At the Rockefeller Center rink, people’s patience is skating on thin ice.
New York’s most beloved holiday destination is also the world’s most overcrowded, according to a new study sure to bother Big Apple natives notoriously defensive of their city.
Holafly, an e-SIM provider, analyzed TripAdvisor reviews across November, December and January, scouring reviews for words including “overcrowded,” “busy,” “packed,” “long wait,” and “chaotic” — and, sure enough, tourists were ticked off by how busy the Rockefeller rink can be.
A staggering 41% of reviews from November, December and January mention crowd-related issues there, making it the most overcrowded place on earth over the festive season, per the study.
According to Holafly, tourists complain about lengthy lines, limited skating space, and a constant stream of spectators lining the edges of the ice.
The Rockefeller Center rink is right below the building’s famed Christmas tree, which is lit on the first Wednesday after Thanksgiving and taken down in mid-January. An estimated 125 million people stop by to see the tree during those six weeks alone.
And while locals love to complain about the masses of festive sightseers in midtown, they don’t take kindly to tourists talking smack about their city.
The rink was the only American attraction mentioned on Holafly’s list of overcrowded places.
Winter Wonderland in the U.K. came in second place, with 37% of reviews on TripAdvisor moaning about the masses who flock to London’s Hyde Park to enjoy the fairground rides, market stalls, ice skating and live entertainment.
Meanwhile, the Nuremberg Christmas Market in Germany rounded out the top three most overcrowded attractions, with 34% of TripAdviser reviews annoyed by the sheer number of people there.
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