let alone New Year's Eve.
posted by unannihilated at 10:47 AM on December 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

You're right that this is going to be a huge hassle. Trust your gut and convince your friends to go somewhere else. There are plenty of other movie theaters showing Rogue One tomorrow.
posted by colfax at 10:58 AM on December 30, 2016

Complete zoo. Some subway entrances closed.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:13 AM on December 30, 2016

If it wasn't for the crutches I'd say this would be an interesting and one of a kind adventure, so I'll add my "no."
posted by rhizome at 11:14 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

You are not wrong. Pick a different day, or pick a different neighborhood. Cobble Hill Cinemas is showing it tomorrow, if you feel like escaping Manhattan crowds. Just, avoid Times Square by all means necessary!
posted by Champagne Supernova at 11:26 AM on December 30, 2016

Crutches, no, no. Go to the Lincoln Square theater if you're coming from the north or (grosser) Herald Square if from the south.
posted by praemunire at 11:37 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

You're nuts to even think about it. A few years ago I got roped into seeing a Broadway matinee on New Year's Eve day, that started about the same time as your movie. "Walking" (as was necessary) from 44th street to Columbus Circle (up 8th avenue) to where we could grab a train took well over an hour in a crawling cheek to jowl crowd hemmed in by cops and barricades (and seriously freezing weather, as I recall that year). This year the security is even tighter. I still can summon a shudder at my experience doing something similar.

Avoid!
posted by spitbull at 11:55 AM on December 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

You are 0% wrong. Pick another night or another theater!
posted by bunderful at 12:54 PM on December 30, 2016

How does person on crutches feel about this (bad) idea? I used to work in Times Square and used a cane for part of the time, and it was difficult to navigate on a normal day, much less NYE, much less this particular NYE.
posted by mgar at 4:26 PM on December 30, 2016

Go anywhere else in the city. Anywhere else. Rogue One is playing in tons of theaters.
posted by ELind at 8:55 PM on December 30, 2016

Never been to Times Square, but having navigated really thick crowds on crutches: OH MY GODS NO.
posted by gloraelin at 10:58 PM on December 31, 2016