Fort Totten Park — Attraction in New York

By a stroke of luck, the 6th location for the Iron Throne replica (the Throne of the Crypt) landed in New York, following Sweden, Brazil, Canada, the UK and Spain. I happened to be visiting my MIL in Queens so it was a no brainer that I go check it out.

We arrived at the Fort Totten Park on Saturday at 7:00 am sharp, just when they opened the gates and the line started marching toward the historic battery which is about 10-15 minutes walk. After going through a long underground tunnel, the impressive two level Civil War era fortification appeared in full view, overlooking the East River and the Throgs Neck Bridge. Everyone started taking pictures in no time. The line zigzagged through the lower level chambers, so we get to people watch as we advanced through the line. There were quite a few cos-players, some very impressive. My favorite is the Jon Snow (a little bit of Samwell Tarly too I thought), see pic. There were also 2 actors dressed in official Game of Thrones costumes taking turns between tending the Iron Throne and chatting/posing with visitors waiting in line. They had to audition for this role. One of them supposedly appear in Blue Bloods. The wait for us was around 2.5 hours.

The Iron Throne was very impressive, though smaller than I had imagined. There's also a sword in front of it. Each person had 30 seconds to sit at the throne and pose for pictures. A staff actually used a timer to get people moving! It was funny to see people frantically scrambling through different poses as the 30 second clock ticked away. We, too, felt the stress when it was our turn at the throne :)

It was a super fun and memorable event. For this I am grateful to Fort Totten Park. ...

If your coming here for the ruins of Fort Totten or a wilderness experience, rethink your trip. That being said it does have some interesting elements, and is closer to Govenors Island before they put all that money into it. Their is little actual park consisting more of a small military base that has been mostly abandoned and left to ruin, like Govenors Island you can't access the great old buildings but their fun to walk by. The park part consists of a huge lawn in the center, the small but nice old base outdoor pool, a small playground and ball field, and a jetty. Not a lot of nature here but a hell of a view of the bridge. The pictures you see of the old fort would make your think you can access them but most of that is locked and only available to see on certain event days. It's best to come here for an event as there isn't that much to do, though it's nice to be able to ride your bike on paved streets relatively worry free about cars. Of course their is some FDNY EMT presence and cost guard but honestly it's minimal. Not many stores nearby so if you don't have a car pack a lunch, this place is more of a spot for locals to walk their dogs and well, themselves I suppose, which I think is an honest assessment. Probably not worth a pilgrimage, fun, but if your looking for a big park consider nearby Cunningham...

One of my favorite places in NYC. The battery is only open from April to November, Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm or by appointment. But the rest is open all year. Usually, the park is pretty empty even in summer, so the walks are quiet. There are some of the old houses that have been renovated and are being used by EMT, some others are empty and some that are covered in growing green! Some areas feel like ghost towns, check the kids playground all the way in the back, it's all full of rust, it looks like from a horror movie. There's a lot of military and EMT personnel around, but if you are not doing anything wrong, nobody will bother you. The places that are restricted are marked. Check the urban park rangers calendars as there are some interesting events available. From time to time they have a star gazing event, considering you are still in NYC, the night sky is pretty OK, you won't see the milky way, but it is a nice activity. The parking lot is open again with...